74 



THE; MMERICMrf WBW JO'WKPIMlr. 



^ * ^* ■* 1 mii 



K>*i»*i~^'^-~-*'~Aa 



and a stove-pipe connecting from the 

 liottom of the cellar with the stove- 

 pipe above, and a " cooler" pipe from 

 direct outside. The temperature for 

 the last four years has been 48^ to 55°, 

 and he has never yet lost a colony. 

 8ome members have damp, and others 

 dry cellars, and are equally successful. 



R. F. Holtermann reported that he 

 ■was about to build a cellar under a 

 dwelling-house. First, stone wall, then 

 a one brick wall inside, allowing an 

 air-space between the two. The ceil- 

 ing would be tongue and groove board- 

 ed, with felt paper, and between this 

 and the floor above have a packing of 

 sawdust ; a spring flows through the 

 cellar to equalize the temperature, 

 purify the atmosphere, and probably 

 help to keep the atmosphere dry, as 

 the moisture in the warmer atmosphere 

 would condense upon the cooler spring 

 water. The finest cellar he had ever 

 seen was that of J. Alpaugh, and he 

 had his thus, all but the spring. 



R. McKnight gave a description of 

 his cellar or repository, the general 

 temperature of whicli was 49°, often as 

 low as 440, but seldom 50°. 



THE SECOND DAY. 



The morning session of the second 

 day opened with President Pettit in 

 the chair. An essay was then read, 

 written by Mr. James Heddon, of 

 Dowagiac, Mich. Mr. Heddon very 

 ably pointed out how much there was 

 of speculation as to what would over- 

 stock a locality with bees. From re- 

 ports, however, one could see that 

 where a few colonies were kept,a large 

 yield could be secured. His essay 

 closed with the following paragraph : 



" I am again determined to add my 

 mite to answering the question, by con- 

 tinually increasing the number of my 

 colonies, until a term of seasons, whose 

 natural advantages and disadvantages, 

 all considered, shall tell me something 

 ■of this obscure problem." 



An essay was read from Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, of Marengo, Ills., which may 

 be found on page 26 of the Ameri- 

 c.\N Bee Journal, in regard to spe- 

 cialists in bee-keeping. 



By the reception wliich the Doctor's 

 essay received, many members were 

 ■evidently in favor of specialists. 



Mr. R. McKnight then read an essaj' 

 •on " Our local honej- market, and how 

 to cultivate it." [This essay will be 

 published as soon as we have room 

 for it.— Ed.] 



The board of directors reported that 

 all the members of last year should 

 have a copy of the revised work of 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth, on "The Hive 

 and the Hone3'-Bee." 



The Secretary reported $166.90. 



The association ■ adopted a new Con- 

 stitution and By-La^^'s, by means of 



which county associations can afiiliate 

 with the provincial. County associa- 

 tions are to pay $5 per annum, and 

 must have five members (members of 

 the Ontario). This sum is more than 

 returned by the share of the grant 

 which they secure for competition in 

 prizes at the county show. 



The following ofiieers were elected : 

 President, M. Emigh, Holbrook ; Vice- 

 President, J. B. Hall, of Woodstock ; 

 Directors : F. K. Darling, Almonte ; A. 

 Picket, Nassagawoya ; Wm. Covvie, 

 Streetsville ; Allen Pringle, Shelbj- ; E. 

 Schultz, Muskolja ; F. A. Gemmil, 

 Stratford ; F. Malcolm, Innerkip ; and 

 R. McKnight, Owen Sound. Auditors: 

 F. H. Macpherson, of Beeton, and R. 

 F. Holtermann, of Brantford. 



The convention then adjourned to 

 hold the next meeting at Owen Sound, 

 Out. 



Brantford, Ont. 



NEBRASKA. 



Results of Keeping Bees for 

 Eight Years. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY WILLIAM STOLLEY. 



While, with many bee-keejjers, the 

 season of 1887 has been a season of 

 short crops, I cannot complain, and 

 the following is my report : 



After selling 5 colonies in the spring, 

 I began the season with but 23 colo- 

 nies, which were partly in extra good, 

 and partly in but fair condition. 



The amount of honey that I took was 

 2,078 pounds, or an average of 90J 

 pounds per colony, spring count. I 

 had but 2 colonies for the production 

 of comb honey, which gave a little over 

 50 pounds each, in one-pound sections. 



I increased my apiar3' to only 31 col- 

 onies, which are all well supplied with 

 winter stores (each having about 23 

 pounds), and I have about 300 pounds 

 of honey in the comb, put aside for 

 late spring stimulation. 



My best colony produced 140 pounds 

 of surplus (extracted) honey, while 

 the year previous (1886) 1 obtained 210 

 pounds from mj- best colon}-. This 

 success I owe principally to the sowing 

 of sweet clover, while fields of Alfalfa 

 clover within two miles of my little 

 apiarj- have helped the bees materiallj-. 

 (Remember that central Nebraska is 

 naturally not well adapted to the keep- 

 ing of bees.) Ever since Dec. 9, 1887, 

 my bees have been covered up to staj', 

 and enjoy their winter rest, in a bee- 

 house on the summer stand. 



So far we have had a very cold win- 

 ter. On Nov. 27 the mercury ^\-as 32^ 

 below, and this morning it ■^^.s 27"^- lif^ 

 low zero, 



For eight years I have kept bees. I 

 commenced with but 2 colonies of hj-- 

 brids. Guided by the teachings of the 

 American Bee Journal and standard 

 works on apiculture, I proceeded cau- 

 tiously, and the result is, that I have 

 as fine an apiary as there is to be found 

 anywhere. During the eight years I 

 have paid out for bee-house lumber, 

 implements, comb foundation, queens, 

 etc., 1642.16. My cash receipts for 

 honey and bees sold are, $1,636.78. 

 The value of my apiary to-day is 

 $640.50 (but I would not sell it at that 

 figure) ; hence, a balance of $1,635.12 

 is left to pay me for my labor. 



Of course I do not depend upon my 

 bees for a living ; but thej' are a source 

 of pleasure and recreation to me. I 

 like them ! 



Bees must be attended to accuratelj- 

 and promptly, whenever they require 

 attention. Persons who are negligent 

 about them, have no business to keep 

 bees. They will only find themselves 

 " left " sooner or later, if they attempt 

 it. 



During the last week it has been ex- 

 tremely cold, so that we could not get 

 nor dispatch any mail matter. It was 

 35"^ below zero at 9 o'clock this morn- 

 ing. It is now abating, but is still 15° 

 below zero. 



Grand Island, ©Nebr., Jan. 15, 1888. 



THE PAST SEASON. 



The Honey Yield, Swarming and 

 AVintering. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY JNO. a. THORNTON. 



The bees came out the past spring in 

 excellent condition, and never were 

 better ready to gather a large crop of 

 honej'. But the honey did not come. 

 Soft maple first yields honey and pol- 

 len here ; elm, hickorj-, hard maple, 

 etc., furnish an abundance of pollen 

 until fruit bloom is over ; but the fruit, 

 especially apples, had no bloom last 

 spring, consequently there was no 

 honey from that source. Notwith- 

 standing the above draw-back, the 

 bees continued to increase in numbers 

 until their hives were very full of bees. 

 Most of the colonies were preparing to 

 swarm bj' May 10. and one colony cast 

 a swarm on May 8, but it did nothing 

 until June 5, when it gathered enough 

 to build comb. 



Several more colonies swarmed 

 about this time, but those colonies that 

 cast swarms did not gather any sur- 

 plus. More than half of my bees did 

 not build comb and store enough 

 honey to last them until the fall yield 

 came. From those that did not swarm, 

 I secured enough surplus to make an 



