"714 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



■bived them was so frosty that a few 

 straptgling bees around the hive per- 



.ished. 'Some young brood and honey 



■was given them, and now there were 



'4 good colonies, and surplus tliis year. 

 Geo. Luff, of this city, had 17 colo- 

 nies last fall, 10 this spring ; 4 died 



■during the late spring ; has 9 now, and 

 faad taKen 100 lbs. of honey this season. 

 Bishop Madson, said there were 20 

 colonies of bees m that place, all in 

 good condition. The inspector of 

 Manti had visited and pronounced 

 their bees healthy. Did not know 



.how much honey was taken. 



Edward Stevenson, of this county, 



^ said his experience in the mortality of 

 bees, during the past winter and 

 spring, excelled any previous year, in 

 this county, but he could not agree 

 ■with Mr. McKay, of 90 per cent, be- 

 * ling the average loss, but thought 50 



■ per cent, would cover it. In East 

 Mill Creek 5 colonies of his bees win- 

 tered on a plank close to the ground, 

 the snow drifted against them and re- 

 mained in that condition until late in 

 the spring, and while other bees, ex- 

 posed to the warm rays of the sun, 

 would often fly out, and the cool air 

 and snow on the ground caused them 

 by thousands to chill and fall into the 

 snow, thus depleting the colonies, so 

 that the late spring and cool frosty 

 nights either caused them to dwin- 

 dle away so that they could not gather 

 honey from fruit bloom, and entirely 

 perLsned, as hundreds of colonies did, 

 but those .5 colonies imprisoned, could 



-not waste away, and, consequently, 

 were strong, and able to gather sup- 

 plies from fruit bloom and other 

 blossoms. They increased to 15 this 

 season. Some of them are in two- 

 story hives, and now have 100 lbs. of 

 honey each ; 2 colonies have gathered 

 300 or 400 lbs of honey this season, 

 from the live thus wintered. 



Bishop Bills, of South Jordan, win- 

 tered quite a number of colonies of 

 bees, surrounded by chaff, in long 

 boxes, removing to tops of the hives, 

 placing cloths over them, and then 

 «haff, keeping them mouse-proof. So 

 that the warm rays of the sun could 

 not afleet them until it was sufficiently 

 warm for them to fly and return home 

 again. He lost none during the win- 

 ter. 



Pres. Musser said that the bee in- 

 dustry should be interesting and kept 

 alive. It paid a better per cent, than 

 farming, and other industries, when 

 intelligently managed. Honey has 

 medicinal properties and is healthy, as 

 well as a luxury. Thought it would 

 be well to have blanks to be tilled as 

 reports from branch associations. 

 Said some considered the smoke from 

 the numerous smelters in this city 

 detrimental to apiculturists. 



E. Stevenson moved that a com- 

 mittee be appointed from this meet- 

 ing to get up blanks to be sent to 

 branch associations, to be filled up and 

 returned, to facilitate general reports 

 from the various counties of our Ter- 

 ritory. The motion was carried. 

 Edward Stevenson and \Vm. Egan 

 were appointed as that committee. 

 The convention adjourned until next 

 April 5th. Benediction by Mr. Thos. 

 Liee. E. Stevenson, iSec. 



saS^W^Mh 



The Sweet Clover Still in Bloom.— 



On Nov. 1st, 1881, I sent you a few 

 sprigs of sweet clover. I now send 

 you another bunch, picked in an open 

 field to-day, it is just as sweet and 

 fresh now as then. This clover has 

 been in blossom continuously since 

 about July 1. and the bees have 

 visited it whenever the weather was 

 favorable. The past season was a 

 very good one, yet I fully believe that 

 10 acres of sweet clover would have 

 been worth $500 to me. I shall sow 

 several acres next spring. I have 

 been experimenting with a number of 

 honey plants, for several years, but 

 find nothing equal to sweet clover. 



C. H. DiBBEKN. 



Milan, Ills., Nov. 1st, 1882. 



[It is indeed of " sweet-smelling 

 savor " and shows its value as a honey 

 plant — blooming till long after the 

 weather will allow the bees to fly.— 

 Ed.] 



Cowardly Bees.— I have one colony 

 of bees that will not defend them- 

 selves against invaders. They have a 

 good queen, and are strong in num- 

 bers, with plenty of stores. I have 

 tried everything I liave read or heard 

 of, to induce them to have more spirit, 

 but all to no purpose. If I cannot 

 find some effectual remedy soon, 1 

 shall resort to brimstone. Who can 

 give me a prescription ¥ 



W. D. Smysek. 



Nineveh, Ind., Oct. 27, 1882. 



One Hundred Pounds of Honey per 

 Colony. — I am not able' to make a 

 complete report for the past season, 

 for I have not taken off all my sur- 

 plus honey yet ; but enough to show 

 that I shall obtain 100 lbs. to the 

 colony, spring count. We have had 

 the heaviest honey flow ever known 

 in this section, (t shall put into win- 

 ter quarters about 40 colonies. I had 

 20 in the spring. I wish to build a 

 "honey house" and shop, combined, 

 in the spring, and would like for some- 

 one to give a good plan, dimensions, 

 etc., in the American Bee Journal, 

 at an early day. 



W. H. Graves. 



Duncan, 111., Oct. 25, 1882. 



Chilled Brood and Robbing:. — I 



started, spring count, with 2 strong 

 and 1 weak colonies, and bought of Mr. 

 Robertson, of Pewamo, 1 fine colony 

 and 4 tested queens. One of the 

 queens died soon after being intro- 

 duced, through a very cold spell which 

 we had about the first of June; the 

 other three queens did well. I only 

 increased from 4 to 7, and from these 

 I took only 70 lbs. of extracted honey, 

 from frames having no brood. White 

 clover was a poor crop ; basswood gave 

 nothing, on account of wet weather. 

 In the early fall I had 5 strong and 2 



good colonies, with plenty of stores, 

 and had serious intentions of dividing 

 3 of them. I noticed the brood was 

 not hatching out ; it appeared chilled 

 (no bad smell from it). I had one 

 thickness of burlap over the frames, 

 and at once put two and three thick- 

 ness more on ; still the brood did not 

 hatch, though the weather was very 

 fine and warm. Some of the young 

 bees could only get their heads out, 

 and then die. The bees, of course, 

 commenced to dwindle ; they had 

 plenty of stores, on an average, on 

 which to winter. I commenced feed- 

 ing granulated sugar, 8 lbs. to 6 lbs. of 

 water, in syrup, taking care while 

 boiling not to scorch or burn. I fed 

 from 12 to201bs. perhive, as I thought 

 they needed it. To cap all, while in 

 Toronto, Sunday, Oct. 22, my bees 

 commenced robbing and on Monday I 

 had the remnants of 3 colonies. I put 

 these together and now have a moder- 

 ate one, with plenty of stores. Can 

 you give me any idea of all this 

 trouble, particularly the cause of the 

 brood not hatching]' I use frames 

 18x10x1. My hives are double, with 2 

 inches of a space all round, some of 

 them packed with leaves. 



S. G. HOLLET. 



New Hamburg, Ont., Oct. .57, 1882. 



[Your colonies were evidently weak. 

 From some cause or other there must 

 have been a loss of old bees, until 

 there were too few of them to take 

 care of the brood, and so it became 

 "chilled,'' resulting in still more weak- 

 ening the colonies— no young bees to 

 take the place of those dying from old 

 age or other causes. Still more proof 

 for this theory is found in the fact that 

 they were unable to protect them- 

 selves from the robbers. Weak colo- 

 nies are an easy prey, and very often 

 such will incite the bees to excessive 

 robbing.— Ed.] 



Peppermint to Prevent Stings.- Has 

 any one used peppermint, rubbed on 

 their hands, while handling bees 'i* I 

 have used it, and very rarely do I get 

 stung. We now have a good spell of 

 weather after the snow storm. Bees 

 are out briskly. We have a plant that 

 is called skunk weed, that bees even 

 go miles to work upon, in the fall. It 

 seems to grow best on our country 

 roads. I do not know of but one plant 

 growing in a garden in this city. I 

 saw a few plants the other day, and 

 bees were working on them, although 

 they did not appear to have any honey 

 about them. I will send you a sprig 

 of them when I go out in the country 

 again. I send you a report of the 

 bee convention held in Salt Lake City, 

 on the 5th inst.; S.OfiO lbs. is not all the 

 honey that should be reported from 

 this city : two of our largest bee men 

 did not report; 1,000 lbs. is the largest 

 yield from one apiary. Thanks to Mr. 

 Heddon for his article on the easy way 

 of wintering bees, on page 059 of the 

 American Bee Journal. 



John Dunn. 



Tooele City, Utah, Oct. 26, 1882. 



