THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



311 



dampness will injure the Iioney at 

 (Mice."" Kvery body knows it you 

 lireiitlie upon iuiv eold non-conductins 

 substiince, it becomes wet at onee ; 

 and every honey-producer is aware 

 that if honey is kept wet, it will soon 

 spoil. 

 Mauston, Wis. 



Mahoning "Vallfey, 0., Convention. 



Tlie annual meeting was held at 

 Newton Falls, O., on Thursday. April 

 10, 1884. 



Pres. Carson asked, " What is pea- 

 vine clover, Its habits and growth V" 



Mr. Page: It is a very rank-grow- 

 ing clover. Its seed matures from 

 the first growth of the season, and I 

 think, secretes a large quantity of 

 sweets. 



Mr. Ovitt asked, if a double-walled 

 hive with a dead-air space was not 

 preferable to packing with chaff, and 

 said : I have noticed that those who 

 pack with chaff are no more success- 

 ful tlian others. I fear that the chaff 

 will gather dampness and engender 

 disease, while with the air-space, the 

 natural waruith of the bees will dry 

 this portion of the hive. I notice the 

 most of my loss in wintering, is by 

 not having proper ventilation ; they 

 smother, or there is not enough circu- 

 lation. 



Mr. Langton : I have tried for the 

 last three years the dead-air packing, 

 and my bees came througli well. 'I 

 have tried two methods of wintering 

 in clamps, ont-door and in a cellar. 

 My way of out-door wintering is as 

 follows : I dig a trench some -t inches 

 wider than the hives, and 8 inches 

 deep on ground, well drained. Fill 

 this space with chaff or fine cut straw, 

 lay a plank lengthwise on the straw, 

 place two strips 2 inches square run- 

 ning parallel with the plank ; take 

 the bottom off of the hives, and place 

 them on these strips; then take boards 

 and form an inverted-shaped cover- 

 ing; cover with straw a few inches 

 deep, then with about 8 to 10 inches 

 of soil. At one end of the clamp I 

 put in a small ventilator ; take four 

 laths and nail them together, and let 

 it reach down near the bottom of the 

 hives. At the other end I put in 

 another one lying horizontally and 

 protruding thro'ugh the bank of earth, 

 and running through under the first 

 hive, covered with a little straw to 

 exclude the light. With this system 

 of packing, I havenever lost a colony. 

 By it the bees are kept dormant, and 

 there is a proper circulation of air. 

 Bees kept in this way consume but 

 little honey, compared with the old 

 way of keeping them. My method of 

 cellaring bees is as follows : I stand 

 the hives 2 feet froQi the cellar wall, 

 pack one tier above tlie other, if the 

 room is limited ; and ventilate as in 

 the clamp process, by perpendicular 

 ventilators run up into the room 

 above. The percentage of loss is 

 small by this process. As to giving 

 bees a flight in winter, I do not prac- 

 tice it. If I find that they are uneasy 

 and make a rumbling noise, I water 

 them by placing an em))ty section in- 

 verted on the cap of the hive just un- 



der the carpet. They will drink read- 

 ily, and then it is all quiet. 



J\Ir. Page: lam aware that we can 

 overdo the chaff packing. We pack 

 too closely, and do not properly venti- 

 late. 



Mr. Bowman : The dead air space 

 is preferable to close chaff packing. 



Mr. Ovitt: I tried the feeding of a 

 colony which liad no pollen, with 

 sugar syrup, and was successful. For 

 extracted honey this is a good process. 



Mr. Bowman : If honey gathered 

 late in the fall is not fit to winter 

 bees on, is it right to offer it on the 

 market V 



JNIr. Langton : We would be killing 

 our own market ; always sell a first- 

 class article. 



Mr. Paine: I have a quantity of not 

 first quality of honey gathered late in 

 the fall ; w"hat can I do with it? 



Mr. Langton : Feed it in the spring 

 when the bees are gathering pollen. 



Adjourned till the afternoon. 



First on the afternoon programme 

 was the election of officers, which re- 

 sulted as follows : For President, 

 Leonard Carson ; for Vice-President, 

 S. S. Ovitt : for Secretarv, E. W. 

 Turner, Xewton Falls ; for Treasurer, 

 II. A. Simmons ; and an executive 

 board of three, C. U. Kistler, C. R. 

 Page, and C. (i. Beardsly. 



The subject of queen rearing was 

 then discussed. 



2ilr, Bowman : First have a strong 

 colony ; reuuive the queen ; examine 

 the frames and find a nice frame of 

 eggs, and watch carefully the hatch- 

 ing of each, or give a frame of eggs 

 to a small nucleus, and let it rear a 

 queen from this frame of eggs ; as to 

 testing of queens, I let them remain 

 with tlie nucleus. 



Mr. Page : I wish perfect cells. To 

 do this I draw a knife across the top 

 of the cells, sometimes cutting the 

 comb in two, say 4 inches from the 

 top of llie frame. 



Mr. Langton : I use a strip of foun- 

 dation and destroy every other cell, so 

 as to enlarge the distance between 

 the cells. 



Iilr. Page : I use new combs. 



" How early in the spring is it ad- 

 inissable to commence to feed your 

 bees to stimulate brood-rearing V 



Mr. Langton : I take my liees out of 

 the cellar as soon as it is safe to do so. 

 I thoroughly clean out the hives, in- 

 sert tlie divisiou-board, and commence 

 to feed as soon as the bees commence 

 to gather pollen. 



JSIr. Ilammon : I live close to a flour 

 mill ; my bees have no trouble in 

 gathering pollen. 



^Ir. Page : I clean out the Jiives ; 

 put the bees on as few frames as pos- 

 sible ; feed pure honey, and about 

 the first of May I go over the hives 

 again, give tbem more frames, and 

 get ready for business. 



Mr. Langton ; I even up my colo- 

 nies about May 1 ; take frames from a 

 strong colony and insert it into a 

 weaker one, and work up a strong 

 force in this way. Some colonies 

 gathered as high as 120 pounds of 

 honey last season. 



Mr. Bowman : I put my bees into 

 winter quarters, and do not disturb 

 them until apple-bloom is over. 



Mr. Sinimons : I commence to feed 

 early by gi\ iug them flour and gran- 

 ulated sugar. Miqile syrup is one of 

 Uie best sweets to feed bees. 



Mr. Ilaniiuond : 1 prefer pure Ital- 

 ian bees. 



Mr. Bow^nian : The Italians are the 

 standard bees for gathering honey ; 

 the Cyprians are a good breed, es- 

 pecially the American bred. 



Mr. Simmons: I think the Langs- 

 trolhhive is jireferable for :ill pur- 

 poses : at least it is my choice. 



Mr. Jjangton : The Siniplicity- 

 Langstroth hive is my preference. 



^Ir. Hammond : I have used all the 

 modern hives, and find the Langs- 

 troth the least trouble. 



Mr. Simmons: Millet clover is one 

 of the best honey-producers ; it blooms 

 all the season. 



Mr. Page: In my section of the 

 country basswood abounds in the 

 woods. 



Mv. Bowman : I would plant locust 

 and the tulip. Melilot clover is one 

 of the best honey-producing plants. 



It was moved that a vote of thanks 

 be tendered Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, 

 and others for their able articles. 



The President then appointed Mr. 

 Hammond and Mr. Page as essayists 

 for our next meeting. 



Adjourned to meet In Newton Falls^ 

 on June (i, 1884. 



E. W. Turner, Sec. 



Leonard Carson, Pres. 



For the American Bee Joumai. 



Priority of Location. 



J. E. POND, JR. 



yir. Heddon, in his article which he 

 holds out to be an answer to myself, 

 either misunderstands my position or 

 forgets the nature of the article to 

 which I replied ; for he nowhere 

 touches upon my own position in re- 

 gard to the question. This being so, 

 I should not feel called upon to reply 

 further, were it not that Mr. II. claims 

 that because I am a lawyer, I am not 

 the best ([ualifled person to decide the 

 matter in dispute. 



Now, without contending to boast 

 of my intellectual qualifications, I 

 fail w'hollv and entirely to see why 

 the fact tliat I am a lawyer disquali- 

 fit s me in any sense from forming and 

 expressing a correct opinion. 



But what is this question that a 

 lawyer is not able to decide V Simply 

 this : Mr. H., in the original article 

 which drew a reply from me, assumed 

 that no one had a right to locate an 

 apiary in a lield already occupied. To 

 this position I demurred, and I still 

 demur ; and claim thatone person has 

 the same right as another to locate an 

 apiary wherever he chooses. 



As' well might "the butcher, the 

 baker, and the candle-stick maker" 

 claim right of priority in a certain 

 town, as for an apiarist so to do. Mr. 

 II. 's whole article is an attempt to 

 prove a matter which is not disputed 

 by me. and one that I did not suppose 

 was even a question of dispute, viz : 

 that a fully occupied field cannot be 

 further sub-divided without causing 

 loss to all its occupants. This matter 



