58 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mr. Wm. Malone made a motion to 

 call the association " The Lucas 

 County Bee-Keepers' Association,"' 

 which, being adopted, they proceeded 

 to elect their officers, which resulted 

 as follows : J. H. Sydebotham, Presi- 

 dent ; W. P. Davis, Vice-President ; 

 W. L. ililler. Treasurer ; A. Reusch, 

 Secretary. The meeting then pro- 

 ceeded to adopt a constitution and by- 

 laws, which was signed bv the follow- 

 ing : J. H. Sydebotham, W. L. Miller, 

 A. Reusch. Wm. Malone, E. Sater, A. 

 W. Troutman. W. P. Davis, D. C. 

 Rook, Isaiah Robinson, W. O. Par- 

 menter, J. G. Stafford, J. O. Voris, 

 Mrs. Wm. Kent, Milton Good, Geo. 

 R. Riker and Evan Morgan. 



Messrs. W. O. Parmenter, Wm. Ma- 

 lone. and Geo. W. Riker made some 

 remarks about wintering bees. 



All interested in bee-keeping are 

 cordially invited to attend our next 

 meeting on the first Satm-day in 

 March, at the Court House in Chari- 

 ton, at 1 p. m. A. Reusch, Sec. 



Wilx'di and goxu. 



ANSWERS BY 



James Heddon, Dowaqiac, Mich. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Des Moines Co., Iowa, Convention. 



The bee-keepers of Des Moines 

 County, Iowa, met according to the 

 notice of the committee, and formed 

 an organization by appointing John 

 Nau as President pro tern, and Elijah 

 Beans as Secretary pro tern, and then 

 adjourned to 1 p. ni. In the afternoon 

 the first thing in order was to ballot 

 for officers tor the ensuing year, which 

 resulted in the election of Geo. 

 Bischoff, for President ; W. R. Glan- 

 don, for Vice-President; John Xau, 

 for Secretary, and A. M. Baldwin for 

 Treasurer. A regular printed bee- 

 keepers' constitution and by-laws was 

 laid before the meeting, which was 

 amended by changing the membership 

 fee to 25 cents, and then adopted. 



There was some interesting dis- 

 cussions which lasted about two 

 hours, and then a committee, which 

 consisted of John Nau, Samuel Catlin 

 and H. W. Cart%\Tight were appointed 

 to meet the officers of the Agricul- 

 tiu:al Society and insist on them in 

 giving liberal premiums on our 

 industry, at the next aimual fair in 

 Des Moines county. 



It was agreed to meet in regular 

 session on the fourth Tuesday in 

 April, 1SS4, at 10 a. m., in R. C. Craw- 

 ford's hall, in ^Sliddletown, Iowa. The 

 society is to be kno\\'n as the Des 

 Moines County Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion. The number of colonies repre- 

 sented was 217. John Xau, ib'ec. 



Middleto\^Ti, Iowa, Jan. 8, 1884. 



^" A meeting: of bee-keepers will 

 be held at the residence of W. Cossens, 

 Monee, Will Co., Ills., on Monday, 

 Jan. 28, 1SS4. All friends of improved 

 management of the apiary, are invi- 

 ted to attend. 



A. WiCHERTS, i 



W. Cossens, > Committee. 



B. Heyen, ) 



^" Letters for publication must be 

 written on a separate piece of paper 

 from items of business. 



Diseased Bees. 



In looking over my bees to-day, I 

 found them all right, except two colo- 

 nies which stood side by side ; they 

 were dead. I found some decaved 

 brood in a few cells which emitted a 

 strong odor on opening the hive. Do 

 you think there is any danger of it 

 being foul brood i* and "would you ad- 

 vise destroying hives, combs, etc. ? If 

 you think it foul brood, please tell me 

 how to prevent it from spreading. I 

 forgot to say there was both honey and 

 pollen in the hive. 



J. D. Cunningham, Jk. 



Orchard Hill, Ga., Jan. 9, 1884. 



I have had no experience with foul 

 brood whatever, but from studying it 

 I am rather of the opinion that you 

 have it in those two colonies. Were 

 it my case, and I considered it foul 

 brood, I should burn the both hives 

 complete at once. It is, however, 

 more than likely that the seeds of the 

 disease are at present in other colo- 

 nies, which will develop into the same 

 condition as the two mentioned, this 

 coming spring. By that time these 

 will have infected others, and soon it 

 is liable to go on all through your 

 apiary. Prevention is the vital point 

 to study. 



Sundry Questions. 1 



1. Do you consider extra prolificness 

 of queens a valuable characteristic V 



2. Of what value is the bee space 

 above brood frames V 



3. Do you think that cold alone 

 would produce dysentery ? 



4. What is your opinion of the effects 

 of being stung by bees for many 

 years ? B. F. 



1. Several times during the past 10 

 years I have stated through the Jour- 

 nal, that I did not consider prolific- 

 ness in the queen, beyond normality, 

 of any special value, because with it 

 is apt to go qualities of inferiorty, and 

 because so small a part of the capital 

 invested rests with the queen. 



2. In my judgment, there is no 

 claim in the Langstroth patent (now 

 expired) of as great value. Mr. Langs- 

 troth's late statement that the Italian 

 bee seemed to object to the space, 

 must have arisen from the fact, that 

 when he used the space, he used an 

 objectionable and improperly con- 

 structed honey board, which Ithey ob- 

 jected to, rather than the space. Right 

 here and now I wish to state and have 

 it remembered in the future, that I 



believe he who advocates doing away 

 with this space, thus allowing recep- 

 tacles of the upper and lower story to 

 rest upon each other, retards pregress 

 in apiculture, in just so far as his in- 

 fluence goes. I think it the duty of 

 the Journal to call forth the ex- 

 pression of our well-known leading 

 practical producers upon this subject, 

 that beginners may know how to de- 

 cide. 



3. I cannot believe that cold alone 

 can produce dysentery. It may caus& 

 bees to gorge themselves with honey 

 or pollen, said honey or pollen pro- 

 ducing dysentery, but so general an 

 effect must have one general cause, 

 and that surely is not cold, for bees 

 often die with dysentery in its worst 

 form in cellars whose temperature is 

 never below 40°. 



4. There is no doubt many persons 

 who may receive into their blood the 

 virus of bee stings, and into their 

 lungs breathe the same poison, and 

 continually throw it off as fast as re- 

 ceived ; but there are many who will 

 become chronic sufferers from the ef- 

 fects of this poison, and it is my opin- 

 ion that the number will astonish us 

 that will be reported, after tlie busi- 

 ness has undergone a score of years 

 more of development in this country. 



,55?K -^^ C?^ ^fv^cM«&*s 



Uf 



Packed in Clover Chaff. 



I commenced the honey season of 

 1883 with 2 colonies in Langstroth 

 hives. On May 23 I bought 2 more. 

 I have 13 colonies wintermg well. I 

 run one for comb honey, and got from 

 it 60 lbs. in one-pound sections ; and 2 

 for extracted honey. My young col- 

 onies gathered enough to winter on. 

 I received in all 500 lbs. I pack in 

 clover chaff, and rear my own queens. 

 John H. Shelt. 



Napoleon, O., Jan. 14, 1884. 



Hill's Method of Wintering Bees. 



I can safely say that all would be 

 much interested in reading a detailed 

 account of the metfiod of wintering, 

 practiced by Mr. J. S. Hill, of Mount 

 Healthy, O., as recommeded by Mr. 

 Langstroth. I, therefore, respectfully 

 suggest that Mr. Hill's plan be fully 

 described in an early issue of the 

 Weekly Bee Journal, either bv Mr. 

 Langstroth or Mr. Hill himself. While 

 on this subject allow me to ask some 

 experienced bee-keeper whether paper 

 has ever been thoroughly tested as an i 

 absorbent over the bees in winter V I \ 

 should hardly think it suitable tol 

 place directly next to the bees, but a 



