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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



€01VVEXTI0]« DIRECTORY. 



Time and place of meeting. 



1891. 

 Aug. 6.— Rock River, at Sterling, Ills. 



J. M. Burtch, Sec, Morrison, Ills. 



Sept. 3.— Susquehanna County, at So. Montrose, Pa. 

 H. M. Seeley, Sec, Harford, Pa. 



In order to have this table complete, 

 Secretaries are requested to forward full 

 particulars of the time and the place of 

 each future meeting. — The Editor. 



North American Bee-Keepers' Association 



President— P. H. Elwood. . . .Stark viile, N. Y. 



Secretary— C. P. Dadant Hamilton, Ills. 



> » » ♦> 



National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



President— James Heddon ..Dowagiac, Mich. 

 Sec'y and Manager— T. G. Newman, Chicago. 



Bee aiid tioiieu Gossip. 



Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper with business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Fixed or Hanging: Frames. 



Basswood is just in bloom, and iny 

 bees in the home apiary, about 200 

 colonies, are doing a big business. I 

 have tried about all kinds of fixed 

 frames for hives, and am prepared to 

 make my report, and will do so to the 

 Bee Journal soon. I have been com- 

 pelled, by experience, to pronounce the 

 hanging frame the best in use for any- 

 thing but very shallow hives, and quite 

 likely for them, too. To-day, the fixed 

 frame which I exhibited at the Keokuk 

 convention, is the only one I could 

 tolerate, and bee-keepers are going to 

 be greatly injured by this fixed-frame 

 craze. Baknett Taylor. 



Forestville, Minn., July 10, 1891. 



Badly Mixed Honey Crop. 



I infer from your editorial in regard 

 to my poor health, that my friends were 

 unnecessarily alarmed about me. It is 

 true, I have had rather a discouraging 

 time of it since June 1, but am glad to 

 say, that for the past v/eek I have made 

 a decided gain, and feel that "Richard 

 will soon be himself again." Michigan, 

 as a State, is experiencing her fourth 

 poor season. It is true, that in certain 



localities they are getting some honey, 

 but I have seen none yet that was gilt 

 edged, and I doubt if there is much of 

 that quality being gathered anywhere, 

 and I am sure that the man who has it 

 can depend on fancy prices — if he knows 

 how to sell. Reports from different 

 States show that the crop is badly mixed. 

 I attribute the cause here to the con- 

 tinued open Winters we have been 

 having. Our pastures and meadows are 

 fast going to June grass, which is the 

 worst enemy the white clover has, but 

 with our usual deep snows, and the 

 absence of frost in the ground, I think 

 our clover would assert its rights, and 

 the chances for the old-time crops be 

 enhanced. For eight years my home 

 apiary gave me an average of 75 pounds 

 per colony. Spring count, 75 per cent, 

 of which was comb-honey of fine quality, 

 but for the past four years it has not 

 averaged 10 pounds per colony. 



Geo. E. Hilton. 

 Fremont, Mich., July 23, 1891. 



Very Little Nectar. 



The season is practically over here, 

 though the prospect is favorable for a 

 Fall crop. The clover bloom has never 

 been more abundant, but for some cause 

 it has furnished very little nectar. All 

 the conditions seemed most favorable, 

 and I am at a loss to account for it. Our 

 crop is only a little better than that of 

 last year, and, besides, nearly all of the 

 honey is dark. G. L. Tinker. 



New Philadelphia, O., July 18, 1891. 



Purchasing Bees. 



In April, 1890, I sent money to a firm 

 who deal in bees for 3 full colonies of 

 Italians, but did not receive them until 

 May 30. On arrival, 2 of the colonies 

 were in good connition, but the third 

 one had all the combs but two broken 

 down, and brood and bees were de- 

 stroyed. As the firm had guaranteed 

 safe arrival, I requested them to send 

 one frame of brood, to partially replace 

 those destroyed, but received no answer 

 until I had written to them two or three 

 times, when they wrote me that, as I 

 was a stranger to them, they could do 

 nothing unless I would forward an 

 affidavit from the express agent that the 

 bees were in the condition I claimed they 

 were. I replied that I had trusted them 

 with the money for the bees when they 

 were strangers to me, and if they could 

 not take my word for such a small mat- 

 ter, they Heed not bother their heads 



