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61 



CONVEKTIOX DIRECTORY. 



1888. Time and Place of Meeting. 



Jan. 24-;6.— Eastern New York, at Albany. N.Y. 



John Aspinwall, Sec, Barrytown, N. Y. 



Jan. 25, 26.— N. E. Ohio. Northern Pa. and W. New 

 York, at Meadville. Pa. 



C. H. Coon, See., New Lyme, O. 



Feb. 4.— Stark County, at canton, Ohio. 



Mark Thomson, Sec, Canton, O. 



Apr. 24.— Dos Moines County, at Burhngton, Iowa. 

 John Nau, Sec, Middletown, Iowa. 



May 5.— Susquehanna County, at New Milford, Pa. 

 U. M. Seeley, Sec, Hartord, Pa. 



ry In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are request«d to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— ED. 





Bees Insured, etc. — D. P. Steven- 

 son, Kenton, K) O., on Jan. 16, 1888, 

 writes as follows concerning the insur- 

 ance of bees against loss by fire : 



On page 8, Mr. A. C. Waldron s.ays 

 that he trietl to get his bees insured 

 against loss b.y fire, and was refused. 

 Well, I have my bees insured against 

 loss in ease of tire, and in a good com- 

 pany, too. My 40 or 50 colonies of 

 bees are kept on the summer stands, 

 between the dwelling-house and barn, 

 on about one-fourth of an acre of 

 ground, fenced in for a chicken park. 

 I have dwelling-house, chicken-house, 

 bees, barn, horses, cows, grain, etc., 

 all insured in the same compan}'. Bees 

 did very poorlj' here the last season. 

 It was too drj'. 



AVinteriiig ^Vell. 



Decatur,? Mich., on 



-S. H. Mallory, 

 Jan. 10, 1888, 



says : 



Bees are wintering well here so far. 

 We have had quite mild weather most 

 . of the time ; 4^ below zero being the 

 coldest registered here. We are hav- 

 ing a regular Michigan blizzard to-day. 



Bees Packed in Leaves, etc. — 



Otto Kleinow, Detroit,OsMich., on Jan. 

 16, 1888, says : 



I began the winter with 86 colonies 

 of Italian bees, about 75 colonies of 

 them being in fine condition ; some of 

 the others were weak and short of 

 stores. All are on diflorent sized frames, 

 some in one and two stoi-y chaft' hives, 

 and some are in single-walled hives ; 

 they are packed with leaves all around, 

 antl under the bottom, ai)d all are alive 

 now. Last season was very drj- here, 

 and bees hardlj' gathered enough for 

 winter stores ; some of them I had to 

 feed. I fed about $25 worth, of the 

 best granulated sugai\ Some of my 



colonies had from 25 to 40 pounds of 

 honey in the hive. By Nov. 1, 1887, 

 a few had only about 1 to 5 pounds of 

 stores ; those, of course, were the late 

 swarms. 



Hive-Entrances in Winter, etc. 



— W. S. McCrum, Etna Green, 5 Ind., 

 on Jan. 16, 1888, says : 



My 20 colonics of bees are being 

 wintered on the summer stands, packed 

 with 4 inches of clover chaft" all around, 

 and al)out one foot deep on top. The 

 entrances are i-inch by 4 inches wide. 

 1. Is that too large ; or is it not large 

 enough ? 2. Would it not be better to 

 close the entrances, or nearly so, with 

 snow, when the temperature is at zero 

 or below ? 



[1. It is preferable to have the hive- 

 entrances |-inch high, and the whole 

 width of the hive. 



2. It would be as well to allow the 

 snow to cover the entire hive, for pro- 

 tection against the cold. — Ed.] 



The Season of I §87 — Clarkson 

 Pemberton, Lamoille,© Iowa, on Jan. 

 16, 1888, writes : 



I had 26 colonies of bees, spring 

 count, but as the honey croji was very 

 short, I obtained onlj' 200 pounds, and 

 that was all from ba.sswood. White 

 clover was a failure in this part of 

 Iowa. Bees did very poorlj' in swarm- 

 ing ; 1 had only 4 or 5 swarms the past 

 summer. I think that all of my bees 

 have honey enough for the winter. I 

 like the Bee Journal very much ; I 

 could not do without it. 



Cold Weather for Bees. — John 



W. Blodget, Flag Springs, -o Mo., on 

 Jan. 16, 1888, writes : 



The bees are going through the 

 coldest spell that I ever saw in this 

 country. On Jan. 13 the thermometer 

 registered 14° below zero ; on Jan. 14, 

 120 below ; on Jan. 15, 26° below— the 

 coldest that I have seen for 20 years, 

 or over. I should think that bees in 

 single-walled hives would freeze if ever 

 bees freeze. I would like to see Mr. 

 Doolittle throw bees on the snow with 

 the mercury at 26- below zero, and 

 then bring them to life again. 



The snow is from 4 to 6 inches deep 

 on a level, and the east and west lanes 

 are drifted badly, being almost impas- 

 sable. I think that the snow will pro- 

 tect the white clover from winter- 

 killing. The only trouble is, that the 

 ground being frozen, the water from 

 the snow cannot get into the gi'ound, 

 and will all run oft" into the streams. 



and thus leave the gi'ound as diy as. 

 ever ; if so, we will have to depend 

 upon spring rains to raise a crop of 

 honey or vegetables. I welcome the 

 weekly visits of the valuable Bee^ 

 Journal every Thursday. 



Bees in C»ood Condition. — Jolin 

 K. Rich, Cato.Q N. Y., on Jan. 10, 

 1888, writes : 



Last spring I had 17 colonies of l)ees, 

 of which I sokl one, and increased the 

 remainder to 26 colonies. I sold one 

 colony in the fall, and put 13 into the 

 cellar ; the rest are on the summer 

 stands, packed with planer shavings. 

 I took nearl)- 800 pounds of honey, the 

 most of which was comb honej% being 

 a yield of aliout 32 pounds per colony, 

 of basswood ; the balance was buck- 

 wheat and golden-rod. All of my bees 

 are in good condition, and are winter- 

 ing well. 



Syrio-Albino Bees, etc E. F. 



Meeker, Duncan,© Ills., on Jan. 12, 



1888, says : 



I commenced the past season with 

 120 colonies of bees, and I now have 

 138 colonies in the cellar. I did not 

 take over 400 poimds of honey. The 

 Syrian bees were far ahead of the 

 other races the past season. I have 

 them crossed with the Albinos, and I 

 find that they are not bad to handle. 

 I would like to hear from others, as to 

 which of the races did the best the past 

 season. 



Ooiden.Rod and Aster Honey. 



— Abner Picket, Kassagawej-a, Out., on 

 Jan. 9, 1888, writes : 



I enjoj' the weekly viisits of the Bee 

 Journal very much. I am very fond 

 of the bee-business. I commenced the 

 pa.st season with 91 colonies, increased 

 them to 126 colonies, and have taken 

 4,200 pounds of extracted honey. The 

 season became so dry that they could 

 not get any honey until golden-rod and 

 asters bloomed, then the bees filled up 

 the hives very fast. I did not have to 

 feed any, and I have them all in a win- 

 tering-house. They seem to be doing 

 well. The temperature ranges from 

 40° to 44°. 



Determined to Persevere, etc. 



— Edw. Margileth, Mt. Carroll,-o Ills., 

 on Jan. 16, 1888, says : 



The Bee Journal has been a con- 

 stant source of interest as well as pro- 

 fit to me ever since I started in apicul- 

 ture, which was in 1883, when I com- 

 menced with 2 colonies of hybrid bees. 

 I am wintering 29 colonies in a cellar 



