662 



THE AMERICA!? BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1882. Time and Place oj Meeting. 



Oct. 18, 19— Northwestern, atChicago. III. 



O. C. CoflBnberry, Sec, Chicago, 111. 



18, 19— Southern California, at Los Angeles. 

 J. E. Pleasiints, Pree., Anaheim, Cal. 



21— Northern Ohio, at Norwalk. O. 



S. F. Newman, Sec., Norwalk, O. 



Nov. 1— New Jersey & Eastern, at New Brunswick. 

 J. Uusbrouck, Sec. Bound Brook, N. J. 



3.— Iowa Central, atWinterset. Iowa, 



Henry Wallace. Sec. 



tW In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetinus.—BD. 



THE NATIONAL CONVENTION. 



The 13th Annual meeting of tlie 

 North American Bee-keepers' Society, 

 met at Cincinnati, O., on Friday, Oct. 

 3, 1882, and was called to order at 9:30 

 a.m., with Prof. A. J. Cooli, of the 

 Agricultural College of Michigan, 

 President of the Society, in the chair. 

 Dr. Ehrick Parniely, of New York, 

 the Secretary of the Society, being 

 absent, Mr. A. I. Root, of Medina, O., 

 was chosen Secretary pro tem. 



On the front of tlie stage were ar- 

 ranged a number of improved imple- 

 ments for bee culture, consisting of 

 liives, smokers, extractors, founda- 

 tion machines, and numerous samples 

 of honey. 



Tlie Vice Presidents reported as 

 follows : 



1). A. Jones said the honey crop of 

 Canada is not over 50 per cent, and is 

 dark and not up to the standard. 

 Many colonies will have to be fed : he 

 had purcliased 50 barrels of granulated 

 sugar for feeding this fall. 



Judge Andrews reports an excellent 

 crop from Texas. He has 125 per cent 

 of an increase, and an average of 100 

 lbs. of honey per colony. 



Dr. C. C. Miller, of Marengo, 111., 

 started, last spring, with 174 colonies, 

 increased to 202, and obtained 15,000 

 lbs. of comb lioney in 1 lb. sections. 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown, placed the 

 lioney crop of Georgia at about 26 lbs. 

 to the colony. One colony yielded 350 

 lbs. of extracted lioney. 



Mr. J. C. Peden, of Kentucky, re- 

 ported that tlie prospects in liis sec- 

 tion, at the begimiiiig of tlie season 

 were excellent, but tlie cold and rainy 

 weatlier in tlie middle of it had cut 

 tlie crop sliort, being only an average 

 of about 15 to 20 lbs. per colony. 



Mr. Wm. Williamson, of Lexing- 

 ton, Vice President from Kentucky, 

 made substantially the same report. 



Dr. O. M. Blanton, of Greenville, 

 Miss., reported great success of the 

 Mississippi bee-keepers. One had 3,- 

 745 pounds of comb honey and 1,500 

 pounds of extracted honey. He liim- 

 self had 256 colonies of bees, and had 

 23,000 pounds of extracted honey, be- 

 sides some 600 pounds of comb honey. 

 A gentleman living across the river 

 from him in Ark., had received 538 

 pounds of extracted honey from one 

 hive alone. The Doctor had observed 

 that his bees gathered a very good 

 quality of lioney from sorghum and 

 the tassels of Indian corn. 



Mr. C. F. Mutli reported that the 

 finest lioney he had secured this sea- 

 son was from Florida, and that he was 

 informed of an enormous yield there. 



Mr. O. O. Poppleton said that he 

 estimated the average yield for Iowa 

 to be 75 lbs. per colony, and the season 

 had been a prosperous one for bee- 

 keepers generally. 



Mr.C. Grimm, had reports from 25 

 bee-keepers of Wisconsin, who had 

 3,025 colonies of bees, an average 

 yield of 60 lbs. of surplus per colony, 

 being 181,500 lbs. from them all. The 

 increase is 80 per cent. Wisconsin 

 has 50,000 colonies of bees, but his re- 

 port is only from 3,025 or one-sixteenth 

 of the whole, 



W. M. Vinson reported from 22 bee- 

 men of Dakota, only a half crop ; 

 267 colonies gave only 10,982 pounds of 

 surplus. 



Jonas Scholl said bees in Indiana 

 had done well for themselves, but not 

 for their owners. Much increase but 

 not over 10 lbs. of surplus per colony. 



Mr. Vandei-voot reported a very 

 peculiar season in Pennsylvania. Tlie 

 outlook had been good, but cold 

 weatlier in July had done such dam- 

 age tliat he had been compelled to feed 

 bees to keep tliem from starving. Tlie 

 yield of buckwheat honey was good, 

 but the general yield small in all por- 

 tions of tlie State. From 175 colonies 

 he had an increase of 12 swarms, and 

 an average of .20 to 25 lbs. of honey 

 per colony. 



Mr. Morehouse, of Michigan, said 

 bees in his section had wintered well 

 and the fruit bloom yield had been 

 immense. He had noticed greater 

 production from swarms than from 

 old colonies. The average yield of 

 honey was about 40 pounds per hive. 



Mr. E. T. Lewis, of Toledo, reported 

 a very extraordinary yield in South- 

 eastern Micliigan and Northeastern 

 Ohio. 



The President had found the in- 

 crease of bees in Central Michigan to 

 be about 150 per cent, and the surplus 

 honey at about 80 pounds per colony. 



Mr. J. M. Hicks, of Indiana, re- 

 ported that he had averaged 500 lbs. 

 of honey per colony on alsike clover, 

 and J. C. Carroll, of Dallas County, 

 Texas, through a friend, reported from 

 one of his Cyprian colonies a yield of 

 1,000 lbs., which was declared to be 

 the largest yield ever known. 



Mr. F. Delia Torre, of Maryland, 

 exhibited a small bottle of colorless 

 honey from his apiary near Baltimore, 

 which, he stated, was readily sold 



there at 35 cents per lb., and that he 

 was unable to acc(nint for Its want of 

 color, but that its consistency was 

 good and its taste delicious. The ex- 

 hibit excited much comment. 



Mr. H. L. Jeffrey reported that 

 Conn, has about 80,000 colonies of bees, 

 of which 95 per cent are in box liives, 

 etc., and two-thirds of them have not} 

 honey enough for wnter. 



J. A. Morton, of Maine, said that 9 

 of the best counties had 10,000 colo- 

 nies of bees, but being kept in old- 

 fogy style, 30 per cent died in winter. 



Wm. Muth Rasmussen estimated 

 the average crop of honey for Califor- 

 nia from 25 to 30 lbs. per colony. 



Mr. R. S. Musser reported for Mis- 

 souri, that bee culture was on the in- 

 crease, but he had no definite figures 

 at his command. 



Mrs. L. Harrison said the honey 

 crop of 111. has been the best for 12 

 years, and is still continuing. 



Dr. J. E. Lay, of Texas, gave a 

 graphic description of bee culture in 

 the Lone Star State. During the sea- 

 son, when horsemint bloomed, his bees 

 would touch nothing else. Horsemint 

 never failed to bloom ; winter couldn't 

 kill it, nothing on earth would eat it, 

 and the only use it could be put fo 

 was to season sausage and give honey. 

 He began with 15 colonies and in- 

 creased to 55, and had secured 300 

 pounds of honey from each of his 

 colonies. 



Mr. Harrington, of Ohio, said he 

 had heard so much about Texas that 

 he intended to load his bees on a train, 

 snap his fingers at the Northern bliz- 

 zard, and winter in the Lone Star 

 State. 



After the laughter had subsided, 

 upon motion. Dr. C. C. Miller, of Illi- 

 nois ; Judge Andrews, of Texas, and 

 Mr. Poppleton, of Iowa, were ap- 

 pointed a Committee on Statistics, and 

 the convention adjourned for dinner. 



AFTERNOON SESSION— FIKST DAY. 



The Convention was called to order 

 at 2 p.m., and after the reception of 

 new members, Mr. O. O. Poppleton 's 

 paper on Chaff Hives in Winter was 

 read by the President, the author, 

 though present, suffering from a ser- 

 ious affection of the eyes. [This essay 

 may be found on page 629 of the Bee 

 Journal for Oct. 4.— Ed.] 



Mr. Christopher Grimm favors cel- 

 lar wintering. He prepares his bees 

 early, and they need no care after- 

 ward ; uses sub-earth ventilation ; has 

 hives open full size of entrance, and 

 one-quarter inch at top, full width of 

 hive. Cellars will not get too warm, 

 if too many bees are not put in. 



C. C. Miller has most trouble in cel- 

 lar wintering just before taking them 

 out in spring. 



D. A. Jones explains sub-earth ven- 

 tilation, and says he keeps his pipes 

 clear of cobwebs, etc., by firing a 

 musket in at one end. The pipes are 

 100 to 150 feet long, and about 6 by 6 

 inches, for 100 colonies. Would by all 

 means use sub-earth ventilation, as it 

 keeps bees dry. 



