38 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mr. C. Case favors deep frames; 

 Wintered successfully in 1880-1 in deep 

 frames. 



Mr. Goodni) likes deep short frames, 

 and wants ttie entrance in tlie end of tlie 

 hive, with frames crosswise, and thinks 

 them more convenient to close up 

 vj'eak colonies in tlie spring with divi- 

 sion boards, and with frames crosswise 

 of the hive, eacli acts as a division 

 for tlie wind and cold that comes in at 

 theentrance, wliile, with a long frame, 

 running lengthwise, any cold tliat goes 

 in at the entrance will go through to 

 the back end. 



Mr. Robertson has no weak colonies 

 in the spring, lie draws from tlie strong 

 ones and keeps them all strong ; any 

 queen who cannot keep her colony 

 from dwindling in spring is not worth 

 a cent. 



Mr. Goodno has a queen which has 

 done well this season, that was doubled 

 up a year ago last spring. Six weak 

 ones put into the 7th and this is the 

 original queen that was in the 7th hive, 

 and after they were doubled a week or 

 ten days they were no stronger than 

 the original colony. 



Mrs. Sanders has had similar expe- 

 rience with queens that allowed their 

 colonies to dwindle in the spring and 

 afterward proved to he prolific. She 

 has both square and long frames, and 

 likes the square frames best ; still, this 

 year, she has had the best results from 

 the Langstroth frame ; but they were 

 her best bees. She has wintered bees 

 in both, and has no choice. 



The frames used by the members 

 present are as follows. It was agreed 

 to let the results be shown, another 

 year. 



Size of 

 Frame. 



George W. Mtanton, Sheridan. 11x12 



Mrs. A. M. Sanders, " llxl-J. 



" " " Lang. 



Mis3 F. A. Bellamv, Ionia '* . 



B. Chapman. South Boston, " . 



Henry Jone.s, Uheaaning, " . 



I. A. Balch.Lvons square 28 



" " '■ Lang 42 



Orren Martin, Carson City 10x10 65 



O.R.Goodno, " 10x10 46 



" " Lang 16 



D-iy Spaulding, Pewamo 11x11 M 14 



H. Peck. Sarunac lIxllH 24 



R. B. Corriss, St. Johns lIxllK 5 



Byron Wightman, Sheridan 11x12 5 



W, S. Pierson, Kurelia 11x11^ 70 



G. M. Barney. Carson ('lly 10x10 66 



Jacob Be.«sey, Ionia, Lang 29 



B.Osborn, St. Johns 11x12 90 



Henry A. Rogers, Orange, Lang 15 



Do not know how many of each, or 

 how many in all Mr. J. ll. Robertson 

 has, and at a later date, Deo. 6th, the 

 secretary has still been unable to ob- 

 tain the above information Trom Mr. 

 Robertson. 



Seven hundred colonies were repre- 

 sented at the convention ; of which 

 186 were in Langstrotli hives and 514 

 in square or deep frames. Under the 

 circumstances tliat there was such a 

 variety of frames represented by the 

 members present, no frame could be 

 unanimously adopted by this conven- 

 tion. 



Wednesday, Oct. 11, 1882, 10 a. m., 

 the convention was called to order. 

 President Roop still being absent, and 

 Vice President Stanton being called 

 away. Vice President J, 11. Robertson 

 took the chair. The hour having ar- 

 rived at which the election of officers 

 was to be taken up, it was resolved to 

 elect by acclamation. George VV. 



No. of 

 Col. 

 ....51 

 ....50 

 ....30 

 ....IS 

 .... 5 

 .31 



Stanton, of Sheridan, was elected pres- 

 ident for the ensuing year. The fol- 

 lowing Vice Presidents were nomi- 

 nated and elected. 1st Vice President, 

 Francito A. Palmer, of McBride; 2nd, 

 L. S. Benham, Alma ; .Srd, C. S. VVol- 

 cott, St. Johns ; 4th, Frank Gleason, 

 l>yons; 5th, Miss F. A. Bellamy, Ionia. 

 It was resolved that the office of sec- 

 retary and treasurer be embodied in 

 one. O. R. Goodiio, of Carson City, 

 was elected secretary and treasurer 

 for the ensuing year. 



The convention waived the order of 

 discussion and listened to an interest- 

 ing speech from a Mr. James II. Eaton, 

 of Bluffton, Allen Co., Ohio, who had 

 come some miles out of his way to at- 

 tend the convention and could stay 

 but a short time. lie gave us some 

 very interestingideas upon foul brood, 

 and that the use of rock salt was a 

 good, if not an effectual, remedy for 

 the same ; to be given to the bees 

 where they could have free access to 

 it, and that rock salt was better than 

 any other, being more pure, and when 

 used no bees were effected by foul 

 brood. We all regretted his short stay 

 as much more might have been learned 

 from him. 



"Prospects of Bee-Keeping" was 

 the next subject taken up. JVlr. Rob- 

 ertson said that we had encouraging 

 prospects tor the future ; our honey 

 was being sought for, and purchasers 

 come to us to buy, while in the past 

 we had to liiid our market ourselves; 

 honey was being used by many fami- 

 lies who had not heretofore used it, 

 and lie advocated extracted honey to 

 be put up in 50 or 100 lb. kegs, and 

 that his orders are increasing for that 

 sort of package ; he had no honey on 

 hand,so great was the demand for such 

 packages. He had realized S10..50 for 

 100 lb. packages, and $6.50 for 50 lb. 

 packages. 



W. S. Pierson s;iid that at these 

 meeting was the place to learn how to 

 put up our honey and how to market 

 it, and all should labor to drive out the 

 cheap honey and all try to get honey 

 up in better shape, whether it be ex- 

 tracted or comb. He has been engaged 

 in the business several years and tries 

 to produce good honey and has been 

 able to sell his extracted at 15 cts.; he 

 thinks we ought to make it a point to 

 place honey, implements, and every 

 thing used in our business, on exhibi- 

 tion at conventions, that we may com- 

 pare, note, and profit thereby. Let 

 each one bring the plants of his section 

 that produce honey. 



O. R. Goodno had found new and 

 desirable market for his extracted 

 honey to be used in the manufacture 

 of tobacco, and, if it proved successful, 

 would be used to a great extent in the 

 place of glycerine which cost the man- 

 ufacturer of tobacco 28 cts. per lb., 

 while the honey, at, say 10 cts., which 

 would be much more profitable, as it 

 retains its weight while being manu- 

 factured, and being double or treble 

 its cost after being placed in the goods, 

 cannot help being more profitable to 

 the consumers of the tobacco. Also 

 inquiries are being made for extracted 

 honey to sweeten grape wine, and, if 

 it produces the flavor anticipated, 

 they will be able to use all the honey 



that Michigan can produce. He thinks 

 that in the near future, extracted 

 honey will be what all will try to pro- 

 duce, and that the prospects never 

 were better for bee-keepers than at 

 present. 



The subject of " Wintering " was 

 then taken up. Mr. Robertson, antic- 

 ipating a severe, cold winter, advocates 

 cuttingdown or doubling up and make 

 all colonies strong. He winters in the 

 cellar and looks after the bees every 

 day during winter, and has water in 

 cellar all the while, and all his bees 

 have to winter on is June or July 

 honey ; but little or no fall honey. 



Mr. Goodno gave his method of chaff 

 packing, but should try wintering 

 both in and out of doors. He thought 

 bees, as a general thing, were in good 

 condition for wintering ; all prepara- 

 tion for wintering ought to have been 

 made by this, though his had not 

 been prepared as yet. 



As several of the members were soon 

 obliged to leave on the train to reach 

 home on the same day, and desiring 

 to know where the next convention 

 would be held, it was -voted that the 

 next convention be held at Sheridan. 

 Montcalm Co.. Mich., on the secona 

 Tuesday and Wednesday of October, 

 1883. 



Further, on preparing bees for win- 

 ter. Mr. Giwdiio does not like to have 

 bees disturbed after this date. 



Mr. C. Case gave his method, and 

 said his bees were already prepared 

 for winter; he puts them in cellar 

 early, and crowds the combs so closely 

 that the honey cannot granulate, 

 owing to the warmth of the bees. 



Mr. Pierson had some bees already 

 prepared in chaff for winter. No one 

 doubted but what all bees should be 

 prepared early for winter. 



" Best Method of Securing a Large 

 Crop of Honey, Weather Permitting." 

 Mr. N. S. Pierson had been rearing 

 bees many years and had invested in 

 several patent hives, but all have been 

 too complicated, and worthless. Since 

 the invention of the extractor some 

 have tried to extract all the honey the 

 bees made, and it has given the ex- 

 tractor a bad name. The extractor is 

 all right in its place, but do not rob 

 the bees ; give them a plenty, and, be- 

 fore extracting, let the bees cap at 

 least two-thirds of the comb. He had 

 43 colonies this spring, and ran 8 of 

 them for extracted honey and got 657 

 lbs.; found 2 upper stories with brood 

 in them, and made colonies of them. 

 He obtained in all 2,000 lbs. of honey. 



Others spoke upon the subject but 

 nothing practical was brought out. 

 The convention took a recess for 

 dinner. 



At 1 p. m. the convention was called 

 to order by Vice Pies. J. H. Robert- 

 son, Pres. Roop not having appeared. 

 L. S. Benham, of Alma, Mich., sent in 

 his report for the year, with regrets 

 that he could not attend, which was 

 as follows : Spring count 28, increase 

 43, queens reared 75, honey extracted 

 1,800 lbs., honey in comb 200 lbs. 



Mrs. A. M. Sanders, of Sheridan, 

 Mich., reported as follows : I had 50 

 colonies in the spring and sold one, 

 leaving 49 for the summer's work ; I 

 increased to 80 and obtained 3,000 lbs. 



