824 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



To the Bee-Keepers of the Northwest 



At the last meeting of the Xorth- 

 ■western Bee-Keepers' Society, a special 

 committee was appointed as follows : 



T. G, Newman, Chicago, Ills., Pres. 



T. L. Von Dorn, Omaha, Neb., See. 



Rev. O. Clute, Iowa City, Iowa. 



Jas. A. Nelson, Wj'andotte, Kan. 



Prof. A. J. Cook, Lansing:, Mich. 



Dr. G. L. Tinker, New Philadelphia, Ohio. 



A. Fahnestock, La Porte, Ind. 



C. H. Green, Berlin, Wis. 



D. G, Parker, St. Joseph, llo. 



C. F. Greening-, Grand .Meadow, Minn., 



for the purpose of securing, by legis- 

 lation in the several States of the 

 Northwest, laws for the suppression 

 of foul brood, and for securing statis- 

 tical reports of apiarian products. 

 After consultation with Gen. C. F. 

 Manderson, of Omaha, a Nebraska 

 senator, I am convinced that a peti- 

 tion or petitions asking to have our 

 products included in tlie crop reports 

 of the Department of Agriculture 

 will meet with a ready response and 

 prompt action at the hands of Con- 

 gress. Senator Manderson said that 

 he would be pleased to serve the bee- 

 keepers in the matter, and had no 

 doubt as to the result. 



I would, therefore, earnestly request 

 the bee-keepers of the United States 

 to advise me at once, by postal, as to 

 their desires in the matter, tliat I 

 may forward their views to Washing- 

 ton. Their full views upon all the 

 subjects contained in this article are 

 urged, giving in detail all that they 

 may think necessary to be mentioned 

 in the petition, or in the laws for the 

 suppression of foul brood. My own 

 ideas upon the subject of petition are 

 these : 



We. the undersigned petitioners, 

 bee-keepers of the United States, do 

 respectfully request of your Honor- 

 able Body, that crop reports of apia- 

 rian products may be included in the 

 reports of the department of Agri- 

 culture ; we would further ask tliat 

 such reports should state the number 

 of colonies of bees in the various 

 States and Territories upon the first 

 day of June of each year ; and that 

 upon the first day of August and upon 

 the first day of Oct. of each year, there 

 shall be made a report giving as nearly 

 as possible the number of pounds of 

 comb and extracted honey produced 

 in the several States and Territories, 

 together with a statement as to the 

 source from wliich it was derived. 

 The October report is to contain, also, 

 the probable production of beeswax. 



It will also be in order to support 

 this petition with an argument as to 

 its desirability, which should go with 

 it. These are only my own crude 

 ideas. Let me hear from all. 



The matter of foul brood is entirely 

 a State matter. As it is altogether 

 probable that a cure for this dread 

 disease is now possible, I imagine 

 that we will not need any death-pen- 

 alty laws on the subject ; but I im- 

 agine that we shall need well-drawn 

 laws in every State to suppress it. 

 The specialist will hardly need a law, 

 at any rate, not on this side the Rock- 

 ies ; but what will we say, if the 



disease can be carried in the honey 

 which is just now being sent to us 

 from portions of California, the bees 

 of which, by good authority, are much 

 affected with foul brood. Leaving 

 this source of danger out of the ques- 

 tion, there yet remains that large class 

 of shiftless bee-keepers, who either do 

 not know or do not care about it, and 

 hence the necessity of sound law. 



I should be pleased if those who can 

 will send me drafts of the law as they 

 think it should be. 



T. L. Von Dorn, Sec. Spec. Com. 

 820 S. Ave., Omaha. Neb. 



earnestly request that you protect us 

 in our cultivation of bees and produc- 

 tion of honey, Ijy the passage of such 

 a law as will require all persons en- 

 gaged in the making of cider to en- 

 close their mills so as to exclude bees. 



For tbe American Bee JournaL 



Tuscarawas County, 0., Convention. 



The bee-keepers of Tuscarawas 

 County. O.. met at New Philadelphia, 

 O., on Oct, 21, bss4. The meeting was 

 called to order by tliePresident, A. A. 

 Fradenburg, after which he delivered 

 an opening address to the convention, 

 confining himself mainly to the culti- 

 vation of honey-plants. In his re- 

 marks he stated that he believed that 

 it would pay to cultivate plants for 

 honey alone. 



Many subjects were brought up, 

 and diilerent views concerning them 

 were advanced. Never before was 

 there such an interest taken in bee- 

 ture in old Tuscarawas county as there 

 is at the present time. 



The number of colonies of bees 

 represented was 173, spring count. 

 and 207 fall count, and the number of 

 pounds of honey taken was 5,216. 



That which may most interest bee- 

 keepers in general was a discussion 

 of open cider-mills and their effect on 

 the bees. After the discussion, 

 Messrs. Swinehart and Williams were 

 appointed to draw up a petition to be 

 presented to our State legislature, 

 asking that all open cider-mills be so 

 enclosed as to exclude all bees. The 

 following is the petition : 



To tlie General Assembly of the State of 



Ohio :— 



Honorable Sirs : Whereas. Bee- 

 culture is now a standard occupation 

 in our State, there being a iarge num- ! 

 ber of both men and women engaged [ 

 in it as a means of subsistence ; and 



Wliereas. There are many cider- 

 mills, or places where cider is made, 

 in close proximity to our bees ; and 



Whereas. Our bees are, as it were, 

 enticed by the cider to the place of 

 making ; and that many thousands are 

 drowned and crushed, during the 

 making of the cider, to such an ex- 

 tent that many colonies are almost 

 depopulated; and that in the fall, 

 when they have ceased rearing bees, 

 and thus go into winter quarters in 

 reduced numbers, greatly increasing 

 the mortality among them ; and 



Whereas. Much cider is carried 

 away by the bees and stored in the 

 combs of the hives, which, when 

 eaten during cold weather, produces 

 dysentery or bee-diarrho?a, which de- 

 stroys more bees than all other tilings 

 combined, and sometimes almost de- 

 populating whole apiaries. 



Therefore. We, the bee-keepers of 

 the State of Ohio, do petition and 



It was decided, after much discus- 

 sion, that the best manner to get th& 

 above petition before the Legislature, 

 was to have every bee-keeper to copy 

 it and get the bee-keepers of his 

 neighborhood to sign it, and that all 

 be sent to some one person who will 

 present all to the Assembly. Mr. A. 

 A. Fradenburg. of Port AVashington, 

 O.. will receive the petitions. 



We would like all interested in this 

 matter to give their views on this 

 question, and also their efforts in 

 bringing about the desired result. 

 Geo. F. Willi.ajiIS, Sec. 



A. A. Fradenburg, Pres. 



ror tue American Bee JoumaU 



Getting Statistics— Peculiar Season. 



J. w. jiargrave. 



We have had the most peculiar sea- 

 son, so far as honey is concerned, that 

 I ever saw. I wintered my bees 

 mainly in a clamp, took them out on 

 April 1 , and found 7 out of 45 colonies 

 dead, and a majority of the others 

 badly affected with bee-diarrhrea. I 

 had 12 colonies on the summer stands, 

 one of which was dead, but there was 

 not much diarrhcea among the others. 

 In the spring they dwindled down to 

 38 colonies by May 10. and many of 

 the remaining colonies were reduced 

 to a mere handful. 



It was cold and wet during fruit- 

 bloom, and they only got honey 

 enough to keep brood-rearing going 

 well until in June, when they began 

 to swarm ; and by dividing, together 

 with natural swarming, I increased 

 them to ti6 colonies. I secured no 

 surplus honey until Aug. 18, when the 

 bees began to show signs of activity, 

 and for five or six days gathered honey 

 very rapidly. I was on the point of 

 extracting a barrel or two of honey, 

 but on Aug. 24 we had an intensely 

 hot dav, and nearly all of the bees lay 

 out on" the outside of the hives, and 

 just then our honey season ended. 



I extracted none at all, and doubled 

 them back from 60 to 5o colonies, and 

 left them out on the summer stands, 

 with Ja'-story on the top of the hives- 

 filled with forest leaves; how many I 

 shall lose in w-intering, I will be able 

 to report about May 1, 1885. 



In regard to getting statistical re- 

 ports, 1 would say that I think it can 

 be done better through the assessors 

 of the different townships tlian by 

 any other way. In our county we 

 now get a pretty fair report in this 

 way, but we do not get the increas& 

 for the preceding year, only tlie num- 

 ber of colonies and the amount of 

 honey and beeswax. Now, if we 

 could get the blanks so printed as to 

 show the increase of colonies as well 

 as the number of colonies lost in win- 

 tering (and by a little efl:'ort tills might 

 be done), what more would we need 'i 



IIiawatlia,c$ Kans., Dec. 16, 1884. 



