244 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



COMVEBfTIOW DIRECTORY. 



Time and place of meeting. 



1891. 

 Aug. 25.— Cortland Union, at Little Yorli, N. Y. 



M. H. Fairbanks, Sec, Homer, N. Y. 



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

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



Sept. 9.— State Association, at the Fair Grounds, 

 Springfield, Ills. 



Jas. A. Stone, Sec, Bradfordton, Ills. 



Sept. 15.— Ionia, at Ionia, Mich. 



Harmon Smith, Sec, Ionia, Mich. 



Oct. 14, 15.— S. W. Wisconsin, at Fennimore, Wis. 

 Benj. E. Rice, Sec, Boscobel, Wis. 



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 Starkvilie, N. Y. 



Secretary— C. P. Dadant Hamilton, Ills. 



National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



President— James Heddon ..Dowagiae, Mich. 

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



Bee and Jflopeu Gossip. 



1^" 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. 



But Little White Honey. 



This is another poor season for bee- 

 keepers in this section. So far, we have 

 about one-fourth of a crop, with but 

 little white honey. White clover blos- 

 somed profusely, but yielded but very 

 little nectar. Prospects for a Fall crop 

 are good. Thos. O. Hines. 



Anamosa, Iowa, Aug. 8, 1891. 



Golden Yellow Queens. 



On page 52 of the Bee Journal, Mr. 

 Judkins states that he has a colony of 

 bees which cast 12 swarms in 11 days. 

 Now, I would like to know whether they 

 were pint or gallon swarms. I saw a 

 bee recently that was so heavy with wax 

 scales that it was unable to fly, and the 

 stinger protruded all the time. I re- 

 queened some of my colonies this year, 

 by inserting queen-cells, after destroying 

 the old queens, and they all did well 

 except one colony, to which I gave the 

 third cell before securing a queen. Two 

 of the young queens were lost on their 

 wedding trip. I have some queens that 

 are a golden yellow, except a little spot 



of black on the lower end of the abdomen , 

 and one queen that is entirely yellow. 

 Greenville, Tenn. A. C. Babb. 



Bees Have Not Done Well. 



I have 45 colonies of bees, but they 

 have done very poorly so far this year. 

 W. H. Duncan. 

 Lawrence, Kan., Aug. 1, 1891. 



Preventing Dampness in Bee Cellars. 



Will some one of the readers of the 

 Bee Journal inform me how to prevent 

 dampness in a bee cellar, during the time 

 the bees are confined therein ? The 

 cellar is 8 feet deep, with good, thick 

 stone walls, and a cement floor. The 

 ground around for quite a distance is 

 perfectly level, and the soil is clay for a 

 depth of six feet, and the remaining dis- 

 tance is in sand, and there is a mill race 

 about 8 rods distant. Last Winter the 

 cellar was so damp that the combs in the 

 hives became somewhat mouldy, and 

 when any of the bees died they would 

 soon become mouldy, also, although the 

 cellar is well ventilated. This cellar has 

 cost its owner not far from $100, as it 

 now is, and he does not feel like aban- 

 doning it, and building another. He, 

 therefore, asks if there is not some way 

 in which the evil maybe remedied, with- 

 out too great expense. He thinks that 

 some of those who have had more expe- 

 rience than himself in such matters, can 

 inform him how the desired end may 

 be accomplished without much extra 

 expense. Constant Reader. 



Honey Crop a Total Failure. 



There was a good honey-flow in May, 

 and our bees swarmed excessively, some 

 bee-keepers reporting as many as 3 or 

 4 swarms from one colony. With the 

 beginning of June came cool, wet 

 weather, and August found most of the 

 bees in a starving condition. Not more 

 than 25 per cent, of my bees cast 

 swarms, and they are in fair condition. 

 Cotton is now in bloom, and as the sun 

 has been shining for a day or so, we 

 hope that the worst is over. Our surplus 

 is never much until the wild asters 

 bloom in September, and if the weather 

 is favorable, we may yet realize some- 

 thing. I see that the wide, thick, 

 closed-end — self-spacing and almost 

 self-acting — top-bar frame is still being 

 discussed. I was the first to write any- 

 thing like a lengthy critiqism on this 



