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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887. Time and place of Meeting. 



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



J. W. Buchanan, Sec, Eldora, Iowa. 



Sept. 20, 21.— Cedar Valley, at Waterloo, Iowa. 



H. E. Hubbard, 8ec., La Porte City, Iowa. 



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



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



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



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



Dec. 7-9.— Michiean State, at East Sajrinaw, Mich. 

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



fW In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Kd. 



Pleurisy-Root and Sweet Clover.— 

 Thos. Ellicott, rentonville,d Mich., 

 on Sept. 1, 1887, writes : 



I send you a small bunch of the 

 blossoms which I would like to have 

 named. I do not know how I will 

 succeed in making this plant grow, as 

 it seems to have only one root which 

 goes so deep into the ground that I 

 cannot get the whole of it. I have 

 found a few seed-pods which I will 

 start early in the hot-house. It has 

 been a bad year for bees in this 

 locality ; mine have done the best of 

 any that I know of, and 1 will not get 

 over 1,000 pounds of surplus honey, 

 and 21 swarms. The honey brings 20 

 cents per pound. I believe sweet 

 clover is the best honey-plant there is 

 for this locality. Bees have not failed 

 to work on it any time during the Qve 

 years that I have had it under cultiva- 

 tion. I hope to have more growing 

 next year than I have ever had. I 

 find 1 can get a splendid growth by 

 setting plants in the fall or spring. I 

 set the plants 2 feet apart, and put in 

 seed between them to grow for the 

 next year. It never blossoms here 

 the first year. 



[The flower mentioned in the first 

 part of the above letter is " pleurisy 

 root" (asckpias tuberosa). It is excel- 

 lent for honey, the bees will leave 

 every other plant for it. It is a 

 perennial ; the top dies every year, 

 but the root lives until it dies of old 

 age. It grows about 2 feet high, on 

 any soil. The seed can be sown like 

 cabbage-seed .— Ed.] 



Board to Retain Heat, etc.— A. P. 



Fletcher, Burlington, x)Vt., says : 



On page 516, Dr. G. L. Tinker says: 

 " A thin board is the best thing to re- 

 tain the heat in out-door wintering." 

 How thick should the board be? Will 

 }4^ H or a inch thick, be as good as 

 thicker? Should the board be raised 

 a little from the brood-chamberV 

 What kind of lumber is best for that 



board? I suppose soft, white pine. 

 When a question has been under 

 discussion as long as the question of 

 naming honey out of the comb has, 

 and found no definite or satisfactory 

 solution, it would seem as if the old 

 name is best. The discussion about 

 Ivar S. Young's remark, in regard to 

 visiting some of the '' best apiarists 

 in America" reminds me of the 

 young man in Canada, who asked me, 

 " Where is Vermont? Is it in N. Y., 

 Mass., or where?" 



Honey-Separator, etc.— H. S. Cot- 

 rael, Otto,PN. Y., writes : 



If it is desirable to change the name 

 of what is called '• extracted honey," 

 would it not be well to first find a new 

 name for the " honey extractor?" 

 Believing that the difficulty of finding 

 an acceptable name for liquid, extri- 

 cated, exuded, emitted, centrifugal, 

 thrashed, thrown, loose honey would 

 be somewhat lessened by so doing, I 

 would suggest " honey separator," and 

 then we could call the honey sepa- 

 rated from the comb, " honey," or 

 " honey out of the comb," or perhaps 

 separated honey. 



[It is neither desirable nor necessary 

 to re-name the honey-extractor.— Ed.] 



Dry Season— Fall Flowers.- Geo. 

 Poindexter, Kenney,© 111., on Sept. 

 3, 1887, writes : 



Prom 240 colonies of bees I have 

 obtained 300 lbs. of comb honey. The 

 dry weather has continued so long 

 here that white clover has entirely 

 disappeared, except in some sheltered 

 places where Old Sol's rays failed to 

 reach. On June 1, while fishing in a 

 stream here, I noticed the ants with 

 their houses at the verge of the water ; 

 I became alarmed, for I did not think 

 those little bugs would take the 

 chances of having their young swept 

 down stream by a freshet, and now I 

 have realized the prediction of the 

 ants. Some fall flowers are opening 

 here, such as goldenrod, Spanish- 

 needle and boneset. There is plenty 

 of buckwheat sowed, but not in bloom 

 yet. 



Suggestions on Bee-Legislation.— 

 A. Durward, San Marcos,© Texas, 

 writes as follows : 



I have read Mr. Shearman's article 

 on page .537, in which he says : " Now 

 let us hear from others." I endorse 

 clauses 1, 2 and 3 of his article, but I 

 do not see that anyone could be justly 

 prevented from keeping even black 

 bees on his own premises, as it might 

 be claimed that they were the best 

 breed. As regards clause 6, I do not 

 see why the bees should not be as- 

 sessed as well as the queen. Finally, 

 I would add a clause, to the effect 

 that bees be made an exception to the 

 usual laws respecting domestic 

 animals, viz.: That their owner shall 

 not be held responsible for any dam- 

 age they may do away from his 

 premises, such as troubling cider- 



makers and grocerymen, robbing 

 other bees, etc.; and that it be made 

 an offense, punishable by proper and 

 heavy penalties, for any person to in- 

 tentionally trap or destroy honey-bees 

 away from their hives or other lodg- 

 ing places, in any considerable num- 

 bers. The justice of this will be ap- 

 parent to all intelligent bee-men, I 

 think. But it might be difficult to 

 make the majority of any legislature 

 understand it. I think something 

 like the above is badly needed. When 

 in Wisconsin, I came very nearly hav- 

 ing trouble with an ignoramus of a 

 bee-keeper, because my bees, well 

 wintered, robbed his every spring 

 that were dwindled down and almost 

 dead anyway. He thought that 1 

 ought to make it right with him. 



" Honey " vs. Extracted Honey.— 

 N. B. Powers, Lansingburg,o N. Y., 

 writes : 



I have noticed the articles in regard 

 to the name of the sweet juice col- 

 lected by bees, called honey, and I 

 have wondered why persons cannot 

 be content with that simple name. 

 It is not necessary to state how the 

 liquid was taken from the comb. If 

 we offer a person, to buy or taste, of 

 the product of the bee, we should say, 

 " Will you buy or taste of the honey 

 in the comb?" Using the word " ex- 

 tracted " as connected with the word 

 honey, is like saying, " I have eaten 

 the honey up, or have eaten it down," 

 up and down being a superfluity— 

 it shows a lack of proper training in 

 speaking or writing. Probably in 

 speaking the work •' honey," we are 

 understood ninety times in a hundred 

 as meaning the article itself, and not 

 in connection with the comb. It is 

 the honey we desire so much, and not 

 the wax. Extracted honey may be 

 adulterated, therefore labels for the 

 pure article should say " pure honey," 

 extracted by John Smith, or any other 

 person. 



" Extracted Honey " Good Enough. 



—Henry Fisher, Urmeyville,OInd., 

 on Aug. 25, 1887, says : 



Bees have done but little since July 

 1, on account of dry weather. Why 

 so much clamor about anew name for 

 extracted honey? The word " extract- 

 ed" means exactly what it says, and I 

 am satisfied that we can find no better 

 name for honey out of the comb, than 

 " extracted honey." It is a name 

 good enough, and why not let well 

 enough alone? After several years 

 of hard work to teach consumers what 

 extracted honey is, we would simply 

 be making ourselves more trouble to 

 change to some new name, which will 

 only cause confusion, and bring a 

 fresh harvest of explanations, and we 

 be none the gainer in the end. I move 

 that ice drop the subject, and let the 

 editor of the American Bee Jour- 

 KAL select the new name, when he 

 finds one that is better than the old — 

 " extracted." 



[No ! The Convention in November 

 will give their decision.— Ed.] 



