THE AMERICAJSI BEE JOURNAL. 



81 



summer stands, packed exactly in the 

 same way, except that tliey are all on 

 5 frames, on account of their being 

 very strong last fall. They are doing 

 well so far, and there is not a particle 

 of frost inside the entrances of any of 

 them, in spite of the " cold snaps " we 

 are having. I have also 8 others in a 

 small, dark and well- ventilated cellar, 

 doing well so far. 



I never tried coverings of porous 

 cloth over them, and it seems to me 

 that Mr. Doolittle's experience speaks 

 against it. But I believe that my ex- 

 perience with a warm quilt, or a car- 

 pet over them, proves that no upper 

 ventilation will not do. It may be 

 all right as long as the weather keeps 

 really cold ; but in my neighborhood, 

 where we have sudden changes, and 

 spells of moderate weather, in the 

 coldest winters, it will not do. I do 

 not know but ^i of an inch of an open- 

 ing to the chaff at the back end of the 

 hive, would be sutlicient, but I am 

 confident 34 of an inch is plenty. 



In this locality, bad honey in the 

 fall, and pollen in the hives, does not 

 trouble me in the least, and if I have 

 all the Root chaff hives I need, and 

 have my bees packed as I said, I have 

 no fear of loss. The difference I Hnd 

 between the Root chaff liive and those 

 I make myself for wintering, is, mine 

 are more apt to get damp in the bot- 

 tom, when the others are always dry, 

 and that of course is greatly in their 

 favor. There may be other hives 

 quite as well as they are, but I have 

 not seen them yet. 



Pittsburgh, Pa., Jan. 26, 1883. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Lorain Co., 0., Convention. 



The bee-keepers of Lorain County, 

 Ohio, met in the Probate Court Room 

 of the Court House at Elyria, Dec. 20, 

 at 10 a. m. and organized a society 

 under the name of The Lorain Co. 

 Bee-Keepers' Association. 



A constitution was adopted, similar 

 to one in general use by other socie- 

 ties of the kind, with the following 

 officers : President, Joseph Hudson ; 

 Vice President, C. I). Bennett ; Sec- 

 retary, O.J. Terrell; Treasurer, M. 

 R. Bennett. 



T. C. Crilly and C. D. Bennett were 

 appointed a committee on statistics. 



Adjourned till 1:30 p. m. 



President Hudson called the meet- 

 ing to order at 1 :30 p. m. 



Mr. Jump was called for but did not 

 respond. 



O. J. Terrell, being called for, made 



a few remarks in favor of organized 



work ; he also spoke of the manner in 



which his bees were packed for the 



winter, namely, in clamps, with clover 



haff ; also, that he would rather have 



our inches of clover chaff than ten 



nches of any other packing he could 



ithink of. 



B. P. Worcester described a bee- 

 house which he built, years ago, at the 

 East, wliicli wintered" bees successful- 

 ly, although the winters were very 

 severe. It was made with very tight 

 single walls, with ground lloor, and 

 ventilation at top and bottom. He 



considered the ventilation a very es- 

 sential thing. 



Mr. Tompkins said he weighed his 

 bees in the fall and again in the spring, 

 and the average loss per colony was 

 about 7 pounds. One small nucleus, 

 fed 20 pounds of granulated sugar- 

 syrup, had srained 5 pounds. 



The merits and demerits of the chaff 

 hive were quite thoroughly discussed, 

 the majority being in favor of the 

 chaff hives. 



The committee on statistics sub- 

 mitted the following table : 



The question being asked whether 

 it would pay to plant for honey alone, 

 Mr. VV. C. Sutliff replied tliat it would 

 not, but there were plenty of crops 

 that would yield botli honey and good 

 hay. He preferred alsike clover to 

 anything he had tried. 



L. L. Sears claimed something good 

 for mignonette. It lasted till cold 

 weather and was a wonderful plant to 

 secrete honey. 



J. E. Squires said, in speaking of the 

 different races of bees, tiiat he did not 

 want anything to do witli the Cypri- 

 ans. Had had one large colony, and 



they were so cross that he gave the 

 queen away, and divided the colony 

 into four small nuclei, giving them 

 Itahan queens, which he claims are 

 good enough for liim. 



The question was asked by a mem- 

 ber, if it Daid to keep bees V This 

 brought forth a lively discussion, and 

 it was thoroughly proved by several 

 that bees, rightly managed, did pay. 



Some effort was made to establish 

 uniform prices for honey, but this was 

 a vexatious question and will be more 

 thoroughly discussed at the next 

 meeting. 



Mr. Geo. H. Purple exhibited a novel 

 machine, which he makes use of, in 

 taking a swarm of bees from a tree. 

 The machine is so arranged that he 

 can hang in it a frame of brood comb, 

 so that the bees readily take to it. 



The Association passed a resolution 

 of thanks to tlie Probate Judge, for 

 the use of his court room, and also to 

 the county papers, which so kindly in- 

 serted the notice of the meeting in 

 their columns tlie previous week. 



On motion of B. F. Worcester, the 

 meeting adjourned to the second 

 Tuesday in March, 1&S3. 



O. J. Terrell, Sec 



For tlic American Bee Journal- 



Wintering Bees in the South. 



FRANK THIAVILLE. 



Wintering bees in the South is no 

 trouble, if the bees are in proper con- 

 dition, with plenty of bees and honey. 

 A populous colony tliat has 25 pounds 

 of honey on the Ist of November, will 

 winter well on the summer stand, and 

 be ready for the honey season when it 

 comes. 



An ordinary colony may winter well 

 with 8 pounds of honey, provided the 

 honey season opens early, say by 

 March 1 ; but if the spring is cool and 

 backward, they will perish, unless fed. 

 During tlie period of repose, bees con- 

 sume au average of 2 pounds of honey 

 per month ; but when breeding time 

 comes, they require at first 2 pounds, 

 then 3 and 4 pounds per week, accord- 

 ing to the strength of the colony, and 

 the quantity of brood that is being 

 reared. 



A critical time for our bees is when 

 the honey season opens early, and is 

 cut off, by frost and cool weather ; our 

 hives being then full of bees and 

 brood, they must have honey, or the 

 barrel of sugar must be ready. 



Colonies well supplied with honey 

 will remain quiet at home, and there 

 is no spring dwindling; but, if they 

 have not honey enough, they will fly 

 out during the cool days, get chilled 

 and perish, and the colony will dwin- 

 dle, and even, if it can pi'ill through, 

 it is worthless for the season. 



In the winter of 1S80-81, no bees 

 perished on the summer stands, so 

 long as they had honey ; butthe spring 

 was cool and backward, and a great 

 many periShed by the last of JNIarch, 

 and first part of April, just at the eve 

 of the honey season. 



We are located between 34^ and 35° 

 north latitude. In the winter of 1880- 

 81, the thermometer seldom went 



