THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



555 



can bring about the best results, who 

 works in the best and most econom- 

 ical way. I do not wish to be con- 

 sidered as an advocate of new things 

 because they are new, but I do advo- 

 cate, most strenuously, the idea, that 

 by carefully-conducted experiments 

 we can bring about results far supe- 

 rior to those now gained. I do not 

 advise either that all should experi- 

 ment. Let those investigate who 

 have the time and inclination ; but 

 let those who have not the time keep 

 their ears and eyes open, ready to 

 take advantage of new points that 

 prove valuable, rather than to repudi- 

 ate them because they are new ; still 

 I advise all to go slow, and only take 

 up new things when the proofs are 

 offered that they are better than the 

 old. 

 roxboro,Oi Mass. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887, 'IHmc and putct of Meeting. 



Sept. 6, 7.— rertar Valley, at Waterloo. Iowa. 



H. E. Hubbard, Sec, La Porle City, Iowa. 



Sept. 7.— Iowa State, at Des Moines, Iowa. 



A. J. Norris, CeJar Fulls, Iowa. 



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



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, Rogeraville, Mich. 



Dec. 7-fl.— Michigan State, at Bast Saginaw. Mich. 

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



BF~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Ed. 





ii-^iy 



O UR' L£ TmEmBWKP 



Insect that Punctures Grapes.— 

 P. M. Puhl, ]Maumee,x)0., on Aug. 9, 

 1887, asks the following : 



Will Prof. Cook please let the bee- 

 keepers know. through the American 

 Bee Journal, what insect it is that 

 drills a small hole in the grapes when 

 they are ripe y That seems to be the 

 greatest trouble here. 



[I shall be very glad to answer, if 

 Mr. Puhl will send me specimens. 

 Wasps and several kinds of birds are 

 known to injure grapes. I shall be 

 very glad to receive specimens of the 

 insects, or of any others. 



I hope that bee-keepers will send 

 me specimens of insects of all kinds, 

 in strong tin or wooden boxes. The 

 postage is very little. I am specially 

 desirous of getting wild bees from all 

 parts of the country.— A. J. Cook.] 



Fearful Drouth— Taking Bee-Pa- 

 pers.— I. N. Rogers, Jackson, JMich., 

 on Aug. 10, 1887, says : 



This county (Jackson) will not 

 overstock the honey market this year; 

 in fact, the present indications are 



that bees will have to be fed for 

 winter. We are having the worst 

 drouth, in its effect, that we have had 

 for 30 years. White clover and Alsike 

 seem to be completely wiped out. We 

 have had no rain since July 4. A 

 piece of buckwheat, which I had pre- 

 viously sowed, got the benefit of this 

 rain, and, being drilled in deeply, has 

 continued to grow nicely and is now 

 in bloom. The bees are working on 

 it in great numbers every day until 

 noon. Two beemen near me have 

 lost several colonies lately, by starva- 

 tion. One of these men I once tried 

 to persaude to take the American 

 Bee Journal. '• No," said he, " I 

 prefer my own experience to that of 

 others." The other, when approached 

 on the same subject said, " What ! a 

 bee-paper V My son-in-law had three 

 bee-books and lost all the bees he had 

 last winter ! Only look at that, now!" 

 They both lose heavily every winter. 

 I have taken otf but 250 lbs. of comb 

 honey so far this year. About 1.50 

 lbs. more that was nearly ready to cap 

 when the honey harvest closea 

 abruptly, I took off, but have been 

 obliged to feed back to the bees. 



The Bee Moth — Wm. Crawley, 

 Redwood Falls,OMinn., writes thus : 



I send two specimens of moth found 

 in my apiary. Which is the one that 

 lays the eggs in the hive that produces 

 the miller V Please give a description 

 of the bee moth in the next Bee 

 Journal, and you will oblige many 



The Bee Moth— flying. 



readers. They are quite troublesome 

 in my apiary. I tind worms in my 

 strongest colonies, and the weak ones 

 I have to watch closely, and clean 

 them out. How long does it take 

 them to mature after the eggs are 

 laid V The best way I have discover- 

 ed to destroy moths is to put a lamp 

 with the shade off, in a pail with a 

 little water in the bottom and leave it 

 all night in the apiary. They will go 

 for the light, get scorched and drown. 

 I found scores of the large dark ones 

 on top of the hives under the shade- 

 boards in the morning. My apiary is 

 in the timber, which I think makes 

 them worse than they are in the open 

 country. 



[The longer one— the female lays 

 the eggs. The moth spins its cocoons 

 in a crevice of the hive, or in clusters 

 in the comb. In these they become 

 pupse, and in 12 to 14 days they hatch 

 into moths. In winter they take 

 much longer. The plan you describe 

 is a very good one to destroy them. 

 Further description and remedies may 

 be found on page 517.— Ed.] 



Poor Season in Ohio, etc— T. F. 



Kinsel, Shiloh,60., on Aug. 17, 1887, 

 writes : 



Bee-keepers here, to say the least, 

 are disappointed in surplus honey. 

 Those who had their " eggs all in one 

 basket," will spread honey thin, and 

 possibly wear their "old coat" another 

 year. Bees would not even draw out 

 foundation, but required combs, and 

 that too, for extracting, to work with 

 vigor. They would fill drawn combs 

 in sections, for comb-honey. Not 

 more than this could I accomplish. 

 My surplus will be 10 lbs. per colony, 

 and may be 12 lbs., spring count — 

 about half comb-honey. Colonies are 

 strong now. Lately a gentleman told 

 me he once caught a swarm in the 

 woods, but it died. Naturally the in- 

 quiry was made as to the cause. He 

 said they died in "the winter." I sup- 

 posed it was " pollen" or want of 

 "hibernation ;" but he said the "king" 

 wasn't with them, he guessed. It was 

 all as plain as day then ! No better 

 names, Mr. Editor, than have been 

 suggested, viz : " honey" and " comb- 

 honey," are needed. Stick to them. 



Extracted-Honey Discussion. — J. 



M. Lyman, Toledo,^0., on Aug. 18, 

 188.5, writes as follows : 



The long " extraction" discussion 

 should have culminated long ago. In 

 this case the virtue of reform has be- 

 come utterly vitiated, and an un- 

 pleasant odor meets us, as we open 

 the pages of the Bee Journal. Do 

 give us a rest ! The only explanation 

 of extracted honey I ever had to make 

 to a honey-consumer was, the method 

 of extraction, and so long as buyers 

 of honey know full well what extract- 

 ed honey is, why introduce another 

 term, and the consequent labor of 

 another educational process ? 



[The " rest " you so much desire 

 will be granted, ancfnow "let us be 

 happy."— Ed.] 



Fall Honey-Yield — Bee-Honse. — 



Rev. S. Roese, Maiden Rock,-oWis., 

 on Aug. 22, 1887, writes : 



At last the long-looked -for rain has 

 come. We were suffering for the 

 want of it very much, but our bees are 

 now just booming on goldenrod and 

 other fall flowers. If frost holds off 

 a while longer, our fall honey-yield 

 will be better than that of the past 

 summer. Last week I had 2 swarms, 

 something unusual for this season of 

 the year, but I gave them a full outfit, 

 taking one frame of sealed honey from 

 each colony until they had enough, 

 and unsealed brood besides. I look 

 for more swarms to issue. The most 

 of my bees not swarming this season 

 proved to be my good luck, for all of 

 my colonies are now very strong, and 

 I have taken in all, from 3-5 colonies, 

 1,100 pounds of extracted, and 140 

 pounds of comb honey in one-pound 

 sections. All have stores enough for 

 winter. It seems that those colonies 

 that swarmed in June and July, al- 

 most swarmed away, and some are 



