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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



When the weather is mild, and I open 

 a hive, the robber bees become so in- 

 furiated that night only can check 

 them. On account of sickness, I have 

 had to neglect my bees. 



[We have had several warm days 

 since your letter was written, and 

 doubtless you have taken advantage 

 of such to prepare them for winter. 

 If not, and the weather is too cool, 

 you can put them into the bee-house 

 as they are, being careful that they 

 have suflScient stores for winter use. 

 —Ed.] 



Propagating Asters.— J. G. Craw- 

 ford, Jfitt3field,K3 Ills., on Oct. 8, 1887, 

 says : t 



I send you the bloom of a plant. 

 Please give its name aud tell how to 

 propagate it. It blooms in Septem- 

 ber, and the bees are at work on it yet. 



[It is one of the numerous family of 

 asters. They grow spontaneously in 

 many localities in the fall. Sow the 

 seed in meadows or hedges. The 

 plants will take care of themselves.— 

 Ed.] 



Bees Must be Fed, etc.— G. H. 



Ashby, Albion,*o N. Y., on Oct. 17, 

 1887, says : 



I have 71 colonies of bees, and had 

 60 last spring. I have had only 3 

 natural swarms. My bees gathered 

 a little honey the first ten days of 

 July, from basswood, but not a pound 

 from clover, although there was a 

 profusion of bloom. But we had cold 

 nights, often reaching 55P in the 

 morning. One-half the bees in this 

 county must be fed, or they will starve 

 before spring. The winter losses will 

 be 50 per cent, among the fogies. 

 Comb honey is selling at 20 cents per 

 pound. 



Asters as Honey-Plants.— Dr. R. 

 B. Woodward, Somerset,© O., on Oct. 

 14, 1887, writes as follows : 



Will you please give the names of 

 the flowers which I send ¥ I plucked 

 them off to-day. They grow along 

 the roadside, streams, etc. All are 

 from one to four feet in height. Bees 

 are gathering honey from them yet. 

 There are very many of them in this 

 locality this year, and they have 

 been in bloom and yielding honey for 

 the past six weeks. 



[They belong to the numerous 

 family of asters, and are excellent for 

 honey.— Ed.] 



Great Willow-Herb or Fire-Weed. 

 —.J. E. Sargent, Whitehall,*© Mich., 

 on Oct. 12, 1887, writes : 



I send a package containing a sam- 

 ple of honey extracted from the flower 

 of a plant which I enclose with it. 

 This plant grows on low ground the 

 same as fire-weed. It begins to bloom 

 early in July, and continues until the 



middle of September. The bees work 

 on it all day with a relish, and it is a 

 remarkably good honey-producer. I 

 would like to ascertain not only the 

 name of the plant, but also if it pro- 

 duces seed ; and if it can be culti- 

 vated. It is only found as before 

 stated, on low ground that has been 

 burnt over. The bloom is of a pink 

 color, and very much resembles the 

 " Drummond phlox." 



[This is the great willow-herb or 

 fire-weed, Epilahium Specatum. Dr. 

 Beal tells me that Specatum is the 

 correct specific name, though both 

 Gray and Wood give it as E. auqusti- 

 folium, which name I gave in my 

 Manual. 



This is not only a magnificent bee- 

 plant, but it is very beautiful, and 

 what is more, though an autumn 

 plant, the honey from it is very light 

 colored, and of most excellent flavor. 

 In the northern part of our Southern 

 peninsula, this plant is a principal 

 source of honey from July to Sep- 

 tember. 



While this plant thrives on low 

 land, it is also often found on quite 

 high and well drained soil. It does 

 produce seed, and each seed has a 

 wing which often bears the seed far 

 away from the parent plant. Thus 

 these seeds are wafted into burnt 

 fallows, and the plants spring up. 

 Many a farmer erroneously supposes 

 this to be spontaneous production. 

 But it is from seed. 



We also have another plant— a com- 

 posite—which is also called fire-weed. 

 This Erechthites hieracifolia. The 

 flowers are dull, coarse, and not at all 

 like the willow-herb. It is called fire- 

 weed for the same reason. — A. J. 

 Cook.] 



Bees to Winter in a House.— Day- 

 ton H. Carter, Clayton,OInd., on Oct. 

 19, 1887, writes as follows : 



I would like to get from the sub- 

 scribers^of the Bee Journal a pub- 

 lished reply to the following ques- 

 tions: 1. Will bees winter safely if 

 put into an old house V 2. If so, what 

 would be the proper way to prepare 

 them for winter ? 3. Would it do to 

 put them into the house just as they 

 stood upon the summer stands V 



Packing Bees— Foul Brood.— S.Bur- 



ton, Eureka,© Ills., on Oct. 28, 1887, 

 writes : 



I had 14 colonies of bees last spring, 

 which I had wintered on the summer 

 stands packed with leaves over the 

 brood-chamber, and with oat-straw 

 around the hives under a shed. I had 

 no swarms, but made one colony by 

 division. My Italians have stored all 

 the surplus honey that I have had, 7 

 colonies storing 300 pounds of comb 



honey in one-pound sections; but the 

 7 black colonies have no more honey 

 than will winter them. I shall pack 

 my bees in the same way this fall. I 

 am afraid that I will lose my bees this 

 winter, as one of my neighbors has 

 had a siege of foul brood among his 

 bees the past summer. Is there any 

 danger of my bees having the disease 

 by eating the honey from his bees V 



[Only robber bees go to the hives of 

 other colonies. If no robbing exists, 

 and no diseased combs are exposed, 

 there is but the smallest amount of 

 danger.— Ed.] 



Very Little Gain.— A. Sperling, 

 Dewey ,o Ills., on Oct. 17, 1887, says : 



I had 34 colonies, spring count, and 

 increased them to 44, 3 by natural 

 swarming and 7 by division. I pro- 

 pose to pack and winter them on the 

 summer stands. I took 500 pounds of 

 comb honey, and 200 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey, which they stored early 

 last spring. Many of the colonies 

 consumed nearly all of their stores 

 during the drouth. I fed 450 pounds 

 of honey and cane-sugar syrup to 

 winter on ; so there is very little gain. 



Convention Notices. 



Union Convention at Clilcago.— The 



North American Bee-Keepers' Society and 

 the Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Society will 

 meet in joint convention at the Commercial 

 Hotel, cor. Lalse and Dearborn Streets, in 

 Chicago. Ills., on Wednesday, Thursday and 

 Friday, Nov. 16, 17 and 18. 1887. Arrange- 

 ments have been made with the Potel, for 

 back room, one bed, two persons, $1.75 per 

 day, each ; front room, f '2.00 per day each 

 person. This date occurs during the second 

 week of the Fat Stock Show, when excursion 

 rates will be very low. 



The following are the subjects for discus- 

 sion, so far as has been determined upon ; 



Cost of the Production of Honey— 



Controlling the Price of Honey— M. M. 

 Baldridge, St. Charles, Ills. 



Getting the Best Price for Honey — B. J. 

 Oatman. Dundee, Ills. 



Commission Men and the Honey Market — 

 R. A. Burnett, Chicago, Ills. 



Legislation for Bee-Keepers— Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, Marengo, Ills. 



Objects and Methods of a thorough Or- 

 ganization of the Bee-Keepers of America — 

 Thomas G. Newman, Chicago, Ills. 



Comb Foundation, its Manufacture and 

 Use— C. P. Dadant. Hamilton, Ills. 



Production of Extracted Honey for Table 

 Use— T. F. Bingham, Abronia, Mich. 



The Production of Comb Honey- 

 Production of Comb and Extracted Honey 

 in the Same Apiary— J. A. Green. Dayton, III. 



Out Apiaries— D. A. Jones, Beeton, Ont. 



Foul Brood, How Shall we Treat It?— A. I. 

 Root, Medina, Ohio. 



Wintering Bees in the Northern States— R. 

 L. Taylor, Lapeer, Mich. 



Bee-Keeping alone, or with Other Pur- 

 suits; if the latter, in connection with what? 

 — Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



Legs of the Bee— Prof . A. J. Cook, Agri- 

 cultural College, Mich. 



What is the Best Name for Extracted 

 Honey ?— Thomas G. Newman, Chicago, Ills, 

 w. z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



ty* The Western Bee-Keepers' Society will hold 

 a meetinff on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 18S7, at the res- 

 idence nf Mr. Peter Otto, corner of Park and 25tli 

 Streets. K'ansas t'ity. Mo. Take the 18th Street 

 horse-ciirs atoth & Main Sts. for 18tli &. Brooklyn 

 St8.. thence walk south to ■i.'itb St., and thence east 

 one block to the house. Wc are sure of a cordial 

 welcome from Mr. and Mrs. Otto, and expect a 

 good meeting. Jas. a. Nelson, See. 



I3f The Darke County Union Bee-Keepera' Ab- 

 sociation will hold their next meeting at Arca- 

 num, O., on Friday, Oct. 28, 1887. J. A. KOK, Stc. 



