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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1886. Time and place of Meeting. | 



July 6.— Hill Countv. at Peoria. Tex. 



H. A. Goodricb. Sec, Massey, Tex. 



July le.-Marsball Co., at Marshalltown. Iowa. 



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



Aug. 31.— Stark County, at Canton. O. 



Mark Thomson, Sec, Canton, O. 



Sept.4.— Shebovpan Co., at Slieboysan Falls.Wis. 

 Mattte B. Thomas, Sec, Sheboygan Falls. Wis. 



Oct. 7.— Wis. Lake Shore Center, at Kiel, Wis. 



Ferd Zastrow, Sec, Millhome, Wis. 



Oct. 12— 14.— North American, at Indianapolia.lnd. 

 F. L. Dougherty, Sec, Indianapolis. Ind. 



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

 J. M. HambauBh. Sec, Spring, Ills. 



Dec. 1, 2.— Michigan State, at Ypsilanti, Mich. 



H. D. Cutting, Sec, Clinton, Mich. 



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

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetiBBs.— Kd. 



tween the first and second swarms ; 

 also after swarming 3 or 4 times, in a 

 few days they are in the sections 

 again ; some have stored -10 to 60 

 pounds, and cast several swarms. I 

 am tiering up my new colonies to 

 keep them from swarming, as some 

 did 10 days ago. 





Much Swarming— A. F. Currier, 

 Du Plain,© Mich., on June 28, 1886, 

 says: 



I have a colony of bees that cast its 

 first swarm on June 1 ; another in a 

 few days, and both large swarms ; on 

 June 12 it cast another fair swarm, 

 and on June 13 I found two queens in 

 the parent hive. I started with 7 

 colonies in the spring, and I now have 

 24. Some that have swarmed three 

 times are working in the sections 

 well. 



Number of Frames for Winter.— 

 Master R. B. Ross, of Montreal, Can- 

 ada, on June 22, 1886, writes thus : 



Please tell me how many combs to 

 leave for winter supply in each hive. 



An older person (probably his 

 father) adds this explanation : 



This is from a little subscriber to 

 your Journal, 9 years old. He has 

 two hives (with 8 movable frames in 

 each), and he wants to know how 

 many of these frames should be left 

 in, for a strong colony for winter, 

 after the one-pound sections in the 

 surplus department are taken away. 



[Our young subscriber is welcome 

 to send in a question. We are glad 

 he has been so thoughtful as to calcu- 

 late ahead about preparing his bees 

 for winter. Four frames will be suffi- 

 cient to leave in each hive for winter. 

 They must each contain about five 

 pounds of honey for the bees to live 

 on during the winter months. Each 

 colony should have bees enough to 

 fill the spaces between these frames. 

 —Ed.] 



early season put them in good condi- 

 tion for wliite clover, which has been 

 profuse in bloom, but the weather has 

 been too cold and dry for the best re- 

 sults. My first swarms began on May 

 18, and have filled up their sections. 

 The old colonies are doing very well, 

 but are swarming too much for my 

 comfort, being largely in excess of 

 auy former year. There is but little 

 sale for bees or honey in this section. 

 I have heretofore used full sheets of 

 foundation in brood-frames, but this 

 season I have put in one-half size, and 

 I get just as good results. 



Pleased with the B- K. Union.— 



John Rey, East Saginaw,© Mich., 

 writes : 



I think that the National Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Union is but a small " nucleus" 

 yet, considering the thousands of bee- 

 keepers there are in our land of honey; 

 but if we will only take a lesson from 

 our little, busy bees, we will soon in- 

 crease to a large " colony." Remem- 

 ber the larger the " colony " the bet- 

 ter the defense. I, for one, am well 

 pleased with the Bee-Keepers' Union, 

 and I only wish that it may live until 

 the last bee dies in our land. 



Plenty of Clover, but no Bees.— R. 

 G. Ilogue, Loydsville,CH O., on June 

 28, 1886, writes : 



I am in hopes that many more will 

 deem it a necessity to become mem- 

 bers of the Bee-Keepers' Union. It 

 does not look right for a few to stand 

 good for the whole band of bee-keep- 

 ers, which is virtually the case ; for 

 the word will go abroad that the bee- 

 keepers have formed a Union for self- 

 protection, and any person that hears 

 of it would rather compromise a dif- 

 ficulty with a bee-keeper than run the 

 risk of getting into the clutches of 

 such a Union. This has been a very 

 good season until last week, when it 

 turned so wet that the bees have done 

 nothing for a few days. A great many 

 bees have died during the last winter 

 in this neighborhood. My count last 

 fall was 24 ; this spring 4. It looks 

 like a great waste to see so much 

 white clover and scarcely any bees to 

 gather the nectar from it. 



Pickup, 

 24, 1886, 



Good Clover Crop. — E. 

 Limerick, 5 Ills., on June 

 writes : 



We are having mostly cool nights 

 and mornings, with showers, which 

 shorten the day's work for the bees ; 

 yet white clover is good, and they 

 fall with their loads. I seldom see 

 them fill up so in the sections be 



Sweet Prospects. — Eugene Secor, 

 Forest City, 5 Iowa, on June 25, 1886, 

 writes : 



It is only about two months since 

 the bees were removed from the cellar, 

 and 25 colonies worked for comb 

 honey have stored nearly 1,000 pounds. 

 White clover has been very abundant 

 and very rich in nectar. The sections 

 that I am taking off rival in whiteness 

 the celebrated California product. 

 Linden will soon be in bloom. If that 

 yields well I am going to have the 

 best crop of honey I have ever 

 secured. 



Good Prospects for Basswood.— S. 



IL Mallory,(68— 104),Decatur,?Mich., 

 on June 28, 1886, says : 



Bees have been doing well for two 

 or three weeks on clover, although 

 quite dry until within a few days. We 

 are having plenty of rain now, almost 

 every day. I never had a better 

 showing for clover honey so early in 

 the season, and basswood yet to hear 

 from, which is about coming into 

 bloom, and looks fair for giving a big 

 yield. 



Too Much Swarming, etc.— D. F. 

 Park, Athens, 5 Pa., on June 28, 1886, 

 says: 



I wintered 60 colonies of bees on the 

 summer stands without loss, except 

 ing three that were queenless. The 



"Who Owns the Bees?— W. R. H., 



Mt. Carroll,-o Ills., on June 18,1886, 

 writes thus : 



Just at sundown my bees swarmed 

 and left. I followed them. They 

 went directly towards my neighbor, 

 one-quarter of a mile away. As they 

 went over my neighbor's barn-yard, 

 his hired man saw them and com- 

 menced pounding on pans, etc. The 

 bees went directly into my neighbor's 

 hive. Most of them were in before I 

 got there. Wlio owns the bees, my 

 neighbor, his hired man, or myself? 

 I immediately took the bees out of 

 the box-hive and put them in my 

 own, but left them there. If the bees 

 are mine, what should I pay my 

 neighbor (he don't claim them) ; or 

 what should I pay the hired man (he 

 claims them)? 



[The bees are yours by all points of 

 law. If any of your neighbor's prop- 

 erty was injured or destroyed by the 

 transaction, equity would say : Pay 

 him for it. If the hired man was put 

 to any expense, or used time not 

 already sold to his employer, pay him 

 for it. He certainly has no claim on 

 the bees, either in equity or law. If 

 his time belonged to his employer, 

 settle with your neighbor for that. — 

 Ed.] 



Very Fine Season.— E. T. Jordan, 

 IIarmony,K3 Ind., on June 24, 1886, 

 writes : 



This has been a very fine honey 

 season until the last few days, which 

 have been cool and rainy. There is 

 an abundance of while clover, and a 

 limited amount of basswood which is 

 beginning to bloom. I extracted my 

 first honey on May 24. Up to June 23 



