94 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Will it pay to cultivate koneu prodvjcing 

 plant/! and trees for bees f 



Mr. Riegle thought the linden 

 profitable for lioney and shade, also 

 the blaclf locust is a honey producer, 

 and the locuSt is profitable tor timber ; 

 he had planted 5,000 young locusts ; 

 tie believed the borer would not infest 

 the locust, when it was planted close 

 for timber ; he believes if any plant 

 will pay for honey alone, it is sweet 

 clover (melilot); he does not think 

 alsilse will pay for honey alone. 



Mr. Rhulen had 2.5 acres of alsike 

 clover ; the hay is far superior to the 

 red clover. 



Mr. Benedict believes the yellow 

 willow produces more honey than the 

 apple blossoms. 



The secretary said he bad planted 

 50 linden trees, and they bloomed the 

 second year after planting. 



The committee appointed by the 

 chairman to confer with the State 

 Board of Agriculture, were Messrs. 

 Riegle, Benedict and Helphrey. Af- 

 ter taking a recess, the committee re- 

 ported they had seen the Secretary of 

 tfie State Board, and could do noth- 

 ing until after the election of the new 

 Board. 



Adjourned till 9 a. m. to-morrow. 



SECOND DAY. 



Jan. 10. Meeting called to order at 

 9 o'clock a. m. Tlie subject for con- 

 sideration, was "Facilities for Ex- 

 hibits at the State Fair." The presi- 

 dent thought we ought to have a suit- 

 able building for exhibits. Mr. Bene- 

 dict and Mr. Riegle thought there 

 should be about one-fourth of an acre 

 of ground enclosed with wire fence, 

 attached to the hall, for the use of 

 bee-keepers. Messrs. Benedict and 

 Helphrey, on committee to confer 

 with State Board, were excused, as 

 they had to go home, and the chair- 

 man appointed the secretary in their 

 stead, who, with Mr. Riegle, were to 

 petition the State Board of Agricul- 

 ture, on Thursday, for better facilities 

 for exhibits on tlie State Fairgrounds. 



The president presented the follovv'- 

 ing plan for a report of each member : 



Oentlemen of the Convention : It is 

 my duty, as the Ohio Vice-Presi- 

 dent of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, to make as full 

 and complete a report as possible of 

 the number of colonies owned, and 

 amount of honey, wax, etc., produced 

 during; the incoming year in the State 

 of Ohio ; all bee-keepers will confer, 

 not only a favor upon your president, 

 but upon the wliole fraternity which 

 extends througliout the greater part 

 of North America, by lilling out the 

 following statistical report, and send- 

 ing the same to Daniel Spear, Sec, 

 Cardington, Morrow Co., O., just be- 

 fore our annual meeting, which will 

 be held during the State Fair in Co- 

 lumbus. In this way you can greatly 

 assist me in this work. Now, gentle- 

 men, I should justly feel proud if you 

 would assist me to so represent the 



freat commonwealth of Ohio in the 

 forth American Association, as to 

 have the fullest and best report of any 

 State, Territory or Province ; and this 

 we can do if you will have the kind- 

 ness to assist me in so doing. 



1. Name, P. O. address and county. 



2. No. of coloniesowned Sept. 1,1882. 



3. No. of colonies owned May 1,1883. 



4. No. of colonies owned Sept. 1, 

 1883, or at time of next annual meet- 

 ing. 



5. No. of colonies showing yellow 

 or golden bands. 



6. No. of colonies of blacks. 



7. No. of colonies sold during the 

 year. 



8. No. of colonies bought during the 

 year. 



9. No. of queens sold during the 

 year. 



10. No. of queens bought during 

 the year. 



11. No. of lbs. comb honey taken 

 during the year. 



12. No. of lbs. extracted honey 

 taken during the year. 



13. No. of lbs. wax honey taken 

 during the year. 



14. Kind of hive used or preferred. 



15. How and where wintered. 



16. If fed during spring, and if so, 

 how liberally. 



This plan was adopted by the 

 convention. 



Mr. A. S. Goodrich asked whose 

 manufacture of comb foundation is 

 best V Dr. Besse said, " The Dun- 

 ham." Mr. Goodrich asked if it made 

 any difference which side of the foun- 

 dation is fastened to the top bar 'f 

 The secretary had never found that 

 it made any difference. 



Mr. Riegle said, " the Dunham foun- 

 dation pleased him best. Some three 

 years ago foundation was manufac- 

 tured in the East, having wire in it, 

 which troubled the bees ; they tried 

 to gnaw out the wire. Lately the 

 foundation invented by Mrs. Dun- 

 ham (credit to the ladies), was pre- 

 ferred,because the walls are stronger. " 

 "The flat-bottomed foundation was 

 another improvement." " The fish 

 bone can be detected whenever it is 

 used in surplus comb honey;" he 

 showed, by diagram, his plan of put- 

 ting full sheets of comb foundation 

 in brood frames. 



Mr. McDowell asked, is it any ad- 

 vantage to introduce fertile queens 

 after a first swarm V 



Mr. Benedict said, his plan for mul- 

 tiplying colonies, was this : Have 

 ready a good supply of old comb in 

 movable frames, drum out the bees 

 and queen, put them in a new hive, 

 place it on the old stand ; place the 

 old hive on a new stand, and the next 

 day give the old colony a fertile 

 queen. This plan keeps a laying 

 queen in each hive. If further in- 

 crease is desired, go through the 

 same process in about 15 days, with 

 the old hive, as before ; there will be 

 just as much larvae and brood, as 

 when first divided. By following this 

 plan the old colony is continually pro- 

 ducing more bees ; in this way we 

 improve our natural swarming. 



Mr. Riegle said, a natural swarm 

 will always accept a queen when it 

 swarms. 



Mr. Benedict said, bees gatliered 

 more fall honey last season than they 

 had gathered at that season of the 

 year for 30 years. 



Mr. Helphrey stimulated his bees 

 in April ; they swarmed in that month , 



which alarmed him ; he looked and 

 found they had no honey. 



The following is the statistical re- 

 port of members : 



Mr. S. C. McDowell, 2.50 lbs. of sur- 

 plus extracted from 4 colonies; buck- 

 wheat and smart weed honey. 



Mr. Rickenbacker, about 25 lbs. to 

 the colony, fall honey. 



S. H. Rhulen, 21 colonies, wintered 

 on summer stands. I found 10 of 

 them were starving; fed 200 lbs. sugar 

 syrup ; increased to 33 colonies ; got 

 about 2,.500 lbs. of comb honey and 

 1,000 lbs. of extracted honey. 



Earle Clickenger had 9 colonies ; 

 had no increase ; got 450 lbs. of comb 

 honey from 6 colonies ; but no honey 

 from"3 colonies. 



C. D. Bennett had 14 colonies in 

 spring ; got 550 lbs, of comb honey and 

 250 lbs. of extracted ; the season was 

 poor in the spring, but good in the 

 fall. 



A. S. Goodrich had 30 colonies in 

 spring, in good condition ; the fore 

 part of the season was very bad ; had 

 to feed up to June 5, to keep them 

 from starving ; got nothing from fruit 

 blossoms, and very little liouey from 

 white clover ; increased from 30 to .54 ; 

 they gathered very rapidly from fall 

 flowers ; the hives are very full. 



Mrs. Jennie Culp, I am an A B C 

 scholar, I gave each colony i^ lbs. 

 of maple sugar ; had 22 colonies ; in- 

 creased to 30 ; I extracted June 1, put 

 the honey in 6 gallon stone jars to 

 ripen ; had over 4 barrels of extracted 

 honey at Fair time (Sept.) ; extracted 

 after the Fair ; altogether had nearly 

 5 barrels of lioney; attribute my suc- 

 cess to feedhig in spring, and to hav- 

 ing plenty of surplus combs ; I sold 

 all my surplus honey for 20cts. per lb. 



A. C. Castle, I am a novice ; have' 

 15 colonies of black bees ; sol J none, 

 increased to 22 ; got 275 lbs. of comb 

 honey ; the fall yield was the best. 



J. G. Shiably, had 3 colonies in 

 spring (2 in box hives and 1 in mov- 

 able frame) ; got nearly 150 lbs. of 

 comb honey ; I am a beginner ; the 

 fall yield was tlie best. 



M. S. King, commenced with 13 col- 

 onies ; worked for increase rather 

 than for honey ; the season was very 

 poor. Mr. Johnson, in my vicinity, 

 got only 3 lbs. to the colony. 



Mr. Riegle : I had in the spring 50 

 colonies; yield from maple and yellow 

 willow, followed by fruit blossoms and 

 poplar lioney, then white clover ; I §ot 

 tlie least yield last season from wliite 

 clover for several years ; got 700 lbs., 

 mostly extracted "honey ; hardly any 

 increase ; the fall yield was from 

 smartweed and asters. 



Mr. Drum increased from 50 to 75 

 colonies, and had very little honey. 



Mr. Benedict gave his plan of work- 

 ing for extracted honey. Have your 

 hives made to fit, one on top of 

 another ; put a colony on the top of 

 the first ; after three days let them go 

 together. Do not extract till fall, but 

 tier up one hive above another, and 

 give them combs or foundation to 

 work on and fill. 



President Besse commenced the 

 spring with 55 colonies ; increased to 

 107 ; put into winter quarters 101 colo- 

 nies ; got 1,000 lbs. of comb honey and 



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