1 HEJ KMERICajNK BE© J©WKS«IMX^. 



165 



COI\VE.\TIO.\ DIRECTOUY. 



1888. Time and Place of Meetlno. 



Apr. U.— Stark County, at Canton, O. 



Mark Thomson, Sec. Canton, O. 



Apr. 21.— Eastern Indiana, at Richmond, Ind. 



M. U. Keynulds, Sec, Williamsburg, Ind. 



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

 John Nau, Sec, Middletown, Iowa. 



May 2, 3.— Texas State, at Greenville. Tex. 



B. F. Carroll, Sec, Blooming Grove, Tex. 



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

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



May 7.— Welland County, at Welland, Ont. 



J. F. Dunn, Sec, Ridgeway, Ont. 



May 8.— Cortland Union, at Cortland. N. Y. 



W. H. Beach, Sec, Cortland, N. Y. 



May 19.— Nashua, at Nashua. Iowa. 



H. L. Rouse. Sec. Ionia. Iowa. 



Aug. 14.— Colorado State, at Denver, Colo. 



J. M. Clark. Sec. Denver, Colo. 



ZW In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Ed. 





Bees in Fine Condilioii.— CalviD 



Boyd, Petrolea, Ont., on March 3, 1888, says: 



I commenced the season of 1887 with 20 

 colonies, increased them to 37 colonies, and 

 toolc 1,500 pounds of extracted lioney, and 

 100 pounds ot comb honey. 1 doubled up 

 my colonies to 27 colonies last fall. I fed 

 400 pounds of sugar syrup, and packed them 

 tor winter on the summer stands. They 

 had their first flight on Feb. 34, the first 

 since the middle of November ; they appear 

 to be in fine condition- All the bees in this 

 locality appear to be wintering well. 



Hotv to Fasten Fonnclation. — 



M. M. Cram, Mankato, Minn., writes thus : 



My method of fastening foundation in 

 sections, is as follows : By means of a 

 blade fastened to a lever, I split the section 

 before it is folded, from one of the ends to 

 the first V-groove ; then spreading the parts 

 sufficiently, 1 insert the edge of the piece 

 of foundation, of whatever size I wish to 

 use, into the crack so made ; then folding 

 the section, the dovetailed parts hold the 

 foundation between the parts of the split 

 end as in a vice. Of course, with sections 

 having bee-spaces only above and below, 

 the riglit end must be split ; that is, the end 

 having the bee-spaces in it. By using a 

 suitable gauge, the section is split exactly 

 in the centre. 



Packlna;- Itees for ^Vinter.— L. C. 



Seabright, Blaine, O., on Feb. 29, 1888, says: 



Mr. Jno. A. Buchanan, on page 100, asks 

 me to fix things up so as to help me out 

 with my " pet theory," as he chooses to 

 term the plan pursued by hundreds of prac- 

 tical apiarists in regard to chaff packing. I 

 have tried other modes of wintering my 

 bees, but none so successful as packing 

 them on the summer stands. Admitting 

 that, 1 commenced last season with B3 colo- 

 nies, only receiving 60 pounds of honey. 

 Would Mr. B. say that had I wintered niy 

 bees in single-walled hives, with nothing 

 but a cushion on top of the frames, as Mr. 

 Lewedag had done, I would have secured a 

 good crop of honey ? Well, Mr. Lewedag 

 has broken over the line, for he is wintering 

 only 2 colonies a la Buchanan theory. 1 do 

 not think that it is the fault of the liive, the 



hei s or my nianagemeiit, that 1 gut^o honey 

 to.>pcak of. 



Last week we had beautiful, spring-like 

 weather, and yesterday morning the mer- 

 cury was down to fi' above zero. It is dur- 

 ing such sudden changes in the latter part 

 of the winter and commencement of spring, 

 that I most appreciate chaff-packing. 



^Vintering' 'Well — Introduoing- 



Queens.— Edmund R. BuUer, Campbell- 

 ford, Ont., on March 2, 1888, writes : 



Bees are wintering well in this locality, 

 and those in the cellar, from present ap- 

 pearances, are likely to come through all 

 right, although we have had weather 30° be- 

 low zero at times. One of my bee-houses, 

 built in the side of a hill, and covered with 

 cedar and earth, contains 50 colonies which 

 seem to be doing remarkably well, with a 

 steady temperature of 43°. 



I wish .some correspondent would give 

 directions on how to successfully introduce 

 virgin queens to strong colonies. I have 

 tried it, and always have failed. 



Moving' Bees.— W. L. Ginter,McCaIls- 

 burg, Iowa, on March 5, 1888, says : 



I commenced last spring with 9 colonies, 

 increased them to 18, by natural swarming, 

 and obtained about 20 lbs. of comb honey 

 from mustard, of winch there is a plenty in 

 this neighborhood. 1 am nine miles from 

 any basswood, and there is but very little 

 white clover here \et, but it is getting 

 thicker every year. I winter my bees in 

 the cellar, and I have to move about a mile 

 this spring. Had 1 better let the bees have 

 a flight before moving them ? or shall I 

 move them and then let them out ? 



[When taken from the cellar, put tliem 

 where they are to stay, and let them mark 

 their location, and enjoy a flight at the same 

 time.— Ed.] 



Marketing' Honey.— Chas. H. Van 

 Vechten, of Victor, N. Y., says : 



The greatest market is for nice white 

 clover honey, which is put up in the nice, 

 1'4' pound sections. I canvassed a whole 

 city over two different times, and I cannot 

 sell 1,.500 pounds in that city. But, hold on ; 

 one person said he could give 10 cents per 

 pound ; that he had written to several 

 parties in New York, and he could not get 

 such prices as are quoted in the bee-papers. 

 I notice that in San Francisco they quote 

 honey at 19 cents for the best in one-pound 

 sections. There must a big mistake some- 

 where ; for in a warm climate as that to 

 keep bees, and being easy to winter, you 

 find California honey in all the Eastern 

 markets : and then see the quotations above 

 New York, and other markets. There lias 

 not been a pound of honey sold here for less 

 than 14 cents, and that was early in the sea- 

 son. Bee-keepers should never wait until 

 this time of the year to sell honey. That is 

 where the trouble is. 



Feeling: Kno«nirage«l*— Honey- 

 Boards.— Wm. Lossing, Hokah, Minn., 

 on Feb. 14, 1888, writes : 



I put 196 colonies in a winter cave in good 

 condition, and they seem to be all right now. 

 The last season was a poor one for lioney in 

 this part of Minnesota. There was no 

 white clover, and very little basswood ; but 

 there was plenty of t'all honey to fill up the 

 hives for winter. My hives were never 

 heavier than they were last fall. I am look- 

 ing for a better time for bee-keepers, for the 

 reason that poor crops connected with low 



prices have discouraged a great many be- 

 ginners, besides inducing some ot the older 

 ones to go ont of the business. I have kept 

 bees for 13 years, and never felt more en- 

 couraged. 1 had about 1,.500 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey, which I sold readily for cash 

 at a good price. 



Please answer the following : 1. Which 

 kind of a queen-excluding honey-board is 

 the best, all things considered? 2. Does 

 perforated-zinc give perfect satisfaction to 

 those who have used it for years ? 



[1. The " slatted" queen-excluding honey- 

 board, made of alternate wood and zinc, is 

 undoubtedly the best. As zinc contracts 

 and expands with changing temperature, 

 when used in full sheets over the brood- 

 frames, it sometimes " bulges " or presents 

 a contorted surface ; the alternate wood and 

 zinc allows room for expansion and con- 

 traction, and keeps it always straight and in 

 place. For a general opinion, read answers 

 to Query 521, on page 150. 



3. Yes ; as far as we have ever heard, it 

 ;ias "given perfect satisfaction, when tlie 

 holes are ot exact size. A worker, when 

 loaded with honey, requires a hole five 

 thirty-seconds of an inch, and this will ex- 

 clude a queen or drone. Some of that first 

 manufactured varied between five and six 

 thirty-seconds, and did permit the passage 

 of an under-sized queen. — Ed.] 



Better Prospects for a Crop. — G. 



W. Johnston, Holden,Mo., on Feb. 28, says : 



Bees are wintering well here. Those in 

 the cellar have used from 4 to 7 pounds of 

 honey per colony ; while those on the sum- 

 mer stands have consumed from 10 to 15 

 pounds. The prospect for a crop of honey 

 is better than it was at this time last year. 



Severe ^Vinter in Canada. — Thos. 

 Stokes, Minesing, Ont., on March 3, 1888, 

 writes : 



We have had a pretty severe winter here, 

 since a little before Christmas. The lowest 

 it has registered was 27° below zero, on Jan. 

 21. It has been from 10° to 30° below a 

 great many days. But for all the cold, my 

 cellar has only lowered from 47° to 44°, and 

 I think that is very good, not having any 

 underground ventilation, or artificial heat 

 either. Bees are wintering well. Snow has 

 covered the ground all winter, about 18 

 inches on the level in the woods. The roads 

 are very much drifted. 



Selling Honey to Private Fami- 

 lies.— David Wilcox, Oxford, N. H., on 

 Feb. 29, 1888, says : 



I have 108 colonies of bees, and my last 

 year's increase was 30 colonies. I had 3,400 

 pounds of honey, .500 pounds of which was 

 taken from the brood-chamber and unfin- 

 ished sections. There was little fall honey. 

 I fed them about 400 pounds of sugar to 

 carry them through the winter. I put 1!. 

 colonies into the cellar, and the rest in chatf 

 hives. All are doing finely so far. I sold 

 the last of my honey last week. Nearly all 

 of my honey was sold to private families, 

 from my wagon or sleigh. I believe more 

 than ever in this way of disposing of our 

 honey. I consider that we had about half 

 a crop last year. There are but few who 

 liave used box-hives that obtain any surplus 

 lioney. I sell my extracted honey in quart 

 jars, for the same price by the pound as the 

 other. When the weather is warm, 1 carry 

 it in bulk. 



