THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



571 



prepare their bees for winter. Prices 

 tor honey will be high, and those who 

 have bees to sell next spring may 

 be able to sell them at good figures. 



A few farmers sometimes make the 

 most money in poor seasons, and the 

 bee-keepers who will attend strictly 

 to business, and not " lose their 

 heads," may and the present poor 

 season " a blessing in disguise." 

 Bee-keepers, be sure that the bees are 



Erepared for winter this fall in the 

 est possible manner. If they need 

 feeding, use a syrup of granulated 

 sugar ; it is equal to the best honey 

 for winter stores, and is cheaper now. 

 Rogersville,d Mich. 



Local Convention Directory. 



' ^7. Time anrf v'acr of Meetino. 



Sept. 14.— St. Joseph Inter-State, ut St. Joseph. Mo. 

 B. T. Abbott, Sec St. Joseph, Mo. 



Sept. 15.— Hardin County, at Eldora. Iowa. 



J. W. Buchanan, Sec, Uldora, Iowa. 



Sept. 20. 21.— f'edar Valley, at Waterloo. Iowa. 



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



Oct. 18.— Kentucliy State, at Falmouth, Ky. 



J. T. Connley, Sec, Napoleon, Ky. 



Nov. 10-18.— North American, at Chicago, Ills. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. Rot'ersville, Mich. 



Dec. 7-9.- Michigan State, at Bast Sacinaw. Mich. 

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



t^~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.- Ed. 



?// 





Good Crop of Honey.— S. J. Young- 

 man, Cato,OMich., on Aug. 21, 1887, 

 writes : 



Although the dryest season known 

 to the oldest inhabitant, bees have 

 done fairly well. All colonies have 

 cast swarms and stored from 40 to 60 

 lbs. of extracted honey per colony ; 

 chiefly from white and Alsike clovers, 

 and also basswood. After six weeks 

 of inactivity, they are now booming 

 on buckwheat, fire-weed and a sort of 

 bee-balm or mint, growing in wet and 

 moist places. 



Poor Honey Season,— J. F. Lath- 

 am. Cumberland, pMaine, an Aug. 22, 

 1887, writes : 



The honey season in this vicinity 

 has been a poor one. From 46 col- 

 onies I shall obtain about 1,200 pounds 

 of honey in the comb, and an increase 

 of 13 colonies from 18 swarms. Cold 

 nights and extreme wet, with but few 

 really good honey days, tell the story. 



Extracted Honey— Not Discour- 

 aged.— Wm. M. Rowe, Lawrence, 

 Kan., on Aug. 26, 1887, writes : 



As it is evidently a failure to find a 

 better word than "extracted," and 

 for the reason that there is no word 

 that so well describes the process of 

 taking honey from the comb, I hope 



no producer will make any change. 

 The word has come to be well under- 

 stood by the public, and if there are 

 any unenlightened individuals who do 

 not know how honey is extracted, it 

 will not take as much effort on the 

 part of bee-keepers to explain and 

 show the process, as it would to ex- 

 plain the new terms and reasons for 

 changing. A change of name is cause 

 for suspicion and doubt. The honey 

 crop in Eastern Kansas is a failure ; 

 no honey from fruit bloom, and none 

 from clover. I do not think I will 

 have enough honey for winter stores 

 for my colonies. I commenced the 

 season with 9 colonies, secured 4 

 swarms, but 2 got away ; yet I am not 

 disgusted with tlie bee-business, even 

 if the " good time coming " is yet a 

 long way off. 



Short Honey Crop.etc- J. F. Dunn, 

 Ridgeway, POnt., on Aug, 24, 1887, 

 writes : 



The honey crop in Ontario will be 

 short, as compared with last season. 

 Clover did not yield well, and while 

 linden was in bloom the weather was 

 exceedingly dry, with the temperature 

 from 85° to 98^ in the shade. I notice 

 that an intelligent American public 

 demand a new name for extracted 

 honey, and that as yet none has been 

 suggested that " needs no explana- 

 tion," allow me to suggest one that 

 ought to please all parties and just 

 " fill the bill." Now suppose we call 

 it. " centrifugally expelled, slung ab- 

 solutely clear out of the comb honey." 



[Yes ; or any other outlandish, 

 tongue-twisting or unpronouncable 

 name ! Why notV- Ed.] 



Foundation Starters, etc.— John 

 Boerstler, Vashon,*oWash. Ter., on 

 Aug. 20, 1887, writes : 



I have tried Mr. Hutchinson's plan 

 of putting 2 swarms together, and 

 foundation in all the sections, except 

 one, and that one had no starters, but 

 was left empty, and all the 47 sections 

 were filled with white clover honey. 

 This shows the value of foundation 

 used as starters. I have been trans- 

 ferring my bees to Langstroth hives, 

 and Italianized 3 colonies, and I ex- 

 pect to Italianize more soon. I think 

 oee-keeping will be a good thing in 

 Washington Territory. 



Solar Wax-Extractor, etc.— J. W. 



Tefft, Collamer,ON. Y., on Aug. 20, 

 1887, writes : 



A good wax-extractor for melting 

 small bits of wax can be made of a 

 sheet of tin 14x20 inches, the edges 

 being bent up, and placed on a board, 

 with large kerosene-lamp chimneys 

 on the tin. Pieces of combs can be 

 dropped in from time. It seemed 

 queer to see the bees work hard yes- 

 terday, and to-day too cold for abee 

 to venture out of the hive. A bee- 

 keeping friend of mine, last spring 

 purchased some cheap hives, and 

 hived his swarms in them on 2-inch 



strips of foundation, with the surplus 

 cases on. All went well till the bass- 

 wood honey flow was just over. He 

 was just ready to remove the surplus, 

 but neglected to do so ; when, to his 

 horror, on looking at his bees he saw 

 the honey running out of the en- 

 trances of the hives. He caught 10 

 milk-pans full of honey. So much for 

 " cheap " hives. 



No Swarms and no Honey.— Mrs. 



Lucinda Emmons, Springfield,OIlls., 

 on Aug. .30, 1887, writes : 



I have had no swarms and no honey 

 this year ; everything is dried up. 

 We have had but two or three show- 

 ers since early in June. The bees are 

 working steadily, but what they get I 

 cannot say, unless it is grape juice, 

 as almost every house in the city has 

 a grape arbor, and the English spar- 

 rows destroy the grapes, and the bees 

 then follow to gather the juice. 



A Thankful Bee-Keeper.- W. T. 



Maddox, Alexandria, La., on Aug. 24, 

 1887, writes : 



I have done fairly well in producing 

 honey this year, having taken 9.000 

 lbs. from 100 colonies, and they had 

 enough to winter on ; though I ex- 

 pected to get at least 12,000 or 15,000 

 lbs. The spring opened beautifully 

 and so early, and every colony swarm- 

 ed. We had dry weather during half 

 of March and all of April, but I can- 

 not say that we suffered from drouth ; 

 though we have had a very peculiar 

 season, the prevailing winds being 

 from the northwest and northeast, 

 evidently affecting the secretion of 

 nectar in clover bloom, of which there 

 was a profusion, and it bloomed long. 

 I feel thankful, as the crop generally 

 is a failure, I believe. 



Buckwheat Yielding Fairly.— S 



McLees, May,oMich., on Aug. 25, 

 1887, writes : 



Some of my colonies have filled 35 

 1-lb. sections of honey. Alsike yield- 

 ed well, white clover but little, and 

 there was scarcely enough from bass- 

 wood to give a flavor. We had sev- 

 eral weeks of drouth— until the rain 

 on Aug. 23, which has revived all 

 nature, and set the bees at work again. 

 They are now working on buckwheat, 

 which promises to give a fair yield. 



tW The Kentucky State Bee-Keppers' Society 

 meets in Falmouth. Pendleton Co., Ky.. on Oct. l>*, 

 '8H7. This is expected to be a very interesting 

 meeting, and a large attendance is expected. 



J. T. CONNLBY, Sec. 



fW The Hardin County Bee-Keepers" Associa- 

 tion will hold a meeting on the Fair Grounds at 

 Eldora, Ictwa, on the :ird day of tlie Fair. Wednes- 

 day, Sept. 15. IS"*", at 1 p.m. All bee-keepers are 

 requested to be present, and all interested are cor- 

 dially invited. J. W. Buchanan, Sec. 



Colored Posters for putting up over 

 honey exhibits at Fairs are qnite attractive, 

 as well as useful. We have prepared some 

 for the Bee JonBNAL, and will send two or 

 more free of cost to any one who will use 

 them, and try to get up a clut>. 



