444 



THE AMERICAISl BEE JOURNAL. 



taken up with a general discussion of 

 that and allied subjects. 



At the close of the afternoon ses- 

 sion the members, their friends, and 

 a few iuvited guests, by invitation of 

 the editor of the Home Farm, visited 

 Ills lionie and bee-yard, examined his 

 apiary of G or 8 colonies, had a practi- 

 cal bee convention then and there, 

 and were entertained at a little in- 

 formal lawn " spread," whicli it is 

 hoped proved as enjoyable to them as 

 it was gratifying to him and his. Tlie 

 evening was pleasant, and passed off 

 too quickly 



In the forenoon of the second day, 

 a paper was read by Mr. John lley- 

 nolds, of Clinton, on " Climatic in- 

 fluence in bee management," partic- 

 ularly in regard to ttie spring care of 

 bees, followed by a brief essay from 

 the pen of Mr. O. L. Sawyer, of 

 Gardiner, on tlie occasion of the losses 

 of bees during tlie past winter — a dis- 

 cussion upon the two papers occupy- 

 ing the forenoon 



At the opening of the afternoon 

 session, the report of the committee 

 appointed to award the preferences 

 on articles exhibited, was lirst pre- 

 sented. Following the presentation 

 of this report there was a discussion 

 in regard to establishing the price of 

 honey, and uniting in its sale, and 

 W. lioyt, F. O. Addition and J. B. 

 Mason were appointed a committee 

 to correspond with producers and 

 buyers in regard to the advisability of 

 such a course. The next session of 

 the association will be held at Lewis- 

 ton on the second Thursday of Feb- 

 ruary next, and J. B. Mason, L. F. 

 Abbott, of the Lewiston JourwU. and 

 Dr. J. A. Morton, of Bethel, were ap- 

 pointed a committee to make arrange- 

 ments for the SAme.—Home Farm. 



The yield of Judge Harrinian's (80 

 colonies) and Mr. Robert Adams (80 

 colonies) exceeded, at that date, iiOO 

 pounds per colony. In November we 

 expect to organize the Mississppl and 

 Arkansas Bee-Keepers' Association. 

 Greenville, Miss., Aug. 23, 18S3. 



F"or the American lice Journal. 



A Starter Machine. 



GEO. E. LYTLE. 



I send a drawing of a Starter Ma- 

 chine, which is the invention of a 

 bee-keeper near here (D. A. Sailor). 



There is an awakening interest in 

 bee-keeping here, but there are, as 

 yet, very tew bees kept in anything 

 but box hives, yet we have a good lo- 

 cation. There is plenty of room for 

 enlightened bee-keepers here. Our 

 honev season commences very early — 

 the last of Januai-y and February. We 

 have no trouble in wintering our bees 

 if they have stores in plenty, so as not 

 to starve. 



Figure 1 shows a top view of the 

 machine, which consists of a board, A, 



Figure 1. 



Bee-Eeeping in Mississippi. 



O. M. BLANTON. 



are nailed to the underside of the 

 board. A, with a hole at I. A peg is 

 put through these holes, and also 

 through the hole, P, in the post, F, 

 which is between the two blocks in 

 Fig. 3. Let the head of the post, F, 

 when the board. A, is level, be just 

 half the width of the section above the 

 top of the board. Let the two wire 

 springs, one of which is shown at Q, 

 be just 14 or 3-16 below the top of the 

 post, F. These should have the point 

 iu a hole in the post, so they can sink 

 in ; as the section is pressed up against 

 the post, they catch the starter and 

 guage tlie depth that is marked into 

 the wood. 



The section is placed around the 

 post, F, and the starter dropped 

 against the wire springs with the 

 right hand, brings the lever E, against 

 the block, C, which will mash the sec- 

 tion against the post, and squeeze the 

 starter to the section ; then with the 

 left arm or elbow, shove the end of 

 the board. A, down, which shoves the 

 section up, mashes the starter well 

 into the wood of the section, and bends 

 the starter down right all ready for 

 the hive. This is by far the best ma- 

 chine in use to my idea, as you can do 

 faster and better work with it than 

 any of the others. 



I forgot to state that the head of the 

 post, F, is covered with a piece of tin 

 to prevent the wax from sticking to 

 the post, instead of the section. 



Flat Bayou, Ark. 



Ontario Convention. 



I 



After an excellent honey flow of 

 two months, the dry season has well 

 set in, and bees are slowing up in 

 gathering honey. I have taken off, 

 up to date, over 2,200 pounds of honey 

 from 201 colonies. The apiiiries of 

 Washington County, Miss., and Chicot 

 County. Ark., have yielded remark- 

 ably well up to date. Mr. G. C. 

 Vaught and myself visited the bee- 

 keepers of Chicot and Washington 

 counties, last week, and found bee- 

 keeping on the boom ; many making 

 preparations for a large increase of 

 their colonies another year. There 

 were only nine bee-keepers working 

 with movable frame hives, last year, 

 in these two counties, and now there 

 are more than 30. We visited the 

 apiaries of Messrs. McLendon, Walter 

 Davis, Victor and Theodore Johnson, 

 Robert Adams, Judge Ilarriman, and 

 Messrs. Irving & McSiiee, and were 

 much gratified at their progress and 

 success. All work for extracted 

 honey. On account of sickness we 

 failed to call on Mr. Kinckead. We 

 were informed that his apiary was in 

 fine condition. He and Mr. McLen- 

 don both have their own foundation 

 machines, and supply their neighbors. 



10 inches wide by about 20 long. This 

 has two pieces, B B, tacked on, which 

 are G14 inches apart. Inside C, is a 

 block, 1 inch thick and i}4 wide, by 

 any convenient length, say 4 or 5 

 inches, to which is tacked two strips, 



O 



3 



The third annual general meeting 

 of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion will meet in the City Hall, 

 Toronto, on Tuesday, the 20th day of 

 September next, during the second 

 week of the Industrial Exhibition. 

 As the North American Bee-Keepers' 

 Covention meets at the same time and 

 place, it has been arranged that the 

 two bodies hold joint meetings in 

 discussing matters pertaining to our 

 common interests, as the leading bee- 

 keepers of America are to be present. 

 This will, undoubtedly, be the most 

 interesting meeting of apiarists ever 

 assembled in Canada. The venerable 

 Mr. Laiigstroth and all the prominent 

 bee-men of the United States are ex- 

 pected to be present. A proUtable 

 time is anticipated, and a good turn- 

 out requested. The convention will 

 last three days. A meeting for the 

 purely business work of our associa- 

 tion will be held sometime during the 

 convention, of which due notice will 

 be given. 



R. McKnight, 

 Pres. Ontario Bee Associatimi. 



D D, 1 inch wide and 1 inch thick by 

 10 long, which just slip between the 

 strips, B B. E is a lever pinned to 

 the board at H,which pulls the block, 

 C, down against the post, F, which 

 comes through a hole morticed in the 

 board, A. Fgure 2 shows the post, F, 

 with a }4 inch hole at P, and a board, 

 R, nailed to the bottom for the ma- 

 chine to stand on. Figure 3 shows 

 the shape of one of two blocks which 



1^ The Cass County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, organized on the 1.5th of 

 August, will meet on the 10th of 

 October, 1883, in Logaiisport, Ind. 

 All persons interested in bees and 

 honey are respectfully invited to 

 come. De Witt Brown, Sec. 



i^- Articles for publication must be 

 written on a separate piece of paper 

 from items of business. 



