THE AMElUCAiS BEE JOURNAL. 



'V25 



some in Utah wlio stick to the old 

 methods of liee-cviltiirt'. From !•") to 

 20 lbs. of honey can he saved to every 

 pound of comb foundation artiticially 

 made and introduced into the liive. 

 Eacli society should take at least one 

 bee-paper, and prolit by the experience 

 ; of otliers in the Kast and elsewhere. 

 An experienced expert can cure foul 

 lirood. but inexperienced persons 

 should not tamper with it. lie strongly 

 recommended tlie two- story hive. 

 Take honey from the upper story only, 

 and you ciin readily change frames 

 from one to the other story. 



The feeling of the meeting was 

 strongly in favor of organizing bee- 

 socieiies in every settlement in" Utali 

 where bees are kept. A President, 

 A'ice-President, .Secretary and Treas- 

 nrer, are all tlie otticers "usually con- 

 sidered necessary. The Secretary and 

 Treasurer may be united in the same 

 person. It is hoped the friends of 

 bee-culture everywhere will appreci- 

 ate the importance of this suggestion 

 and act upon it without delay. 



The convention reconnnended the 



I Ajieiucan Bee Journal, published 



' in Chicago at S2 per annum ; and 



Gkanings in Bee-Culture, published at 



Medina, O., SI a year, as the best 



papers for bee-keepers. 



ilessrs. Morgan, Cowley and Ells- 

 worth agreed to prepare an article, 

 each, on the best management of bees 

 for :May, .June and July respectively. 



From written reports received and 

 read, the following are extracts : 



Tooele City last fall had 230 colonies; 

 this spring 20;i colonies i loss 21. Some 

 of the colonies are weak, but on the 

 whole we have had good success in 

 ■wintering, considering the severity of 

 the winter. T. W. Lee, Pres. 



J NO. Dunn, Sec. 



Manti, about 8-50 colonies in the 

 county (Sanpete). On tlie average 

 took about .50 lbs. of honey from each 

 colony. Alany of those who wintered 

 on the summer stands sustained heavy 

 loss. Those who used chaff as a pro- 

 tector succeeded well. The interest 

 in apiculture was appreciably on the 

 increase. Wm. Hkaitiiwait, Pres. 



W.^r. Bench, Sec. 



Eli Bell, of LoMn, writes : " The 

 bee interests in this cnuntv (Cache) 

 are reasonably good this spring. All 

 that I have seen are in good condition. 

 Our method of wintering is to pack 

 the hives in sawdust or sliavings and 

 put them under good sheds. We re- 

 move the upper frames or honey boxes 

 and put in straw cushions. Last year 

 our yield of honey was very good.' 



Secretary S. Worthington, of Pay 

 son, writes: "The number of eolo 

 nies of bees in Payson last fall was 

 738. During the winter lost 2.^ colo- 

 nies, or 3}i per cent, of the whole. All 

 were wintered on the sunnner stands. 

 Total amount of honey taken, 38,1.58 

 poimds, and 296 pounds of wax." 



A. P. Winsor writes from St. 

 George: " 140 colonies ; honev yield 

 light: but litle wax; wintered on 

 summer stands; no foul brood: but 

 little loss or gain in numbers of colo- 

 nies. Drouth and frost have contrib- 

 uted largely to the partial failures." 



Thirty- five colonies were reported at 

 Santa Clara, near St. George. Win- 



tered well ; loss under 2 per cent. No 

 foul brood. 



Edward Stevenson, secretary of the 

 Parent Society, but now in Canada, 

 writes : " I can report .")0 colonies in 

 good condition, the last I knew of 

 them. Some of them are in two-story 

 chaff hives. Last season 1 took 60 

 pounds of honey from each colony at 

 one extraction, without troubling the 

 lower story at all. The lower story 

 has 9 frames ; the upper has 1-1 to 1-J 

 frames. The lower hive has 2 inches 

 of chaff under it, and 3 inches at each 

 end, making the upper story inches 

 longer than the under one. The frame 

 of the lower part being lengthwise, 

 will lit the upper one crosswise. In 

 the fall the frames should be taken 

 out of the upper part, and a sack of 

 chaff put into it. I made one of these 

 hives for a friend here, which he val- 

 ues very highly. There are not many 

 bees in "Canada, the winters being too 

 severe. But few patent hives are in 

 use." — Tooele City Daily. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Observations in Cellar Wintering. 



C. W. DAYTON. 



In colonies first afflicted with diar- 

 rhcea I have found butfew of the bees 

 with distended bodies, and where they 

 were dead the colony appeared to be 

 free from disease. By close watching, 

 colonies beginning to show the com- 

 mon signs were detected several days 

 before. Either strong or weak colo- 

 nies which clustered low on the combs 

 were all more or less afflicted with 

 diarrluea. 



I have tried acid and sugar which I 

 believed to check it, but found after- 

 ward that it was increased ventilation 

 or settlement of the cluster. Five 

 colonies wintered perfectly on wholly 

 uncapped honey. 



I once put 7 colonies whose brood- 

 chambers were covered with wire 

 cloth, in the cellar, alternately with 

 12 whose brood- chambers were covered 

 with chaff cushions; and after a con- 

 finement of 1-56 days, in a temperature 

 ranging between 32 and .50 degrees, 

 the 12 were found nearly dead with 

 diarrhtt'a and of the 7, 6 were in good 

 condition, and one weak, without diar- 

 rhoea. I have known in several in- 

 stances voidance of feces to resemble 

 water. 



When I moved 60 colonies to their 

 summer stands this spring, after a 

 confinement of 145 days, 11 of the 15 

 diarrhetic colonies were amongst the 

 44 having no brood. During the last 

 winter the temperature of my bee-cel- 

 lar never was below 4.3°, or above 4.5J.^°; 

 and there was a patch of brood in one 

 comb in each of 16 colonies when set 

 out. 



In the winter of 1882-3 the tempera- 

 ture varied from 32^ to .50" and there 

 was brood in from one to three combs 

 in every live colony. I have known 

 several colonies in deep hives, in a 

 warm cellar, and clustered low on the 

 combs, to keep dry and quiet from 50 

 to 100 days, wiien the accumulation of 

 moisture on the combs or material 

 about the brood-chamber, became 



visible, without the aid of brood-rear- 

 ing; and the honey being consumed 

 near the cluster, to cause amove of the 

 cluster which was generally followed, 

 but sometimes preceded, by the very 

 sudden apiiearance of distended bees 

 which remained in the cluster, unless 

 so exhausted as to exhibit their well 

 known conduct; and in the spring the 

 hive and combs near the cluster were 

 found to be dry, and a part of the re- 

 maining bees found with distended 

 bodies and the cause of diarrluea (un- 

 less it sliould be found to be pollen) 

 disappeared. 



Since examining, without injurious 

 disturbance, 30 colonies twice each day, 

 on more than one hundred days dur- 

 ing one winter, and also .50 diarrhetic 

 colonies in the spring, I believe there 

 is but little to be learned from the 

 tracks of the disease. 



While successfully wintering a rea- 

 sonable numlier of colonies with the 

 right upward ventilation, and a like 

 number supposed to be hermetically 

 sealed above, I have found that a me- 

 dium preparation has fixed the price 

 of my experimenting. 



My experiments thus far have been 

 made with natural stores gathered be- 

 fore July 25; and my idea is that 10 colo- 

 nies in a diarrhetic test are better than 

 a larger number. 



Bradford, Iowa. 



for the American Bee JoumaL 



Des Moines Co., Iowa, Convention. 



The Des Moines County Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, held its last session 

 at Middleto\vn,Iowa, on April 22, 1884. 

 The meeting was called to order by 

 the President, Geo. Bischoff. 



The committee appointed to wait 

 upon the Agricultural Society reported 

 that the following premiums" would be 

 ottered at the Fair next fall. 



Best display of Italian beea $S.(.X) 



Beat display of blacli bees 5.00 



Best imporied Queen 3.00 



Best display of comb honey, not leas than 25 lbs 5.00 



Best crate of honey, not less than 2t lbs 3.00 



Best hive for all purposes, best honey extrac- 

 tor, best wax-extractor, best bee-smoker, 



and the best bee- veil Diploma^ 



Best display of apiarian implements Dip. and $5 



2d best display of apiarian implements. Uip. and $3 



Note.— All hives must be securely cNised while 

 on exhibition, and no bees allowed at large. 



The foregoing report was adopted, 

 and hearty thanks expressed to the 

 Agricultural Society. 



Nine names were added to the list 

 of membership ; 16 members represen- 

 ted .564 colonies, fall count ; spring 

 count, 491. The subject of wintering 

 bees was then discussed. 



Henry Breder winters them in a 

 cellar, and uses the Langstroth hive. 

 Adjourned. 



After dinner the same subject was 

 continued. 



Jno. Nau winters them in an arched 

 cellar, with sufficient ventilation to 

 keep the temperature ranging from 

 40° to 46°. A. M. Baldwin, on their 

 summer stands without any protec- 

 tion. W. R. Glandon, in an old ice- 

 house. F. F. Melcher, on their sum- 

 mer stands with straw packed on the 

 sides and back, and in the cap of the 

 hive. Others in his neighborhood 

 packed in the same way, but lost 



