170 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887. Time and place of Meeting. 



Apr. 12.— Stark County, at Canton, Ohio. 



Mark Thomson, Sec, Canton, O. 



Apr. 16.— Marshall County, at Marshalltown, Iowa. 

 J. W. Sanders, Sec, IjeGrand, Iowa. 



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

 tartes are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetlBtzs.— ED. 



Well Satisfied.— A. F. Currier, Du 

 Plain,© Mich., on March 7, 1887, says: 



I put my bees into the cellar on 

 Nov. 24, 1886, and took them out on 

 March 2 for a flight. They were 

 happy, and seemed to enjoy the warm 

 sunshine ; it did me good to see them. 

 But the best of all was that all but 

 one colony out of the 22 were in good 

 condilior.. I carried them out in the 

 morning, and back at night. I am 

 well satisfled. 



nated as Mr. Alves says, but for all 

 this it requires no delicacy on my 

 part to refrain from burning the 

 wood my neighbor has chopped, or 

 the coal he has dug ; nor is he un- 

 justly or unwisely " selfish " in asking 

 me to allow him alone to enjoy the 

 results of his labor until I exchange 

 with him an equal result of my labor. 



North American Bee-Keepers's So- 

 ciety.— Aaron Hunt, Gordon,*© Ohio, 

 writes : 



I would like to suggest that the 

 next meeting of the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Society be held during 

 the Fat Stock Show at Chicago next 

 fall. Then the members can get 

 lower rates on all the railroads ; at 

 least such was the case here last year. 

 I would like to hear from others in 

 regard to this matter. 



Examining Bees, etc.— A. C. W., 



of Minnesota, ask the following : 



1. When is the best time of the 

 day for a novice to examine a colony 

 of bees V 2. Which is preferable, 8 or 

 10 frame Langstroth hives for produc- 

 ing comb honey 'f 



[1. At about noon. 



2. If for top-storing, the 8-frame 

 hive is better, so as to force the bees 

 to store in the sections.— Ed.] 



Ethical Principles, the Rights of 

 Property, etc— James Heddon,Dow- 

 agiac, 9 Mich., writes thus : 



In reply to Mr. G. M. Alves, I would 

 say that my limited study of common 

 law (and patent law) prepare me to 

 accept the abstract principles as laid 

 down in his last article, on page 

 154. I am aware that Nature is cold 

 and cruel ; that she appreciates no 

 difference between justice and piracy; 

 that the great law of ''the survival 

 of the fittest," by which the liawk 

 must survive upon the flesh and blood 

 of smaller birds (wliose agony he 

 seems to enjoy, as with beak and claw 

 he tears them in pieces), or perish for 

 want of food, is shocking to the moral 

 ethics of civilized man. I know that 

 property right of land (which Henry 

 George says is not right at all) origi- 



Transferring Bees, Planting Trees, 

 etc — A. Vought, Illawara,d La., 

 writes : 



I have bought some log "gums" 

 with bees in them. I shall transfer 

 the bees by the Heddon process. He 

 says : " Twenty-one days later I drive 

 the remaining bees, etc." l.Now, I 

 wish to make two or more colonies of 

 one, as they are very strong; must I 

 rear or buy queens, or will they have 

 started queen-cells and hatched a 

 young queen in 21 days ? 2. I wish to 

 place a row of trees" around my pas- 

 ture, with a view of using them as 

 posts for a wire-fence in the future. 

 What kind shall I plant ? 3. What 

 kind of honey plants can I raise along 

 ditch-banks and fences, that will not 

 be damaged much by horses tramping 

 upon them in turning while cultivat- 

 ing the crop. 



I.Mr. Heddon answers: "They 

 will have a new fertile queen at the 

 time of the second drive. 2 and 3. One 

 acquainted with the climate and soil 

 could not advise you. J. W. Winder, 

 Jackson Pass. Depot, New Orleans, 

 •La., or Paul L. Viallon, Bayou Goula, 

 La., would, no doubt, give you the 

 information, if you write to them for 

 it."— Ed.] 



remaining 7 colonies, and increased 

 all to 18 in 1885, besides extracting 

 about 2.50 pounds of honey. In the 

 spring of 1886 I purchased 9 colonies, 

 sold 4, and packed 28 for winter. I 

 had to feed them in the forepart of 

 the summer. 'Bees gathered some 

 honey last fall. I examined one colony 

 Feb. 2, and found about 4 inches 

 square of eggs and a few larvae ; they 

 now have eggs in three combs. They 

 brought pollen from elm on Feb. 2. 

 Do bees weigh the same if starved, 

 as they do when they gather plenty of 

 honey y Or, will a pound of bees con- 

 tain the same number in a good sea- 

 son as when they find no honey, and 

 have no more in the hive than they 

 will consume V 



LThe difference would be almost im- 

 perceptible, in either case.— Ed.] 



Early Spring. — T. i T. Phlegar, 

 Pearisburg, ? Va., on March 3, 1887, 

 writes as follows : 



I put into winter quarters 12 colo- 

 nies of bees, and have lost one on 

 account of its being too weak when 

 winter began. The spring is nearly 

 20 days earlier this year than last, 

 when the first pollen was brought in 

 on March 20 ; this spring it is March 

 2. Last year was too cool and wet 

 here for bees. I think the coming 

 season will be a favorable one. 



Bee-Keeping in Texas.— J. N. Col- 

 wick, Norse,© Texas, on Feb. 9, 1887, 

 writes : 



I commenced bee-keeping in 1882, 

 when I found a swarm in an oak tree, 

 and with the help of my brother we 

 brought it home, after having run 

 away from the stump several times 

 for fear of stings. These bees in- 

 creased the second season to 4 colo- 

 nies ; one was killed by mice in the 

 winter, and 8 came through and 

 swarmed. I had in " box-gums " 10 

 colonies when fall came, besides hav- 

 ing taken about 200 pounds of comb 

 honey. A carpenter made 3 two-story 

 Simplicity hives for me, to which I 

 transferred 3 of the weakest colonies. 

 In the spring of 1884 I transferred the 



May Convention of Bee-Keepers.— 



R. F. Holtermann, Brantford, Ont., 

 says : 



In reference to the proposed conven- 

 tion to be held in Chicago in connec- 

 tion with honey markets, is May not 

 rather late for those who have work 

 to attend to at that time— in fact for 

 all bee-keepers ? It should be a suc- 

 cess, and I should regret a failure, 

 even in a measure, for any such 

 reason. 



[If a convention is to be held this 

 spring, the time and place should be 

 announced at once. If delayed much 

 longer it cannot be held until the fall, 

 and then it might save much expense 

 to hold it the day before or after some 

 other important convention.— Ed.] 



My Experience with Bees.— Thos. 



Ellicott, Fentonville,(^Mich., on Mar. 

 5, 1887, says : 



I have had fair success keeping bees, 

 although I have met with some losses. 

 Last summer I secured 2,300 pounds 

 of comb honey, and 100 pounds of ex- 

 tracted from 24 colonies, the most of 

 them being very light in the spring. 

 I now have 80 colonies, and I have 

 paid out for the bees about $70 in 

 cash. 



Bees Working Hard.— G. B. Cart- 

 mell, Jackson,«o Tenn., on March 5, 

 1887, writes : 



My bees have wintered well. I have 

 not lost a colony. I have 23 colonies 

 all strong in bees. They carried in 

 the first pollen on Feb. 10. Peach and 

 plum trees have been in full bloom for 

 a week, and the bees are working hard 

 on them. 



Reversible Honey-Boards.— James 

 M.Goodrich,South Frankfort, c$ Mich., 

 writes : 



My reversible bottom-board for the 

 Simplicity hive is made thus : The 

 board is 3 inches longer than the hive; 

 there is a rim on three sides of it, 3C 

 of an inch wider than the bottom- 

 boards are thick, and the same thick- 



