THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



235 



Local Conveation Directory. 



18H4. Time ami place of MtHivg. 



April l^-TexasCentnil.tttWHco. 



I. W. Graytun, Sec 



April 17.-Central Itlino'«. at Uncoln. Ills. 



I,. C. ScbwerdifcKus, Sec. 



April IH.-Iowrt Central, at Wlntersel. Iowa. 



J.K. Pry<.r, Sec. 



April a.*.— Des Moines Co.. at Middleton. Iowa. 



John Nau. Sec. 



April i4.— UnUm Ky., at Eminence, Ky. 



G. ^\. Demaree. Sec. 



April J4.-Kastcrn Ind.. at Richmond, Ind. 



M. G. Reynuids. Sec. 



April 'J4.-Nnrthern Ohio, at Nnrwalh, O. 



S. K. Newman, Sec. 



April L*4.-We8tern Michigan, at Berlin. 



F. S. Covey. Sec. 



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



C. M. Crandail, Sec. 



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



W. R Howard, Sec. 



May 3. - Progressive, at Bedford, O. 



J. R. Reed. Sec. 



May 6.— Cattaraugus Co. N.Y.. at Handolph, N.Y. 

 W. A. Shewman. 



May 6.— Southern Wisconsin, at Janesville. 



J. T. Pomeroy, Sec. 



May 15.— Tuscarawas Co. 0., at Port Washincton.O. 

 A. A. Fnidenburg. 



May 20.— N. W. HIb.. andS. W. Wis., at Rockton. 111. 

 Jonathan Stewart. Sec. 



May 26.— Will County, at Monee. III. 



P. P. NelsoB. Sec. 



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



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



Oct. 15, 16.— Northwestern, at Chicago, III. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



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



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



tW In order to have this table complt^te. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.- Ed. 



sE:fS£W^MmM 



WuffkM 



i^sj^ 



Successful Wintering. 



I took my bees out of tlie cellar yes- 

 terday ; I put 99 colonies in the cellar, 

 and I took out 96 seemingly in pretty 

 good condition. I hope that no bee- 

 keeper will have a greater loss than 

 this. I consider it good wintering ; I 

 would have taken them out earlier, 

 but the snow was drifted badly on the 

 ground, where the bees have to stand. 

 J. Stewart. 



Rock Citv. 111., March 2s, 1884. 



Gathering Pollen. 



Bees gathered llie lirst pollen to- 

 day. Last year the first pollen was 

 gathered April 10 ; in 188:2, April 2 ; in 

 1881, April 20. I put into winter quar- 

 ters 111 colonies; have 111 still, and 

 all seem to be lively and energetic. 

 They have been working for a week or 

 more on water, and from the busi- 

 ness-like air which some of them 

 manifest, I should not be surprised if 

 they find something even stronger. 

 They probably recognize the trwth of 

 the saying : " It is an ill wind which 

 blows nobody any good," while they 

 appropriate the hoarded treasure of 

 their dead neighbors. 



.Jajles McNeil. 



Hudson, N. Y., March 29, 1881. 



Bees in Utah. 



Our winter has been, so far, a light 

 one. Hees have had several (lights 

 since they were put into winter quar- 

 ters, and are now rearing brood. The 

 loss has been light. I have lost only 

 one out of 23 colonies. I have win- 

 tered all but 4 ou the summer stands ; 

 the 4 were put into the cellar. As 

 yet, but few take any interest in bee- 

 keeping. People are so much engaged 

 in other business that they have not 

 the time to devote to make it a suc- 

 cess. The bee pasturage is here in 

 the willow, wild flowers, plants, 

 clover, lucerne, and other things. I 

 was successful in raising a few Simp- 

 son plants, which the bees, for miles 

 around, visited. 1 also have what we 

 call the bachelor-button ; that is a 

 favorite of the bees all the season. 

 Last fall I visited a station on the 

 Utah & Nevada railroad, and I saw 

 there some Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, 

 but not a bee was at work on them. 

 I am so much interested in bees that I 

 would keep a colony of tliem if 1 did 

 not get any returns from them. 



John Dunn. 



Toole City, rtah, March .5. 1884. 



Too Many Bees in One Cellar. 



On being informed that my bees 

 were swarming out of the hives, in 

 the cellar, I hastened to them. The 

 hives were literally covered with bees, 

 and the air in the cellar was very hot. 

 I have wintered 193 colonies in the 

 same room with perfect success ; 

 while it appears that 22.'3 colonies are 

 too many. How the bees will divide 

 off, I cannot say. They are not on 

 "the run," as one might suppose. I 

 will report when all are oiit. The 

 weather has been very fine during the 

 past two weeks. The snow is off the 

 fields, and clover is in good condition. 

 Ir.\ Bariser. 



De Kalb Junction. N. Y., March .31. 



Not Lost a Colony. 



Bees appear to be wintering finely 

 in this section of the country, and 

 there is a good prospect of aii early 

 spring. I have not lost a colony, and 

 they all seem to be very strong. 



E. A. Thomas. 



Colerain, Mass., March 31, 1884. 



No Loss in Wintering. 



My 19 colonies of bees wintered 

 upon the summer stands, and came 

 through without loss so far. One 

 weak colony put in the cellar under 

 my store the last of November, was 

 put out a few days ago in good condi- 

 tion. I have sustained no loss as yet, 

 and I have no fears of loss now ; the 

 worst is over. Several commenced 

 carrying in pollen, March 23 ; upon ex- 

 amining them, I found them very 

 strong in bees and breeding rapidly. 

 I commenced bee-keeping about 14 

 years ago with one colony in an old 

 rotten box hive, given me by my 

 father. I knew little about bee-keep- 

 ing at that time. I kept the colony 

 some three years, without obtaining 

 any surplus honey or increase of bees. 

 They did not issue, to my knowledge. 



Finally I procured II. A. King's Text 

 Book, and in that I learned bow to 

 transfer bees : .so I made a hive after 

 the Langstiotli pattern, and in apple 

 blossom 1 successfully transferred 

 them. That season, I got about 25 

 pounds of comb honey and a fine 

 swarm, which wintered (the following 

 winter) without anv special care, and 

 came out in line order in the spiing. 

 I have had considerable comb honey 

 and increase, every season since, until 

 at present I have 19 good strong colo- 

 nies, mostly Italians and hybrids. 

 The spring of 1HS3 found me with 14 

 good strong colonies, having wintered 

 without loss, prepared on James Hed- 

 don's plan ; in fact I have suffered 

 the loss of but one colony in winter- 

 ing since I kept bees, and that was ou 

 account of the entrance to the hive 

 becoming choked with ice. The 

 wintering problem, as it is called, 

 gives me but little thought or trouble. 

 I do not consider there is any trouble 

 at all ill wintering bees without loss, 

 in this latitude, provided they can get 

 one or two flights between the end of 

 January and the end of ^March, a 

 thing I have not known to fail since 

 I became a bee-keeper ; provided al- 

 ways that the bees are ordinarily 

 cared for, and are in proper condition 

 in the fall. Hence, with me, the 

 wintering problem is solved. 



L. G. Reed. 

 Kent, O., April 1,1884. 



Open- Air Wintering. 



I have long believed that the open- 

 air wintering of bees is preferable 

 and more natural than any other 

 method; although the details of the 

 same may not be perfectly under- 

 stood. It may be a fancy, but I think 

 bees wintered in the open-air are more 

 vigorous and hardy, and resist the in- 

 fluences which cause spring dwind- 

 ling, better escaping those diseases 

 which are sometimes contracted by 

 long confinement. I wish those who 

 can do so, and who have large apiaries, 

 would make a series of observations 

 on a few colonies, during the next five 

 years. I have improved and applied 

 a wire cloth portico, the use of which, 

 when well understood, will obviate 

 the objection that bees, when left to 

 their " sweet will," fly too often or too. 

 much. Francis West. 



Lonsdale. Out., April 1, 1884. 



No Bee Cholera. 



I put .53 colonies into winter quar- 

 ters; 30 in my cellar, and 23 out on 

 the summer stands. All are now in 

 splendid condition, with the exception 

 of one or two. Sometime during the- 

 last of April or first of May, when it 

 is warm enough so that the broodi 

 will not chill, I will give the weak 

 colonies a frame of brood. If given 

 too early, the brood is liable to chill 

 in the hive, because of a lack of bees 

 to keep up the warmth. I aim to 

 have plenty of bees by May 2.'), when 

 the white clover makes its appear- 

 ance. Warmth can be economized in 

 weak colonies at this season by keep- 

 ing the entrance of the hive as small 

 as possible, and still give sufficient 



