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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



^" The 17th annual convention of 

 the Michigan State Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will be held in Kalamazoo, 

 Dee. 6 and 7, 1S82. All interested are 

 cordially invited to participate in the 

 discussions— which will embrace the 

 live issues of the Apiculture of to-day. 

 Thomas G. Newman, A. I. Root, D. 

 A. Jones, Prof. A. J. Cook, and many 

 other distinguished apicnlturists are 

 expected to be present. Low rates of 

 board at hotels have been secured. 

 T. F. Bingham, Sec, Abronia, Mich. 



^°The annual meeting of the Ma- 

 honing Valley Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion will be held at Berlin Center, 

 Mahoning Co.; O., in the town hall on 

 Friday and Saturday the 19th and 20th 

 of January, 18S.3. All bee-keepers are 

 invited to attend and send essays, pa- 

 pers, implements, or any thing'of in- 

 terest to the fraternity. A full at- 

 tendance is requested of all who are 

 interested. In fact, the meetings will 

 be so interesting that you cannot 

 afford to miss tlieni. VVe expect a 

 lecturer from abroad on the evening 

 of the 19th. L. Causon, Pres. 



^ The Nebraska State Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, will hold its annual 

 session in Wahoo, Saunders county. 

 Neb., commencing Thursday, Jan. 

 11th, 188.3. Arrangements have been 

 made with the railroads to secure 1}^ 

 fare for the round trip. The Saunders 

 county Bee- Keepers' Association will 

 furnish entertainment free to all 

 visiting apiarists. Bee-keepers from 

 neighboring States will be weleomed. 

 T. L. VonDokn, Pres. 



Geo. M. Hawley, ^'ec. 





Report for 1882. — Basswoodis very 

 scarce in our neighborhood, and there 

 are no other blooming trees, except 

 fruit trees. Wliite clover was a fair 

 crop here this season. Therefore, I 

 am obliged to resort to iilanting to 

 make the business a prolitable one. I 

 sowed sweet clover in the spring, on 

 sandy soil ; it came up very nice, but 

 did iiot bloom. I also sowed about 

 three acres this fall with wheat, and 

 will resow the same ground again in 

 the spring, as the lirst time it was 

 sowed thin with that intention ; there 

 being .so many dilferent reports about 

 sweet clover during the last year, as 

 to the time of sowing and its value 

 afterward ; that every man must do 

 his own experimenting in the best 

 way he can. There will be one conso- 

 lation, I will have the pleasure of 

 knowing some of its traits when it 

 once comes to perfection. Last year I 

 was told to sow catnip, and mother- 

 wort in the fall ; I did so and failed, 

 now I shall sow in the spring ; should 

 I fail on these three plants then there 

 will be a small apiary for sale ; should 

 I meet with success, and learn more 

 properly tlie ways of success of the 



apiary,! may hereafter be able to give 

 a more satisfactory report upon api- 

 culture. 1 started the season with 3 

 colonies, increased to 12 by natural 

 swarming and returned 4 swarms; I 

 used foundation in the brood chamber 

 and surplus boxes. I obtained 201 lbs. 

 comb honey ; average, 67 lbs. spring 

 count. The honey sold at 20 cts. per 

 pound. S13.40 per colony. 

 Elida, O. Jno. G. Ridenour. 



A Natural Bee Hive.— Mr. Editor: 

 — I send you a sample bee hive, with 

 the side cut away, showing the inside 

 arrangement. It maybe tliat you can 

 see progression in it. 



W. H. BUSSEY. 



Chicago, 111., Nov. 20, 1882. 



[It is a hornet-bee's nest, and we 

 suppose was intended to call attention 

 to the 7 dead-air spaces between tlie 

 inside and outside of the nest, wliich 

 Nature must have taught these insects 

 to have in order to resist the cold in 

 autumn, and protect the brood, dur- 

 ing the fall. There is some difference, 

 however, between their thin paper 

 hives and the board and straw, used 

 for bees in winter, as also much differ- 

 ence between the cold weather during 

 autumn and that of the winter from 

 January to March. We have no doubt, 

 however, that dead-air spaces are as 

 good as any other method of winter 

 protection. — Ed.] 



4,000 lbs. of Honey from 19 Colo- 

 nies. — My report is as follows : Ex- 

 tracted honey, 3,000 lbs.; comb honey 

 in one-pound sections, 1,000 lbs. I 

 have also 100 full Langstroth and 

 American frames extra for spring 

 feeding, if next spring should be late. 

 I increased to 71 from 16, springcount. 

 All this increase has come from 11 

 colonies and their increase, as I have 

 8 colonies in American Long-Idea 

 hives containing 16 full-size frames 

 and 16 half-frames that did notswarm 

 this season. I increased by natural 

 swarming, giving old colonies an old 

 hive and a laying' queen as long as I 

 could keep up with them. I have re- 

 turned 32 swarms, and 3 went to the 

 woods. Honey-How was almost con- 

 tinuous from June 4, to Sept. 23, and 

 since that another short flow of about 

 a week, so that the lower stories of 

 many of the hives are honey-bound. 

 S. il. Moss. 



Colchester, III., Oct. 23, 1882. 



Ready for Winter. — To-day I Jiave 

 finished my packing my bees for win- 

 ter. I have packed tliem in a clamp, 

 similar to the one described by D. A. 

 Jones, except where he says " set the 

 hives about six inches apart," etc. I 

 have put mine one against another, 

 and I leave the propolized cloths on 

 my hives. They have been (irepared 

 for winter for some three weeks an<l 

 the cloths were well stuck fast. I use 

 no packing except buckwheat chaff, 

 which has never failed, even when 

 other material did. In answer to Miss 



H. F. Buller in the Bee Journal for 

 Nov. 8, where she asks whether I close 

 the upper fly holes when I raise the 

 lower hive, I will say that I always 

 close all but those at the bottom. In 

 place of extracting, if I have the combs, 

 etc., and honey is plenty, I put a third 

 hive on, by parting the two and put- 

 ting the third between the tir.st two, 

 or I extract from the lower hive at 

 any time, seting the upper one on the 

 stand while extracting the lower. 

 There is no brood below, unless the 

 colony has a very prolilic queen. 



W. S. Baiu. 

 Rollersville, O., Nov. 15, 1882. 



Care of Empty Combs.— Will it in- 

 jure empty combs to be left in a hive, 

 without bees, out-of-doors, all the 

 winter? John Rudd. 



London, Out., Nov. 13, 1882. 



[There need be no fear of worms for 

 they cannot develop except in warm 

 weather. Spread the combs 2 inches 

 or more apart and they will be safe. — 

 Ed.] 



My Season's Work.— I had 3 colonies 

 of bees last spring, and last summer 

 obtained six natural swarms. I hived 

 them all op empty extracted combs. 

 I made two of them into two-story 

 hives for extracting, and I extracted 

 200 pounds of excellent honey from 

 the two. From the other 7 colonies I 

 obtained 200 pounds of comb honey, 

 and they have plenty of honey for win- 

 ter. I sold the honey at 10 cents a 

 pound for the extracted and 15 cents 

 for the comb honey. I sold all my 

 honey at home at the above price. 

 Wm. Roberts. 



Vaughansville, O., Nov. 22, 1882. 



Sensible Bees?— I have packed 135 

 colonies of bees ; all strong but about 

 6, which are a little weak in numbers. 

 If tliey do not go to rearing young 

 bees this warm weather I think they 

 will winter well. Nothing makes me 

 dislike men or bees so much as to see 

 them try to do what they cannot or 

 ought not to do. 



E. B. SOUTHWICK. 



Mendon, Mich., Nov. 22, 1882. 



Wintering Bees.— I will give my ex- 

 perience during the season of 1880-1 

 and 1881-2; which were the two ex- 

 tremes of temperature during the past 

 26 years. In 18S0-1 I took charge of 

 the Omaha apiary, consisting of 107 

 colonies, which had been packed dur- 

 ing the month of October, 1880, in 

 chaff, thus : they were put on 5 frames, 

 with division boards on each side and 

 the spaces filled with dry chaff ; a box 

 4 inches deep, with muslin bottom, 

 filled with chaff, was put over the 

 frames ; then the liives were covered 

 with slough grass. In January the 

 sn<nv filled the apiary so full that I 

 could scarcely see the location of the 

 hives ; then came a rain causing the 

 snow to melt, for about 2 days in the 

 beginning of February; after which, 

 it all froze into one "solid mass. In 

 March, when it was warm enough for 

 the bees to fly, they knew nothing of 

 the outside world, for they were com- 



