ntmm M'mmmi^Km mmm jommnMi^. 



77 



If the apiarist does not let the tem- 

 jierature go below 40°, oi- above 44°, 

 ho will not have any bee-diarihea to 

 icjiort ; if the hives are joroperly ven- 

 tilated, unless the cellar is too damp. 



Kingston,© Wis., Jan. 23, 1888. 



COXVEXTIOX DIRECTORY. 



I ^-^s. Time and Place of MtfUnQ. 



Fob. 4.— Stark County, at Canton, Ohio. 



Mark Thomson, Sec, Canton, O. 



Apr. 24.— Dea Moines County, at Burlington, Iowa. 

 John Nau, Sec, Middletown, Iowa. 



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

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



C7~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— EB. 



First Snonr.Fali, etc. — Mr. John 

 Boerstler, Vashon, Q Wash. Ter., on 

 Jan. 12, 1888, says : 



The first snow fell to-day. The tein- 

 jierature was 9^ above zero for 3 or 4 

 • lays; it was very cold here for a few 

 .iavs. 



Honey Quotations, etc. — J. S. 



<!'atterson, Harvard, 9 Nob., on Jan. 

 :-l, 1888, writes : 



I started last spring with 2 colonies, 

 .■secured one swarm, one absconded, 

 and 1 took 100 pounds of comb honey. 

 In conversation with a grocer a short 

 lime since, he said that he would pay 

 •• Chicago prices" for hone}' now, and 

 on asking how much that was, he said, 

 " From 5 to 7 cents perpound." Hav- 

 ing just received the Bee Journal 

 from the post-office, I showed him 

 where our style of houej' (we have no 

 white clover or basswood in this local- 

 ity) was quoted at 17 and 18 cents. He 

 realized that he was beaten, and pro- 

 ceeded to set forth the unreliability of 

 '• market reports." He affirmed that 

 Ids price-list so reported it to him ; but 

 he did not exhibit the list. 



Severe "Winter — Poor Season. 



— H. L. Rouse, Ionia, 6 Iowa, on Jan. 

 13, 1888, writes : 



We are having a very severe winter, 

 an unusual amount of snow having 

 fallen already. Last night and this 

 forenoon the wind blew a perfect gale 

 from the northwest, while the ther- 

 mometer marked 21° below zero this 

 morning, and it kept at 18^ below zero 

 all day. It is 22o below this evening. 



It does not get above zero very far 

 nowada3's. 



I am wintering 100 colonies in chafi' 

 hives, and nearly one-half are com- 

 pletelj' buried in the snow. I com- 

 menced the season of 1887 with 90 col- 

 onies, intending to work them for ex- 

 tracted honey, but, alas ! when fall 

 came I had some experience but no 

 honey, or just barely enough for win- 

 ter stores. Thei-cfoi-e a big cipher 

 would represent my income from the 

 bees the past summer. My apiary is 

 not the only one in this locality "that 

 has failed to reward the apiarist for 

 his labors. 



The American Bee Journal seems 

 better than ever in its New Year's 

 dres.s. 



Cieansin^r Combs — Plants for 

 Honey — A. H. Dunlap, Aral, ?Kans., 

 asks the following questions : 



1. What can I do with combs full of 

 bees, dead from starvation ? 2. Will 

 the bees take tliem out if put into other 

 hives ? 3. Name G or 8 of the best 

 honey-plants, in the order of their ex- 

 cellence, and give a brief description 

 of how and when to sow, plant and 

 cultivate them. Such information 

 would be worth a great deal to us who 

 have a scarcit}' of natural honey- 

 plants. 



[1. Let the bees clean them out. 



2. Yes. 



3. Any of the books on apiculture 

 will give you the information. — Ed.] 



Results of tiie Season Thos. E. 



Turner, Sussex,tx Wis., on Jan. lb, 



1888, writes : 



My 86 colonies of bees are doing 

 finely in the cellar, so far this winter. 

 The trying part of cellar-wintering I 

 always find to be tlie last part of Feb- 

 ruary and March. I have realized 

 about 20 cents per pound for most of 

 my 1,500 pounds of comb honey, and 

 10 cents per pound for 430 pounds of 

 extracted honej- — the crop of 1887. I 

 hope for a full crop this year, instead 

 of but 35 pounds per colony, for 1887 ; 

 but I did better than many others 

 around me, as some havehardlj- enough 

 to winter their bees. 



Honey for the Liver. — W. H. 



Smith, Mount Salem, Out., on Jan. 21, 

 1888, gives the following directions for 

 taking honey as a remedy for liver 

 trouble : 



Since my letter on page 27 was pub- 

 lished, I have received several inquiries 

 as to the metlK)d of taking honey for 

 the liver, as mentioned in my letter. 



In order to expedite matters, I con- 

 cluded to reply through the American 

 Bee Journal, and at tlie same time 

 give all inquirers the benefit of my re- 

 ply. Here it is, as practiced by my 

 wife, who is now a li\-ing epistle of the 

 virtues of honey as a liver medicine : 



Take of Alsike clover or basswood 

 honey, as much as can be taken with- 

 out causing too much nausea, say every 

 two hours tlirough the day, until a cure 

 is efle'cted. 



Bee.Escape for the Extraeting- 

 Rooni. — Albert H. Lind, Calumet 

 Harbor, *o Wis., on Jan. 15, 1888, says : 



I commenced the season of 1887 

 with 4 colonies, increased them to 10 

 colonies, and took 143 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey. As a general thing, 

 the honey crop of this part of Wiscon- 

 sin was a very poor one. My bees were 

 put into winter quarters on Nov. 20, 

 1887, and seem to be doing nicely. 

 The bee-room gets its ventilation 

 through a chimnej-. Will some one 

 please write an article for the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal on how to make a 

 bee-escape for my extracting-room ? 



Bees did Weil in 1§87 W. A. 



Evans, Gober. ^^Tex., on Jan. 16, 1888, 

 writes : 



Bees did well here in the season of 

 1887. I started with 31 colonies, in- 

 creased them to 66 colonies, and ob- 

 tained 5,000 pounds of extracted honey. 



Insuring Bees in the Cellar. — 



J. F. Miller, Rodman, 5 N. Y., on Jan. 

 23, 1888, says : 



As Mr. A. C. Waldron wishes to 

 know about insuring bees against loss 

 bj- fire, I wc^uld say that I have mine 

 insured in the Niagara County Com- 

 pany, of New York City, from Nov. 1 

 to May 1, while they are in the cellar. 



Oood Yield in Texas. — Fred F. 

 Rockwell, Leonard, c$ Tex., on Jan. 18, 

 1888, writes : 



Our season the past year has been 

 good, my crop of lioney being about 

 2,200 pounds from 18 colonies, spring 

 count. The colony having my best 

 Italian queen produced nearly 300 

 pounds of extracted honey. In 1886, 

 during the drouth, I averaged 80 

 pounds per colony, and, strange to say, 

 I did not get any surplus from the 

 same source that I did in 1887. My 

 surplus the past season was from horse- 

 mint, cottfui and fall flowers. In 1886 

 the yield was from rattan, and a new 

 (to me) flower, analyzed by a botanist 

 as one of the "golden-rods." 



