THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



685 



IIow about keeping the moisture ab- 

 sorbed ? It formed in dvona in my 

 hive. Tliis lias been a very liad year 

 for bees. Most of my iiei>:libors keep 

 a few bees, but tliere was very little 

 increase, and not much boney. There 

 were verv few natural swarms. No 

 fall honey was gathered, and the bees 

 being almost starved, would come 

 into the house and get into every- 

 thing. A great many were killed. 

 Is cider good for bees V The cider 

 mills around here are just full of 

 them. Jno. V. C'onfek.*o 



Yellow Springs, O. 



ANSWEU.— Special repositories (en- 

 tirely above ground) for vv'intering 

 bees", have been used for years, with 

 varied success. They, like cellars, all 

 sorts of out-door packing, and total 

 neglect, will neither produce, prevent 

 nor cure the disease, bee-diarrhoea— 

 the one great cause of our winter 

 losses. 'Whetlier I winter my bees in 

 a cellar, or a double-walled house all 

 above ground. I should like very much 

 to have a spring therein, or a stream 

 of water passing through the bee- 

 room in as noiseless a manner as pos- 

 sible. It acts as a regulator of the 

 temperature, and as a ventilator. On 

 two or three occasions I have had my 

 bees store a little cider in the hives, 

 late in the fall, but never saw any bad 

 results therefrom. I should, however, 

 prefer that they would have none of 

 it in their hives ; I tliink it might 

 work an injury in a secondary manner. 



Not One-Fourth of a Crop. 



We have not had one-fourth of a 

 lioney crop this year. There are but 

 few bees in the country. Comb honey 

 sells at 2.5 cents per pound, and ex- 

 tracted at 20 cents. Please give the 

 best formula for making candy for 

 winter feed for bees. 



J. M. DOUDNA,Kl— 14, 42. 



Alexandria. Minn., Oct. 11, 1884. 



Answer. — If your case were my 

 own, I should not feed candy, but 

 granulated sugar syrup, made and fed 

 as directed in numerous places of the 

 Bee Journal. It has been a long 

 time since I have made any bee-candy; 

 but I believe that I boiled down con- 

 fectioners' A sugar to the point of 

 consistency when it would '" thread," 

 as confectioners say, and then remov- 

 ed it from the tire and stirred it lively 

 until the "dough" was pretty stiff, and 

 then caked it in pound sections. 



Convention Notices. 



^" The Soutliern Wisconsin Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will hold its 

 next meeting in the Court House at 

 Janesville, AVis., on Oct. 28, 1884, at 

 10 a. m. It is hoped that all meml:)ers 

 will be present at this meeting. 



J. T. POMEROY, Sec. 



C. O. Shannon, Fres. 



1^" The bee-keepers of McDonough 

 and adjoining counties are requested 

 to meet at Bushnell, 111., on Xov. 20, 

 1884, for the purpose of organizing a 

 bee-keepers" association . 



J. G. Norton. 





Does Bee-Keeping Pay? 



The honey crop was a total failure 

 in this parish this year. On an 

 apiary of it colonies, I lost §20, for I 

 did not get one drop of honey, and 

 the queens and labor cost me $20. In 

 another apiary of 9 colonies not one 

 drop of honey was obtained, but the 

 bees had to be fed during the whole 

 year. I could mention many more 

 worse failures, but these will suffice. 

 If this ever meets the public eye (but 

 I doubt if it will, for our bee-paper 

 editors like to keep dark things to- 

 gether hid), I hope all those who are 

 embarking in bee-culture will '• go 

 slow," for it is risky business. I have 

 been a bee-keeper for six years, and I 

 am worse off now than I was at tiie 

 beginning; but I will "try again," 

 and let you know how I succeed in 

 188.5. In 1879 I had 106 colonies, and 

 in 1884 have S. Now, the question is, 

 " Does bee-keeping pay ¥" 



Alvin V. Lennox. 5 



Plaquemine, La., Oct. 7, 1884. 



Experience with Foul Brood. 



After reading the article on foul 

 brood, by Frank R. Cheshire, in the 

 Bee Journal for Oct. S, and know- 

 ing the effect that carbolic acid has on 

 the human system. I esteem it my 

 duty to donate to the National Con- 

 vention, soon to be held at Roches- 

 ter, the cause and harmless remedy 

 for foul brood. Providence permit- 

 ting I will be present in person. 



N. N. Betsinger.© 



Marcellus, N. Y., Oct. 11, 1884. 



Short Honey Crop. 



My honey crop was very short this 

 year. I got about 500 pounds of clover 

 honey from 28 colonies, spring count ; 

 but got no fall honey, and only had 4 

 swarms in all. A. Wortjian.-o 



SeaHeld, lud., Oct. 11, 1884. 



Bees not Working. 



I started in the spring with 70 colo- 

 nies of bees, and have increased them 

 to 9.5. My spring lioney crop was a 

 little over 3,000 pounds. Bees have 

 been idle ever since Aug. 1. 



John Ferstel. ? 



Inglefield, Ind., Oct. 13, 1884. 



Report for the Season. 



The surplus honey season of 1884 is 

 about closed in this vicinity ; and as 

 many bee-keepers report but a small 

 crop. 1 deem my success in producing 

 a large crop mainly due to constant 

 care, and a perfect control of after- 

 swarming, which is usually a great 

 detriment in the way of producing 

 comb honey. I commenced the sea- 

 son with three apiaries, situated from 

 five to ten miles apart, in my own 

 care, and report as follows : First, 

 Pine BlulT Apiary of 6.5 colonies in 



Langstroth hives, run for comb honey 

 in one-pound sections, produced 4,600 

 lbs. and increased to 110 colonies; and 

 two colonies, run for extracted honey, 

 produced .520 lbs., with no increase. 

 Each of the latter occupied .'iO Lang^ 

 stroth frames, and were not helped 

 in any way except by receiving good, 

 care. One of them stood on scales 

 during the honey season and produced 

 over 300 lbs. of honey. Second, Kock 

 Valley ^Vpiary, 24 box-hive colonies^ 

 were transferred and increased to 

 38, and produced 1,400 lbs. of honey in 

 one-pound sections. Third, Baraboo 

 Apiary of 4.5 colonies, produced 6,000 

 lbs. of extracted honey — two-thirds of 

 it being white honey. I increased 

 them to 0-5 colonies. Summarizing 

 the products of the three apiaries, I 

 have, as total amount for the season.. 

 12,620 lbs. of honey. 



Frank McNay.Q 

 Mansion, Wis., Sept. 1, 18H4. 



1^" Seeing that during the past sea-^ 

 son much interest has been manifested 

 in the subject of bee-keeping, and be' 

 lieving it to be a profitable industry,, 

 and one that ought to be protected 

 and encouraged, we have thought lit 

 to call a meeting of those interested 

 to meet in the Court House at Cynthi- 

 ana, Ky., at 10 a. m., on Saturday, 

 Oct. 2.5, 1884, for the purpose of effect- 

 ing a permanent organization of the 

 bee-keepers of this and adjoining 

 counties, and for the mutual protec- 

 tion and information of its members,^ 

 and the promotion and encouragement 

 of apiculture. The meeting will be 

 addressed by Mr. Clias. F. ^Nluth, of 

 Cincinnati, O.. one of the most suc- 

 cessful bee-keepers of this country.r 

 who will also assist in organizing the 

 society. W. S, Cason, W. L. Godman, 

 M. C. Swinford, J. J. Whiteker^ 

 Harvey Kearus, S. W. Collins. 



Create a Local Honey Market. 



Now is the time to create Honey 

 Markets in every village, town and 

 city. Wide - awake honey producers- 

 should get the Leaflets " Why eat 

 Honey" (only -50 cents per 100), or else 

 the pamphlets on " Honey as Food 

 and Medicine," and scatter them 

 plentifully all over the territory they 

 can supply with honey, and the result- 

 will be a demand that will readily take 

 all of their crops at remunerative- 

 prices. The pricesfor'"Honey as Food 

 and Medicine " are as follows : 



Single copy 5 cts,; per doz., 40 cts : 

 per hundred, $2.50. 500 will be sent 

 postpaid for $10.00 ; or 1000 Un' 

 $15.00- On orders of 100 or more, 

 we will print, if desired, on llie- 

 cover-page, "Presented by," etc.. 

 (giving the name and address of the 

 bee-keeper who scatters them). Tliis 

 alone will pay him for all his trouble 

 and expense — enabling him to dispose 

 of his honey at home, at a good profit. 



t^ To give away a copy of " Honey 

 as Food and Medicine " to every oi\e whrr 

 bfuys a package of honey, will sell almost- 

 any quantity of it. 



