THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



107 



pointed, and during their absence a 

 general visit was indulged in, all ap- 

 pearing to enjoy themselves, and 

 seeming to regret that they would not 

 be likely to have an opportunity to 

 meet again until the second Thurs- 

 day in January, 1884. 



The committee reported the follow- 

 ing resolutions which were adopted : 



Resolved, That the thanks of the 

 Association be, and are hereby ten- 

 dered to the people of Wahoo for their 

 kind hospitality so generously ex- 

 tended to tlie members of the Con- 

 vention, and be it further 



Besolved, That we hereby tender 

 our thanks to the B. & M. and the U. 

 P. railroads for the encouragement 

 given to apiculture by reason of fur- 

 nishing reduced rates of fare to our 

 members. 



Adjourned. M. J. Trester, Sec. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Figuring up the Large Yields. 



GREINER BROS. 



On page 58 of the Bee Journal for 

 1883, we find this: " 1 like the Bee 

 Journal, but 1 do not take much 

 stock in those large yields published. 

 I will give these parties $500 in cash 

 to instruct me how to obtain one-half 

 that quantity, and pay all expenses 

 besides. I suspect that it was not 

 weighed on standard scales." 



Our reply is simply this : If Mr. 

 F. will guarantee or produce annually 

 such honey seasons as we had in 1881, 

 we will guarantee him the same large 

 yields. It is only necessary for him to 

 take the position of scholar and accept 

 Mr. Doolittle's writings as instructor ; 

 this he can have witliout love or 

 money, except $2.00 yearly subscrip- 

 tion for the Bee Journal. 



Perhaps Mr. Heddon, or, in fact, 

 almost any experienced veteran of the 

 fraternity could lead him to success ; 

 the reason we mentioned Mr. D. is 

 because we happened to take him for 

 our guide, and a good one it was, too, 

 for we feel indebted to him for the 

 400 lbs. we took from one colony 

 (spring count), a year ago. It is true, 

 we used no standard scales to weight 

 it, for it would be almost impossible, 

 or, at least, a great loss of precious 

 time to run to the scales with every 

 section, and weigh, and record it, 

 when we have all we can possibly do 

 to take finished sections and replace 

 empty ones, which is tlie case in a 

 good honey flow. We use 2-lb. sec- 

 tions exclusively, and the only way of 

 keeping account of yield we find prac- 

 tical, is, to record the number of sec- 

 tions taken from each hive, and this 

 we do with pencil, on each cover. 



When the season is past and the 

 honey all handled and weighed, it is 

 an easy matter to figure the average 

 per colony, of the season, and if we 

 wish to ascertain the yield of any par- 

 ticular one, all we have to do is to 

 raise the cover and add the number of 

 sections taken, which, multiplied by 

 2, will give a very correct report in 

 pounds. To be sure, sections will 

 vary some, according to the filling of 

 the bordering cells, but what differ- 



ence does it make in a report to call 

 99 sections 200pounds,when, by actual 

 weighing they might have overrun or 

 fell short a pound or two, as long as it 

 is the best we could do. The reason 

 we give our yields in even pounds is, 

 because it is easier to say 400 lbs. than 

 399 lbs. 14JI oz., and, besides, the lat- 

 ter is just as liable to vary a trifle as 

 the former, unless obtained by actual 

 weighing, which, we think, no exten- 

 sive bee-keeper can afford to do in the 

 hurry of the season. 



We do not blame Mr. F. in the least 

 for doubting these statements, for we 

 were troubled in the same way until 

 the summer of 1881, when our own 

 eyes witnessed what our reason had 

 tried to disbelieve. It taught us the 

 lesson to be very careful about doubt- 

 ing tlie veracity of our fellow men, 

 especially when these doubts were 

 publicly expressed. 



On page 60 we find " A Candid Re- 

 quest," with an additional remark by 

 tne editor. As an explanation to 

 these, we will give a short account of 

 the way we obtained 400 lbs. from one 

 colony, spring count. 



The colony was divided in proper 

 time and the queenless half at once 

 supplied with a laying queen. Soon 

 after, one of these divided colonies 

 gave us a natural swarm, which was 

 hived on a set of empty combs and 

 the mother colony again supplied with 

 a laying queen. The one that did not 

 swarm, filled and finished B half 

 stories, each containing 15 two-pound 

 sections, and the seventh was all built 

 out and nearly filled, with quite a 

 number of sections finished, so that 

 we estimated (not weighed) the con- 

 tents to be equal to 8 or 10 finished 

 sections. The whole yield of this one- 

 half of the original colony being thus, 

 99 sections or 200 lbs., as given in our 

 report. The other half, which cast a 

 swarm, finished 3 half stories and 

 about one-half of the fourth one, so 

 that the yield of this one was figured 

 at 52J^ sections or 105 lbs. The natu- 

 ral swarm was hived in our absence 

 and could not be traced, so we took 

 the average yield of our natural 

 swarms as a report for this one, which 

 was 41 sections, or 82 lbs.; they all 

 worked pretty near alike and we were 

 not far from a correct result by doing 

 so. The sum of sections taken from 

 these (now 3 colonies) footed up to 

 192?.j sections or 385 lbs. We used no 

 foundation to obtain this amount ex- 

 cept a starter of about 3^x3 inches in 

 each section. 



When putting up the honey for 

 market, our crates, of 20 sections, 

 averaged from 41 to 42 lbs. net, on 

 account of their being well filled and 

 capped clear to the wood of the sec- 

 tions, and from this we figured IJ^lbs. 

 additional for every 20 sections, or 

 143M llJS. in all, making an aggregate 

 of 399?ij lbs. from the original one col- 

 ony, and this we called, in our report, 

 400 lbs. 



Now, if there is anything wrong in 

 our figuring the number of pounds, as 

 stated, or, if the swarms were doub- 

 led to more than the capacity of one 

 ordinary hive, by giving them all the 

 section room they saw fit to use, then 



we are at fault, and would be pleased 

 to be corrected. 



Our report for 1882 is very different 

 to that of the year previous ; whilst 

 the latter was the best season we ever 

 had, the former was the poorest. One 

 apiary of 60 colonies gave about 40 

 lbs., and another, of the same number, 

 about 34 lbs. per colony, and hardly 

 any increase at that. 



Mr. F. claims to be the first person 

 who adopted wood separators in this 

 country ; we have used them since 

 1877 and recommended them years 

 ago, through Gleanings and the Bee 

 Journal. Several others have also 

 given their experience lately on the 

 same subject, and their points of ar- 

 gument in favor of wood seems almost 

 like a repetition of what we wrote at 

 that time. We were opposed in argu- 

 ment bv much better informed bee- 

 keepers" than we claimed to be, and 

 withdrew from the contest. Still, we 

 continue to use them to this day, and 

 have now no surplus arrangement 

 without them ; we can endorse all 

 that Mr. Isham claimed in their be- 

 half on page 54. 

 N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Trying Ordeal for the Bees. 



L. JAMES. 



Bees that are on their summer 

 stands, in this section, are passing 

 through a severe ordeal this winter, 

 and just now their endurance is being 

 put to the test. After a long, cold 

 spell, on the 2d inst. it moderated a 

 trifle and began snowing, in the morn- 

 ing ; later, turned to a light rain and 

 a northwest wind sprung up in the 

 afternoon, and freezing as fast as it 

 fell, coating every object with which 

 it came in contact. By midnight, the 

 limbs of fruit and shade trees began 

 giving way from the weight of accu- 

 mulated ice, and the crashing and 

 snapping from that time until 10 

 o'clock next morning, was terrible, 

 and the damage to our trees is great. 



I was unable to visitmy apiary until 

 to-day, it being a mile from town. 

 The sun shone clear and bright just 

 as if nothing was wrong about here, 

 and, I must sav, that the sparkling 

 and glittering of the icy diamonds in 

 his clear, cold rays, as they swayed to 

 and fro, was a splendid sight to be- 

 hold, hut when I walked out to the 

 orchard where 39 colonies of my bees 

 were, I thought the thing was entirely 

 overdone, and I saw nothing beautiful 

 in the prospect before me, for there 

 they were, buried up in a wilderness 

 of icy limbs and brush, glued fast 

 at eve'rv point wherever they came in 

 contact with any object— bee hive, 

 cover or ground. While standing 

 there and looking at the damaged fruit 

 trees, and studying how to get to the 

 almost inaccessible hives, I was very 



nich impressed with the belief that 

 ;hen the thermometer stands at Ho" 

 in the shade, an apple orchard is a 

 very goo! place for bees, but in such 

 times as these it does not appear so. 

 I was able to get at nearly all of them, 

 and found the entrances, in nearly all. 



