188 



><>jfcJUfcjfc^A^ 



XH® mmMMlGSM' MMM J©^KrfMI*. 



^■^*-*-*-^*-^*-^*--^*^*^A<fc<fcJ 



Orren Maker was appointed reviewer 

 for the day. 



Dr. Test then read an interesting 

 essay on the "Agency of insects in 

 producing color in flowers," of which 

 the following is a brief synopsis : 

 " Many , insects, especially bees and 

 butterflies, have an acute color-sense. 

 The exhaustive process of flowering 

 has a tendency to give autumnal tint to 

 leaves near a flower cluster. Insects 

 capable of appreciating and remember- 

 ing colors, would then have a mark to 

 guide them when hunting pollen for 

 food. Cross-fertilization would then 

 be aided, and more vigorous plants 

 with more showj' blossoms would be 

 produced ; the color-sense in insects 

 would become as pleasurable as use- 

 ful, and the gaudiest insects would be 

 7nost attracted to their mates and leave 

 the most numerous oft'spring, till in 

 time the plants passed from the un- 

 vai-ying green of the coal age, to the 

 floral magnificence of the present 

 time." 



J. D. Braj' read an essay upon 

 " Doing your work by others' methods." 



Dr. Abbott read an essay written by 

 his son, on " The artistic side of bee- 

 keeping." He said a great many arti- 

 cles are judged mainly bj' their appear- 

 ance, and honej- is one of them. 

 These are a few simple, primary rules 

 for preparing honey for the market : 



1. Extracted honey should be care- 

 fully strained through two thicknesses 

 of some kind of thin cloth, before 

 bottling. 



2. Clear flint-glass jars should be 

 used, for common green glass makes 

 the clear golden yellow of the honey 

 look a mudd}', greenish yellow. 



3. Plain, neat labels ■with the name 

 of the producer, kind of honey, etc., 

 should be used. 



It would be well for honey producers 

 to profit by the above suggestions. 



A few of the members are raising 

 Alsike clover, and find it good for both 

 bees and stock. 



The meeting then adjourned, subject 

 to the call of the executive committee. 

 H. O. EsTES, Sec. 



COBTVENTIOX DIRECTORY. 



Pliotog'i-apli!^ ot Bee-Keepers.— 



The " medley " Kotten up by E. O. Tuttle, 

 containing tlie faces of 131 representative 

 apiarists, and a printed sketch of each one, 

 will be sent witli tlie Bee Journal for one 

 year for Sl.TS; or we will present it free, by 

 mail, to any one, for a club of three subscri- 

 bers and 83.00. 



* A Mo«lerii Itee-Fariii, and its 



Economic Management ; showing how bees 

 may be cultivated as a means of livelihood ; 

 as a health-giving pursuit ; and as a source 

 of recreation to the busy man. By S. 

 Simmins. For sale at this office. Price, $1. 



1888. 

 Apr. 11.- 



Apr. 21. 

 Apr. 24.' 

 May 2, 3, 

 May S.- 

 May T.- 

 May S.- 

 May 19. 

 Aug. 14. 



Time arid Place of Meeting. 



'Stark County, at Canton, O. 



Mark Thomson. Sec. Canton, O. 



-Eastern Indiana, at Richmond, Ind. 

 M. ^i. Reynolds, Sec, Williamsburg. Ind. 



-Des Moines County, at Burlington. Iowa. 

 John Nau, Sec, Middletbwn, Iowa. 



;.— Texas State, at Greenville. Tex. 



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



Susquehanna County, at New Milford, Pa. 

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



Welland County, at Welland, Ont. 



J. b". Dunn, Sec, Ridgeway, Ont. 



Cortland Union, at Cortland, N. V. 



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



-Nashua, at Nashua. Iowa. 



H. L. House. Sec. Ionia. Iowa. 



—Colorado State, at Denver, Colo. 



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



B^" In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Bd. 



>!»»»«;m«»»««i!««««i«»«t«»!H«n?TT 





Worst Part of the M'imter.— G. M. 



Doolittle, Borodino, N, Y., on March 7, says: 



According to that old " saw," regarding 

 the bear seeing his shadow on Feb. 3, we 

 were to have warm weather right along 

 from that time on, but contrary to this we 

 are having at this time, and tor the past 

 week, about the worst part of our winter, as 

 far as cold and wind are concerned. Mer- 

 cury at zero, or nearly there, is the order ot 

 the day in this locality, with no flight for 

 our bees since last year. I almost" envy 

 those who report " bees flying," tori know 

 that such with me, means sate wintering : 



Xlie Cariiiolan tlie Coming' Itec. 



— H. W. Carman, Hardinsburg, Ky., on 

 March 6, 1888, writes : 



My bees are in better condition now than 

 ever before at this time of the year. 1 com- 

 menced the season of 1887 with 10 weak 

 colonies, moving them 10 miles on a road- 

 wagon, over a very rough road, about the 

 middle of February, 1887. One colony was 

 Carniolans, and the balance were Cyprians. 

 1 increased them to 31 colonies. 1 sold 10 

 colonies at S7..'50 per colony, and took 1.50 

 pounds of golden-rod honey in October. I 

 have U colonies, 10 colonies Carniolans, and 

 1 colony of Cyprians wintered on the sum- 

 mer stands. I have not fed a pound of 

 syrup or anything else. I hope to do a 

 great deal better the coming season. 1 con- 

 sider the Carniolan bee the " coming bee." 



Use orCoiub Foundation in tlie 



Seetions.— Thos. O. Ilines, Anamosa, 

 Iowa, on Feb. 18, 1888, writes : 



The inventor of comb foundation gave it 

 the right name, for it is that and nothing 

 more. Bees do not draw the wax out into 

 cells. At the Nebraska convention some 

 advocated putting in the hives all that could 

 be put in, thus relieving the bees of secret- 

 ing this wax. I cannot see that it saves 

 what the bees would liave to secrete to build 

 this middle wall. I have often scraped the 

 honey from the foundation, and have found 

 it as perfect as when put in. I use heavy 

 foundation the full size of the frame, and 

 wired, for extracting, because thev are 

 stronger, and can be used ottener. In the 



brood-nest I use starters 13< inches wide, be- 

 cause I can get straighter combs ; it used 

 wider than IJ.j inches, they get wavy. 



1 have a fine lot of unfinished sections, 

 and I wish that 1 had as many more. I put 

 these unfinished sections over the frames, 

 and let the bees clean them out, when I 

 carefully put them away, and use them next 

 season. I can see no difference in quality 

 from new ones. 



I use starters in sections cut T-shaped, 

 the full width. The "extra thin" founda- 

 tion is the best. I cut the starters with a 

 warm knife, and then use a plate just hot 

 enough so as not to burn the wax. I put 

 some pure wax on it, and when melted 1 

 take a section in ray left hand, the grooved 

 side up, and a piece of foundation in my 

 right hand, which I wipe across and back 

 over the plate of wax, and insert It in the 

 groove. In this way I can put in 1,000 a 

 day. I place my hives on the level so that 

 the starters hang plumb, and in this way I 

 get straight combs. 



Rescue tlie Oppressed.— P. J. Eng- 

 land, Fancy Prairie, Ills., on March 10, 1888, 

 says : 



I rejoice to know that I am one of the 

 charter members of the Bee-Keepers' Union. 

 It does seem to me that any bee-keeper with 

 a soul as big as a " peanut shell," would 

 come to the rescue when he knows that his 

 brother is languishing in jail ! 



Xlie Season of 1887 — W. H. 

 Graves, Duncan, Ills., on March 8, 1888,says: 



My report for 1887 is soon told. I wintered 

 96 colonies throuali the winter ot 1886-87, 

 and then doubled them down to 80 colonies. 

 I never had bees in as tine condition as mine 

 were on June 1. We all know what fol- 

 lowed, and there is no use to repeat, suffice 

 it to say that I took off less than lOu pounds 

 of honey. I am very sorry that I put on a 

 super. I cannot say how my bees are soing 

 to come through this winter. I have 4.5 col- 

 onies in the cellar, and 35 colonies on the 

 summer stands. 



Rever.sil>le Hives.— R. L. Crocker, 

 Lockport, N. T., on March 5, 1888, writes : 



I notice that in the report of the New 

 York State Bee-Keepers' Convention, on 

 page 137, I am made to say that, " I am not 

 as yet fully satisfied with the Heddon hive, 

 and do not think it is the hive I want.'* 

 Now that is not just the way I meant to be 

 understood, but I should have said that I 

 am not as yet fully satisfied that it is the 

 hive I want, without further trial ; for I am 

 very much pleased with it for the first sea- 

 son, and have not had a chance to test it 

 for the second season's work, only to a 

 limited extent, and during a very poor sea- 

 son at that. So I am not fully satisfied ih;it 

 it is not the hive I want. I make this staie- 

 ment as only what is due Mr. Heddon and 

 others who might wish to try the hive, and 

 be deterred thereby after reading the report 

 of the convention. 



Hunting' Itees, Tentilation, etc. 



—Frank Stephens, Ilageman, Ind., on Mar. 

 10, 1S88, writes : 



In hunting bees in the woods for ten 

 years, I found about 100 swarms. I found 

 one good swarm that had 350 pounds of fine 

 honey, in an ash tree. 



During my experience in hunting bees I 

 found several swarms in trees about 30 feet 

 high; two trees had their tops broken off. 

 The bees had been in trees for two years, 

 that I know of, and tne entrance was 8 

 inches in diameter. They wintered well,' 



