122 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Couvention Directory. 



1884. Time and place of Meeting. 



Feb. 21-33.— E. Iowa, & "W. Illinois, at Davenport.Ia. 

 J. V. McOagg, Fres. 



Mar. 4.— Meeting at Janesville, Wis. 



Mack & Fatzinger, Com. 



March 5.— N. E. Michigan, at Lapeer, Mich. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, Rogersville, Mich. 



March 20.— Southern Indiana, at Madison, Ind. 

 H. C. White. Sec. 



Mar. 29.— Union Association, at Dexter, Iowa. 



M. E. Darby, Sec, Dexter, Iowa. 



April 18.— Iowa Central, at Winterset, Iowa. 



J. E. Pryor, Sec. 



April 22, 



-Des Moines Co., at Middleton. Iowa. 



John Nau. Sec. 



April 24.~We8tern, at Independence, Mo. 



C. M. Crandall. Sec. 



April 24, 25.— Texas State, at McKinney. 



W. R. Howard. Sec. 



May 26.— Will Countv, at Monee, 1^1. 



P. P. NelsoB. Sec. 



Oct. 11. 12.— Northern Mich., at Alnia, Mich. 



F. A. Palmer, Sec, McBride, Mich. 



Oct. 15, 16 



-Northwestern, at Chicngo. lit. 



AV, Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



Dec. 10, 1 1.— Michigan State, at Lansing. 



H. D. Cutting, Sec, Clinton. Mich. 



B»" In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and pluce of future meetings.— Ed. 



t^Itat and Boxu. 



hard pressed, I think. I have never 

 been able to detect that the thick 

 bases of otlier foundations that I have 

 experimented with, were ever tliinned 

 in process of working into combs by 

 bees. Such instances have been re- 

 ported, and, no doubt, truthfully so, 

 but I think from the scarcity of such 

 reports, and my own experience, that 

 they are quite rare. 



We liave had hundreds of combs 

 built on full size pieces of Given foun- 

 dation, that run about 8 square feet 

 per pound, that none could detect any 

 signs of foiuidation about. We have 

 also had combs that showed the foun- 

 dation plainly, when the same foun- 

 dation as above referred to, was used. 

 In no case have I ever had one word 

 of fault found with any of my comb 

 honev sold. It is all " salable." 



ANSWERS BY 



James Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Do Bees Thin Out Foundation? 



Has foundation been thoroughly 

 tested when made 3 square feet to the 

 pound, with the base as thick as the 

 side walls V If it has been tested, 

 who has found the base when drawn 

 out by the bees any thicker than nat- 

 ural comb V I have not ; but have 

 found the side walls of the same, at 

 the base, seemingly untouched, which 

 would make comb honey unsalable. 

 Can it be possible that we have been 

 " asleep " on this point, and are thin- 

 ning the base and heaping up wax on 

 the side walls, as we might suppose 

 to be helping the bees and are helping 

 them in the wrong place. I shall ex- 

 periment further the coming season 

 by placing small drops of wax in each 

 cell of thin foundation. I never saw 

 honey that could not be detected, even 

 10 square feet to the pound. Given not 

 not excepted, A Bee-Keeper. 



Bees act very diiferently at differ- 

 ent times with the same comb foun- 

 dation. My experience has been this : 

 Bees will sometimes, but rarely, make 

 a thick base thin. They will some- 

 times, but rarely, fail to draw out 

 thin, the side walls of the Given foun- 

 dation, because they are soft, not 

 having been pressed hard in the pro- 

 cess of making. I have never half 

 pressed Given foundation to leave the 

 base thick, to see what they would do 

 in such a case. The base of that 

 foundation is very thin, and pretty 



between Italian and German colonies. 

 4. Try melilot clover (mow it in .June 

 if you wish it to blossom in September 

 and October), and others, of more 

 doubtful practical value. 



Separators. 



Will Mr. Ileddon give, through the 

 " AVhat and IIow," his objections to 

 separators V 



1. Would not the bees wax the 

 frames together so that you never 

 could get them out of the hives 'i 



2. What is the best thing for a bee 

 sting, to keep the flesh from swelling ? 



3. About what is the average age 

 of the honey bee V 



■i. What plants can I raise that will 

 produce honey in dry and hot weather, 

 and late in the summer V 



Mt. Hope, Kans. S. F. Daily. 



1. My objections to separators are, 

 that their cost and extra trouble in 

 manipulating, are not balanced by any 



-usefulness they possess. If you work 

 properly without them, the bees would 

 not glue the frames to each other 

 without separators, any more than 

 they do to each other and to the sepa- 

 rators where they are used. Still, if 

 I used anything so awkward as broad 

 frames, I would use tin separators 

 with them (see page 315, Bee .Jour- 

 nal for 1883). 



2. As my llesh does not swell under 

 bee stings, I hardly know what to say. 

 I believe it is generally conceded in 

 the medical world, that amonia is tlie 

 best known antidote for animal poi- 

 sons. There are a host of bee-keepers 

 who are willing and ready to tell us 

 what they used when they got stung, 

 and got along with it first-rate ; they 

 are alive and enjoy fair health to-day. 

 An antidote for the declining price in 

 honey, is what we most need at pres- 

 ent. 



- 3. In the working season, K or 10 

 weeks ; out of that season, .5 to 7 

 months. Italian bees are longer-lived 

 than Germans ; at least such has 

 proved to be true with two experi- 

 ments I have made of changing queens 



Moving Bees by Railroad. 



I expect to move 1(10 colonies of my 

 bees (about one-half of them) to 

 Michigan by railroad, in the spring. 

 I want to know how to prepare them 

 for this long journey. R. B. Oldt. 



New Berlin, Pa. 



The period you give is rather indefi- 

 nite. Supposing it to be late in the 

 spring and warm, I would advise the 

 following : By the aid of your freight 

 agent, select a springy, easy-riding, 

 well-ventilated freight car. As the 

 colonies will be quite strong and con- 

 tain considerable brood, the frames 

 should be securely fastened, and over 

 each hive should be an empty case, 

 from 2 to 6 inches high, securely fast- 

 ened to the hive, with nothing between 

 the brood frames and case, and the 

 tops of said case should be covered 

 with wire cloth. 



If the hives are Langstroth's, with 

 all-wood top-bars and wood rabbets, a 

 " three-tine " nail in the end of each 

 top-bar will hold the frames securely. 



If the rabbet or ends of the frames 

 are metal, or the hive is a deep one, I 

 would advise tacking strips on to the 

 ends of the hive, and between the 

 frames. Place the hives in the car so 

 the combs nm lengthwise. Place only 

 one tier in the car, unless so arranged 

 that the upper tier rest clear above 

 the lower one. 



Go with the bees, and, with a whisk 

 broom and basin of water, sprinkle 

 through the screen occasionally. If 

 the watering is neglected, the bees 

 will be apt to eat up all the larviB. 

 For hundreds of minor details, you 

 must depend upo.n your native tact. 



Convention Notices. 



1^ The sixth annual convention of 

 Texas bee-keepers will be held at the 

 " Bee Garden " of Judge W. H. An- 

 drews at McKinney, Collin Co., Tex., 

 on April 24 and 25, 1SS4. A larger 

 number of leading bee masters than 

 ever assembled on a similar occasion 

 in the South, is anticipated, 



Wm. R. Howard, Sec. 



Kingston, Tex., Jan. 16, 1884. 



^' We intend to organize a bee- 

 keepers' association for Southern In- 

 diana on March 20, 1884, to meet at 

 tlie Merchants and Manufacturers' 

 Club Rooms, Madison, Ind., at 9:30 a. 

 m. Kentuekv bee-keepers are invited 

 to participate. H. C. White. 



