106 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



LAYING WORKERS. 



These are generally considered a 

 great pest, but I think that a laying 

 worker is not regarded as a queen by 

 other bees, nor are they themselves 

 unwilling to accept a queen, but it 

 looks rather as though a few eggs and 

 a little brood leads them to believe 

 that they are not queenless. If I 

 should find anv the coming season, I 

 shall try Mr. Doolittle's plan, by 

 depriving them of their comb, caging 

 a queen with them, and placing them 

 in the cellar over night. Let others 

 who may have laying workers in their 

 apiaries try the plan and report their 

 experience in the Bee Journal. 



Searsboro,© Iowa. 



Local Convention Directory. 



I88B. Time and place of Meeting. 



Feb. 16-ls.— New Yorfe State, at Kochester, N. Y. 

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



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

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



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

 Wm. Goos, Sec, Davenport, Iowa. 



Feb. 20.~-MarshaIl Co., at Mnrshalltown. Iowa. 



J. W. Sanders, Sec, LeGrand, Iowa. 



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



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



Mar. 10.— N. Jersey ,4 Eastern, at N. Y. City, N. Y. 

 W. B. Treadwell, Sec, Iti Thomas St., New Yorli. 



Apr. 10.— Union, at Dexter, Iowa. 



M. E. Darby, Sec, Dexter, Iowa. 



Apr. 27.- 



-Des Moines County, at Burlington, Iowa. 

 Jno. Nau, Sec.Middletown, Iowa. 



Convention Notices. 



B^~ The Union Bee-Keepers' Association of 

 Western Inwa will meet in De.\ter, Iowa, on April 

 10, 1886, at 10 a.m. M. E. Darby, Sec, 



ff^~ The New Jersey and E.istern Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will hold their ninth 

 semi-annual convention at Cooper Union 

 (Room 2'2) in New York City, on Wednesday, 

 March 10, 1886, at Sl:30 a.m. All who are 

 interested in bee-culture or honey are re- 

 spectfully invited to attend. We e.xpect a 

 large delegation from the Philadelphia 

 Association to meet with us. and it promises 

 to be one of the most interesting: as well as 

 instructive cfmventions that this Associa- 

 tion has ever held. A sjiecial invitation is 

 extended to ladies, well knowing that they 

 are by no means a small factor in our in- 

 dustry. Beginners, it is well known, will 

 learn more by attending one good conven- 

 tion than a year of practical e.xpei'iments 

 will teach them. All are requested to bring 

 something to exhibit, and if j'ou cannot 

 come, send us an essay to read on some live 

 subject. W. B. Treadwell, Sec. 



J^' The Illinois Central Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its next meeting at 

 Mt. Sterling, Ills., on Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day, Oct. 1!) and 20, 1886. 



J. M. Hasibaugh, Sec. 



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

 J. M. Uambaugh, Sec, Spring, Ills. 



^~ In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetiuKs.— Ed. 



1^~ Owing to the inclemency of the 

 weather, the meeting of the Marshall County 

 Bee-Keepers' Association was postponed 

 from Jan. 10, 1SS6 to Feb. '20, 18.80 ; at which 

 time the same pi'Ogramme will be carried 

 out as was intended for Jan. 10. 



J. W. S.INDERS, Sec. 



Honey as Food and Medicine. 



J^~ To create Honey Markets in every 

 village, town and city, wide'-awake honey 

 producers should get the Leaflets " Why Eat 

 Honey" (only ."lO cents per 100), or else the 

 pamphlets on "Honey as Food and Medicine," 

 and scatter them plentifully, and the result 

 will be a demand for all of their crops at 

 remunerative prices. " Honey as Food and 

 Medicine " are sold at the following prices : 



Single copy, 5 cts. ; per doz., 40 cts. ; per 

 hundred, $£..^0. Five hundred will be sent 

 postpaid for 810.00; or 1,000 for $15,00. 

 On orders of 100 or more, we will print, if 

 desired, on the cover-page, " Presented by," 

 etc. (giving the name and address of the bee- 

 keeper who scatters them). 



To give away a copy of " Honey as Food 

 and Medicine " to every one who buys a 

 package of honey, will sell almost any quan- 

 tity of it. 



^P~ Sample OoplcH of the Bee Jo0rnal 

 will be sent free upon application. Any one 

 intending to get up a club can have sample 

 copies sent to the persons they desire to in- 

 terview by sending the names to this ofKce, 

 or we will send them all to the agent. 



po- 



part of the State will be lost before 

 spring. Of every colony lost, so far 

 as I have examined, there still re- 

 mains much honey ; in many instances 

 within one inch of the bees. The 

 cold was so intense that they would 

 not leave the cluster, and when all 

 was consumed that they covered, 

 starvation ensued. Some of the combs 

 are badly smeared, and many of the 

 bees distended to bursting. Yester- 

 day and to-day, Feb. 8 and 9, the 

 weather has been bright and warm . 

 The bees have had a grand time, and 

 we may hope that the worst is over. 

 The Cyprians have all yielded to the 

 frost, and I am at last rid of them. I 

 hear considerable complaint among 

 farmers who have kept a few colonies 

 of black bees, which indicates that 

 they have fared badly. So, after all, 

 these disastrous winters we are hav- 

 ing may have a beneficial effect in 

 driving out slioddy bee-keeping, and 

 demonstrating the "survival of the 

 fittest." 



Bees "Wintering Nicely.— Frank A. 



Eaton, Blufltou,x3 O., on Feb. 4, 1886, 

 says : 



The bees are wintering nicely so 

 far. although the weather is continu- 

 ously cold ; but if it continues much 

 longer those colonies on the summer 

 stands will be in great danger. 



wind, 

 warm 

 there 

 here. 



Another Cold "Week-— G. M. Doo- 

 little, Borodino,© ^^ Y., on Feb. 6, 

 1886, says : 



We are having another cold week 

 liere, the mercury ranging from \0P 

 to 20^ below zero, with a searching 

 If Prof. C. C. Blake's promised 

 weather does not come soon, 

 will be a fearful loss of bees 

 from those wintered on the 

 summer stands. In fact some have 

 already died in iipiaries near here, 

 and many more are besmearing weir 

 hives. I have lost one colony, and 4 

 or 5 are getting uneasy. Those in 

 cellars are nice. 



[Prof. Blake's promised warm 

 weather arrived in Chicago on time 

 on the 7th, and the bees have been 

 flying several days, giving them an 

 enjoyable and health-giving time. — 

 Ed.] 



Very Cold "Weather.-J. W. San- 

 ders. Le Grand.© Iowa, on Feb. 4, 

 1886, writes : 



We have had very cold weather and 

 lots of snow. It was 32-' below zero 

 this morning, but it was some warmer 

 through the day. The mercury has 

 dropped down again this evening to 

 10" below zero. The bees that were 

 left out-doors will stand a poor show 

 where unprotected. The temperature 

 in my cellar is about 40^ above zero ; 

 I would like to say 45^, but I hope 

 that all will be well. Mv cellar is dry. 



Bees in Good Condition.— W. J. 



Cullinan, Mt. Sterling,*© Ills., on Feb. 

 7, ISSG, says : 



We have just passed through as 

 steady a month of solid Old Winter 

 as I ever remember to have experi- 

 enced ; but to-dav it is tliawing 

 sharply with the mercury at 50^ Fahr. 

 My bees had a fine flight to-day— the 

 first in two mcviths— and they are in 

 good condition, so far as I could 

 ascertain. I placed them against the 

 yard fence on Dec. 1, and packed in 

 straw. I think that 1 shall try cellar- 

 wintering another year. 



Condition of Bees in Kentucky.— 

 Rev. L. Johnson, Walton, 5 Ky., on 

 Feb. 9, 1886, writes : 



Dead, dead, dead— sucli is the sad 

 record I am making all through my 

 apiary. Bees h<i,d not a day in which 

 they could leave the hive from Jan. 2 

 until Feb. 8, much of the time the 

 mercury being below zero, and twice 

 as low as 14° below. Out of ('7 colo- 

 nies in the fall, I have already lost 20, 

 and the end not yet. I think that 

 fully one-half of all the bees in this 



Space Bet-ween Brood-Combs, etc.— 

 A. J. F., of Columbiana County, (^ O,, 

 asks the following questions : 



1. Where boxhives are used with 

 stationary bars .'a of an inch wide, 

 would not % of an inch space between 

 the combs for breeding purposes be 

 just as good or better than ^ inch or 

 more'? In a hive 14 inches wide, 

 instead of holding 10 combs with ^ 

 inch space between them, it vfoiild 

 hold 11 with % of an inch space be- 

 tween, thereby making less lurking- 

 space for the bees in the brood-cham- 

 ber in the honey harvest. 2. Would 

 there not be coiisiderable gain in the 

 force of bees in the surplus boxes '? 

 3. AVould tliere not be sufficient room 

 in ?^-inch space between the combs 

 for a suflicient amount of bees to col- 

 lect in a cool spell of weather to pro- 



