CONVENTION DIRECTORY. 



Twm mjmmmi€mM mmm j@^mh.mi*. 



341 



1888. Time and Place of Meeting. 



May 31.— Wii. I^ake Shore Center, at Kiel. Wis. 



Ferd. Zastrow, Sec, Mlllliome, Wla. 



Aug. 3.— Ionia County, at Ionia, Mich. 



H. Smith, Sec., Ionia, Mich. 



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



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



Aug. 27.— Stark County, at Canton, p. 



Mark Thomson, Sec, Canton, O. 



tV In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 lime and place of future meetings.- Kd. 



sti^^I^k 



^Vintcriii;; oil SiuiinuT Stands. 



—Locke Ferree, Milroy, Ind., on May 13, 



1888, says : 



I winter my btes in the Langstroth hive, 

 on the summer stands, with a '4inch pine 

 board laid across the frames, with a bee- 



gassage over the frames and under the 

 oard. I use no cloth, but a piece of mus- 

 lin laid over the boards. 



I notice tliat some bee-keepers are not re- 

 ceiving the Chapman honey-plant seed 

 readily from Washington. I received mine 

 in a very tew days alter I sent for it, but it 

 seems a little tardy about coming up. 



Bees ^Vintered Finely, etc-.— Mr. 

 John H. Martin, Hartford, N. Y., on May 8, 

 1888, says : 



My bees have wintered finely, and I am 

 hoping for a good honey season. 



We are going to have a grand food pro- 

 ducts' exhibition at Albany, on Sept. 10 to 

 15. This was fir.st started as a State exhibi- 

 tion, but it is now an assured fact that all 

 portions of the country will be represented. 

 If bee-men desire to make an instructive 

 exhibit, this is a good opportunity. A space 

 12x123.2 feet will be given to exhibitors for 

 au entry fee of SIO. I propose to make an 

 exhibit. Are there other bee-men wlio will 

 also exhibit ? I will send a '•bulletin" to 

 any one who may desire to exhibit. 



Ciood Outlook for Honey.— Mr. 



Francis M. Merritt, Andrew, Iowa, on May 



13, 1S88, writes : 



Owing to the backward spring, bees are 

 not gaining very fast. They gatliered nat- 

 ural pollen on April 1, but extreme cold 

 weather beginning about that time, the pol- 

 len bearing plants failed to bloom, until 

 about a week ago. I wintered 3 colonies of 

 bees last winter, and have bought .5 more 

 this spring ; some of them were in finite a 

 weak condition. The outlook for honey 

 this year is very good. White clover is just 

 blooming, owing to a week's steady rain. 

 To-day is cold, the mercury indicating 6° 

 above the freezing point. 



I^osseis in ^Vintering, etc. — M. O. 



Tuttle, Osage, Iowa, on May 9, 18&8, writes : 



Sometime in March I reported my own 

 anticipations and predictions for the winter- 

 ing of the bees of this county. From what 

 I have learned, I think that more than 50 

 per cent, of the number of colonies on Sept. 

 1, 1887, are now dead. As I stated before, I 

 put 170 colonies in the cellar on Nov. 16 

 to 19, 1887. On April 7, 1888, 1 took 50 colo- 

 niesout. On April 23 I took the rest out, 



and 168 colonies were lively and apparently 

 in tine condition. I scion found that 2 colo- 

 nies were queeniess, but had plenty of bees 

 and stores. I have united some, as 1 prefer 

 to lessen my number of colonies for the 

 season, and I shall continue to unite when 

 the weather is favorable. The past two 

 weeks has been rainy, and the thirsty earth 

 is getting a good drink. Our prospects for 

 some clover is good. 



Su)«qnetaannu Connty Conven- 

 tion.— H. M. Seeley, of Harford, Pa., the 



Secretary of the Association, send the fol- 

 lowing condensed report : 



The Susquehanna County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met at New Milford, Pa., on 

 May 5, 1888. The meeting was called to 

 order by President E. B. Smith, and then 

 followed essays and discussions on the va- 

 rious questions pertaining to bee-culture. 

 Taken altogether, it was a very enjoyable 

 meeting, and doubtless of much benefit to 

 those in attendance. Bees in this vicinity 

 have wintered finely, bat few being lost, 

 but those that canu- throutih are in good 

 condition. We have at present but 21 mem- 

 bers, 16 of wliom were present at the meet- 

 ing. It is the wish ot the association to 

 have the name of all persons in the county 

 who keep liees, on the roll as members ; 

 and it is intended to hold the meetings in 

 the different towns in the county, to make 

 it as convenient a.s possible for all to at- 

 tend. The next meeting will be held in 

 Montrose, Pa., on Sept. 8, 1888. 



Tery Rainy Weather.- C. Thiel- 

 niaun, Thielmanton, Minn., on May 9, 1888, 

 writes : 



My bees have been confined for about 10 

 days, on account of wet weather. It rained 

 nearly day and night. The ground is 

 flooded, and creeks and rivers are overflow- 

 ins. There is only a little seeding done 

 here, as we cannot get into the fields for a 

 nuiuber of days yet, eveu if the weather 

 should be good. It is raining now, and 

 there is no signs o( any good weather. I 

 have lived for 31 years, but I never saw such 

 weather at this time of the year. We could 

 always seed in April, with a few exceptions, 

 which was then done in May. 



I have just seen the Zumbro river. It is 

 very high, and has hardly been within its 

 banks for the past five weeks. In my esti- 

 mation, more water has passed here in this 

 river in the five weeks, than in four or five 

 years altogether heretofore. Yesterday was 

 the first day that the railroad trains have 

 run regularly since April 9, and we expect 

 another tear up to-morrow. It has rained 

 very heavily the past 34 hours. 



are reared from an imported mother. I 

 think that every bee-keeper ought to have 

 a pure queen to breed from, for the bees 

 will deteriorate fast enough then, if he has 

 neighbors that keep black bees. 



Long' Confinement of Ilees, etc. 



— Wm. Malone, Newbern, Iowa, on May 11, 



1888, writes : 



1 notice on page 312, that Mr. Eugene 

 Secor kept his bees in the cellar 180 days. 

 Some of mine were in 190 days. They were 

 put in on Oct. 1, and taken out on April 1 ; 

 this was for a test. Some were put in on 

 Nov. 30, and 5 colonies were left out until 

 the last of December ; and those 5 were 

 taken out the last of January, tucked up 

 warm, and left out ; I think that they are 

 the strongest colonies in the yard to-day. 

 Those that were left in 190 days are doing 

 well. I winterep 47 colonies in a cave made 

 for the bees, and 5 colonies on the summer 

 stands. The temperature at which the bees 

 are the most quiet is 40°. and the cave tem- 

 perature has never been below that point. 



One thing that bee-keepers should recol- 

 lect when writing on the subject of hiberna- 

 tion is, that if hihernating animals, such as 

 ants and snakes, be exposed to cold, freez- 

 ing air for 30 minutes, there is no reviving 

 them. Tliey may be surrounded with frost 

 for months and live ; but 30 minutes of ex- 

 posure as before stated, will kill them. Try 

 it and see. 



In 1887 I made a mistake in working 10 

 colonies for comb honev ; and those 10 did 

 little else but swarm. The 30 that I worked 

 for extracted honey, stored 1,500 pounds, 

 besides enough to winter them and the 

 others— 52 colonies in all. I had 5 colonies 

 in the spring of 1887 that came nearly dying, 

 and I had to feed them for winter. I lost 6 

 colonies last winter, 3 on the summer 

 stands and 3 in the cave. 



This has been a peculiar spring, being 

 cold and dry up to May -5, and since then 

 cold and wet. Buckeye is in full bloom, 

 and the bees work hard when the sun 

 shines. While I am writing I can hear the 

 bees. A novice might think that the bees 

 were swarming. Yesterday I prepared 

 some colonies with two sets of combs, and 

 if the weather is favorable, I will be ex- 

 tracting honey in a few days. I do not 

 think tliat my bees were ever stronger on 

 May 11, than they are this year. 



Prospects tor the' Season.- John 

 Blodget, Flag Springs, Mo., on May 14, 1888, 

 writes : 



Last October I packed 10 colonies of bees 

 in chaff hives, and have lost only one col- 

 ony. They are building up freely. Apple 

 bloom has come and almost gone, and dande- 

 lion is in bloom. The weather has been .so 

 changeable that the bees could not work 

 half ot the time. We have had heavy rains, 

 and the ground is more watered than it lias 

 been for four years. I think what white 

 clover there is, will be good, I see ever so 

 many young plants coming up after the 

 rains, and it will be in good condition for 

 another year. Most of the bees are dead in 

 this locality, and what bees that are left 

 will have plenty to work on. The black 

 bees are all dead within three miles, so I 

 can rear some fine bees from my young 

 queens. 1, have .started queen-cells. All 

 my bees are pure Italians, except 1 or 2 col- 

 onies of good hybrids. All of my queens 



A Pecnliar Queen, etc.— Richard 

 Rawlins, Okalona, Ark., on May 3, 1888, 

 says : 



Rattan is in bloom, but not in full bloom ; 

 the honey crop from this source promises 

 to be better than usual. The strong colo- 

 nies are storing honey in the third story 

 now. , . , 



I noticed a queen, reared this year, which 

 lays about half drone eggs intermingled 

 with worker eggs in worker comb. She is 

 not very prolific, but her bees are fine look- 

 ing. Is she likely to overcome the weak- 

 ness, or will she gel; worse ? 



[Most probably the queen will deteriorate, 

 and it would be advisable to supersede her. 



-Ed.] 



Xlie Convention. — The pamphlet 

 containing the report ot the proceedings of 

 the Union Convention in Chicago, is now 

 published, and can be obtained at this office 

 for 25 cents. Or bound up with the history 

 of the International Society, and a full re- 

 port of tlie Detroit and Indianapolis conven- 

 tions, for 50 cents, postpaid. 



