298 



Tmm MBdERieKEf mmm j^'umwrni^. 



^■^*-^*ifcA^i 



the egg,or from larvce from 3 to 4 days 

 old. 



After all, however, the matter comes 

 to this point : If the bee-keeper de- 

 pends upon the queen-breeders for his 

 supply of new queens, he must select 

 those upon whose honestj' and in- 

 tegrity he can depend. 



North Attleboro, Mass. 



STARK COUNTY, O. 



The Bee-Kccpers meet in Regii. 

 lar Convention. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY JtARK THOMSON. 



According to adjournment this So- 

 ciety met at Canton, O., on April 11, 

 President Oswalt in the chair. 



After approving the minutes of the 

 last session, receiving J. R. Roebuck 

 into membership, and deciding that 

 the niembersliip fee received at anj- 

 other time than at the annual meeting 

 in April, should applj- only until the 

 next April meeting, Messrs. J. A. 

 Taber, A. Zimmerman, and W. S. 

 Kline were appointed to draft resolu- 

 tions relative to Mr. John M. Mowe, a 

 member who had died since the last 

 meeting. 



Reports from the Apiaries. 



W. S. Kline put 25 colonies into 

 winter quarters, and lost 2, which were 

 queenless in the fall. His bees in 

 chaff hives on the summer stands came 

 through in the best condition. One 

 colony placed in the cellar early in 

 the fall, seemed to winter the best of 

 any. 



J. A. Taber had 35 colonies and one 

 nucleus in the fall. The nucleus had 

 no chaff cushion on top, and it died, 

 but the remainder are in excellent 

 condition. His bees were wintered on 

 the summer stands. 



H. O. Best had 13, and lost none. 

 They were wintered in the cellar. 



M. Chamberlain had 19 colonies in 

 the fall, and lost one. They are in 

 good condition. 



Mark Tliomson put 13 colonies into 

 the cellar in the fall, and all but one 

 came through in good condition. That 

 one was queenless. 



A. Zimmerman said that from his 

 four years of experience he favored 

 cellar-wintering, and that he had never 

 lost one thus wintered. He did not 

 think that bees wintered outside were 

 any more lieallhy than those wintered 

 in the cellars. 



W. M. Sweany had 40 colonies, and 

 succeeded in carrying 35 through tlie 

 winter. He put 6 into the cellar, 4 of 

 which starved, and the other one came 

 out very weak. Those on the summer 

 stands were in chaff hives. He said 



that it was possible to put too much 

 packing on the top of bees, and in 

 l)roof of this he had fixed one up 

 specially well, as he thought, but it 

 died with the diarrhea. 



Mr. Trook had 8 colonies ; he left 

 them on the summer stands, and 2 

 weak ones died. 



A. McKinney left 13 of his colonies 

 on the summer stands, and put one 

 into the cellar. The one in the cellar 

 died. 



Mrs. Pellon spoke of a colony in a 

 box-hive, belonging to a neighbor, 

 protected by a shed, which was quite 

 lively, and in good condition. Her 

 bees had wintered well, so far as she 

 knew. 



Mr. Chamberlain said that he be- 

 lieved in center ventilation, by means 

 of a hole in the bottom of the bee-hive, 

 covered with wire-cloth. 



Mr. Roebuck lost several by neglect- 

 ing to feed them enough in the fall ; 

 he did not feed them until October. 

 He had 69 colonies (50 in the cellar, 

 and 19 on the summer stands) ; 7 of 

 those in the cellar were dead by March 

 15, when he took the balance out, and 

 within a week 9 more died. Those in 

 the cellar were nearly all weak. 



Mr. Roebuck asked Mr. Zimmerman 

 how his hives were arranged in the 

 cellar. Mr. Zimmerman said they had 

 a thickness of burlap over the frames, 

 and a board on top of that, with the 

 entrances wide open. 



Mr. M. R. Welker packed 14 colo- 

 nies on the summer stands, in single- 

 walled hives, with chaff cushions on 

 top, with a wind-break of straw. He 

 lost only one nucleus. The others are 

 in good condition, with some drones 

 flying. 



Mr. Kline said that the presence of 

 drones indicated a drone-laying queen. 



Mr. Oswalt's bees were wintered on 

 the summer stands in Falcon chaff 

 hives ; the inner side of the outer-wall 

 and the inner side of the bottom being 

 lined with paper. He lost 3 colonies 

 before winter began. He thought that 

 was caused by the lack of late breed- 

 ing. He had fed some r)'e flour, and 

 put candy over the frames. 



The afternoon session w^as opened 

 at 1:20 p.m. The members paid their 

 dues, and the following were elected 

 officers for the ensuing year : Jacob 

 Oswalt, President : Henry Beatty, Vice- 

 President ; and ISIark Thomson, Sec- 

 retary. 



Various Bee-Questions and Answers. 



Questions -were answered as follows : 

 "Would you use 10 frames or less 

 for comb honey ?" Mr. Beatty said 

 that he used 12 frames. Mr. ' Kline 

 thought that 8 frames were enough. 

 Mr. Taber said that he used 11 frames, 

 and had produced as high as 125 

 pounds to a single colony. 



"Do young bees which had no 

 flight in the fall, wanter as well as 

 older ones ?" Mi'. Beatty said that it 

 made no difference. 



"Do bees eat rye flour, or make 

 pollen of it ?" Mr. Sweany said that 

 he fed common wheat flour, and that 

 the bees used a great deal of it. 



"Is it considered favorable for 

 drones to be found in the hives as 

 early as April 1 ?" Mr. Chamberlain 

 said that it depended upon whether 

 there was drone-comb in the brood- 

 nest or not. Mr. Kline said that he 

 thought it was of no advantage, unless 

 you wished to rear queens early. Mr. 

 Beatty said that he had had drones 

 flying on March 20, from strong colo- 

 nies. Mr. Waits said that if a colony 

 is strong and in good condition, drones 

 might be seen early. 



" What time would you commence 

 to rear queens ?" Mr. Beatty said, as 

 soon as the colonies are strong enough 

 to divide. 



" What would jou put on after the 

 chaff' cushions are taken oft' ?" Mr. 

 Chamberlain uses oil-cloth. Mr. Beatty 

 uses duck. Mr. Kline thought that a 

 board was as good as anything. Mr. 

 Taber preferred a honey-board the 

 size of the top of the hive, with two 

 auger-holes with glass over them. 



"What is best to be done with a 

 queenless colony having laying work- 

 ers ?" Mr. Waits advised giving them 

 a queen. Mr. Beatty would give them 

 brood and let them rear a queen. Mr. 

 Sweany would unite them with another 

 colony. 



The convention then adjourned until 

 Aug. 21, 1888. 



Makk Thomson, Sec. 



FOUNDATION. 



Experience in malting Founda- 

 tion ^vitli molds. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY RANDOLPH GRADEN. 



On page 23, Mr. G. M. Doolittle 

 saj's : "Can it be that few, if any of 

 our apiarists are using molds for mak- 

 ing foundation ? And if such is the 

 case, why are they not using them ?" 

 Perhaps they were not more successful 

 than I was in making molds. 



When I first heard of molds I pro- 

 cured a perfect sheet of foundation, 

 and soon had very good molds made. 

 But in making found.ation, I did not 

 follow the directions which Mr. Doo- 

 little has given, as that would seem 

 almost impossible to me. The way 

 that I made foundation on the molds, 

 was almost the reverse of the way that 

 Mr. D. describes. 



I put the molds into warm water 

 some time before using, and when they 



