748 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 





Local Convention Directory. 



1884. Time and place of Meeting. 



Not. 19.— Massachusetts, at Worcester, Mass. 



J. G. Jeflferds, Sec. 



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

 Geo. E. Hilton, Sec. 



Dee. 3.— Southeastern Mich., at Adrian, Mich. 



A. M. Gander, See. 



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



H. D. Cutting, Sec. Clinton, Mich. 



Dec. 12.— Northeastern Kansas, at Hiawatha, Kan. 

 1835. 



Jan. 6.— Southern Wisconsin, at Janesville, Wis. 

 J. T, Pomeroy, Sec. 



Jan. 14.— Central Illinoia, at Bloomington. Ills. 



W. B. Lawrence, Sec. 



|y In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 tsiles are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.- Ed. 



sikS-^^Mm^t 



No Surplus Since July. 



I began the season with 20 colonies, 

 sold 12 in the spring, secured ooO 

 pounds of honey from the 8 remain- 

 ing colonies, and increased them to 

 15. Bees in this section did well dur- 

 ing June and July, but since then 

 they have produced no surplus honey 

 to speak of. A. L. P. Looms. o+ 



Kosendale, Wis.. Nov. 6, 1.S84. 



Poorest Season for 8 Tears. 



In the fall of 1883 I put into winter 

 quarters 44 colonies of Italian and 

 hybrid bees, and had 44 with which 

 to begin the spring of 1SS4. I in- 

 creased them to 61, besides selling 4 

 colonies, have obtained 1,000 pounds 

 of comb and 200 pounds of extracted 

 honey, all of it being somewhat dark, 

 there being none of it pure, white 

 clover, but, perhaps, a good deal of it 

 is "bug juice." I got no fall honey 

 at all, and, taking the season through, 

 it has been the poorest season for 

 honey that I have seen in the eight 

 years in which I have kept bees in 

 this locality. The Italian bees worked 

 strong on the first crop of red clover, 

 but what they got from it I do not 

 know. Jacob Copeland.o, 44—61. 



Allendale, 111., Nov. 6, 1884. 



Unfortunate. 



This week finds me a helpless man 

 except that I can use my right hand. 

 I became disabled in this way : I was 

 at one of my neighbors on Saturday 

 evening, and a little before 9 p.m. I 

 •started for home; and in order to 

 hasten I ran, and had gone but a 

 short distance when I came in con- 

 tact with a tight, wire clothesline 

 across my path, with such force (it 

 strilting me between the eyes) that I 

 was brought to the ground with such 

 violence that my left collar bone was 

 broken. After some moments of 

 groaning, I finally arose and reported 

 to my neighbors the effect of the wire 

 line. I was assisted to my home, a 

 doctor was called, and the bone set 

 (which is a difficult one to keep in 



place, as it cannot be splinted), and 

 at this writing I am getting along as 

 well as could be expected. I find it a 

 hard stroke on all my fall work. Un- 

 less I can get assistance, I will have 

 to do as some of our old fogies say, 

 " Let the bees care for themselves or 

 abide the consequences." This theory 

 I do not believe in, for I think it just 

 as essential to look after the wants of 

 our bees as it is to look after the 

 wants of our hogs and cattle. The 

 honey crop through this section of 

 Iowa has been quite short since the 

 middle of July. There was a fine lot 

 of fall bloom, and the frost staid off 

 unusually late, too, but there seemed 

 to be but little secretion of honey 

 compared with what we generally 

 have, so we got only a small surplus. 

 I fear that many new colonies, and 

 some which were extracted from the 

 body of the hive in the latter part of 

 the white clover honey-flow, will be 

 short of stores, unless they are fed or 

 evened up from those which have to 

 spare. J. W. Sandeks.0 



Le Grand, Iowa, Nov. 6, 1884. 



About Bumble-Bees. 



Will Prof. Cook please describe the 

 nature of the bumble-bee V Are there 

 any drones among them in the nest 'f 

 If so, what are their habits and na- 

 ture ? Can they sting 'f 



Wm. Malone. 9 



Oakley, Iowa, Nov. 8, 1884. 



[Bumble-bees have the same kind 

 of bees in each colony as do our 

 honey-bees. The large queen lives 

 over the winter, no others. So in 

 early spring the lilacs, etc., are gay 

 with the large queens, which now 

 must do all the work. The queen 

 gathers a great mass of pollen, and lays 

 her eggs in it ; from these, workers are 

 developed, and later, queens and 

 drones may be seen. So in August 

 we find in each nest a large queen, 

 many workers, several small, unmated 

 queens, and several drones. When the 

 first bees come forth in the spring 

 from extemporized cells, caused by 

 eating lioles in the pollen, the bees 

 wax these cells and so form the honey- 

 cells. The queens and workers sting, 

 not the drones.— A. J. Cook.] 



to keep out the mice. By distribu- 

 ting "Honey as Food and Medicine," 

 and the Leaflets, " Why Eat Honey," 

 I have sold 6,000 pounds of extracted 

 honey at home, but have 2,000 pounds 

 yet on hand. I have realized, on an 

 average, something over 9J^ cents per 

 pound. E. I)EANE.5 



Eminence, Kv., Nov. 10, 1884. 



Selling Extracted Honey. 



I have just overhauled my 200 colo- 

 nies of bees, and have equalized their 

 stores. I left them very rich, about 

 one-half of them three stories high 

 when the honey-flow ceased, about 

 June 2-5, since when, there has been 

 no honey to store ; and to my surprise 

 I did not have to feed them, but on 

 the contrary 1 took off and put away 

 900 combs containing various quanti- 

 ties of honey, from j^ of a pound to 

 full, thick combs of 6 to 7 pounds. 

 Just about one-half of my surplus 

 combs had honey in them. I have 

 packed my combs in my tin-lined 

 evaporating-tauks and in' dry-goods 

 boxes, and have nailed them up tight 



An Unfavorable Season. 



This has been an unfavorable year for 

 those of us who are engaged in pro- 

 ducing honey in this section of the 

 country. Oiir honey-flow lasted only 

 about three weeks and that was when 

 clover bloomed. During this time the 

 bees worked hard, but the nectar 

 ceased flowing as soon as the dry sea- 

 son set in, and as a result we got but 

 little surplus honey. My apiary did 

 not average over 1,3 lbs. of honey per 

 colony, spring count. Many of my 

 neighbors who have from o to 10 colo- 

 nies, have not taken a pound of honey, 

 and they say that their bees will die 

 before spring for want of honey. I 

 began in the spring witii 28 colonies 

 and have increased them to 6.3. All 

 are now in good condition, excepting 

 3 colonies which I have been feeding. 

 Nathan M. Woodmank) 

 Bushnell, 111., Nov. 12. 1884. 



Getting Sections Completely Filled. 



I notice on page 716, that Mr. Hed- 

 don is working out a plan to get sec- 

 tions completely filled with honey. I 

 think that I have something new, at 

 least it is new to me, and " it works 

 like a charm :" Cut the comb foun- 

 dation for the 4>|x4^ sections, i%xm, 

 that will then give you 34 of an inch 

 to fasten the foundation on both ends, 

 and the bees will have 14 of an inch 

 space on the sides, thus the comb 

 foundation is fastened perfectly, and 

 will not warp or drop down as it will 

 sometimes in sections only half-filled 

 with foundation. This plan works 

 well without separators, and without 

 reversing the sections. The bees will 

 fasten the foundation all around and 

 build it straight and solid. 



John Ret.0 



East Saginaw, Mich., Nov. 11, 1884. 



Convention Notices. 



W The Central Illinois Bee-Keep- 

 ers" Association will hold its next 

 annual meeting in Bloomington, 111., 

 on the second Wednesday in January, 

 188-5, at 9 a. m. 



W. B. Lawrence, See. 



I ^^ Excursion rates from all points 

 I on the Chicago & West Michigan R. 

 ! R. have been secured for the benefit 

 1 of those desiring to attend the West- 

 ern Michigan Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 I tion, held at ^lusic Hall, in Fremont, 

 I Mich., on Nov. 2o. 1S84. Certificates 

 I can be had by applying to Mr. T. M. 

 I Cobb, President. Grand Rapids, Mich., 

 or to Mr. Gieo. E. Hilton, Secretary, 

 Fremont, Mich. Prominent bee men 

 from abroad are expected, and an 

 interesting time is anticipated. 



Geo. E. Hilton, Sec. 



