THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



91 



Local Convention Directory. 



188«. Time and place of Meeting. 



Feb. u.— Rhode Islaiui. at Providence, R. 1. 



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



Feb. 16-Ift.— NevF York State, at Roclieater, N. Y. 

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



Feb. 17, 18.— Cedar Valley, at Laporte City, Iowa. 

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



Feb. 17, 18.— E.Iowa &W. Ills., at Davenport. Iowa. 

 Wm. Goos, Sec, Davenport, Iowa. 



Feb. 20.— Marshall Co., at MarabalUown, Iowa. 



J. W. Sanders, Sec, J^eGrand, Iowa. 



Feb. 24.— Oneida County, at Rome, N. Y. 



O. J. Evans, Sec, Camroden, N. Y. 



Mar. 10.— N. Jersey & Eastern, at N. Y. City, N. Y. 

 W. B. Treadwell, Sec, 16 Thomas St., New York. 



Apr. 27.— Des Moines County, at Burlington, Iowa. 

 Jno. Nau, Sec, Middletown, Iowa. 



Oct. 19, 20.— Illinois Central, at Mt. Sterling. Ills. 

 J. M. Hambauph, Sec, Spring, Ills. 



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

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetlBsa.- Ed. 





Good Results.— A. P. Lawrence, 

 Hickory Corners, ? Mich., on Jan. 26, 

 1886, writes : 



In tlie fall of 1884 I placed 91 colo- 

 nies in the cellar, 4 of them starved, 

 12 were lost by " spring dwindling," I 

 sold 2, and started in 1885 with 73 good 

 colonies of bees from which 1 cleared 

 $300. The first part of the season 

 was all that I could ask for, but after 

 the last of July there was but very 

 little honey gathered. We have to 

 depend mostly upon white clover, and 

 there is but little basswood in this 

 vicinity. I increased my apiary to 

 114 strong colonies. I took 3,.500 lbs. 

 of honey, 700 lbs. being extracted. I 

 moved my apiary 1 mile on November 

 26, and placed them in the cellar, and 

 now they are all in good condition. 



Bees Wintering Finely.— C. H. 



Putnam, Galesburg,+o 111., on Jan. 28, 

 1886, writes : 



My bees thus far are wintering 

 finely. I have just examined them, 

 and I find that there has been no accu- 

 mulation of moisture in the hives, 

 and no signs of disease ; they also ap- 

 pear very contented, and remain 

 quiet on the approach of the light. I 

 am wintering ttiem in two bee-houses, 

 into which I placed 113 colonies on 

 Dec. 6 and 7, 1885. I keep the tem- 

 perature as near 4.5'^ above zero as pos- 

 sible. Last season was a very poor 

 one for honey in this locality. All of 

 my bees have natural stores, which I 

 consider the proper food for them. 



Actions of Bees in Winter.— J. A. 



Procter, Union City,ot Ind., on Jan. 

 30, 1886, says : 



I have 11 colonies of bees in a bee- 

 house made purposely for them, with 

 sawdust filling. Then the hives are 

 packed in sawdust 3 or 4 inches deep. 



and there is so much difference in the 

 different colonies tluit I begin to con- 

 clude tliat the bees of no two colonies 

 act alike under the same conditions. 

 One of these colonies was out at the 

 front of the hive, and all over it when 

 the mercury was W^ below zero, and 

 the bees of the liives next to it were 

 perfectly quiet. There is another 

 colony that at any time since they 

 were put in, the bees can be seen in 

 the entrance of the hive humming 

 merrily ; and the next one to it is per- 

 fectly quiet. If some of our experts 

 in apiculture will explain the reason 

 for the different actions of the differ- 

 ent colonies side by side, I will be 

 very grateful. 



Reports of the Honey-Crop.— L. 



Ilighbarger, Adeline, 5 111., on Jan. 

 28, 1886, writes : 



I was well pleased with Dr. C. C. 

 Miller's report, page 44, as far as it 

 goes, but I do not think that it covers 

 all the ground. It is entirely wrong, 

 not only to ourselves but to the honey 

 market, when bee-keepers report only 

 when they obtain large crops of honey, 

 and not when they have small crops. 

 The Doctor's ideas have the right 

 jingle, but do not jingle enough ; 

 there is one great point left out— liow 

 much sugar syrup have we fed in order 

 to carry our bees tlirough the winter V 

 Now, Doctor, how much sugar syrup 

 have you fed to carry those 340 colo- 

 nies through the winter ? I move an 

 amendment, Mr. Editor, to the Doc- 

 tor's suggestions, and will sanction it 

 by giving my report : 



No. colonies. Fall 1884 70 



Spring 1885 40 



Fall 1885 60 



" lbs. of Honey " " 400 



" " Sugar Syrup fed, 1885 . . . .400 



Surplus 000 



I attribute my winter losses to the 

 so-called honey-dew — not to pollen. 



P.S.— My object is to ghow to the 

 consumer that our honey crop is not 

 all dollars and cents. We have been 

 showing the bright side too much, and 

 the dark one not enough. 



Dampness in Hives, etc.— Allen H. 

 Thorne, Fountain City,o Ind., on 

 Jan. 21, 1886, writes: 



It is too early in the season to make 

 a report for this winter, but I can re- 

 port up to Jan. 18, 1886. In the fall 

 of 1884, 1 placed 23 colonies in winter 

 quarters packed in sawdust. All 

 were weak, and all died but one, 

 caused, I think, from dampness col- 

 lecting on the under side of the oil- 

 cloth and dripping down on the bees, 

 thus causing them to become diseased, 

 and what did not die with disease 

 froze during the cold nights of last 

 winter. One-half of the colony that 

 I saved froze to death. They clus- 

 tered on both sides of a comb near 

 the centre of the hive, and all on one 

 side froze in a cluster, leaving those 

 on the other in good condition, and as 

 bright as they were in the fall. I 

 increased them to 5 colonies, and ob- 

 tained 36 pounds of honey, besides 



leaving about 30 pounds in each hive, 

 part of it being extracted and part 

 comb honey. I purchased 3 colonies 

 and emptied 8 liives of all their con- 

 tents for one of my neighbors, that 

 he was culculating to kill for their 

 honey. I put them into hives on 7 

 combs, and fed 26^ pounds of syrup • 

 made of coffee A sugar to each 

 colony in September, and then packed: 

 them for winter the same as I did last 

 fall, with the exception that I took 

 the enameled cloth off and put burlap 

 covers in their place, giving them %- 

 inch space over the top of the frames 

 for a bee-space. I left the top off of 

 the hive and put 8 inches of dry saw- 

 dust over all and 18 inches of dry flax- 

 tow on top of the sawdust, well 

 packed down ; the object being to 

 keep the dampness out of the hives. 

 They are wintering well so far with- 

 out any sign of disease. I also gave- 

 them from 1 inch to 5 inches at the 

 entrance of' the hives as an experi- 

 ment, and I now see no difference, 

 for all are wintering well. We have 

 had some pretty cold weather— 20° 

 below zero. 



My Experience in Bee-Keeping.— 



N. W. Afflerbaugh, of Cameron,© 

 Nebr., on Jan. 25, 1S86, writes : 



Two years ago last August I ob- 

 tained 2 colonies of bees, the hives 

 being then full of brood, but without 

 honey. Ttiey worked on the heart's- 

 ease, and in 2 weeks they filled the 

 hives with honey. Heart's-ease is 

 one of our best honey-plants. I in- 

 creased them to 17 colonies by division. 

 I am wintering them on the summer 

 stands packed in straw, and to-day 

 they had a flight. They came out dry, 

 healthy and strong. I am wintering 

 them on their natural food— honey— 

 which was made for both them and 

 man. The hive I use is one of my 

 own construction, being a double- 

 walled chaff hive. It opens on the 

 side, so I need not lift out the frames, 

 as they are taken out on the side ; a 

 bee-feeder in the back end of the hive, 

 put in when the hive is made, and is 

 intended to remain there. It does not 

 interfere with anything about the 

 hive, and I can feed both in summer 

 and in winter with no danger of rob- 

 bing. The beauty of it is in handling 

 the frames by taking them out at the 

 side, thus causing scarcely any dis- 

 turbance of the bees. I am well 

 pleased with it. 



No Trouble in Wintering.— L. F. 



Guice, Winterville,»o Miss., on Jan. 



26, 1886, writes : 



I am now shipping the last honey 

 from the crop of 1885. I started with 

 43 colonies for producing extracted 

 honey, and 13 for increase, and during 

 the season I took 5,-500 pounds of 

 honey, some of which I sold at home 

 for good prices, and shipped the bal- 

 ance to different markets, realizing 

 about 4 cents per pound for it. I 

 closed the season witli 108 colonies in 

 good condition, and all of them at this 

 time seem to be doing well. I in- 

 tend to build up a better home marketv 



