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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887. Time and place of Meetino. 



Nov. 16-18.— North American, at Chicaeo. Ills. 



W. Z. Hutcbinson, Sec. RogersviUe, Mich. 



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

 li. D. Cutting, Sec, Clinton, Mich. 



WW In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Ed. 





Honey-Lemonade— J. M. Shuck, 

 Des Moines,© Iowa, sends this recipe 

 for honey-lemonade : 



Make it in the usual way, using 

 honey instead of sugar ; nothing can 

 be used as a summer beverage that is 

 more grateful and refreshing. Try it. 

 Many thousands of pounds of honey 

 may be used in this way, and the 

 users all be benefited. 



Melissa as a Honey-Plant.— J. R. 

 Thomas, Madison, 6 Nebr., on July 

 30, 1887, says : 



For a number of days 1 have been 

 watching the bees as they play upon 

 the large pasturage of " melissa " 

 that Mr. A. C. Tyrrel has provided 

 for his bees. The humming is fully 

 as loud over the flowers as a full 

 colony of bees on the wing at swarm- 

 ing time ; and they work on it from 

 early dawn until dark. I saw 20 bees 

 on a single plant. With the knowl- 

 edge I have of this plant, I would not 

 keep bees without also keeping 

 melissa for them. 



Feeding Sugar during a Drouth. 



— S. L. Pervier, Mineral, 6 Ills., oh 

 July 29, 1887, asks: 



What shall I do with my bees ? I 

 have 40 colonies fairly strong, but no 

 honey— not a pound to a colony— on 

 account of the drouth. Will it pay to 

 buy sugar and feed them ? If so, 

 how much shall I feed to each colony 

 a day y Please give full directions. 



[As Mr. Heddon feeds sugar to his 

 bees for winter stores, we have re- 

 quested him to answer the above. It 

 is as follows :— Ed.] 



Supposing that Mr. Pervier does 

 not wish to stimulate brood-rearing 

 (and I think I should not in his cir- 

 cumstances), I would advise having 

 the feed the consistency of ripe honey, 

 and feeding 10 to 20 pounds at a time. 

 Feeding by dribs, or little at a time, 

 stimulates reproduction of bees,which 

 consumes a great portion of the feed, 

 and which 1 should not desire. I am 

 not afraid of old bees for winter ; I 

 prefer them, and small or average 

 sized colonies to large ones. Bees live 

 a long time if they do not labor much. 

 Older bees are less liable to disease 

 from the retention of fecal matter. 



With regard to the kind of food, I 

 should prefer honey, at a time of year 

 when the bees could fly freely ; but if 

 there is plenty of bee-bread in the 

 hives, or of pollen in the fields, cane- 

 sugar will do well. I think I would 

 get the cheapest quality of sugar or 

 syrup, which the bees will take readily. 

 For food during confinement, I want 

 the best grades of granulated sugar, 

 and whenever this is used, a proper 

 amount of tartaric acid or cream of 

 tarter should be added to the syrup. 

 I use tartaric acid, and about a level 

 tea-spoonful, or a little more, to every 

 10 pounds of sugar. Three pounds of 

 water is right for 10 pounds of sugar, 

 unless you wish to make the syrup 

 thinner than ripe honey. 



Usually I think it would pay the 

 bee-keeper to perpetuate the life of 

 his colonies until another season, if 

 he has to feed them all they can con- 

 sume until that time. There may be 

 exceptional cases in which he had 

 better chloroform them all, provided 

 there is no brood to perish in the 

 combs. I trust that this year's ex- 

 perience will fully impress upon the 

 minds of all bee-keepers, that it costs 

 money to produce honey. 



I feed by the use of atop-feeder,full 

 size of the hive, with the capacity of 

 18 pounds to one filling. It is robber- 

 proof, emitting little or no odor from 

 the feed, is proof against daubing the 

 bees, and admits of examination, 

 filling or refilling without coming in 

 contact with the bees, or offering any 

 exposure to robbers. I will add that 

 if you have no honey to feed, and no 

 bee-bread in the hive, or pollen in the 

 fields, I would advise you to expose 

 rye or graham flour to the bees at the 

 same time you are feeding the cane 

 syrup, and also for some time after- 

 ward.— James Heddon. 



No Surplus Honey.— E. Liston, 

 Virgil City, p Mo., on July 26, 1887, 

 says : 



In this part of the country the sur- 

 plus honey crop for 1887 is a ruinous 

 quantity. Unless It is extremely 

 favorable for fall production, it will 

 be as nearly a failure as we have had 

 for 18 years. 



Mint and Bed-Straw.— Wm. Rob- 

 son, Rolla,© Mo., writes as follows 

 on July 24, 1887 : 



I believe that my bees are being 

 poisoned by something they are forag- 

 ing upon. Will some of the many 

 bee-keepers give their experience re- 

 specting the actions of bees when 

 poisoned ? Several new kinds of 

 flowers have made their appearance 

 this season that have attracted the 

 bees in clusters, which I would be 

 glad to know the name of. I enclose 

 two specimens to the editor, perhaps 

 he will give their names. They grow 

 from S to 24 inches high. I wish to 

 state that I do not think there is a 

 case of foul brood in the county. 



[The specimen with rather large 

 heads is Pycnanihemum lanceolatum, 

 one of the mints. It is a fairly good 



honey-plant— common in waste-places 

 on good soil. The other with a small 

 flower in clusters is Galium boreale or 

 bed-straw. This belongs to a noted 

 family comprising the Madder-plant 

 as well as coffee and cinchona or 

 Peruvian bark. It is a common 

 plant; honey qualities not remarkable. 

 Can it be that the bees are injured by 

 Asckpias or milk-weed V This is the 

 season of the year for these flowers. 

 Sometimes the bees are-caught on the 

 flowers themselves, and sometimes 

 clogged with the pollen-masses to 

 such an extent that they are unable 

 to fly, dropping anywhere, and vainly 

 struggling for release.— T. J. Bur- 

 rill.] 



Half a Crop from Basswood.— Ed- 

 mund R. Buller, Campbellsport, Ont., 

 on July 26, 1887, says : 



Bees have done very poorly here 

 this season. Clover and basswood 

 have not produced more than half a 

 crop, owing to dry, hot weather. 

 Basswood trees were loaded with 

 bloom, yet many of them were 

 scarcely touched by the bees. There 

 will be very little fall honey if we do 

 not get more rain soon. 



Plenty of Fall Flowers Expected. 

 —Andrew Craig, Empire, ? Dak., on 

 July 25, 1887, writes : 



Last November I put 2 colonies into 

 winter quarters, and on March 11, 

 1887, 1 found one dead from queen- 

 lessness. The other came out bright 

 and strong, which I divided on May 

 27. I bought two half-pounds of bees, 

 one of which has built up immensely. 

 The old colony is storing a little sur- 

 plus. The first of the season was 

 favorable, but from May 15 to July 15 

 there was but one shower, so that 

 wild flowers (our only source) were 

 getting scarce. W e are now having 

 plenty of rain, which is " booming " 

 the late sown crops, and wild hay, 

 and will make plenty of flowers. Soon 

 goldenrod will be abundant. Last 

 fall my bees carried in honey and 



Eollen up to Oct. 28— one month after 

 eavy frosts. I do not know where 

 they gathered it, as we have no witch- 

 hazel here. Our honey is generally 

 light amber colored, and very thick. 



" ftuick Drained Honey," etc.— Dr. 

 H. Besse, Delaware,© O., on July 30, 

 1887, writes : 



Mr. Editor :— I am glad that you 

 object to all new names thus far pro- 

 posed for extracted honey, and yet 

 this name I have always thought ob- 

 jectionable. Just think of combless, 

 uncombed, divided, separated, cen- 

 trifugal, clear, slung, honey out of the 

 comb, fluid, ex-comb, liquid, etc. 

 Now, sir, you know that this is a fast 

 age, and almost everything is done by 

 machinery and on the double-quick, 

 I shall now propose for your numer- 



