THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



643 



One word about the face of the 

 country ; 'tis simply beautiful, 'tis 

 grand beyond description, rolling and 

 undulating plains, with small brooks 

 and creeks wliose banks are thickly 

 studded over with tropical trees, chief 

 among them is the beautiful palm, 

 and the honey plant or tree. The 

 climate is all any one could wish. 

 This section, the Casanova estate, is 

 high and healthful. Yellow fever is 

 seldom if ever known here. In future 

 letters I will report progress as it is 

 developed. 



San Miguel, de Jruco, Cuba, West 

 Indies, Nov. 25, 1883. 



For tlie American Bee Journal 



A Premium List for Bees and Honey. 



O. CLUTB. 



A good premium listfor bees, honey, 

 and bee-keeping implements, which, 

 with necessary local modifications, 

 would serve for state fairs, and other 

 large fairs, ought to be prepared by 

 some of our most experienced bee- 

 keepers. Such a list, carefully pre- 

 pared, would need only slight moditi- 

 caiions. for many years, and would 

 serve as a guide to the executive com- 

 mittees of many fairs. 



Such a list would help much towards 

 the improvement of bee-keeping all 

 over the country. It would tend to the 

 discouragement of poor methods and 

 poor products, and to the encourage- 

 ment of good ones. In order to have 

 it of service for next year, such a list 

 ought to be prepared very soon, for 

 the executive committees of most of 

 the state fairs meet sometime in .Jan- 

 uary of each year, and then adopt the 

 premium list for the next fair. 



I attended the meeting of the exe- 

 cutive committee of the Iowa State 

 Agricultural Society, at its winter 

 meeting in Des Moines, last .January, 

 and was courteously asked to prepare 

 a premium list. I did prepare one 

 which was adopted without change, 

 and served very well for the fair last 

 September. I am now requested to 



Erepare a list for submission to the 

 oard at its meeting, about the mid- 

 dle of January, 1884. I sliould like to 

 make the list as acceptable as possible 

 to the majority of Iowa bee-keepers, 

 but I have no way of consulting with 

 them except through the columns of 

 the Bee Journal. I therefore ask 

 the Journal to publish the subjoined 

 list now, in order that it may be read 

 by enterprising bee-keepers in Iowa 

 and other states, in time for them to 

 send me their suggestions and criti- 

 cisms for its improvement. 



All bee-keepers are invited to send 

 to me direct, or to Mr. Newman, for 



Eublication in the Bee .Journal, if 

 e does not object, their thoughts 

 as to the best premium list. It would 

 be especially profitable if we could 

 hear from Bev. L. L. Langstroth, Mr. 

 W. Z. Hutchinson, Mr. O. O. Popple- 

 ton, Prof. Cook, Mr. Doolittle, and 

 other successful bee-keepers. This 

 list has been prepared on a basis of an 

 aggregate amount of if^OO for pre- 

 miums. I have put comb honey and 

 extracted honey on a par ; have classi- 



fied honey into ''white clover," "lin- 

 den," and " fall flowers," and have 

 put them all on a par, because there 

 are some sections of the West where 

 the fall honey is tlie main crop. 



In bees, I have offered the higtiest 

 premium on Italians; iiave put Syr- 

 ians and Cyprians on a par, and offered 

 premiums lialf as great ; have offered 

 nothing on blacks. No premiums are 

 offered in this list for the manipula- 

 tion of bees on the ground, because I 

 am not sure we can have a suitable 

 building. I wish, however, that some 

 of tlie friends wouldsuggest whatsuch 

 premiums ought to be. 



I expect that some of the bee-keepers 

 will criticise my list pretty sharply. 

 Well, friends, pitch in and tear my list 

 all to pieces, on condition that you 

 suggest a better one. What I am after 

 is ttie best list. I am quite willing 

 that this list of mine shall be knocked 

 into splinters, if from its ruins can be 

 evolved the perfect list. So do not 

 spare your suggestions. 



First Second 



Prem. Prem. 



Bestltarn.beesin observatory hive. $10 00 5 00 



Best Cypr. becB in observatory hive. 5 00 12 50 



Best Syrian (or hoiy hind) bees in 



observatory hive 5 00 2 50 



Best and lartzest display of different 



races of bees 15 00 10 00 



Best comb honey, white clover, not 



less than 201bs 10 00 sJOO 



Best comb honey, linden, not less 



than201bs 10^00 5 00 



Best comb honey, fall flowers, not 



less than 120 lbs 10 00 5 00 



Bestand largest display, combhoney 15 00 10 CK) 

 Best extracted honey, white clover, 



not less than JOlbs 10 00 5 00 



Best extracted honey, linden, not 



less than 120 lbs 10 00 5 00 



Best extracted honey, fall flowers, 



not less than 20 lbs 10 00 5 00 



Best and largest display of extracted 



honey 15!00 10 00 



Best collectionof honey plants, pre- 

 pared, mounted, and correctly 



labeled 10 00 5 00 



Best col lection honey pi ants growing 



in pots and correctly labeled 10 00 5 00 



Best comb foundation machine, 



shown in operation 10 00 5 00 



Best comb fdn. for brood combs 2 00 1 00 



Best comb £dn. for surplus iioney... 2 00 100 



Best honey extractor 3 00 I cm 



Bestsmoker 1 00 50 



Best bive for comb honey 2 00 100 



Best hive for extracted honey 2 0(3 100 



Best hive for out-door wintering 2 00 l uo 



Best product, extracted honey, from 



one colony of bees and its in- 

 crease for the year 10_00 5 00 



Best product, comb honey, from one 



colony t)f bees and its increase 



fortheyear 10 00 5 00 



Best method of obtaining comb 



honey, shown by receptacles in 



place on the hive 5 00 2 50 



O. Clute, 

 Pres. Iowa Bee-Keepers' Ass'n. 

 Iowa City, Iowa, Dec. 5, 1883. 



1^ There will be a meeting of the 

 members of the Piatt County Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, at the office of 

 the Secretary in ilontlcello. 111., on 

 Saturday, Dec. 15. 1883, at lU a. m. 

 A. T. Pipher, Sec. 



^g" The Bee-Keepers' Association 

 of Cejitnil Illinois, will meet in Bloom- 

 ington, on Jan. 9. 1884. All are cor- 

 dially invited to attend. 



Ja.s. Poindexter, Sec. 



i^° Please give notice, through the 

 Bee Journal, that C. F. Muth, of 

 Cincinnati, and A. I. Root, of Me- 

 dina, will be at the Ohio Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention, which will be held in 

 Columbus, on Jan. 14, 15 and 16, and 

 join in the discussions of various sub- 

 jects interesting to bee-keepers. 



C. M. Kingsbury, Sec. 



1^ The annual meeting of the 

 Cortland Union Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation will be held in Cortland, N. 

 Y., on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 1884. 



M. C. Bean, Sec. 



McGrawville, N. Y., Nov. 23, 1883. 



1^ The Northwestern Illinois and 

 Southwestern Wisconsin Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, will hold its annual meet- 

 ing in Temperance Hall, Fieeport, 111., 

 on Jan. 15 and 16, 1884. 



J. Stevv'art, Sec. 



Rock City, 111., Nov. 30, 1883. 



OUR LEW 



Syrian Bees, etc. 



In a recent article, Mr. W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson said of these bees : " Their ad- 

 mirers tell us, if we use them jiroperly, 

 tiiey will be gentle.'' I extracted 900 

 lbs. of honey in one day from them, 

 and did not get a sting, and the only 

 smoker I used was a roll of cotton 

 rags. Can Mr. H. do better with 

 hyorid-Italians V They do ripen their 

 honey well ; if any one doubts it, I 

 will send him some honey to prove it. 

 I deny that they will " rear brood as 

 long as there is a drop of honey in the 

 hive." I weighed several of my hives 

 this fall, after they had stopped breed- 

 ing, and they had from 35 to 40 lbs. of 

 honey in them. Two years ago I had 

 an Italian colony that had cast a large 

 swarm, and was ready to swarm again. 

 The queens were piping. I opened 

 the hive to cut out the queen-cells ; I 

 smoked them some. They became so 

 irritated, that half of the colony were 

 after me. I threw down my tools and 

 ran for the woods. In doing so, I ran 

 against a tree and skinned my nose. 

 Talk about " irritable " bees ; the 

 Syrians are peaceable by the side of 

 such bees. We have no snow yet, 

 and it is warm and summer like. 



Cokato. Minn. Fayette Lee. 



My Report for 1883. 



As I did not make a spring report, 

 perhaps it would not be out of place 

 now. The spring found me with 14 

 colonies, out of the 18 put in the cel- 

 lar on Nov. 15. 1882. Tliey all had 

 the dysentery, but when I took them 

 out of the cellar on April 15, 1883. In 

 the spring I traded for one ; that 

 made me 15 to start with. The spring 

 started favorably. On May 21 it 

 turned cold and wet. and so continued 

 till the last of June. I extracted 

 in June and July. June 19, 45 lbs. ; 

 June 20, 51 lbs. ; June 29, lOB lbs. ; 

 .July 7, 170 lbs. ; July 10, 100 lbs. ; .July 

 18, 122 lbs. ; July 19, 163 lbs. ; July 29, 

 51 lbs. ; Sept. 3, 123 lbs. ; making a 

 total of 937 lbs., and had 286 lbs. of 

 comb honey. They increased to .35, 

 and all are in gcsod condition. I put 

 them in the cellar on Nov. 20. I sold 

 all of my honey at home at 12 cents 

 tor extracted, and 17 cents to 20 cents 

 for comb. I have on hand about 200 

 lbs. of honey. Da^id K. Knoll. 



Salamonia, Ind., Dec. 6, 1883. 



