THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



459 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887. Time and place of Meetino. 



July 29.— Darke Co. Union, at Union City, Ind. 



J. A. Roe, Sec. Union City, Ind. 



Nov. lP-18.— North American, at Chlcaeo. Ills. 



■W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. Rogersville, Mich. 



Dec. 7-9.— Michigan State, at East Saginaw, Mich. 

 H. D. Cutting, Sec, Clinton, Mich. 



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

 taries are requested to forward full particulars ol 

 time and place of future meetings.— Ed. 



s£kSPji?!^m&>M 



Honey-Secretion— Southern Crop. 



— Chas. F. Muth, Cincinnati, p O., on 

 July 7, 1887, writes : 



There will be but little honey pro- 

 duced in Ohio, Kentucky and In- 

 diana. White clover blooms during; 

 the month of June in this part of the 

 country, and is almost our sole re- 

 source for honey ; but almost every 

 night was cool from the beginning of 

 June till about June 20. Experience 

 has taught us that no honey is se- 

 creted in white clover during "the day- 

 time, when the mercury was down to 

 55° the previous night. It went down 

 to 47" one morning about the middle 

 of the mouth. Cold nights in June 

 seem to have been the cause of the 

 failure of our Iioney crop. I have re- 

 ports from S5uthern bee keepers, tell- 

 ing me that the crop in the South is a 

 good one. 



Building Combs between Stories.— 

 Evan K. Styer, Morgantown,o, Pa., 

 on June 30, 1887, says : 



The Bee Journal is to me a very 

 valuable paper. My bees are building 

 combs between the upper and lower 

 stories. What can I do to prevent itV 

 They are all doing it. I have 13 good 

 colonies. 



Only Half a Crop.— L. D. Allen, 

 Ovid,© Mich., on July 9, 1S87, says : 



The basswood bloom has just ended, 

 the bees doing their last work on it 

 yesterday. It yielded well for one 

 week. Clover yielded but very little 

 honey. The crop here will not be 

 more than half as much as it was last 

 year. 



Alfalfa as a Honey-Plant.— V. 

 Devinny, Denver,© Colo., on July 10, 

 1887, says : 



Colorado is destined to become an 

 immense honey-producing State, since 

 the introduction and cultivation of 

 alfalfa, or lucerne, as a bee-forage 

 plant. Vast fields and whole farms 

 are sown with it, for hay and pasture, 

 and as it is continuously in bloom and 

 rich in honey, the bees have an in- 

 exhaustible source to draw upon for 

 supplies. The honey gathered from 

 it is transparent and of fine flavor, 

 and the wax is as white as snow. 



Making a Good Living, etc.— W. 



Addenbrooke, North Prairie, o^ Wis., 

 on July 7, 1887, writes : 



I wintered 130 colonies without the 

 loss of one, disposed of 22 colonies, 

 and the balance were in splendid con- 

 dition when white clover began to 

 blossom on .June 4 ; but it only lasted 

 a few days. We did not have a de- 

 cent shower of rain this season until 

 June 30, but now we have rain each 

 day. The colonies were short of 

 stores, they killed off drones, and 

 pulled out drone brood over two 

 weeks since. We have had good 

 weather since July 3, and bees are 

 doing fairly well now— making a good 

 living, anyway. Our crops are very 

 poor ; wheat, barley and grass are not 

 a quarter of a crop"; but this rain will 

 help oats, corn, potatoes and pas- 

 ture, and will enable farmers to sow 

 buckwheat. At this time last season 

 I had over 4.000 pounds of surplus 

 honey from 67 colonies, and had in- 

 creased them to about 120 colonies. 

 This season I have had only 13 

 swarms. 



" Free " Honey, etc.— Mrs. L. Har- 

 rison, Peoria,© Ills., on July 13, 1887, 

 says : 



When I am selling honey among 

 the Germans, they invariably ask me, 

 " Is it free, or in the comb ?" How 

 would "free" honey do. in lieu of 

 extracted i* Who has time to explain 

 to every customer that their honey is 

 not an "extract?" Bees have barely 

 made a living so far, in this locality ; 

 I have had only 3 swarms from 100 

 colonies, and these have to be fed to 

 prevent starvation. 



Poor Prospects for Fall Honey.— 

 D. R. Rosbrough, Casey, o Ills., on 

 July 8, 1887, says : 



I lost one-third of my bees in win- 

 tering, and I have had no swarms and 

 no surplus. There are 300 colonies of 

 bees in this township, which is six 

 miles square. As I was assessor I 

 was very careful to note all the bees 

 in the township. About 1.50 colonies 

 are owned by farmers, who did not 

 get any honey last year, and will not 

 get anything this year. Bees are 

 making a living, and a few of mine 

 are working in the sections. It is 

 very dry here, and the white clover is 

 all dead. The prospects for fall 

 honey are poor. It is so dry that the 

 buckwheat will not grow, and the 

 fall honey crop will doubtless be a 

 failure. 



Metal Frame-Corner. — Geo. L. 

 Transure, Eastou,o Pa., on July 7, 

 1887, writes : 



I have mailed you to-day a sample 

 corner of comb-trame and piece of 

 end-board \^hich I have given one 

 year's trial, iind would not change 

 back to the old style of rabbet on the 

 end-board, and wooden rest at the 

 end ol the frame, for anytliing ; as I 

 consider this a great improvement. 

 The advantages I claim for it are, 



that the bees never glue it fast, and I 

 do not need any plyers to loosen and 

 lift the frames. I take hold of the 

 iron end to lift or move them, and 

 they always have an exact bee-space 

 between the frame and end-board ; 

 and when covered with enameled 

 cloth, there is no chance of the bees 

 getting out into the air-spaces, as the 

 cloth lays better than on the rabbeted 

 ends ; and I am never troubled with 

 propolis on the frames ; for the divi- 

 sion-boards I nail apiece of hoop-iron 

 on top of each end. Some may object 

 to the frames being too easily moved 

 out of place while moving the hive, 

 but I get over that by nailing a strip 

 of wood on each side of the hive, just 

 over the end-board, and have a strip 

 of wood to fit tight over the irons 

 with the ends under the strips at the 

 sides. 



[It is practically the same thing as 

 the Kovice tin-corners and metal rab- 

 bets, only that these are made of 

 galvanized iron. The former have 

 been used by some for a dozen years 

 or more. — Ed.] 



Getting very Little Honey.— A. D. 

 Burtch, Stockbridge,o« Wis., on July 

 9, 1887, writes : 



Bees are getting very little honey 

 here this year. I have .56 colonies, 

 and they will not average over 10 

 pounds each. We got no white clover 

 honey, and linden lasted but a short 

 time. I have plenty of bees, but 

 nothing for them to gather. 



Short Honey Crop.— J.P.McMillan, 

 Healey,d Ills., on July 13, 1887,writes: 



This is a poor season for bees and 

 honey. We had bad weather in the 

 spring, and dry weather during white 

 clover bloom, so the crop is short. I 

 have taken about 75 pounds of comb 

 honey so far from 21 colonies ; last 

 season I had about 400 pounds. The 

 farmers have cultivated their corn so 

 well that there will be nothing for the 

 bees to get in the field. There is a 

 good deal of red clover here ; if it 

 rains so as to get honey from it, we 

 may have some this tall. We need 

 rain very badly. 



Bees and Clover, etc.— H. M. Gates, 

 ShideIer,o< Ind., on July 12, 1887, 

 writes : 



So far this has not been a very good 

 honey season. Bees got just enough 

 honey from white clover to build up 

 strong, yet I have had no increase. 

 I have heard of but few swarms 

 anywhere. My bees made a rush for 

 the honey-boxes when the basswood 

 opened, and for 15 or 20 days they did 

 very well ; but for the last five days 

 they have been fairly swarming on a 

 a Held of big English clover. The 

 dry weather has had a tendency to 

 make the bloom small, so the bees 

 can get its sweets. This is the sec- 

 ond time I have seen bees working on 

 this kind of clover, and I believe as a 

 general thing the bloom of this clover 



