THE MMEMICSM BE® JQ^RKSIr. 



203 



COKVEXTIOIV DIRECTORY. 



1888. Time and Place of MeeUng. 



Apr. in.— Wabash County, at N. Manchester. Inrt. 

 F. S. ComBtock, Sec, North Manchester, Ind. 



Apr. 11.— Stark County, at Canton. O. 



Mark Thomson, Sec Canton, O. 



Apr. 14.— Union, at Menlo, Iowa. 



Mrs. J. E. Pryor, Pres., Dexter. Iowa. 



Apr. 21.— Central Michigan, at Lanslne, Mich. 



W. A. Barnes, Sec, DeWilt. Mich. 



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



M. U. Reynolds, Sec, Williamsburg, Ind. 



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

 John Nau, Sec, Mlddletown, Iowa. 



May 2, 3.— Teias State, at Greenville, lex. 



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



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

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



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



J. F. Dunn, Sec, Kidgeway, Ont. 



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



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



May 19.— Nashua, at Nashua. Iowa. 



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



May 22.— N. W. Ills. & S. W. Wis., at Rockton, Ills. 

 D. A. Fuller, Sec, Cherry Valley, Ills. 



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



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



93^ In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 tariea are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.- Ed. 



««»»»HH«»»»»««»««»«««1«»H»TYTT 





Gi-ay-Bircli SaM'dust for Pol- 

 len.— Frank Wilkins, Pelliam, N. H., on 

 March 13, 1888, writes : 



I notice that a great many bee-keepers 

 put out rye meal in the spring for their bees 

 to use as pollen. If they will put out gray- 

 birch sawdust once, they will never put out 

 any more rye meal ; for the bees will not 

 work on rye meal, when the two are placed 

 side by side. 1 wish every bee-keeper 

 would try it, and enjoy seeing the bees carry 

 the pollen from it. It must be gray-birch 

 sawdust. I put 8 colonies of bees into my 

 bee-house in December, and they are now in 

 fine condition. 



Bees in Ciood Condition.— Jolm K. 



Rich, Cato, N. Y., on March 13, 1888, writes: 



My 25 colonies of bees are in good condi- 

 tion, with plenty of stores to last them 

 through the spring. I sold the last of my 

 honey crop last week, at 16 cents per pound 

 for the white, and 12'-i cents for the dark 

 honey. 1 have sold it all in my home mar- 

 ket. I use a Barnes' foot-power saw, and 

 make all my hives and frames. 



Bee-Keeping; an a Busines.Sietc. 



— ^D. R. Rosebrough, Casey, Ills., on March 

 2, 1888, writes as follows : 



It will never pay to mix up bee-keeping 

 too much witli with other work ; for then 

 the bees are invariably neglected, if any- 

 thing has to be slighted. It will not pay to 

 try to make a living from beekeeping in a 

 poor locality, unless the bee-keeper owns a 

 farm, and will grow honey-producing plants; 

 nor will it be profitable to locate with bees 

 where there are too many old-fogy bee-men. 

 The first year that I kept bees, it paid me 

 better than anything I ever did. 1 made a 

 busiHCss of it, iind cared for my bees prop- 

 erly ; but since tlien I liavehad other duties, 

 and have neglected the bees, in consequence 



of which they have not paid so well. It 

 pays to give the need attention to tlie bees, 

 and to liave the honey in straight combs 

 and clean sections. 



A colony of golden Italian bees that was 

 close to our kitchen door, swarmed three 

 times one summer, and in about 90 days all 

 the bees of the colony were black. They 

 must have stolen an egg from which to rear 

 a queen, or a queen went into the hive from 

 another colony. 



My 58 colonies are wintering very nicely, 

 and are in good condition, having been 

 packed well last fall. I think that if blanks 

 were furnished assessors, it would be but 

 little trouble to secure correct statistics of 

 bees, honey and wax. 



Bees liVintering Finely.— W. F. 



Roe, Canton, N. Y., on March 10, 1888, says: 



Bees seem to be wintering finely in the 

 cellar, but very poorly on the summer 

 stands, where they are not well packed. 

 My 132 colonies are" mostly in the cellar, and 

 are all right now. 



First Fligflit since November.- 



H. M. Seeley, Harford, Pa., on March 12, 

 1888, says : 



Bees appear to be wintering well. They 

 had a fine flight on Feb. 23 and 24, and from 

 my 7 colonies there was not more than one- 

 half a tea-cupful of dead bees. It was the 

 first flight since the last of November. 



Putting- Bees «nt for a Flig-Iit. 



— B. T. Pierce, Grand Rapids, Mich., on 

 March 14, 1888, says : 



I commenced in the spring of 1887 with 36 

 colonies of bees, increased them to 50 colo- 

 nies, and secured 800 pounds of honey in 

 one-pound sections, although the drouth 

 caused a poor honey crop. I commenced 

 the winter with 51 colonies, and have lost 

 two ; 18 colonies are in the cellar, and the 

 rest are packed on the summer stands. 

 Ought those in the cellar to be put out for a 

 flight, before it is warm enough to leave 

 them out ? 



[No ; not unless they are diseased.— Ed.] 



Early Spring Expected.— B. A. 



Manley, Milo, Iowa, on March 12, 1888, says: 



Bees seem to be wintering fairly well 

 here. I hear of some bees being in a starv- 

 ing condition, but where they were properly 

 cared for in the fall, they bid fair to winter 

 all right. I put 15 colonies into winter 

 quarters, 2 of them being weak, but the 

 balance were strong colonies. I have full 

 faith in their being ready for work when 

 spring opens. The prospect for an early 

 spring is good. 



ApiciUtural Statistics — Bees 

 Starved.- J. M. Young, Rock Bluffs, 

 Nebr., on March 15, 18&S, writes : 



Prof. A. J. Cook's letter on the statistic 

 question was read with interest. The plan 

 suggested by that committee is certainly a 

 good one, but then, the method suggested 

 on page 131, of obtaining them by the asses- 

 sors, is the only sure plan, if it can be 

 adopted. 



For the last four years we have spent con- 

 siderable time and money on this very ques- 

 tion, and up to this date we only obtained 

 something over 2.50 names in the State of 

 Nebraska ; some of these names are quite 

 old, and perhaps Ihey do not keep bees now 

 at all. In a great many instances we have 



sent out postal cards, and in return we sel- 

 dom get full reports, and in many cases no 

 answer at all. About all we get on them is 

 the bee-keeper's address, and sometimes the 

 number of colonies tliat is kept. 



We came to the conclusion long ago, that 

 if a correct statistics of bee-keeping would 

 be had, no other method was more sure 

 than that of obtaining through the assessors, 

 the same as other farm products are ob- 

 tained. 



Bees throughout this county are winter- 

 ing poorly, and also throughout other por- 

 tions of the State. Starvation is the main 

 cause. Perhaps nearly one-half of the bees 

 will die from ttiat cause. 



Bees bad a Cieniiine Flight. — 



Geo. E. Hilton, Fremont, Mich., on Ma:ch 

 19, 1888, says : 



Tally one more forchaff hives. This has 

 been the first spring day, and the first day 

 that the bees have had a genuine flight 

 since last November. They pounced out 

 of the hives as though they were swarming, 

 and the air was literally black with them. 

 It is certainly a sight to see 85 colo;iies vir- 

 tually swarming at the same time. I have 

 not had a single loss so far. The tempera- 

 ture Is 60°. 



Experience of X^vo Seasons. — 



Milo George, Bowling Green, 0., on March 

 19, 1888, says : 



So far as I know, bees in this part of Ohio 

 have wintered well. I started in the spring 

 of 1886 with 17 colonies, on Gallup frames, 

 which I transferred to American frames, 

 and increased them to 34 colonies. I ob- 

 tained about 1,000 pounds of extracted 

 honey, and 75 pounds of comb honey. 1 put 

 33 colonies into winter quarters, lost 4, and 

 had 29 colonies in the spring of 1887. Last 

 season was a very poor one, but I increased 

 my apiary to .53 colonies, doubled it back to 

 39 colonies, and got about 20 pounds of 

 comb honey, and 75 pounds of extracted 

 honey. On Feb. 16 I examined my bees, 

 and found some with 3 frames of brood. I 

 have lost 5 colonies so far. My bees are in 

 double-walled chaff hives. 



An Old-Fasbioned Bee-Hive.— 



W. F. Marks, Chapinville, N. T., on Feb. 



27, 1888, writes : 



In buying bees a few years ago I came in 

 possession of a hive that was something of 

 a curiosity to me, and beekeepers who 

 have seen it, said that they had never seen 

 anything like it. The party of whom I 

 bought me bees, said that he started bee- 

 keeping with the same colony of bees 40 

 years before ; or, in other words, that it was 

 the same colony of bees, without intermis- 

 sion, that he started with 40 years before. I 

 had no reason to doubt him, and the hive 

 was so rotten that 1 had to handle it with 

 great care. It was in the shape of a cone, 

 the brood-chamber being in the centre, and 

 the surplus boxes three tiers, the upper ones 

 projecting over the lower ones, and having 

 the entrances in the bottom part that hung 

 over the lower ones. 



Packing Bees for fVinter.- Allen 



Bartow, of Milan, O., writes : 



What is there in packing bees for win- 

 ter ? Some .sav. "Invariably nothing." 

 This is true where they are improperly 

 packed in any one respect. Because bees 

 have suffered and died when they have 

 been poorly packed, is no reason that pro- 

 tection by proper packing is not beneficial. 



What is the best protection suited to the 

 climate in which bees are kept, according 



