THB fCMERlcaPi BEE JQlJRNJtlr. 



103 



- — ^^^-^^^^.^^^^^^^^^A^^^* 



ways, so as to be able to feed larger 

 quantities at once. These experiments 

 tiually resulted in the _ " top and bot- 

 tom feeder," that is, it may be used on 



ENTRANCE FEEDER. 



the top of the hive or at the bottom, as 

 the bee-keeper may choose. This 

 feeder is composed of two feeding 

 blocks, and has bee-passages at the 

 sides of the blocks, and also at the 

 ends, so that any drip or leakage will 

 be sure to fall within the hive, and 

 may be taken up by the bees. 



This feeder is constructed on the 

 plan of the movable-comb hive, every 

 part of the inside may be reached by 



TOP AND BOTTOM FEEDER. 



the bees and cared for by them. When 

 in use on the hive, the hive-cover just 

 covers the feeder ; and when in use 

 under the hive, the hive covers the 

 feeder, and the bees pass in at the en- 

 trance in the bottom-board under the 

 feeder, and through it into the hive 

 proper. 



Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 30, 1888. 



IN COUNSEL. 



Kortli'\vc§tern Illinois and South- 

 western M'is. Convention. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY D. A. FULLER. 



The annual meeting of the North- 

 western Illinois and Southwestern Wis- 

 consin Bee-Keepers' Association con- 

 vened at Rockford, Ills., on Jan. 17, 

 1888, with Vice-President Swezej- in 

 the chair. 



The minutes of the last meeting were 

 read and approved. 



The reports of members for 1887 

 .showed 1,098 colonies of bees in the 

 spring, and 1,028 in the fall, with only 

 970 pounds of surplus honey. 



Mr. A. J. Swezey, of Rockford, Ills., 

 read an essay entitled. 



Lessous to be Learned In a Poor Year 

 lor Uee-Keeping. 



Apparent failure does not alwa.ys 

 portend ultimate disaster. Many of 

 the most important enterprises of the 

 World have been nouri.shed amid de- 

 feat and disaster. The first Atlantic 

 trlegraph cable was broken and lost in 

 mid-ocean. The second was a dead 

 wire in the bottom of the Atlantic. It 

 took ten years more of patient investi- 

 gation, and the utmost eft'orts of 

 science and skill to make the Ocean 

 telegraph a success. 



A niimber of years ago people tried 

 to make sugar from sorghum cane, 

 but the attempt was a financial fail- 

 ure. ■ Norman J. Coleman, United 

 States Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 has faithfully pi-osecuted and continued 

 his investigations and experiments, and 

 if recent reports are true, he will yet 

 make sugar-making under his new 

 process a grand success. 



The bee-keepers of this country do 

 not always find their efforts crowned 

 with an abundant harvest. The un- 

 certainties of the business sometimes 

 comes with astonishing promptness 

 and prominence. I know one man 

 who invested about |200 in the busi- 

 ness, and before getting any consid- 

 erable returns, his bee-inventory was 

 reduced to 2 colonies of bees ! But 

 that man afterward became one of the 

 most successful bee-keepers of north- 

 ern Illinois. 



The past year has brought no imme- 

 diate financial profit to the bee-keepers 

 of this Association. From this appar- 

 ent failure, the wise bee-keepers may 

 learn some profitable lessons. 



1. That like the crops of the agricul- 

 turist, much of success depends upon 

 the vicissitudes of the seasons, and 

 that it is of importance to study how 

 best to overcome or withstand its ex- 

 tremes of drouth or flood. 



2. That bees will not gather a large 

 crop of honey unless the blossoms 

 grow that produce the honey. That 

 if the season is such that the white 

 clover is a failure, we should grow 

 some honey-producing plants to supply 

 the honey. 



3. That the bees should at all times 

 be well cared for, and kept in good 

 condition so that if at any season of 

 the year there is a supply of honey, 

 they will be fully prepared to gather it. 



4. That during a term of years there 

 is no more honey produced than 

 enough to supjily the market for the 

 same term of years. That if a good 

 honey harvest fills up the market one 

 year, it can be shipped to a less-favored 

 locality, or a succeeding poor year 

 will use it all up. 



5. That only persevering, scientific 

 bee-keepers will attain any great suc- 



I cess in the business. Those who ex- 



pei-t good crops of honey without care 

 and labor on their part, will be so dis- 

 gusted with their success in a poor 

 year, as to abandon the^business. 



6. That the wise bee-keeper should 

 economically save the proceeds of pi-os- 

 jierous years, or he will have to do 

 some other business during poor yeai-s 

 to pay living expenses. 



7. That bees should be particularly 

 well cared for during a poor year. By 

 the law of probabilities, the next year 

 will most likely be a good one for 

 honey. It will bring a good price 

 in the market. The bee-keeper will 

 want all of his bees in condition to 

 gather all they can. : V' 



A.' J. Swezey. 



Quite a discussion! ensued as to the 

 advisability of carrying honey over 

 from a good year to a poor one.like 

 the present. 



Chas. Kisar exhibited some white 

 clover honey, carried over from 1886, 

 which was very nice, and certainly 

 looked as good as any^new honey. 



Mr. O. H. Swezey said that he car- 

 ried a considerable portion of his 1886 

 honey crop over ; that it froze and 

 cracked some, but the price realized 

 for it was far better than he could have 

 had when taken from the hives in the 

 fall of 1886. 



The discussion brought out from 

 this showed that good, well-ripened 

 honey could [be carried over from one 

 year to another. 



-.The question, " When is the best 

 time to put bees in the cellar ?" showed 

 that most of the members put them in 

 from Dec. 1 to Dec. 7. 



Dr. Miller and Mr. Hollingsworth 

 thought that bees should be put into 

 the cellar earlier, as the disturbance 

 at that time was not good for them. 



President Highbarger arrived and 

 took the chair, when the merits of the 

 Chapman Honey-Plant was discussed. 

 Some of the members had some grow-, 

 ing, but not enough to say anything 

 in regard to its merits. Japanese 

 buckwheat no one had tried, but all 

 recommended the planting of bass- 

 wood, and some thought that trees 5 

 or 6 feet high would grow and do bet- 

 ter than smaller ones. 



The convention then adjourned until 

 Wednesday at 9 a.m. 



SECOND DAY. 



On Wednesday morning the meet- 

 ing was called to order by President 

 Highbarger, when an essaj' from Mr. 

 Herrick, entitled, " The experience of 

 a beginner in bee-keeping,"' was read. 



A communication from the editor of 

 the Bee-Keepers" Magazine, asking the 

 con.sideration of the A.ssociation as to 

 the advisability of forming an Inter- 

 national Bee-Keepers' Association. The 



