THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



603 



"Welch, Vice-President ; Dr. Wm. H. 

 Ralston, Secretary ; and Rev. W. V. 

 Tliomas, 'lYeasiirer. Sixteen paid 

 into tlie treasury, 50 cents eacli, and 

 became iuemt)ers by signing tlie con- 

 stitution. Tlie next meeting will be 

 at the office of the Secretary of the 

 Deliance County Agricultural Society, 

 on the Fair (Jrounds, at 3 p. m. sharp, 

 on Oct. 2, 18S4. 



W'si. H. Ralston, Sec. 

 L. E. Myers, Pres. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



northwestern Indiana Convention, 



The bee-keepers of La Porte and 

 adjoining counties met in tlie city of 

 La Porte on Thuisday, Sept. 4, 1884, 

 at Lay's Opera House at 2 p. m., to 

 organize a permanent bee-keepers" 

 society. A. Fahnestock was elected 

 Chairman, and Oscar J. Parkell Sec- 

 retary. 



After a few preliminary remarks by 

 the chairman, as to the objects to be 

 accomplished in thus forming a so- 

 ciety for the advancement of the in- 

 terests in bee-keeping, he informed 

 them that it would now be iu order 

 to appoint a committee to draft a con- 

 stitution and by-laws, and appointed 

 W. Banks, O. J. Parkell,G. R.Tyrrell 

 and I). Furness as such committee, 

 who, in due time, reported a constitu- 

 tion and by-laws, whiclj were unani- 

 mously adopted. 



It was resolved that our annual 

 meeting should be held on Oct. 22, 

 1884, at 2 p. m. at Lay's Opera House, 

 in the city of La Porte ; and that this 

 organization shall be known as the 

 Northwestern Indiana Pee-Keepers' 

 Society, and that the membership fee 

 shall be one dollar annually. The 

 Secretary then enrolled 22 names, and 

 received S21. A committee was then 

 appointed to nominate permanent 

 officers for the society, who should 

 preside at our annual meeting, where- 

 upon the chairman appointed the fol- 

 lowing : O. J. Parkell, B. Furness, 

 and Wm. Banks, who presented the 

 names of G. R. Tyrrell, President; 

 E. Furness, Vice-President; A. 

 Fahnestock, Secretary ; and 0. J. 

 Parkell for Treasurer, all of whom 

 were unanimously elected. The Sec- 

 retary was then requested to hand a 

 report of our proceedings to the La 

 Porte city papers, and request their 

 publication, and also to send a copy to 

 the American Bee Journal and to 

 Oleanings in Bee-Oulture. 



The President and Secretary were 

 requested to read an essay on some 

 important subject in the interest of 

 bee-keepers, at the annual meeting. 

 Owing to many bee-keepers being 

 engaged in threshing grain and pre- 

 paring ground for seeding, our con- 

 vention was not as large as antici- 

 pated, but we have assurances that 

 all such and others will be on hand at 

 our next meeting. Quite a lively in- 

 terest was manifested by those pres- 

 ent sufficient to betoken a successful 

 future for the society. On motion 

 the society adjourned to meet Oct. 22, 

 as before stated. 



A. Fahnestock, Sec. 



G. R. Tyrell, Pres. 



Wihnt atxd gtaxxr. 



ANSWERS BY 



James Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Riiirs for tills Department. 



1. Give your name and post-offlee address. 



2. Be brief, and to the point. 



3. Send no simple questions, sucli as are 

 answered in the bee-books. 



4. Ask only such questions as are of 

 general interest. 



T). This department is not intended for 

 advertising any one's wares — therefore 

 questions concerning the manufacture of 

 goods for sale are not appropriate. 

 6. Direct all questions to the editor— 

 THOS. G. NEWITIAN, 

 925 West Madison St., CHICAGO, ILL. 



Diseased Colony. 



I have a colony of bees which has 

 been diseased during all of this sea- 

 son. A large portion of the brood 

 dies before it is sealed, and some 

 atter. The live liees appear all right. 

 The queen is a fine-looking one, and 

 seems to be quite prolific. After the 

 brood dies, it does not dry away, but 

 remains soft and ropy, and smells 

 very offensive, even at the entrance 

 of the hive when passing by it. They 

 have gathered just about honey 

 enough to winter on. E. LooMis. 



Smithville Flats, N. Y. 



Answer.— You give a perfect de- 

 scription of malignant foul brood, 

 which I would not have enter my api- 

 ary for less than its entire value. 

 I know nothing about successfully 

 treating it. 



Fermented Honey. 



Will you please answer the follow- 

 ing questions through the Bee Jour- 

 nal : I have some extracted honey 

 that has been working, and tastes a 

 little sour ; can I put it through any 

 process to bring it back to a salable 

 state? If not can you give me a 

 recipe for making honey-vinegar 'i* 

 There was one in the Bee Journal 

 recently, but it did not detail quanti- 

 ties or management. 



Lacolle, Can. Wm. A. Pear,son. 



Answer.— If you expose your 

 honey to heat, it will greatly lessen 

 the fermented condition. You can 

 not boil it, however, without injuring 

 it in that way. I know of no way to 

 make it into lirst-class, sweet sauce. 

 I would advise you to put some in a 

 tin pail, set the pail in a vessel of 

 water which circulates freely under 

 and all around it, and boil the water 

 10 minutes ; then let the honey cool, 

 and be your own judge as to whether 

 or not it is merchantable. If fermen- 

 tation has not gone too far, it will be 

 all right, I think. Perhaps it will be 

 worth more to you for feed for your 

 bees, than for vinegar. You must 

 have a neighbor who can tell you how 

 to make vinegar successfully out of 

 any properly diluted syrup or honey. 

 A little good cider vinegar containing 

 " mother," will help to start it; the 

 secret then consists only in having 



the liquid contain just the right quan- 

 tity ot sweetness, to ferment readily 

 and emphatically. We hear that a 

 (Chicago vinegar factory has recently 

 discovered a cliemical that will turn 

 anything into vinegar, and have 

 hoisted a sign over the door, that 

 reads, "Who will care for 'mother' 

 now V" 



Wintering Bees in a Barn. 



As I wish to avoid the expense of 

 packing my bees on the summer 

 stands," and having a cellar that is 

 drained, and is still very damp, would 

 it do to put the bees in the cellar pro- 

 vided that I would be sure of winter- 

 ing them, or at least the most of 

 them 'i* The cellar is under a build- 

 ing which is used as a store-room, and 

 is witliout a fire all winter. I thought 

 I might put them in the second story 

 of a barn which is provided with a 

 door, and pack around them with 

 chaff or straw. Would the bees come 

 back to their hives, in the barn, if I 

 opened the door (which is 7x4 feet) 

 and let them take a cleansing flight 'i* 

 Which would be the better place for 

 them, the barn or the cellar 'i* The 

 cellar can be kept at a certain tem- 

 perature, and in winter is quite cool. 

 Daniel Duffield. 



Dearborn, Mich. 



Answer. — As I understand your 

 " barn " proposition, I am very sure 

 you would meet with failure if you 

 should carry it out. Your cellar is 

 the place for your bees. Put in enough 

 of them to keep the temperature 

 above the freezing point during the 

 coldest weather. While I have no 

 evidence that dampness is deleterious 

 to bees in confinement, you can dry 

 out your cellar by leaving all the 

 doors, windows, or any other ventila- 

 tors it may contain open during all 

 that weather during the fall when the 

 temperature outside is below 42^ 

 Falir. before you put in the bees. 





The Bee-Killer. 



Honey is not one-half a crop here 

 this year. Bees did not work on 

 white clover as they have done in 

 other years. Smart-weed has yielded 

 scarcely any honey. I have com- 

 menced to build a two-story shop, 

 20x28, so as to provide for my little 

 workers. I begun the bee-business 

 during the spring of 1882, with 3 colo- 

 nies, and increased them that season 

 to 24 strong colonies. In 188;! I com- 

 menced with 20 in fair condition, and 

 increased them to 52. In 1884 I com- 

 menced with 50 colonies, and in- 

 creased to 88, which will soon be 

 ready for the cellar. I got about 1,500 

 pounds of honey this year. I send an 

 insect which I saw catching a bee 

 near my little apiary. They were at 

 work on the nice Spanish-needle 

 bloom when I saw this insect rest 

 on a bloom, and it waited until the 



