£BE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



325 



SMping Bees liy tlie Pouiiil. 



Query, No. 257.— 1. How do you proceed 

 to put up bees by the pound in a wire cloth, 

 section-box cage? '2. What prevents the 

 bees from running up from the cage and 

 out- of the funnel, while you are getting 

 more to shake in? :!. How do you manage 

 to get the weight? or do you estimate the 

 weight by the bulk ?— C. W. C. 



I have had no experience with 

 sending bees by the pound, except in 

 the shape of a' nucleuSj wbicli 1 con- 

 sider the best plan of sending bees.— 



•G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



1. I would not use the section -box 

 device to ship bees in. For a pound 

 of bees I use a plain, cheap box 6 

 inches wide, ly inches deep, and 14 

 inches long. The bottom is nailed to 

 the side-pieces, and a board 5 inches 

 wide and as long as the bottooa is 

 wide, is nailed across the top of the 

 Ikix. On the under side of this cen- 

 ter board is a pocket made of tliin 

 cotton-cloth which is filled with wet 

 sawdust. The ends and the openings 

 at the top on each side of the padded 

 center-board, are covered with wire- 

 cliith. The soft candy— J^ pound to 

 each box— is secured in a little box 

 made of "section stuff," which is 

 slatted at its top, and is nailed to the 

 bottom of the shipping box. 2. The 

 wire-cloth at one end is left unnailed 

 nntil the bees are all in the box. The 

 funnel is smooth and nearly perpen- 

 dicular, and tlie bees slide down and 

 cluster in the box. 3. The box is set 

 on scales, the funnel placed in posi- 

 tion, the weight taken, and tlie " pea" 

 set forward 1 pound. The bees are 

 bruslied into the funnel till the beam 

 tilts. I nse a turkey quill to brush 

 down the bees that stick to the inside 

 of the funnel. The wire-cloth is then 

 mailed down, and the package is 

 ready to be directed and shipped. 

 When I send a queen with the bees, 

 she is caged with her suite, and the 

 cage is fastened to the side of the 

 inside of the shipping box. With my 

 •sawdust pad and the queen caged 

 with the bees, I am sure that I can 

 ship a pound of good, healthy, young 

 bees to nearly any place on the globe. 

 The pad of "wet sawdust keeps the 

 bees ♦quiet when nothing else will. 

 Shipping bees by the pound is any 

 thing bvX pleasant — try it.— G. W. 

 Uemapee. 



Explanatory.— The figures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the center of the State named; 

 5 north of the center: 9 south; 0+ east; 

 ♦O west; and this 6 northeast; X) northwest: 

 o-Bouthcast; and P southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



ror tne American Bee Journal. 



The Western Bee-Keejers' CoiiTention, 



Contention Notices. 



jy The .5th reeular meeting of the HiU County 

 Bee-Keepers' Association will be held on the tlrst 

 Tuesday in July, l-'-'O. at the apiary of Hon. J. M. 

 MoOaniel, of feoria. Tex. At the same time and 

 place will be held a bee-keepers' honey picnic. 



H. A. GooDKlCB, Sec. 



f^~ The Norlhweptern Illinois and Soutbwes- 



ternWisconsin Ree- Keepers' Association will bold 



■their ne.\t meetint: at Mr. Ed Whittlesey's. i."ij 



imiles south of Pecatonica, Ills., on May i'5. ihmh. 



J. STE WA KT, Stc. 



^" The Illinois Central Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its ne.xt meeting at 

 Mt. Sterlins', Ills., on Tuesday and Wednes- 

 •day, Oct. IS and '20, 1886. 



J. M. Hambauof, Sec. 



l^* The next annual meetint: of the Micbipan 

 State Bee-Keepera' Association will be held in 

 ■ypsllanti. Jllch.. on Dec 1 and 1. IHSi'. 



H, V. CUTTINU, Sec. 



The semi-annual convention of the 

 Western liee-Keepers' Association 

 was held in Kansas City, Mo., on 

 April 29 and 30, 18S6. President Hay- 

 hurst called the meeting to order at 

 10 a.m., and the reports of the Secre- 

 tary and Treasurer were read and 

 adopted. A communication was read 

 from the Corresponding Secretary of 

 the North American Bee-Keepers' 

 Society, requesting that a committee 

 be appointed to make a display of the 

 honey-producing plants at its meeting 

 in October next. This was deferred 

 until the next day. While the com- 

 mittee on questions for discussion 

 were preparing them, the President 

 asked, " How did you winter your 



L. W. Baldwin— My bees are win- 

 tered mostly in the cellar. I left 2.5 

 colonies out-of-doors. I weighed 17 

 colonies placed in the cellar, and 

 found they had consumed 4 pounds of 

 honey in 100 days. I also weighed 

 those out-of-doors. I had 1.5 colonies 

 packed with 2}i inches of leaves all 

 around and on top. Those consumed, 

 on an average, (i pounds, and 10 colo- 

 nies packed on two sides and on top, 

 averaged 8 pounds per colony. This 

 shows that shutting colonies only on 

 as many combs as they will occupy, 

 and well packed, saves stores. 1 gave 

 upward ventilation to those in the 

 cellar. JNIy apiary wintered well. 



II. F. Mull— I cannot winter my 

 bees in the cellar on less than 5 

 pounds of stores. I have never 

 weighed any of thoseout-of -doors. 



Jas. II. Jones— I wintered 9.5 colo- 

 nies out-of-doors, packed, and .50 in 

 the cellar. Those on the summer 

 stands wintered the best. My cellar 

 was not right ; it did not have suffi- 

 cient ventilation, and the- combs 

 molded. 



A. A. Baldwin— 1 think that the 

 best point in packing bees out-of- 

 doors is to keep them from being 

 caught from the cluster. I have lost 

 three times as many bees, on an 

 average, in colonies not packed than 

 those packed on all sides and on top. 



R. B. Leahy— I have had some ex- 

 perience in wintering weak colonies. 

 I did not double up my nuclei last 

 fall, and lost one-third. I have v.sed 



no packing in wintering bees out-of- 

 doors, and I have lost only those 

 spoken of. 



The Constitution was amended by 

 adding Art. 10, viz: "The annual 

 dues for each male member shall be 

 .50 cents." 



The committee to prepare ques- 

 tions reported, and the convention 

 adjourned till 1:30 p.m. 



The opening session was well rep- 

 resented by bee-keepers from Mis- 

 souri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, 

 and tne attendance was larger than 

 at any previous meeting. Several 

 ladies were present. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The President called the meeting to 

 order at the appointed time, and Mr. 

 A. A. Baldwin was called on for his 

 essay on " The best method of hand- 

 ling bees for comb honey." Several 

 points in the essay were discussed. 



Jas. II. Jones— There would be 

 more money made to take out a part 

 of the bees from the swarm and re- 

 turn the remainder to the parent 

 colony, and would in that way get the 

 swarming fever out of them. I have 

 practiced returning the entire swarm, 

 and I find a great deal of trouble in 

 my bees sulking. 



" Is it best to unite -weak colonies in 

 the spring V" 



A. A. Baldwin— I think that the 

 best way is to unite them at the com- 

 mencement of the swarming season. 

 Up to this time we have two queens 

 tor breeding. 



Jas. A. Nelson— I would unite 

 queenless colonies with those having 

 a queen. 



Jas. H. Jones— If we do not want 

 increase we can take the smallest and 

 unite them with the next strongest, 

 and continue until the colonies are 

 strong. I think that the plan of 

 nursing weak colonies up to the 

 honey season and then uniting them 

 is a good one. 



An able article was read from 

 demons, Cloon & Co., on " The honey 

 market," which contained among 

 other interesting statements, "that 

 comb honey should be placed on the 

 market in packages of from 2-1 to 40 

 pounds each, and that the sections 

 should be unglassed and weigh one 

 pound each." They would not advise 

 the use of 3^-pound sections. 



The usual subject on the best race 

 of bees was thoroughly discussed. 



J. D. Ghering— My bees are mostly 

 blacks, and I produce as pretty honey 

 as the market affords. I do not find 

 the Italians disposed to finish up their 

 honey as perfectly as the blacks. I 

 have tried placing the honey from the 

 Italians on the hive of the blacks to 

 finish up, with a good deal of satis- 

 faction. 



" Is it necessary to have a honey- 

 board with open-top frames in getting 

 comb honey V" 



R. B. Leahy— I have never used a 

 dozen honey-boards in working for 

 comb honev. and I do not have any 

 trouble with the queen getting into 

 the sections. 



John Conser— I have not had any 

 Uroiible with queens in the secttoaa. 



