THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



203 



Local Convention Directory. 



1884. Timtand place oj Mreting. 



Uar. 20.— Union AasoolRtton. at Dexter. Iowa. 



M. K. Onrby. Sec, Dexter. Iowa. 

 AprlKS.— Marshall Co. Iowa, at Marshalltown. 



.1. W. Sanders, Sec. 



April ,'>.— Kansas Central, at Manhattan. 



Thooiaa IJassler. Sec. 



April a— Ass'n of Central Ill«., at BloomlnKton. 

 W. B. Lawrence, Sec. 



April 9.— Lorain Co.. at EWrla. O. 



O. J. Terrell Sec, North RIdKeyllle, O. 



April lO.-Mahonlng Valley, at Nowton Falls, O. 



E. \V. Turner, Sec. 



April 12— Texas Central, at Wiico. 



I. W. Grayton, Sec. 

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



J. B. Pryor. Sec. 



April 22.— Des Moines Co., at Middleton. Iowa. 



John Nau. Sec. 



April 24. -"SVestern Michigan, at Berlin. 



F. S. Covey, Sec. 



April 24, 25.~Western, at Independence, Mo. 



C. M. Crandall, Sec. 



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



W. R Uoward, Sec. 



May 3. -Progressive, at Bedford, O. 



J. R. Reed, Sec 

 May 6.— Southern Wisconsin, at Janesvllle. 



J. T. Pomeroy. Sec. 

 May 26.— Will County, at Monee, III. 



P. P. Nelson, Sec. 

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



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

 Oct.'l5, 16.— Northwestern, at Chicago. III. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 

 Dec. 10, 11.— Michican State, at Lansing. 



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



^" In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Kd. . 



all. The thermometers shows no dif- 

 ference. We will try to make it all 

 clear to the Doctor. Our report may 

 be a frank admission of a big mistake; 

 we shall see, and report facts just as 

 they appear, and "let the chips fall 

 where they may." James IIkddon. 

 Dowagiac, Mich., March 19, 18&4. 



Bees in Excellent Condition. 



I commenced the spring of 1883 with 

 20 colonies of Italian and hybrid bees, 

 and took from them, during the sea- 

 son, over a ton of honey. I use the 

 Langstroth hive exclusively. I use 

 comb foundation in the sections, and 

 find it pays. I would have it, if it 

 cost SI .50 per pound. I prefer that 

 which runs about 10 feet to the pound. 

 I can see no difference in the flat or 

 natural bottom ; my bees take as well 

 to the one as to the other. I have now 

 30 colonies, and hope to get at least 

 3,000 lbs. of honey. C. E, Canoles. 



Hereford, Md., March 14, 1884. 



Bees Wintering Fairly. 



Our bees seem to be in more than 

 average good condition for this date. 

 We are anxiously looking forward to 

 the final result of our carefully pre- 

 pared experiments with the winter- 

 ing problem. I have already seen 

 enough in past years to convince me 

 that Bro. Pond is clear off the track 

 on the cause of spring dwindling. I 

 will give my views on that subject, 

 and reply to Dr. Tinker's last article, 

 when giving in my wintering report 

 for 1884. The Doctor seems as far 

 astray as Bro. Pond. The Doctor's 

 effort to answer that report before it 

 comes to light, is " taking time by the 

 front forelock." Our test will be 

 clear of any sucli errors as the Doctor 

 mentions. "Bees do not keep warmer 

 with sugar than with honey ; they 

 just eat considerable less of it, that is 



Why Eat Honey 1 



De.vu Editor :— I Ihave received 

 the sample of Leaflet No. 1, entitled, 

 ■' Why Eat Honey ?" I think that 

 bee-keepers owe you a vote of thanks 

 and liberal patronage for j'our endeav- 

 ors to create a market for honey. The 

 get-up of the Leaflet is good, and I 

 think they will do a great deal toward 

 correcting the ideas of consumers of 

 honey. In general they have no idea 

 of the perfection of methods of bee- 

 culture, and if they have any knowl- 

 edge of the business whatever, it is 

 of management with the old-fashion 

 way with box hives. In view of this, 

 it is not strange that when people are 

 told that we can take honey from the 

 comb and return them to the hive to 

 be tilled again, that they should ask 

 with evident distrust, how we are 

 going to put our combs back in the 

 hive and have them filled again V 

 Would it not be well to explain in the 

 Leaflets, that with the methods in 

 modern bee-culture we compel the bees 

 to build their combs straight in sec- 

 tional frames, and that these sections 

 can be removed from the hive in an 

 instant, the bees brushed off, the 

 honey extracted, and the combs re- 

 turned to the hive to be again filled, 

 etc. W. N. Howard. 



Derby, Vt., March 19, 1884. 



[Yes ; we will elaborate a little on 

 that idea — though we mentioned it 

 briefly in the Leaflet.— Ed.] 



My Feeder. 



I wish to describe the feeder I use, 

 and think among the best. It is a 

 common brood frame, from the top 

 3% inches down, is placed a second 

 triangular comb guide, then on each 

 side is fastened pitcure-back material, 

 reaching within % of an inch of the 

 top triangular guide. This is fastened 

 in paint, and Ijeeswax is run along 

 each sitle of the lower comb guide. 

 This makes a feeder 3 inches deep and 

 % inches wide, and as long as the 

 frame. Near one end, through the 

 top-bar, is made a half-inch hole ; this 

 hole is placed at the back of the hive 

 (put comb foundation in below the 

 lower guide, or see that the bees build 

 worker comb there), cover with a 

 quilt of single thickness first, cut 

 through this quilt into H inch hole a 

 straignt slitK inch l^ng ; have a small 

 funnel made that will go through this 

 hole into the feeder. I use an old tea- 

 pot to pour the feed into the funnel ; 

 and it will surprise one at the short; 

 time it will take to feed 50 or 100 col- 

 onies, and that, too, without seeing a 

 iDee. The holes will close up after the 

 funnel is removed, keeping every bee 

 below. Keep this frame in the middle 

 of the hive, especially in the fall, 

 winter and spring. In the summer it 

 can be moved next to one side of the 



hive. This feeder is 'practicable, if 

 made right ; if more than % inch space 

 at the top is left, comb will be built 

 into it, but it must be left in the hive, 

 as it cannot be easily removed on ac- 

 count of the bees that are always in 

 it ; but, if it must be removed, shake 

 the bees to one end ; then with a quick 

 downward motion, the bees will slide 

 out, each side of the upper comb 

 guide (which is better than a flat sur- 

 face for them to strike against). A 

 lot of lose feeders lying around are a 

 nuisance; these are always in the 

 hives, out of the way, and just where 

 you want them for use. 

 Medford, Minn. .1. E. Cady. 



Cyprians, Syrians and Italians, 



I put into winter quarters 53 colo- 

 nies of Italians, Cyprians, Syrians, 

 Albinos and a few hybrids. I have 

 nearly all in double-walled chaff hives, 

 and a few are in single-walled hives. 

 I give these some protection by pack- 

 ing leaves around the outside. I have 

 one in the American double-walled 

 hive. It is a two-story hive in sum- 

 mer, and a double-walled hive in win- 

 ter. It has nine frames 12x12. It is 

 a good hive. The rest of my bees are 

 all on Simplicty frames, 91.^x175^, out- 

 side measure. For six years I have 

 wintered all my bees out-of-doors. 

 This winter I have yet lost none. I 

 find that Italians crossed by Cyprians 

 or Syrians are good honey gatherers. 

 Syrians and Cyprians excel the 

 Italians for gathering honey, but they 

 are very cross. I prefer bees or queens 

 that are kept where the different races 

 are kept in one apiary. I think they 

 are worth nearly one-third more. 



Otto Kleinow. 



Detroit, Mich., March 20, 1884. 



Preparing Bees for Winter. 



As we have just wintered about 40 

 colonies of bees on the summer stands, 

 and without the loss of a single one, 

 we will explain the manner in which 

 we prepared them. In the first place, 

 we pay little attention as to whether 

 the combs contain pollen or not, but 

 see that each hive has 20 pounds of 

 honey, at the least, and if more, all 

 the better. We use the 10-frame 

 Langstroth hive, and remove a frame 

 from each side, leaving eight ; in the 

 place of the frames removed, division- 

 boards are inserted, and over the 

 frames sticks are placed, in order to 

 allow the bees to pass to all parts of 

 the hive ; for the same purpose a hole 

 is cut through the centre of each comb 

 remaining in the hive. We now place 

 a coftee sack over the frames, and fill 

 the remaining space in the upper 

 story with corn shucks, which absorb 

 the moisture, and give freer ventila- 

 tion, keep the hives and combs dryer 

 than anything we have yet tried. So 

 long as "our bees are dry, warm, and 

 have plenty of good honey (or a syrup 

 made from the best quality of sugar 

 will, perhaps, answer as well), we can 

 defy the severest winter. Our pros- 

 pects here for a crop of honey is good, 

 but it mainly depends upon the man- 

 agement between now and the harvest. 

 A. E. Foster. 



Covington, Ky., March 20, 1884. 



