THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



11 



Local Convention Directory. 



Time and place of MeeWig. 



Northern Oliio, iit Wellincitnn, (). 

 H. ii. Bourdroan. Sec, K. 'I'ownsend. O. 



-Cortland Union, at Cortlund. N. Y. 



W. U. Beacli, Sec, Cortland, N. Y. 



-15.— Nebraska State, at Lincoln, Nebr. 

 W. F. Writ'ht, Sec, Johnson, Nebr. 



-N. W. Ills. & S. W. Wis., at Freepnrt. Ills. 

 Jonathan Stewart, Sec, Rock City, Ills. 



■21.— Maine, at Skowheean. Me. 



Wm. U'.yt. Sec. Uipley. Me. 



21.— Indiana Stale, at IndianapoHa, Ind. 

 F. L. Dougherty, Sec, Indianapolis, Ind. 



2I.-N. E. Ohio * N.W.Pa..at Meadville.Pa. 

 C. H. Coon. Sec, New Lyme, O. 



Champlaln Valley, at Middlebury, Vt. 

 R. H. Holmes, Sec. Shorehani, Vt. 



*J8.— Eastern New York, at Albany. N. Y. 

 E. W. Philo. Sec, Halfmoon, N. Y. 



-Des Moines County, at Burlington. Iowa. 

 Jno. Nau. Sec, Middletowu, Iowa. 



tST" In opder to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetinKs.— Ed. 





Testing the Hibernation Theory.— 



S. McLees, May,ot Mich., on Dec. 12, 

 1885, writes : 



On Dec. .S I put 34 colonies of bees 

 in the cellar ; one I left on the sum- 

 mer stand, to test the hibernation 

 theory. One colony increased to six. 

 They gathered 1,20U pounds of honey 

 during the past season. I have given 

 them no upward ventilation. Their 

 combs are well filled with honey, and 

 I left some pollen in each hive. Of 

 the result I will write to the Bee 

 Journal next spring. 



Bees in Good Condition.— John Eey, 

 East Saginaw,© Mich., on Dec. 21, 

 1885, says: 



My bees have had a fine flight to- 

 day, and they appear to be in good 

 condition. They did not spot the 

 snow any, and I think that they will 

 winter better than they did last win- 

 ter. At least, everything seems to 

 point in their favor, so fgj. 



Good Results— Wintering Bees.— 

 Ezra J. Cronkleton, Duulap,*o Iowa, 

 on Dec. 26, 1885, writes : 



I commenced the season of 1885 

 with 10 colonies of bees, increased 

 them to 16, and obtained an average 

 per colony of 108 pounds of surplus 

 honey in one-pound sections. My 

 honey was produced by the wide- 

 frame system, and it was very nice 

 and straight, and all the boxes well 

 filled; but I shall use the Heddon 

 system next season. As I am a student 

 in apiculture, and not an experimen- 

 ter, I adopt what I think is best as 

 fast as my judgment dictates that it 

 is best. I have handled bees onlv two 

 seasons, and I think that I have met 

 with very good success, having made 



but few blunders. I winter my bees 

 in the cellar, very similarly to Mr. Ira 

 15arber's plan. I was very successful 

 last winter, and my bees are in line 

 condition so far ttiis winter. I take 

 more trouble upon myself than Mr. 

 Barber teaches, for I lay laths on top 

 of the brood-frames, then a muslin 

 sheet, and then a soft, woolen blanket. 

 After that I put on the surplus ar- 

 rangement and crowd into it a 

 cushion made of forest leaves, and of 

 course it rests on the blanket ; at last 

 I put on the cap. 1 keep the tempera- 

 ture at 50^. I take out 2 frames, leav- 

 ing in 8. This plan is old, but it 

 seems to be successful!. 



Bee-Keeping on the Frontier.— 



Joseph Myers, Alma, JNebr., on Dec. 

 21, 1885, says : 



I came to this place in April, 1884, 

 bringing 4 colonies of bees with me. 

 The people here said that they would 

 starve, but in 1884 they increased to 

 7 colonies, and produced about 75 

 pounds of excellent honey. I had 

 them in a cave last winter, and they 

 wintered all right. During the past 

 season I have increased them to 12 

 colonies, but lost 1, so I have only 11, 

 wliich are in good condition, and I 

 obtained over 100 pounds of honey, 

 some of which L sold for 40 cents per 

 pound. I believe that this will be a 

 good honey country when it once 

 becomes settled withpeople, and more 

 clover is sown. Bees do well on buck- 

 wheat ; I believe it yields more honey 

 here then it does in Illinois, where I 

 came from. 



Bees are ftuiet.— Titus C. Wilsie, 

 Brandon, o+ Wis., on Dec. 28, 1885, says: 



I have 10 colonies of bees in the 

 cellar. The past season was a very 

 poor one, and I think that if bees 

 have not been fed considerable for 

 the winter, the loss will be heavy. We 

 have had very warm and pleasant 

 weather for the past week, for this 

 season of the year, but the bees are 

 quiet and appear to be all right. Last 

 winter I put 33 colonies into winter 

 quarters— some in the cellar and some 

 were on the summer stands— but I 

 lost all but 7 of them. I think the 

 cause was diarrhea. The loss of those 

 in the cellar and those out-of-doors 

 would average about the same. Mr. 

 B. Jenkinson, of this place, did not 

 lose a colony out of 48, and he win- 

 tered them in the cellar. It is some- 

 thing I cannot quite understand, for 

 my cellar is dry and well ventilated. 



Poor Season for Honey.— Dr. H. 

 Besse, Delaware,© O., on Dec. 28, 



1885, writes : 



My bees are nicely packed away in 

 the cellar and bee-house, where the 

 temperature is from 40° to 46'-'. I put 

 them in on Nov. 14—133 colonies in 

 all, leaving one colony on its summer 

 stand, as an indicator to let me know 

 when it is time to put the rest out in 

 the spring. This has been a very poor 

 season, so much so that I had to feed 

 my bees over five barrels of sugar in 



order to furnish them enougli stores 

 for winter. The lasc severe winter 

 destroyed the white clover, and we 

 have no basswood liere, so it was the 

 poorest season ever known in tliis part 

 of the State ; but I hope that we will 

 have a good season next year, for the 

 ground is literally covered with young 

 white clover that will bloom next 

 season. I shmild not know how to do 

 without the Bee Jouiinal. 



The Weather, Cellar-Wintering, 

 etc.— Eugene Secor, Forest City, 5 

 Iowa, on Dec. 22, 1885, writes : 



Winter has come (and gone, appar- 

 ently). About Dec. 4, the first cold 

 wave reached us, suddenly and 

 severely. The temperature on one or 

 two mornings was as low as 12- below 

 zero. Six to 8 inches of snow fell. 

 The last few days have been mild, the 

 snow is nearly all gone, and the frost 

 is about out of the ground. A part of 

 my bees have been in the cellar seven 

 weeks. The temperature of the cellar 

 is 45° to 50^. It has no ventilation 

 except an inside door occasionally 

 opened at night. My bees have nat- 

 ual stores entirely. Please allow me 

 to congratulate you on the continued 

 excellence of the Bee Jouhnal. The 

 last number, containing so much of 

 interest concerning the late North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Convention 

 was worth more than the sum asked 

 for an entire year's subscription. 



Favorable Winter, etc.- 13— J. F. 

 Logsden, (55—90), Barton,»o Md., on 

 Dec. 26, 1885, writes : 



The winter so far has been very 

 favorable for the successful wintering 

 of bees in this locality. During the 

 last of October and the first of No- 

 vember I packed 00 colonies with 

 forest leaves, and they are wintering 

 nicely. They all had a nice flight on 

 Dec. 23 and 24 ; today the mercury is 

 at 40O Fahr. The past season was 

 rather poor, butl increased my apiary 

 to 90 colonies, and my largest yield 

 from one colony was 160 pounds of 

 extracted honey. My crop consisted 

 of 1,700 pounds of comb honey in 

 boxes, and 1.000 pounds of extracted 

 honey, mostly disposed of in my home 

 market. My average price for comb 

 honey is 17 cents per pound, and for 

 extracted, 14 cents per pound. 



The Season of 1885.— Wm. Morse, 



Rockford,5 Ills., on Dec. 26, 1885, 

 writes : 



I commenced the season with 36 

 colonies of bees, 18 of which had been 

 wintered in the cellar, and 18 on the 

 summer stands, packed in chaff. 

 Those wintered in the cellar increased 

 to 31 colonies during the season, and 

 produced 542 pounds of honey in one 

 and two-pound sections ; those win- 

 tered on the summer stands increased 

 to 36 colonies and ten 3-frame nuclei, 

 and produced 954 pounds of honey. I 

 also obtained from my apiary about 

 250 pounds of honey in p.artly-filled 

 sections. In the middle of Septem- 

 ber I began preparing them for win- 



