202 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1886. Time and place of Meeting. 



Apr. 6.— Eastern Indiana, at Richmond, Ind. 



M. tr. Reynolds, Sec, "WUImmsburg, Ind. 



Apr. 6.— N. E. Kentucky, at Covinffton. Ky. 



Alex. W. Stith. Sec, Portland. Ky. 



Apr. 7.— Wabash County, at "Wabash. Ind. 



J. J. Martin, Sec, N. Manchester. Ind. 



Apr. 8.— Southern Illinois, at Duquoin, Ills. 



¥. H. Kennedy, Sec, Duquoin, Ills. 



Apr. 10.— Union, at Dexter, Iowa. 



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



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

 Jno. Nau, Sec, Middletown, Iowa. 



Apr. 29, 30.— Western, at Kansas City, Mo. 



P. Baldwin, Sec, Independence, Mo. 



May 5, 6.— Texas State, at McKinney, Tex. 



B. b\ Carroll, Sec, Dresden, Tex. 



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

 J. M. HambauRb, Sec, Spring, lUi. 



fW~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetines.— Ed. 



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Loss from Starvation. — Messrs. 

 Redd & Wilburu, Wewahitchka,-o 

 ria., on March 12, 1886, write : 



Bees have done poorly here so far. 

 Starvation has been the main cause 

 of the loss, which is about one-half, 

 anyway. 



not heard of the loss of a single colony 

 that had plenty of stores properly 

 located in the brood-nest. 



Joyful Bees.— J. M. Jenkins, We- 

 tumpka,© Ala., on March 22, 1S86, 

 says : 



My bees are having high old times 

 now — liave been bringing in pollen 

 since Jan. 14, whenever the weather 

 was favorable. All came through in 

 good condition except 2 nuclei colonies 

 in full-sized hives (an experiment). 

 Tliey " friz." 



Bees in Fine Condition.— M. M. 

 Aldrich, Geneseo,^D Ills., on March 19, 

 1886, says : 



My bees are in fine condition. I 

 took them out of the cellar to-day, 

 and within 5 hours after being placed 

 on the summer stands they brought 

 in pollen. I am one of those cripples 

 that Mr. Otis N. Baldwin mentioned 

 on page 2ii. 



Loss of Bees in the South.— G. W. 

 Demaree, Christiansburg, 5 Ky., on 

 March 18, 1886, writes: 



We are having nearly a summer 

 temperature here. Bees are carrying 

 in pollen, and the earth is turning 

 green. I think it is too earlv to last 

 long without a backset. The rain- 

 fall has been unusually light so far 

 this spring, and the way is not clear 

 yet. I now expect to attend a con- 

 vention of bee-keepers at Franklin, 

 Ind., April 3. I now believe that the 

 loss of bees in the South will be 

 greater than in any winter since 1869. 

 Light scattered stores, with unusual 

 cold weather did the work. I have 



How to Feed Bees.- J. II. Andre, 

 Lockwood,? N. Y., writes: 



The season for feeding bees is at 

 hand, and all colonies, no matter how 

 well they may be supplied witli nat- 

 ural stores, should receive from one 

 to two gills of syrup on each day 

 warm enough for them to fly, until 

 the flowers afford enough to supply 

 their daily wants, which, in this 

 latitude, is about the time that the 

 apple trees begin to blossom. For 

 such feeding I have found the follow- 

 ing way the most convenient : Take 

 a box 6 inches square and 4 inches 

 deep, with a loose cover, and cleats 

 across the top to keep it from warp- 

 ing. Saw a notch in one side of it 2 

 or 3 inches deep ; bore an inch hole in 

 the back side of the hive, tack on the 

 box so that the hole and notch cor- 

 respond, and have a plug in the hole. 

 Put into the box a comb containing 

 syrup, pull out the plug and put on 

 the cover. 



Thornless Honey-Locust.— W. C. 

 Lyman, Downer's Grove, (^ Ills., de- 

 sires replies to the following questions: 



1. Is there in Michigan or else- 

 where, a variety of the honey-locust 

 tree that is thornless i* Does seed 

 from the common honey-locust ever 

 produce trees that are thornless ? We 

 have here a very fine, strong growing 

 locust that is much like the common 

 thorny kind, except that it is without 

 thorns. The bees work upon it as 

 they do on basswood. It is a beauti- 

 ful shade-tree, and I should be pleased 

 to find out just what it is. 



[There is a thornless variety of the 

 common honey-locust, Glediischia tria- 

 canthos, which Gray calls variety 

 inermis. It is substantially like the 

 thorn-bearing variety, except in the 

 absence of the spires. I presume that 

 the tree referred to by Mr. Lyman is 

 this thornless locust. It would be 

 well to sow the seed, and by selection, 

 if necessary, secure this beautiful tree 

 free from the thorns.— A. J. Cook.] 



Working on Corn-Meal.— AVilson 

 Sherman. Chester Centre,© Iowa, on 

 March 20, 1886, writes : 



Winter is past and spring is here 

 in Central Iowa. My bees had several 

 flights during February, when they 

 needed it. On March 16, I placed my 

 colonies on the summer stands to 

 stay. My bees were wintered with- 

 out loss in a cellar where the tempera- 

 ture was kejit between 48^ and 52° 

 above zero. From 21 colonies there 

 was not a pint of dead bees to be 

 found. My colonies are all very 

 strong. I have spread 3 or 4 bushels 

 of corn-meal on boards for them. 

 They work so thickly on the meal 

 that it really looks black. I think 

 they will be able to get natural pollen 

 in a day or two from maples. 



Encouraging Prospects.— E. Arm- 

 strong, Jersey ville,*o Ills., on March 

 19, 1886, says : 



For all the severe winter and spring 

 that we have had, my bees, and others 

 as far as heard from in this locality, 

 have come through in good condition, 

 and with but very little loss. This 

 has been one of the best weeks at this 

 time of the year, for the little workers, 

 that I have ever known. The weather 

 has been delightful. Maples are in 

 full bloom, and they are just alive 

 with the bees from morning until 

 night. It makes one feel good to 

 hear the hum of the bees once more, 

 after their long confinement. Our 

 prospects were never better for a good 

 season. The white clover— our main 

 dependence — is not injured at all, and 

 is looking fine. 



Fine Weather— Weak Colonies- 

 Alex. W. Stith, Portland, 5 Ky., on 

 March 20, 1886, writes : 



I commenced the winter of 1885-86 

 with 80 colonies of bees in fair condi- 

 tion, and have lost 8 colonies, mostly 

 by starvation, with a limited amount 

 of honey in the hives. My loss was 

 mainly caused by the bees being 

 clustered, during the extreme cold 

 weather, away from the main bulk of 

 honey. The weather for the past 3 

 weeks has been the finest I have ever 

 seen in March, the mercury being 78° 

 in the north shade. My bees, for the 

 past few days, have been gathering 

 pollen from elm, but they are rather 

 weak for this time of the year. The 

 past extremely cold winter has caused 

 the death of a large portion of bees 

 from most of mv colonies. 



Drones Flying.— W. J. Roberts, 

 Keokuk, ex Iowa, on March, 18, 1886, 

 says : 



My bees, wintered on the summer 

 stands, have come through the sea- 

 son of cold, snow and ice all right. I 

 use a hive made on the Langstroth 

 plan, to hold 12 Gallup frames. The 

 bees are bringing in the first pollen of 

 the season. I am not old enough in 

 the business to say the fact is a re- 

 markable one, but I was surprised to 

 see a large, healthy - looking drone 

 flying about with a very happy and 

 contented buzz. 



The Wintering Problem.— F. M. 



Taintor, of Coleraine,K)Mass., writes: 



How to winter bees successfully has 

 been to bee-keepers their most vexa- 

 tious problem, and it may be safely 

 said that failure in bee-keeping is 

 owing chiefly to defective wintering. 

 We cannot expect very much from 

 our bees during the summer unless 

 we commence the season with strong 

 colonies, and to insure this condition 

 they must be wintered well. While 

 there is much to learn yet about win- 

 tering bees, I hope the time is not far 

 distant when we can all winter them 

 without loss. The fitting of the colo- 

 nies for winter should be borne in 

 mind during the entire season, and 



