THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



347 



Local Convention Directory. 



18»4. Time and place 0/ Sttetivt. 



June li— MabonlnK Vnlley, at Newton Fulls, O. 



B. W. Turner. Sec. 



June 19.— Northern Mich, at Ionia. 



F. A. Palmer. Sec. 



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



F. A. Palmer, Sec, McBrlde. Mich. 



Oct. 1.5, 16.— Northwestern, at ChlcBgo, 111, 



W. Z. Hutchinson. Sec. 



Nov. 25.— "Western Mich., at Fremont, Mich. 



Geo, E. Hilton, Sec. 



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



U. D. Cutting. Sec, Clinton, Mich. 



fW~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— ED. 





Good Results. 



I have 66 colonies which are doing 

 well. Last year my bees produced 

 7,600 lbs. of honey, and over 100 lbs. 

 of wax. Mrs. C. M. Kingslet. 



Elvaston, 111., May 15, 1.SS4. 



Are Bees Taxable in Illinois ? 



The assessor attempted to assess my 

 bees, but I do not think it is lawful to 

 assess farmer's bees. This is the tirst 

 time it has ever been tried here. I 

 believe it would be a great favor to 

 bee-keepers generally, to have this de- 

 termined. A. WiCHERTS. 



Matteson, ni.. May 16, ia84. 



[In this State it is by law made the 

 duty of the assessor to "list" colo- 

 nies of bees, as is shown by the pub- 

 lished quarterly reports. That they 

 are taxable in Illinois, we think does 

 not admit of a doubt.— Ed.] 



Bees in Eastern Ohio. 



Bees in this locality wintered mod- 

 erately well so far as I have been able 

 to ascertain. One apiarist put 15 

 young colonies into' a vault last fall 

 and this spring 8 of them were alive. 

 Another apiarist lost 12 colonies out 

 of 44. Last spring I began the season 

 with 10 colonies in fair condition. I 

 stimulated them by feeding them su- 

 gar-syrup until they could get their 

 own living. It being a very poor sea- 

 son for honey, they did not gather 

 very much surplus honey, and what 

 they did gather I saved for feeding 

 them this spring, if needed. Two col- 

 onies swarmed, one left and the other 

 died late in the fall, thus leaving only 

 10 colonies. On March 24. 1 examined 

 all of them and found 1 dead, and the 

 rest in good condition; yet I gave each 

 of them a comb of honey. They all 

 contained brood at this time. The 

 weather set in cold again, and I did 

 not look at them until April 11. and I 

 found 8 doing well, and for some cause 

 the other was dead. 1 did not feed 

 them very long. On May 11, a swarm 

 issued and I put it into a hive with 8 



nice combs. I looked .at them May 1.5, 

 and found new honey in 6 combs, and 

 2 with eggs in. R. 



Barnesville, O., May 16, 18,84. 



Women as Apiarists. 



My bees wintered well. All came 

 out strong and healthy. I have sold 

 •50 colonies this spring. I cannot help 

 thinking that bee-culture is a good oc- 

 cupation for women. I attend to my 

 bees without the assistance of any 

 one, except the supply dealers ; for in 

 these progressive times one can buy 

 everything pertaining to the bee-busi- 

 ness, all nicely prepared and ready for 

 use. That alone is enough to tempt 

 one into the business ; and truly, I 

 keep bees as much for pleasure as for 

 protit, and have lots of spare time, 

 too, for other work. I am sure if I 

 were compelled to earn my own sup- 

 port, there are few pleasanter occupa- 

 tions in which an intelligent woman 

 could engage. 



Mrs. Dr. p. H. Mason. 



Vincennes, Ind., May 16, 1884. 



Bees Storing Honey Rapidly. 



Since I have kept bees I never saw 

 them gather so much honey from fruit 

 bloom as they have this year. Each 

 colony has gained in weight from 10 to 

 15 lbs. All my colonies are now 

 crowded with bees and brood. They 

 are in the Ijest possible condition for 

 the clover bloom, which will be here 

 soon. I expect some swarms in a short 

 time. H. T. Hartman. 



Freeport, 111., ilay 20, 1884. 



Botanical. 



Enclosed I send a plant which is 

 very abundant here, and much used 

 by bees. What is its botanical name V 

 and its value as a honey plant y "iVe 

 have had a remarkably wet spring, 

 and vegetation is unusually vigorous 

 and dense with an endless variety and 

 quantity of flowers. Notwithstanding 

 much of the weather has been quite 

 cool for the season and climate, bees 

 are doing exceedingly well, and are 

 very prolific in swarms. 



W. P. Hancock. 



Salado, Tex., May 7, 1884. 



[It is Gaura filipes. It belongs to the 

 Evening Primrose family, most species 

 of which yield nectar.— T. J. Bur- 

 rill.] 



Bees along the Pacific Coast. 



This spring has been the warmest 

 and finest 1 have known in Oregon 

 during, my 32 years' residence. Bees 

 have been doing better than ever be- 

 fore. I took out, for the first time 

 since being a bee-keeper, comb honey 

 made of the peach, pear, cherry, and 

 plum bloom in the month of April. 

 Some bees in smaller hives swarmed 

 during April. "We never had better 

 prospects for a good honey crop ; 

 other crops also look well. I have 

 quite a lot of fertilized young queens 

 at my Washington Ter. apiary. I 

 must here mention in connection with 

 the rearing of young queens, that Or- 

 egon possesses what perhaps none of 



the Eastern States do; and that is such 

 a wonderful bee-man as a queen-bee 

 surgeon, accoucheur, and midwife. 

 This medical or surgical queen-bee 

 genius, claims that he played the part 

 of an accoucheur surgeon and mid- 

 wife for one of his queen-bees, which 

 after fertilization, would not lay the 

 first egg. He did not apply browned 

 butter like is done to young bees, but 

 performed a surgical operation with 

 the point of a very fine needle. He 

 said the operation proved a success, 

 and the mother and her egg lived and 

 are doing well. Who of you Eastern 

 queen-breeders can come up to that ? 

 Would it not be well for all the East- 

 ern queen - breeders, as a whole, 

 to engage this man's valuable services, 

 as they are wasted here in Oregon, 

 where apiculture is carried on in all 

 kinds of boxes, and even in sugar and 

 nail kegs. We have also a farmer who 

 every year kills his old colonies of bees 

 to obtain the honey. The old man 

 thought that tlie old way of killing the 

 bees was the best, and did not know 

 he was killing his young queens in the 

 old colonies. He has now learned his 

 mistake— transferred his bees in mov- 

 able-comb hives, and will no longer 

 murder his young queens for honey in 

 old combs. As the Pacific coast has 

 never yet done anything for progres- 

 sive apiculture with regard to intro- 

 ducing new varieties of bees, I have 

 come to the conclusion to try intro- 

 ducing bees from China by the mail 

 steamers via Japan. I believe the 

 trip requires about 25 days, and I have 

 found acquaintances who think it can 

 be done through our former American 

 Consul, who is now a resident of the 

 city again, and is said to be a very 

 obliging man. I shall let you know 

 more about the prospects of "the China 

 bee in due time. GustMurhard. 

 Portland, Oreg., May 10, 1884. 



Dandelions and White Clover. 



My .50 colonies of bees were never in 

 as good condition before fruit bloom, 

 as they are now. One colony is storing 

 surplus honey. The roadsides are yel- 

 low with dandelions, and the wliite 

 clover heads begin to appear. The 

 apple trees will bloom this week if the 

 weather is fair. Prospects for a good 

 honey crop in this vicinity, was never 

 better than now. Geo. E. Hilton. 



Fremont, Mich., May 19, 1884. 



How my Bees Wintered. 



Last fall I had 38 colonies and one 

 nucleus. The 38 came through the 

 winter in splendid condition. I al- 

 ways winter my bees on the summer 

 stands, and they can eat pollen if they 

 wish. F. J. Sawin. 



Kirkwood, 111., May 15, 1884. 



Weather Unfavorable for Bees. 



I hope the readers of the Bee Jour- 

 nal are having a better spring for 

 bees than we are having here in cen- 

 tral New York. The last 2 weeks have 

 been cold and wet ; in fact, the whole 

 spring has generally been cold, so that 

 with the exception of a few strong 

 colonies, bees are mostly weak. Many 



