350 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



get along with less than $2,000. We 

 ought to have $5,000. 

 > A. N. Draper — After April 1 there 

 will be a bounty of 2 cents per pound on 

 sugar. I think this will affect the price 

 of honey, and that we ought to have a 

 bounty on honey also. 



J. A. Stone explained a way of venti- 

 lating bee-cellars, after which the So- 

 ciety adjourned until 2 p.m. 



The report of the special committee 

 was called for, and Mr. Newman, chair- 

 man of the committee, reported that all 

 present were in favor of a State organi- 

 zation. Then, for the purpose of organiz- 

 ing the same, the Capital Bee-Keepers' 

 Association took a recess, which lasted 

 until 4:30 p.m., at which time the 

 Society was again called to order, only 

 to adjourn. 



Sherman, Ills. 



Feeflins Bees witli Sniar-Syriip. 



D. STEAVAET. 



I have kept bees for the last 30 years, 

 for my own use, and for pleasure, but 

 never had over 50 colonies at one time, 

 and on two occasions lost them all. One 

 year over 40 colonies froze on the win- 

 ter stands, but that Winter the mercury 

 did not rise above zero for three weeks, 

 at one time, and the bees could not live 

 through the long period of cold with no 

 protection. 



Before that I had never given my bees 

 any protection in Winter, but left them 

 to shift for themselves. Afterward, I 

 put them in the cellar, and they seemed 

 to do well until six or eight years ago, 

 when I lost 20 colonies — all I had in the 

 cellar — and they had plenty of nice 

 honey in store, too. The temperature of 

 my cellar is about 40^, so I lost faith in 

 that method of wintering. 



Then I had no bees for a year, but felt 

 lost without them, and bought 5 colonies, 

 which did well until last season, when 

 the honey crop was a total failure, on 

 account of the drouth. I knew there 

 would be no surplus, but did think they 

 would gather enough honey for winter 

 stores. 



Owing to my absence from home, they 

 did not receive proper attention until 

 the weather became too cold to feed 

 them upon the summer stands, when, 

 finding that they were almost destitute 

 of stores, I doubled up 5 or 6 colonies, 

 moved 20 of them into the cellar (leav- 

 ing one colony out on the sammer 

 stand, to see how they would winter 

 there), and began feeding them. 



I dissolve 3 pounds of white sugar in 

 1 pound of water, and, when cool 

 enough, hold a skimmer over the combs, 

 pouring the syrup through it, and in this 

 way I get 2 or 3 pounds of syrup into 

 each frame of combs. 



As an experiment, I tried feeding 2 

 colonies with sorghum syrup, but have 

 found it to be a failure, as both colonies 

 are dead. When I began feeding them, 

 my bees did not have 15 pounds of 

 honey, all told. I have 4 colonies of 

 Carniolans, 6 of Italians, 4 of black 

 bees, and the remainder of them are 

 hybrids. 



I was amused at the different opinions 

 regarding honey-dew, expressed on page 

 190, as I know from observation that it 

 is neither honey-dew nor bug-juice. I 

 think that it was in the Spring of 1882, 

 that I noticed the bees working on the 

 soft maples and box elders in my door- 

 yard, and, on examination, I found the 

 leaves smeared with honey-dew, but 

 could find none on any of the other trees, 

 and, in my opinion, it was caused by the 

 heat of the sun in the daytime, and the 

 cool nights, expanding and contracting 

 the tender leaves. 



This was in the latter part of May, 

 before there was a fly or an aphide 

 hatched, as I took my magnifying glass 

 and looked for aphides, having been told 

 that they were the cause of honey-dew, 

 but am certain there were no insects to 

 do this, and there has never been a 

 repetition of this on my trees. 



North Liberty, Iowa. 



Fallnre to Cnre Foni-Brooil Exulaineil. 



WILLIAM M EVOY. 



In the American Bee Journal, page 

 156, I read Mr. Koeppen's answers to 

 my questions, and am well pleased with 

 every one of them. The honey season 

 in Mr. Koeppen's section was such a 

 complete failure that he did not get one 

 ounce of honey from either clover, bass- 

 wood or buckwheat, and he says that his 

 bees were in such a starving condition 

 in July that he had to feed them. 



His answers to questions 6, 7 and 9 

 show very plainly that there was no 

 honey in anything in his locality, and 

 that was the reason why one of my plans 

 of curing foul-brood in the honey season 

 failed with him. Mr. Koeppen says that 

 everything seemed to blossom well, but 

 he did not get any honey, and would 

 like to know whether the fault was in 

 the bees or in the flowers. The fault was 



