10 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Gonvention Directory. 



1887, Time and place of Meeting. 



Jan. 8.— Hardin County, at Eldora. Iowa. 



J. W. Buclianan, Sec, Eldora. Iowa. 



Jan. 11-13.— N.Y. State, E N.V.. &c.. at AIbany,N.Y. 

 Jno. A»pinwiill. Sec, Barrytown. N. Y. 



Jan. 12.— Cortland Union, at Cortland, N. Y. 



D. F. rihatiuck, Sec, Homer, N. Y. 



Jan. 12.— Nebraska Stale, at Lincoln, Nebr. 



H. N. Patiersorj. Sec. Hnmboldt. Netor. 



Jan. 13.— Vermont, at BurlinKton, Vt. 



R. H. Holmes, Sec, Sboreham, Vt. 



Jan. 13.— Sheboygan County, at Hingbam, Wis. 

 Mattie B. Thomas, Sec, Sheboygan Falls. Wis. 



Jan. 18.— N. W. Ills. & 8. W. Wis., at Rockford. Ills. 

 J. Stewart, Sec, Ruck City, His. 



Jan. 19, 20.— N. E. Ohio, N. Pa.. &c.. at Andover, O. 

 M. E. Mason, Sec, Andover. O. 



^" In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Ed. 





Bees Wintering Well— J. W. Bit- 

 tenbender, Kuoxville,$Iowa, ou Dec. 

 20, 1886, says : 



Bees are wintering well so far. The 

 coldest was 14° below zero. "We have 

 3 inches of snow now, and fair 

 weather. 



Bees did Well.— J. A. Kicken- 

 bacher, Gahanna,© O., writes : 



Bees did well in this locality last 

 summer. I commenced with 8 colo- 

 nies in the spring, and I now have 22 

 good ones ; 2 swarms absconded. Ex- 

 cepting three, all the increase was 

 secured by natural swarming. The 

 three were made by the nucleus plan. 

 I have taken over 400 pounds of lioney, 

 about 170 pounds of which was comb 

 honey, and the rest extracted. I sold 

 my comb honey at 20 cents a pound, 

 and the extracted at 15 cents a pound, 

 in 3-pound cans. I could have taken 

 more honey if I could have given my 

 bees the proper attention. They have 

 plenty to winter on. The past sum- 

 mer was a very dry one, but it did not 

 appear to affect the honey-flow any. 

 On the last of September we had a 

 heavy frost which killed all the fall 

 flowers. 



Over-Doing the Bee-Business.- D. 



R. Eosebrough, Casey, o+ Ills., writes : 



I believe that bee-keeping will 

 never be overdone in this country. It 

 requires men of pluck to make it a 

 success ; it will never be overdone by 

 lazy men, or by women entering the 

 ranks of bee-keepers, for their is too 

 much hard work connected with it. 

 Mixed farming will not interfere, for 

 in such cases the bees are nearly 

 always the most neglected. Farmers 

 engaging in the business will not in- 

 fluence it any ; they are my best 

 honey-customers, and the only ones 

 that want bees ; but they do not take 

 care of them, so there are no more 



bees in this county now than there 

 were 16 years ago. Four years ago in 

 this little village there was not 1.000 

 pounds of honey produced annually ; 

 this year there was 5 tons. Selling 

 honey in one's home market is a slow 

 way of disposing of it, but it is a sure 

 way. It will not be overdone by 

 specialists, for there are too many 

 who think there is a fortune in the 

 business, till they have tried it and 

 found that it did not pay them. It is 

 true that honey is cheap, but so are 

 beef cattle, pork and wages. I am 

 not discouraged, for if no calamity 

 overtakes me, I will have 5 tons of 

 comb honey next year, as I usually 

 double my crop every year. 



Slats in Honey-Board, etc.— F. M. 

 Johnson, Augusta,Os Iowa, on Dec, 

 13, 1886, asks : 



Will Jlr. Heddon explain why slats 

 in a honey-board cannot go crosswise 

 of the frames as well as lengthwise V 

 Using lath, and having no joints to 

 break, there will be so much chance 

 for brace-combs between the frames 

 and slatted board, etc. 



[Mr. Heddon replies thus : "In the 

 first place laths are unfit to work into 

 any part of a bee-hive. The slats of 

 a honey-board should be smoothly 

 sawed, and be far more uniform than 

 laths. The objection to having the 

 slats run crosswise of the frames is 

 that the openings or joints are not 

 completely broken, and after you 

 have used this principle, you will 

 never try to do without it."] 



expecting to meet with losses on ac- 

 count of bees having stored honey- 

 dew. 



An Average Season.— B. Z. Smith, 

 Tuscola,ot Ills., on Dec. 28, 1886, says: 



The honey crop the past season was 

 an average one for this locality. I 

 secured 5,000 pounds of comb honey 

 which averaged 11 3-5 cents per pound 

 here. I put 150 colonies in a brick 

 cellar made especially for bees. It 

 has an 8inch sub-earth ventilator 120 

 feet long, and an escape pipe 4x6 

 inches' inside, running up through a 

 honey-house. Give us the commis- 

 sion-men's reports for awhile yet, any 

 way. 



Selling the Honey Crop, etc.— Geo. 

 Spitler, Mosiertown,x> Pa., writes : 



The general complaint of bee-keep- 

 ers is that the season just past has 

 been a poor one for honey as well as 

 increase, though a few apiaries have 

 had a large increase in colonies, and 

 some individual colonies did well in 

 gathering honey. I notice that some 

 correspondents complain of not being 

 able to sell honey. I have no such 

 complaint to make, but of course I 

 have to sell my product at 12 and 12^^ 

 cents, both wholesale and retail, at 

 the door ; while what is sold at the 

 stores at wholesale brings the same. 

 Owing to the sale of honey by those 

 who produce but little, at a low price, 

 all have to sell at the same price, or 

 else be called— mean. Some of us are 



The Market Reports.— F. A. Snell, 

 MilledgeviIle,-o Ills., says : 



In regard to market reports, I am 

 in favor of continuing them until we 

 get something better. Other papers 

 quote prices of honey, and why should 

 we not be posted as beekeepers 

 through our own papers V The 

 American Bee Journal quotations 

 have been a help to me in selling in 

 our towns here at home. Grocers 

 aim to be posted. 



Bees in Fine Condition, etc.— Al- 

 fonso B. Bray, Bois D'Arc, 9 Mo., on 

 Dec. 24, 1886, writes : 



I am a small boy beginning to keep 

 bees. I now have 12 colonies, and had 

 only 6 last spring to start with. I 

 have taken off 700 pounds of surplus 

 honey from the 6 old colonies. My 

 bees are in fine condition, their stores 

 being suflicient to take them through 

 the winter. I very much agree with 

 Henry W. Haag, page 810 of the Bee 

 Journal for 1886, that something 

 must be done to protect bee-men. The 

 case is the same in this locality. 

 There are so many that sell their 

 honey for a trifle that tliere can be 

 but little profit in the business. Let 

 us unite and stick together for the 

 next year ; the result will be in our 

 favor. 



Fixing the Price of Honey.— E. 



Rood, of Fargo, (5 Dak., says : 



There is something wrong in allow- 

 ing middle or commission men to fix 

 and advertise the price of honey for 

 the producer. 



Outlook Good for Wintering.— S. 

 M. Cox, Alvarado,d Ind., on Dec. 21, 

 1886, writes : 



I started with 23 colonies last 

 spring, increased them to 64, and took 

 1,300 pounds of comb honey and ex- 

 tracted 100 pounds. I disposed of 11 

 colonies, and now have 40 packed in 

 clover chaff on the summer stands. I 

 expect to pack the rest as soon as the 

 weather is favorable. I think the 

 outlook for wintering is good, and I 

 hope to be able to make a better re- 

 port next year. 



Chaff Hives for Wintering.— 4— 



John Davis, (29), Allison.cx Ills., on 

 Dec. 21, 1886, says : 



I commenced last spring with 16 

 colonies, increased them to 29, and 

 got 000 pounds of comb honey, for 

 which I received 15 cents per pound; 

 and 300 pounds of extracted honey, 

 for which I received 8 cents per 

 pound. I have kept bees for 4 years, 

 and never lost any in wintering. I 

 keep them in chaff hives on the sum- 

 mer stands. I would like to see re- 

 ports from bee-keepers who use chaff 

 hives. 



