136 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



rye meal in lieu of pollen, and a judi- 

 cious spreading oi^ the combs, as the 

 cluster increased. 



The Secretary : Care should betaken 

 in reference to spreading the brood 

 cluster, as much damage was often 

 caused by spreading too fast; wait 

 until the first five or six frames be- 

 come well crowded, before giving 

 more room. 



Hatching brood led to the subject of 

 the best bees for all purposes. Mr. 

 Mason had seen some good workers 

 among hybrids, but believed none 

 were quite so good as the Italians. 



Mr. Shaw said that the real depend- 

 ence was more in the honey to be had, 

 than in the kind or quality of the 

 bees. 



Mr. Raab had tried all kinds of 

 bees, and was decidedly in favor of 

 the Italians. 



The President, in an address, re- 

 marked that progress is the watch- 

 w-ord of the bee-keeper, wherever 

 found, and was the principle that or- 

 ganized this association, and has kept 

 it alive and will maintain it. The 

 idea of all associations of whatever 

 branch of industry, should be to ex- 

 tend the benefits "of that industry to 

 the masses, and not to hedge it in to 

 the selected few. We lose nothing in 

 any science or art that we may have 

 obtained by giving that knowledge to 

 oui- fellow "man that he may not only 

 benefit by our experience, but return 

 his ov^'n likewise. 



We need not fear the overstocking 

 of our State with bees in the near 

 future. AVe have but a small number 

 of colonies in this State comparatively. 

 The statistics of April 1, 1883, show 

 but 78,526 colonies, and that they 

 gathered 798,368 pounds of honey. 

 Mr. E. T. Sturtevant, of Cuyahoga 

 county, Ohio, an extensive bee raiser, 

 in an article published in 1857, says 

 that in his opinion, on an average, 

 200,000 pounds of honey go to waste 

 in each county annually for the want 

 of bees to gather it. Let us reduce 

 that one-half for Indiana and say that 

 the honey bearing trees and plants 

 produce 100,000 pounds per county an- 

 nually, and we have 9,700,000 pounds 

 of honey. Of that amount we gath- 

 ered in 1882, 798,368 pounds, leaving 

 8,901,632 pounds ungathered. With 

 this estimate and these figures before 

 us we need not be alarmed about over- 

 stocking the State with bees. This 

 ungathered honey, at the present re- 

 tail price, would bring nearly $2,000,- 

 000, which now is a total loss to the 

 wealth of the State, and I have no 

 doubt that the honey yield can be 

 materially increased by the special 

 cultivation of the honey" bearing trees 

 and plants. 



A letter was then read from Prof. 

 Smart, of the Purdue Universitv, on 

 establishing an apiary at the college. 

 He said : " After consulting with 

 Prof. Latta, we have concluded to 

 recommend to the board of trustees, 

 that the effort be made to encourage 

 that branch of economic industry. I 

 doubt not that the project will be ap- 

 proved provided the legislature makes 

 an appropriation sufliciently large to 

 enable us to carry on our present 

 ■work and to add what is suggested." 



The following was then passed : 

 Resolved, That the thanks of this as- 

 sociation be, and are hereby tendered 

 to President J. II. Smart, of Purdue 

 University, for his interest in apicul- 

 ture as indicated in his letter, and 

 that we hereby pledge that our indi- 

 vidual and aggregate influence shall 

 be used upon our next legislature for 

 an appropriation sufficiently liberal to 

 enable the University to conduct sat- 

 isfactory experiments in our favorite 

 industry. 



Mr. C. F. Muth then gave his plan 

 of preparing bees for winter. He 

 thought it very essential that plenty 

 of room be allowed for the bees to 

 pass from one frame to the other, en 

 masse, and preferred passages through 

 the combs near the centre. Direct 

 ventilation through the hives he 

 thought bad for the bees, but believed 

 it very necessary that provision be 

 made to allow the escape of moisture 

 which naturally arises from them dur- 

 ing the cold weather. 



The Secretary's plan was but little 

 different from that of Mr. Muth, only 

 that the latter used dry leaves in the 

 second story of the hives as an absorb- 

 ent and protection from the severe 

 cold. He had noticed that the colder 

 the weather the greater the exudation 

 arising from the bees. He thought 

 that with plenty of stores , from 2-5 to 

 30 pounds of honey, free passage for 

 the bees from frame to frame, and 

 for the escape for the dampness, with 

 good protection from outside damp- 

 ness also, a good colony of bees had 

 the advantage of all that we really 

 know as to what is best for them in 

 winter. 



Dr. Orear favored in-door wintering, 

 but this season was wintering on the 

 summer stands ; was not now able to 

 say how well his plans were succeed- 

 ing. 



In the evening the election of of- 

 ficers was held, and resulted as fol- 

 lows : Mrs. Irvin Bobbin, President ; 

 Mrs. E. Stout, Treasurer, and Frank 

 L. Dougherty, Secretary. 



The session was then taken up in 

 discussion ; the subjects being " Clip- 

 ping the queens' wings," " Feeding 

 bees in cold weather," and " The de- 

 sirability of producing comb or ex- 

 tracted honey." 



The business of the second day was 

 entered into promptly at 9 a. m. with 

 the question as to the advisability of 

 having the proceedir.gs of the conven- 

 tion printed in pamphlet form and 

 sent to bee-keepers throughout 'the 

 State, and while it was considered im 

 possible to supply even a small part 

 of the number inthe State with copies 

 in the present condition of our finan- 

 ces, the Secretary was instructed to 

 send out as many as possible. 



Reports were heard from the several 

 county societies, and of the good the 

 organization was doing throughout 

 the State, and plans were discussed 

 for the continuance of the good work. 

 The Secretary was instructed to assist 

 as far as possible in the organization 

 of county societies, and to sliow to the 

 friends as far as possible that this 

 body was purely a State institution ; 

 not being run for a favored few, as 

 had been asserted by some, but free 



and open to all ; also that our consti- 

 tution and by-laws prohibit the likeli- 

 hood of anything of the kind ; and 

 that the society is fostered, in connec- 

 tion with the other societies, by the 

 State Board of Agriculture. 



The afternoon session was opened 

 with the farther discussion of the best 

 plans and arrangements for work in 

 the apiary, and the time was fully 

 taken up until tlie arrival of Gov. 

 Porter, further debate being deferred 

 to hear the Governor's address. The 

 CTOvernor said that he bad proved by 

 examining the State statistics that for 

 the year ending April 1, 1S80, the pro- 

 duction of honey was 1,097,634 pounds. 

 In 1881 the production declined to 690,- 

 141 pounds, and in 1882 it had declined 

 to 420,204. It further appeared from 

 the statistics for the year ending 

 April 1, 1882, that there was a loss of 

 38,357 colonies of bees. The decline 

 manifestly came chietly from destruc- 

 tion of bees, ow-ing to the insufficient 

 supply of food in certain parts of the 

 year, ifrom unfavorable weather, and 

 from the destruction of bees in winter. 



The chief attention of bee-keepers 

 should be directed to producing 

 plants for bees, with reference to 

 withstanding drouths and other un- 

 favorable conditions, just as prudent 

 stock raisers cultivate a variety of 

 grasses so as to meet the conditions of 

 drouths and a loo great excess of 

 moisture, some grasses flourishing in 

 very dry seasons, and some flourish- 

 ing particularly in wet ones. 



An interesting discussion of the 

 Governor's remarks followed at the 

 close of the address. The associa- 

 tion adjourned at 4 p. m. 



For tlie American Bee Journal 



Paste for Labels on Honey Pails. 



ELLIS JtEAIiER. 



Some days ago I received a few eans 

 of extracted honey, brought to me in 

 an open sleigh. The paste used for 

 putting on the labels was so unfit for 

 the work that two of the labels had 

 fallen off whole, and several more 

 were more or less loose, and could be 

 easily removed without tearing, and 

 on several cans the labels were con- 

 siderably torn by the handling or rub- 

 bing against each other on the road. 

 The otherwise neat appearance of the 

 goods was thus very materially hurt. 



Some years ago, a friend engaged in 

 a drug store, noticed that the labels 

 on tin packages, which they received 

 from one New York house, adhered 

 very firmly, while those on the pack- 

 ages from another house, were more 

 easily removed or marred, although 

 the tin had the appearance of having 

 been sand-papered or otherwise 

 roughened in order to overcome the 

 difficulty. He secured the receipt 

 for making the paste used in the 

 first case, and as 1 have used it and 

 know it to be excellent, I herewith 

 give it for the use of bee-keepers. 



Make a flour paste just as your wife 

 does for papering walls, except rather 

 thinner. If your wife cannot make 

 a good paste, ask some other man's, 

 wife. When nearly done, add about 



