THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



any oue take up all the plants grow- 

 ing in an old village, and I think he 

 will lind there is far less than he sup- 

 posed. 



I tried getting plants in that way to 

 set in a piece ot ground which I had 

 prepared to receive them, and was 

 much disappointed in the number I 

 found, but was not at all disappointed 

 (luring tlie past season, with those I 

 set out, when I found them thronged 

 with bees from morning until night, 

 all the time they were in blossom ; 

 and then in the fall they blossomed a 

 second time, and were worked on by 

 bees until the frost killed them. Let 

 any one devote a small piece of 

 ground to catnip, and watch the bees 

 work on it, and I believe any one who 

 does so, will be satisfied that there is 

 not a plant that grows that has more 

 attraction for bees, and one must sup- 

 pose that bees do not work on it for 

 nothing, when, if they watch other 

 plants, they see them deserted as 

 soon as the "honey flow ceases. 



Much is said about buckwheat for 

 bees ; it is often neglected by them. 

 and I think they never work on it all 

 the day long, and therefore I conclude 

 that bees get some honey from catnip 

 all the time. There is not enough of 

 it in any one place for them to get 

 quantity enough to be observable as 

 cattiip honey, but I have no doubt it 

 adds to the yield we get, and is excel- 

 lent for the bees ; therefore, I say, 

 plant and spread it as much as pos- 

 sible. I take a great deal of pleasure, 

 seeing bees work, and much interest 

 in the cultivation of honey plants. I 

 like to see the bees enjoy themselves, 

 which I believe they do, far more 

 when at work ; for, when not at work, 

 they are always cross. 



JTeutonville, Mich., Jan. 20, 1883. 



Indiana State Convention. 



According to programme, the fourth 

 annual meeting of the State Bee- 

 Keepers' Association commenced at 

 the rooms of the State Board of Ag- 

 riculture, Indianapolis. Injl., Jan. 10. 

 On account of the inclemency of the 

 weather, the members came in slowly ; 

 but the meeting was called to order a 

 few minutes after the time set, 10:30 

 a. m., Mr. Cotton in the chair, with 

 all the otlicers present. After some 

 preliminary work the society settled 

 down to business. 



Mr. Bmitain said he was a beginner, 

 had come to the meeting for the pur- 

 pose of learning. He was full of 

 young America, and wanted to learn 

 to handle bees without having to 

 wade through the sloughs which had 

 been traveled by the pioneer bee- 

 keepers present, and hoped the older 

 members would take hold of the work 

 and push it right along. 



The president called attention to 

 the death of Mr. Bellman, a former 

 president of the Association, and ap- 

 pointed a committee to take action 

 on the matter, consisting of Messrs. 

 O'Rear, Robinson and Mrs. Robin- 

 son, after which the meeting ad- 

 journed until 2 p. m. 



On re-assembling after the dinner 

 hour, the secretary read a communi- 



cation from Prof. A. J. Cook, Lans- 

 ing, Mich., on clipping queen's wings, 

 in which he said, I have practiced 

 this method of bee management now 

 for vears, and liave yet to see the tirst 

 evidence that the bees take umbrage 

 at the proceeding. In the matter of 

 statistics, he hoped the Society would 

 agitate the matter and do all it could 

 to assist the committee, appointed by 

 the Xorth American Society. He 

 hoped this and all other State Asso- 

 ciations would strive to assist the 

 J^orth American Society. Happily, 

 civilization is opposed to selHshness ; 

 we are all interested in our neighbor's 

 success. Let tlie Los Angeles bee- 

 keeper put up his honey in a slip-shod 

 shape, and the Maine bee-keeper loses 

 by the act. The subject of the paper 

 was discussed at some length, and it 

 seemed to be the voice of the con- 

 vention, that the clipping of the 

 queens' wing was no hlnderance in 

 the management of the bees. 



The following, from the question 

 box, brought out a lively discussion : 

 " Are queens reared under the im- 

 pulse of the swarming fever, superior 

 to those reared from the egg arti- 

 ficially V" Many of the members had 

 tried both plans extensively, and 

 while some very poor queens were 

 produced artificially, with proper 

 care, equally good ones could be 

 reared as those produced under the 

 impulse of the swarming fever, and 

 this seemed to be the voice of the 

 Society. 



The question : " Are Cyprians more 

 vindictive than the Italians V" occu- 

 pied the time of the meeting at some 

 length, and led to some very amusing 

 incidents in the handling of bees, 

 and while some of the members 

 claimed to have very gentle Cyprians, 

 all of those who had them, of known 

 purity, testified to their ability to 

 hold their own with any bee-master, 

 regardless of smoke, sweetened water, 

 or even chloroform. However, it was 

 concluded that they had some very 

 good qualities which were to give 

 material assistance in producing our 

 great expectant — Apis Americana. 



"Dividing, or Natural Increase" 

 was the next question of importance 

 inider discnssion. 



Mr. Muth thought that the first ob- 

 ject to be sought was the honey 

 crop, and the increase made after- 

 ward, and that very much depended 

 on condition and circumstances. For 

 people who paid but little attention 

 to their bees, he thought it best to 

 allow the bees to increase naturally, 

 but, to those who gave the necessary 

 care to them, the plan of a gradual in- 

 crease artificially was the best plan. 

 After some further discussion the 

 matter was passed for the present to 

 allow the president to deliver his ad- 

 dress. 



PRESIDENT cotton's ADDRESS. 



Ladies and Gentlemen of the In- 

 diana Bee-Keepers' Association : This 

 is the fourth annual meeting since 

 our organization ; each year increas- 

 ing in interest ; each member being 

 ready to give a reason for the faith 

 that "is in him, in regard to the little 

 busy bee. Our Society is organized 



on philanthropic principles for the 

 general dissemination of knowledge 

 of the mysteries of this busy insect. 

 A few years ago the masses would 

 have thought if miraculous to have 

 seen bees handled with impunity, as 

 we now handle them ; and yet we are 

 not satisfied with our progress, nor 

 should we be, so long as we can save 

 the life of another colony, or cause 

 them to produce another pound of 

 honey. 



While the winter of 1880-81 will 

 long be remembered by the apiarist, 

 the question that arises is, have we 

 been benefited by our experience to 

 the extent that we may reasonably 

 expect to avoid another such disaster '■* 

 If we have not, we have not taken the 

 lesson that nature has offered us. 



While the old elm-peeler hog could 

 bury himself in the ground beside a 

 log,"and winter through, without much 

 comtort to himself or profit to his 

 owner, the improved Berkshire or 

 Poland China cannot stand such treat- 

 ment, but needs to be well housed, to 

 give his owner a good profit, and the 

 same may be said of all the domestic 

 animals, and the honey bee is not an 

 exception to this rule. 



We no longer expect to get profit 

 from the bee in tlie old log hive, left 

 standing exposed to the cold north- 

 westers withont protection, no more 

 than we would expect that the old 

 brindle cow, that has to shelter under 

 the leeward of a rail fence, would give 

 profit to her owner. 



Then, as true humanitarians, let us 

 investigate in the light of science and 

 experience, and especially the subject 

 of wintering, for this is the i"eef that 

 we have wrecked upon. In wintering, 

 some attribute their success to venti- 

 lation, others to the extracting of bad, 

 unripe honey, others to the tempera- 

 ture, and so on. !N"ow% without en- 

 tering into a discussion of this sub- 

 ject in this address, I prefer to leave 

 the discussion of this subject, with 

 all others, to this convention, merely 

 hinting at a few subjects which I may 

 think of importance to bee-keepers. 

 Some of the things necessary in win- 

 tering, in my experience, are a hive of 

 proper size, contracted according to 

 the number of bees, and plenty of 

 good, ripe honey, or sugar, wath Mod 

 ventilation, and well protected from 

 the cold. ]3ut the question arises, 

 what is the proper size of the hive,, 

 how shall we ventilate, and how shall 

 we protect from the cold ? with nu- > 

 merous other questions which this As- 

 sociation may discuss with profit. 



I would advise all beginners to 

 study the physiology and habits of 

 the bee, which may be done by read- 

 ing Quinby, Langstroth or Cook ; and 

 without the study of .some such stan- 

 dard work on bees, our bee periodicals 

 must sound much like the German 

 does to the man who cannot speak 

 German ; but if he has studied all 

 that has been written on the bee, he 

 none the less needs to read some good 

 bee paper to keep up with the progress 

 of tlie age. 



We cannot expect every family to 

 take interest enough in bees to supply 

 themselves with honey, when they, 

 with plenty of garden room, fail to 



