THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



Time and ptace of Meeting. 



4.-Wisconpin State, at Madison. Wis. 



Dr. J. W. Vance. Sec. Madison. Wis. 



11.— Rhode Island, at I'rovidence. R. I. 



Geo. A. Stockwell, Sec, Providence, R. I. 



16-1«.— New York State, at Rochester, N. Y. 

 F. C. Benedict, Sec, Perry Centre, N. Y. 



17, 18.— Collar Vallev. at Laporte City, Iowa. 

 H. E. Hubbard, Sec, Lapurto City, Iowa. 



27.— Des Moines County, at BurllnKton. Iowa. 

 Jno. Nau, Sec, Middietowo, Iowa. 



19. 20.— Illinois Central, at Mt. Sterling, IDs. 

 J. M. HambttUKb, Sec, Spring, Ills. 



I^T" In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward tull particulars of 

 lime and place of future meetintrs.- Ei>. 



188t>. 



Feb. 

 Feb. 

 Feb. 

 Feb. 

 Apr. 

 Oct. 





)UR LiET'i 



Report for the Past Season.— W. 

 K. Williams, Buffalo,+o N. Y., on 

 Jan. 26, 1886, writes : 



In the fall of 1885 I had 20 t-olonies 

 packed with leaves in chaff hives. I 

 lost 8 in wintering and sold 2. which 

 left 10 to start the season with on 

 May 1, from which I had a yield of 

 1,500 pounds of extracted honey (all 

 white clover and basswood) besides 

 enough left in the combs to feed up 

 wltli in the spring; and I put 20 colo- 

 nies into winter quarters last fall. 



Snow-Storms in Kansas.— Xathan 

 Davis, Wyckofl,o Kans., on Jan. 18, 

 1886, says : 



My bees are wintering well on the 

 summer stands. They stored some 

 nice comb honey in one-pound sec- 

 tions last summer from sweet clover. 

 They worked on it for 6 weeks. I also 

 gathered a nice lot of seed from it, 

 and I think that I will sow two acres 

 next spring. We had the worst snow- 

 storm on Jan. 7 that I have ever seen 

 in Kansas ; the mercury was as low as 

 10'^ to 18 J below zero, and the loss of 

 stock in western Kansas is very 

 heavy, and a great many people were 

 frozen to death. 



ceived $10 in cash, but took it out in 

 goods at the store, allowing a com- 

 mission of 10 to 15 per cent, for sell- 

 ing. I have tried to make it attrac- 

 tive by labels and packages. In the 

 fall of 1884 I put 9 colonies in the 

 cellar, and lost 4 in the spring, 

 thus leaving 5, and 2 of them were 

 very weak. During the summer I 

 increased them to 14 strong colonies, 

 and took ."i'SO pounds of comb honey 

 and 32.J pounds of extracted. I have 

 1.50 sections of comb well drawn out 

 for this year's work. 



Bee-Keeping in Nebraska.— Wm. 



F. Ware, (.5—14), De Witt,<x Nebr., 

 on Jan. 22, 1886, says : 



I agree with the Rev. G. T. Willis 

 (page 41) that it does not pay to keep 

 many bees in Nebraska ; not so much 

 on account of the scarcity of white 

 clover, but on account of the poor 

 honey market. Four years ago I 

 commenced keeping bees, and the 

 first two years I sold all of my ex- 

 tracted honey at 20 cents per pound ; 

 the next year at 15 cents per pound, 

 and carried more than half of it until 

 July. Thinking that perhaps comb 

 lioney would sell better than ex- 

 tracted, 1 worked my apiary for comb 

 honey ; but I find tliat it retails slowly 

 at only 15 cents per pound in sections, 

 and extracted at 10 cents per pound. 

 During all the time I have not re- 



Report for 1885. — A. Eastman, 

 Union, 6 Ills., on Jan. 20, 1886, says: 



Noticing the report of Dr. Miller, 

 page 44, showing such poor results, 

 and as I live within 7 miles of his 

 apiary, I thought I would report how 

 I succeeded with mv bees. I com- 

 menced the spring of 1885 with 16 

 colonies, 3 of which were so weak 

 that it took all summer to build them 

 up; so I had only 13 that I got any 

 surplus from. 1 secured 400 pounds 

 of comb honey in sections, increased 

 my apiary to 24 colonies, and bought , 

 4 more, so I now have 28 colonies in 

 the cellar. They appear to be doing 

 well in a temperature of 42°. I sold 

 my honey at home for 15 cents per 

 pound, and could have sold a great 

 deal more. 



Candy for Winter Feeding — R. 



Metzler, Odessa, Ont., on Jan. 20, 1886, 

 writes : 



How can I make candy to feed my 



bees, for laying on the frames under 

 the cushions, so that they will be dis- 

 turbed as little as possible V 



[Use 4 parts of coffee A sugar, and 

 1 part of water ; simmer,until it be- 

 comes quite hard on being cooled ; 

 mould it into frames of one-inch 

 thickness, and lay it on the top of the 

 frames, using sticks underneath J.^ 

 inch square, to give the bees tree 

 access to it, and the heat of tlie hive 

 will keep it warm and soften it.— Ed.] 



Reversible Hives, etc.— W. T. F. 



Petty, PittsHeld,*o Ills., on Jan. 23, 

 1886, writes : 



I notice on page 35 that Mr. James 

 Heddon has a new hive, with the 

 brood-chamber in two sections. I 

 made a liive 4 years ago, to be used in 

 this way, and made 75 of them last 

 year. 1 move my bees in the fall to 

 the river bottom, 11 miles away, and 

 with the shallow frame there is no 

 danger of the combs breaking down. 

 The deep hanging-frame has many 

 disadvantages, such as being clogged 

 with honey in the top part, etc. With 

 the chamber in two parts the top can 

 be taken off and the honey extracted 

 from it, and placed below without 

 having to handle all the brood. I use 

 the same case to hold sections with 

 section-holders. My frames rest on 

 metal strips nailed to the bottom end 

 of the case, projecting enough inside 

 to catch the frame. I have also an 



improved section which I make by 

 cutting grooves on the inside of the 

 sides of the section, so a thin piece of 

 wood can be slid in, thus making a 

 box which protects the comb from 

 injury and dampness; on the thin 

 wood slides all necessary printing can 

 be done. I have thought of sending 

 one of my hives to the Bee Journal. 

 Museum, but I have neglected to do 

 so. I will as soon as I can. 



Extracted Honey vs. Comb Honey, 

 etc.— Frank Wilcox, Mauston,© Wis., 



says: 



Have any of the bee-keeping fra- 

 ternity demonstrated by carefully 

 conducted experiments how much 

 more extracted than comb honey can 

 be produced 'i Comparing one apiary 

 with another apiary will not decide it, 

 because the pasturage will be differ- 

 ent. Comparing 2 colonies appar- 

 ently alike will prove nothing, be- 

 cause the yield might have been dif- 

 ferent had they been run for the 

 same. Working a certain number of 

 colonies for comb, and a certain num- 

 ber of other equally as good colonies 

 for extracted honey, in the same 

 apiary during the same season, and 

 getting the average of each, spring 

 count, is the only method that I can 

 think of that will give results of any 

 value. The comparative cost of 

 labor, material, etc., is not required 

 in this question. Another thought : 

 lly the laws of Wisconsin selling 

 adulterated honey for pure honey is a 

 criminal act. Words publicly charg- 

 ing a man with criminal acts are 

 actionable, in suits of libel, I believe. 



Very Cold Weather. — Emil J. 

 Baxter, Nauvoo,*o Ills., on Jan. 15, 



1886, says : 



Illy 230 colonies of bees are winter- 

 ing on the summer stands packed 

 a la Dadant. We have had very 

 cold weather lately— 22° below zero. 

 It is warmer now, and from all 

 appearances my bees seem to have 

 come through the recent cold spell 

 all right. 



A Woman's Experience. — Mrs. 

 Sallie E. Sherman, of Salado,? Texas, 

 gives the following as her experience 

 with the use of Alley's drone and 

 queen trap : 



On March 14, 1884, my son and only 

 child came home from College sick. 

 Ilis disease was typho-malarial fever, 

 which lasted 72 days ; during which 

 time my bees increased from 20 to 48 

 colonies by natural swarming. Had 

 it not been tor two of the Alley drone 

 and queen traps that 1 had, it would 

 luive been impossible for me to have 

 secured half the swarms and at the 

 same time mused and taken care of 

 my son. As it was, when a swarm 

 began to come out, I put a cage at the 

 entrance, and by the time I could get 

 an empty hive in place with a few 

 frames of brood from the parent 

 colony in it, and the foundation all 

 right, the bees would miss their queen 



