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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ffir the American Bee JoumaL 



Some Hints about Conventions. 



C. C. MILLER. 



Perhaps I ouglit to say " two hints" 

 as that number comes prominently be- 

 fore my mind just now. 



The first is that eacli member sliould 

 before he leaves lionie, write down a 

 list of the subjects he wants discussed 

 and the questions lie wants answered. 



The second is that he should take 

 his wife with him, or other members 

 of his family. 



The experience of the past meetings 

 of the Northwestern Convention at 

 Chicago contirms the opinion that in 

 no way can a meeting of bee-keepers 

 be made more interesting and proHt- 

 able than by having the time mostly 

 or wholly spent in live discussions of 

 practical topics, and in asking and 

 answering questions such as are con- 

 stantly arising in the minds of those 

 who make their living through the 

 labors of tlie busy bee. 



Do not most bee-keepers' wives have 

 some interest in their husbands' call- 

 ing ? Would they not be interested 

 in hearing and taking part in bee- 

 keepers' discussions V I am much 

 mistaken in my estimate of bee-keep- 

 ers' wives if they are not, in the main, 

 an intelligent set, possessing an un- 

 usual amount of good, practical com- 

 mon sense ; women who do their full 

 share of the work and to whom a cou- 

 ple of days rest would be a blessing 

 and whose presence at a convention 

 would largely increase its interests. 

 My wife has worked side by side with 

 me in the apiary this summer, has 

 taken her full share of stings and 

 work, and is entitled to attend the 

 Convention as well as myself. I ex- 

 pect her to go with me and I don't 

 want to see so few women there that 

 she shall feel '" like a cat in a strange 

 garret." 



Allow me to give a pressing invita- 

 tion to all bee-keepers to be present 

 at Chicago. The meeting occurs the 

 last week of the Exposition when ex- 

 cursion tickets can be had from nearly 

 all points. Perhaps the Bee Journal 

 will lay us under still greater obliga- 

 tions by telling us just how to reach 

 the place of meeting, and by giving 

 us some information as to convenient 

 hotel accommodations. 



Now just as soon as you have fin- 

 ished reading this, please sit down at 

 once and commence writing a list of 

 the questions and subjects you want 

 discussed ; even if there is only a sin- 

 gle one, write it down that you may 

 not forget it. Then talk over with 

 your wife the matter of her accom- 

 panying you, and tell her it will do 

 you good, and her good to have her 

 along. Like as not she will object 

 that she hasn't just the right clothes 

 to put on, or that some ''woman 

 fixen " is out of repair about her bon- 

 net or dress, but tell her that the 

 latest style is not to dress up much 

 for conventions, and tliat other bee- 

 keepers as well as her husband are 

 men of sense .and value a woman for 

 lier qualities of head and heart and 

 not for the clothes she wears. Please 

 be on hand if possible at 10 a.m. 



Wednesday, Oct. 18. All lady bee- 

 keepers are urgently invited whether 

 they have husbands present or not. 



By an oversight of the president, 

 the notices already given say that the 

 Xorthwestern Convention meets Oct. 

 17-18. Instead of this it adjourned 

 last year to meet Wednesday, so please 

 note that it meets Wednesday and 

 Thursday Oct. 18-19. 



Marengo. 111. 



SELi^4°-^M&>^ 



«^f£« 



Good Work in Extracting.— I inclose 

 you the flower of a weed that grows 

 all through the woods here. 1 wish 

 you would give the name. It has 

 been in bloom ever since the 1st of 

 August, and my bees have never 

 ceased to work on it since. Bees are 

 still booming on goldenrod. At pres- 

 ent the nights are a little too cool for 

 the upper stories. I think Iowa can 

 show up with most any other State 

 this season on honey yield, and there 

 cannot he any better quality tlian 

 ours this season. I see by the Bee 

 .Journal of Sept. I3th that Dadant 

 & Son think they have the largest 

 day's extracting on record. On Alon- 

 day, Aug. 28, working from 9 a. m. to 

 •5 p. m., and taking 1}^ hours' nooning, 

 I extracted 500 lbs.; I did all the 

 work of carrying the honey in and 

 everything else, and on Saturday after- 

 noon, Sept. 9tli. I extracted 280 lbs. 

 from 2 p. m. to 6 p. m. ; and this was 

 capped % of the \\ ay down each comb. 

 I use a 2-frame extractor. Now if 

 any one can beat this, let them speak 

 out. II. O.McElhaney. 



Brandon, Iowa, Sept. 15, 1882. 



[The plant is Lophanthus scrophula- 

 rhrfolius (giant hyssop), a plant occur- 

 ring throughout a very wide region of 

 the Northern States, not usually 

 abundant, except in rich soils well 

 protected from the tramping, etc., of 

 cattle. No doubt a good honey plant, 

 yet far inferior to many others of less 

 vegetative vigor. T. J. Burrill.] 



My Third Annual Report,— The sea- 

 son just closed, although better than 

 either of the two preceding, has not 

 been altogether satisfactory to the 

 bee-keeper in this section of Iowa. 

 The spring and early summer were 

 wet and cold. The little honey se- 

 creted by the flowers was washed out 

 by the frequent rains. An unusually 

 late frost. May 21st, killed many of 

 the honey flowers ; apples and pliims 

 were in bloom and completely de- 

 stroyed ; basswood buds were so 

 frozen that no bloom was seen ; the 

 bees got just enough honey to keep 

 up brood-rearing. Nearly all our sur- 

 plus was stored after tlie middle of 

 July. At that time, many of the colo- 

 nies did not have 5 pounds of honey 

 in the brood chamber, although they 

 had commenced to store in the supers. 

 With the blooming of sumac came 

 our first extracted honey. That yielded 



well, and was a profitable honey plant. 

 The honey is thin, but of good flavor, 

 and improves on acquaintance. After 

 sumac, came what we call the yellow 

 evening primrose. There happened 

 to be a neglected field near our place, 

 and there were acres of primrose in it, 

 and the bees preferred it to any other 

 flower. After the primrose came the 

 thistle family, and they have been in 

 bloom ever since. These three plants 

 furnished about all the honey we ob- 

 tained this year. No basswood nor 

 white clover honey, and none from 

 buckwheat. I heard one gentleman 

 say that he thought there was some 

 honey-dew in the timbijr. and also 

 that he saw a great many bees on the 

 corn tassels, but I did not notice 

 either. Our honey is all light-colored, 

 and that gathered after sumac disap- 

 peared is very thick, so thick that it 

 will scarcely run through a common- 

 sized funnel. Number of colonies 

 last fall, 18; number this spring, say 

 •June 1st. 15; lost in wintering. 2; lost 

 in " springing," 1 ; increased by 

 natural swarming and by young 

 queens given to nuclei, and built up, 

 to 20. Tried to control swarming, but 

 could not. Some colonies swarmed 

 four times, which were returned to 

 the old colony. I winter always in a 

 cellar under the house with the tem- 

 perature of cellar last winter 34- to 

 40^ F. Kind of hive used similar to 

 Langstroth in size, only the frames 

 run across instead of lengthwise. 

 Number of pounds surplus, extracted, 

 8825-^ lbs. ; in I'-i lb. section boxes, 

 2651^ ; total numTier pounds surplus, 

 1,148; average per old colonies, 76}^ 

 lbs. ; largest from any one colony, 152 

 lbs. Some as fine honey as I ever saw 

 was made after Sept. 1st. Quite a 

 large amount was stored after that 

 date. The whole family of fall yellow 

 flowers, goldenrods, asters, artichokes, 

 etc., were almost entirely neglected 

 by the bees this fall. I watched in vain 

 for a bee on them. Eugene Secor. 

 Forest City, Iowa, Sept. 22, 1882. 



A Scotch Bee-Keeper in Texas.— As 

 mentioned in my last letter to the Bee 

 Journal, on p. .507, 1 have continued 

 my journey from Illinois to Texas. 

 Through the kindness of the editor of 

 the Bee Journal, there is now 

 another green spot in my memories of 

 America. His letter of introduction 

 gave me a cordial welcome at the 

 home of Judge Andrews, and, truly. I 

 did not journey in vain, for his apinry 

 is a grand siglit. lie seems to be per- 

 sonally acquainted with his bees in 

 each colony, and speaks of his queens 

 as a good farmer does of his cattle. 

 lie has over 200 colonies of pure Ital- 

 ians, for which he claims two particu- 

 lar points of merit, beauty and do- 

 cility, and I can vouchsafe for the 

 latter, as I waded through a perfect 

 forest of hives and never received a 

 sting. He extracts honey with a ma- 

 chine of his own invention, and his 

 harvest this year is immense. Mr. 

 Andrews also "has some of the finest 

 cattle I ever saw. One calf, of the 

 Jersey breed, he has been offered $200 

 for. "He keeps only only the best and 

 purest stock. James Anderson. 



Allen, Texas. Sept. 20, 1882. 



