THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



251 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887. Time ann jxoce of Meeting. 



Apr. ae.— Central Michigan, at Lansing, Mich. 



J. Ashworth, Pres., Lansing, Mich. 



Apr. 26.— DesMoines Co., at Burlington, Iowa. 



John Nau, Sec, Middletown, Iowa. 



May 4, 5.— Texas State, at McKlnney, Tex. 



B. F. Carroll, Sec, Dresden, Tex. 



May 5.— Shebovgan County, at Hingham,'Wi8. 

 Mattie B. TlJomaa. Sec, Sheboygan Falls, "Wis. 



May 10.— Cortland Union, at Cortland. N. T. 

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



May 24.— N. W. Ills. & 8. W. Wis., at Rockton, Ills. 

 D. A. ^^lller. Sec, Cherry Valley, Ills. 



May 2e.-West Lake Shore Central, at Kiel, Wis. 

 Ferd Zastrow, Sec, Millhome, Wis. 



Dec —.-Michigan State, at Bast Saginaw, Mich. 

 H. D. Cutting, Sec. Cuinton, Mich. 



ffr" In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward fall particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.- Kd. 



Swarming and Gathering Honey. 

 —Peter Morelein,Brussels,«o Ills., on 

 April 7, 1887, says :; 



My bees commenced swarming to- 

 day. The honey comes in rapidly 

 from willow and wild plum. The 

 weather is very hot and dry at the 

 present time, the mercury being at 

 86° in the shade. Bees are building 

 up finely. 



Bees Wintered Well.— Ferd. Zas- 

 trow, Millhome,o» Wis., on April 11, 

 1887, says : 



Bees have wintered in the finest 

 condition, both in the cellar and out- 

 doors. Our bee-keepers' association 

 has done remarkably well by spread- 

 ing the knowledge of bee-keeping 

 among its members, for the one year 

 that it has existed ; also the Ameri- 

 can Bee Jourkal has been an in- 

 valuable assistant to me ; every bee- 

 keeper ought to read it. 



Deep Snow in Vermont.- A. P. 

 Fletcher, Ludlow, o» Vt., on April 8, 

 1887, says : 



The snow here on the level ground 

 is still over 3 feet deep. An apiary 

 of bees in Manum hives is only visi- 

 ble above the snow, and those hives 

 stand 3 feet and 6 inches high. One 

 can just see the tops of the hives. 

 The banks made by shoveling the 

 snow from the walks in some in- 

 stances are now nearly 10 feet deep ; 

 they have been deeper. 



Bees Wintered Poorly,— E. N. 

 Fisher, Ludlow,*o Mass., on April 6, 

 1887, writes : 



Bees have wintered poorly in this 

 locality. I had 30 colonies last fall, 

 and I now have but 1.5 left. Some were 

 on the summer stands, but most of 

 them were in the cellar, the tempera- 

 ture ranging from 35° to 40^. During 



a dry spell the last season the 

 bees gathered a substance from the 

 pond-lily leaves, dark colored and 

 bitter, which gave them a diarrhea, 

 and caused the death of most of my 

 old colonies. We have had but two 

 days this spring during which bees 

 could fly, and there are quite a num- 

 ber of colonies in the neighborhood 

 that are still in the cellar. I do not 

 think we shall have many early 

 swarms this season. 



Long Winter Confinement.— C. F. 

 Smith, Cheboygan, 6 Mich., on April 

 11, 1887, says: 



My 15 colonies of bees have win- 

 tered under straw absorbents in a 

 damp cellar at 38°, for 5 months and 

 10 days. Above the cellar 3 healthy 

 children have played continually. 

 The bees have been taken out, and 

 are in apparently good condition. 



Wintering Problem Solved.— A. D. 

 Stocking, Cedar Branch, 5 Ind., on 

 April 9, 1887, writes : 



My 16 colonies of bees are all right, 

 and are bringing in pollen from the 

 willows. All colonies seem to be 

 strong. They were wintered on the 

 summer stands, the same as I have 

 always wintered my bees. With me 

 the problem of wintering bees is 

 solved, and if I can have the three 

 conditions, viz : the hive full of bees, 

 plenty of good stores, and keep them 

 dry, 1 would not give 10 cents per col- 

 ony to have them insured to winter 

 well. 



Bees Enjoying Themselves.- John 

 K. Kich, Cato.QN, Y.. on Aprilll, 

 1887, writes : 



I had 18 colonies of bees last fall, 11 

 of which I put into the cellar the first 

 week in November, with the tempera- 

 ture at 38° to 42°. I put them out on 

 April 8, with a loss of 1 colony. Of 

 the 7 colonies wintered on the sum- 

 mer stands there was a loss of 2 in 

 chaff hives. I used 10 of the Bet- 

 singer honey-cases with wire-cloth 

 separators ; there was no propolis, 

 and they were much more easily 

 handled than wide frames. I shall 

 use them exclusively the coming sea- 

 son. The temperature now is 7.5°, 

 and the bees seem to enjoy it. 



Singular Winter— Bees all Right. 

 — W. Addenbrooke, North Prairie, o. 

 Wis., on April 11, 1887, writes : 



I put 130 colonies into the cellar on 

 Nov. 24, 1886, and removed them to 

 the summer stands on March 12, 1887. 

 All are alive and in good condition. 

 A few are now weak, and will be 

 united soon, if the weather keeps as 

 warm as it is now. On March 26, at 

 8 p.m,. it commenced to snow, and 

 snow lell until 4 p.m. on March 27. 

 It drifted some, and was the heaviest 

 snow-fall of the winter. On March 

 28 and 29 we had zero weather, and on 

 April 4, we had a regular blizzard 



with snow all day ; since then we 

 have had good weather. Yesterday 

 and to-day it was 75° in the shade. 

 Bees gathered natural pollen for the 

 first time to-day. I banked up all my 

 colonies with snow, put good, warm 

 quilts on top of the frames under- 

 neath the honey-boards, kept the 

 ground bare of snow in front of the 

 hives, and the colonies are in good 

 condition, with plenty of brood and 

 young bees hatching out. This win- 

 ter has been rather singular for Wis- 

 consin—so many severe changes in a 

 few hours. 



Where is it Fonnd?— Dr. C. C. 



Miller, Marengo, 5 Ills., writes : 



Onpage 218, in the address of Rev. 

 W. F. Clarke, occurs the following 

 statement: " It is proposed by some 

 to pass a law securing to the Qrst 

 comer as a bee-keeper into a neigh- 

 borhood, the exclusive ownership of 

 the bee-forage within certain limits." 

 Will Mr. Clarke kindly give the names 

 of some who have made such a prop- 

 osition, and also the place, if any, 

 where it has been mentioned in any of 

 the bee-papers ? 



Yet Snow-Bound.- J- B. Mason, 

 Mechanic Falls, P Maine, on April 9, 

 1887, writes : 



The season here is away behind. 

 We are yet snow-bound, the snow to- 

 day being 3 feet deep in the woods, 

 with plenty of drifts 10 feet deep. Last 

 season, five days later than this, the 

 bees were bringing in pollen. 



[Here in the West, the season is 

 quite up to time, or, in fact, it is 

 earlier than common. Bees around 

 the suburbs of Chicago have been 

 bringing in pollen for ten days.— Ed.] 



Young Carniolans Flying,— Henry 

 P. ;Faucett, Dilworthtown,©, Pa., on 

 April 9, 1887, says : 



Bees have wintered well so far. 1 

 lost 2 out of 50 ; they had a good flight 

 to-day. In one of my Carniolan col- 

 onies drones and young bees were 

 flying out. These drones were reared 

 this spring. Bees gathered the first 

 pollen on March 21, from swamp- 

 cabbage. 



Good Prospects for 1887.— G. L. 

 Rankins, Weston,*o Ky., on April 11, 

 1887, writes : 



Last fall I prepared 14 colonies of 

 bees for winter on the summer stands; 

 I now have 13 good, strong colonies 

 and one weak one. They are working 

 finely now, gathering honey from the 

 peach, cherry and plum bloom. Apple 

 trees are beginning to bloom, and 

 everything looks as if we will have an 

 early spring, and plenty of white 

 clover. If so, we will have a fine 

 honey crop. I am going to work all 

 my bees for comb honey, as it sells 

 best in this part of the country. I 

 sold all I had last year at 12 and 1-5 

 cents per pound. 



