444 



THE ffiMERICaPf m^M JOURNSlr. 



COWVEIVXIOX DIRECTORY. 



1888. Time and Place of Meeting. 



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



H. Smitb, Sec, Ionia, Mich. 



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



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



Aug. 27.— Btark County, at Canton, O. 



Mark Thomson, Sec, Canton, O. 



Sept. 8.— Susquehanna County, at Montrose, Pa. 



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



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

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetiuKs.— Ed. 



sikS&i^Mmf 



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Cells on a, Square Incli ufCoiiil>. 



— James McNeill, Hudson, N. Y., on June 

 81, 1888, writes as follows on the above 

 subject : 



Mr. Weidman, on page 407, is in error in 

 supposing that 1 did not take account of 

 both sides of the comb in my estimate of 

 the cell capacity of Mr. Doolittle's hive. As 

 we usually reckon 35 cells to the square 

 inch, a frame of 115 square inches of surface 

 would contain 2,875 cells on each side. To 

 save figures, I multiplied the 115 by .50, 

 which gives the number of cells on both 

 sides of the comb. Mr. Weidman makes 

 the mistake of doubling the surface of the 

 comb, and then multiplying by .50, which 

 gives him just double the number of cells 

 that are contained in 9 frames of lOJj'xlO?^ 

 inches. 



[You are quite correct. We referred to 

 the mistake made by Mr. Weidman on page 

 419, of last week's issue. — Ed.) 



Xlie ^Vliite Clover Bloom.— B. H. 



Standish, Evansville, Wis., on June 22, 



1888, writes : 



White clover has been in bloom for two 

 weeks here, and during that time we have 

 had warm nights, more or less cloudy days, 

 plenty of rain, and wind in the southwest— 

 the conditions of perfect honey weather. 

 But the bees have gathered very little honey 

 —not 35 pounds of surplus in my 100 colo- 

 nies here at home. People say, " There is 

 lots nf white clover this year ;" but bee- 

 keepers know better. There is not more 

 than one-fourth of a full stand, and that 

 amount seems overstocked by 100 colonies. 



Strong: Colonies, Xiei-ing: Up, 



etc.— H. C. GifEord, Morris, Ills., on June 

 21, 1888, writes : 



Last fall I fed 21 colonies of bees 200 

 poundsof granulated sugar, and 10 pounds 

 of uncapped honey. 1 packed them on the 

 summer stands, and one colony starved to 

 death ; the balance wintered in good condi- 

 tion, but it was so cold and wet all the 

 spring that they have not stored any honey 

 yet. I never have liad my bees stronger 

 than they are at present. They have been 

 ready to swarm for the last ten days, but 

 they have not swarmed yet, although they 

 are laying out all around the hives. I al- 

 ways place my hives up J.< inch all around, 

 to cool the hives, and give the bee^ a chance 

 to clean the bottom board and keep it so ; 

 and also to give them more room. 1 always 

 put tlie sections on as early as possible, to 

 delay swarming as much as I can. 



I am commencing to " tier up " with su- 

 pers, hoping to prevent any swarming this 

 season ; for at this time, and especially such 

 a season as this is, 1 would rather not have 

 any swarms, for if we have a gooit fall, the 

 honey that 20 strong colonies will store is 

 worth more than the bees. 



This has been the poorest season, up to 

 the present time, that I have seen in 20 

 years. Many bees in this locality are 

 swarming out, actually starved out ; but the 

 prospects are good for linden, which will 

 come on soon. I am not discouraged, tor 

 the American Bee Jouknal gives me 

 new life every week. The knowledge that 

 I have gained from it in the last three weeks 

 is worth live times its cost for the whole 

 year. The benefits, and the plain, sensible 

 reasons given by men of experience.derived 

 from the system of "tiering up," to keep 

 the bees all at work, and to give them 

 plenty of room, and thereby destroy the in- 

 clination to swarm, is worth a great deal to 

 any one who will practice it ; and it costs 

 money and time to learn these things by 

 experience. I have never realized the half 

 that I could from my bees, if I had taken 

 the Bee Jouknal years ago ; and still my 

 neighbors think that 1 am an expert, when 

 in fact last year was my first real work in 

 the bee-business, and 1 have kept bees for 

 over 30 years. 



iSo Room for Ilrootl— Albino 



Bees.— Chas. D. Barber, Stockton, N. Y., 

 on June 35, 1888, says : 



Would it not be a good plan to take out 

 some of the frames from my old colonies 

 and put in empty ones ? They have no 

 place for brood, having filled it all with 

 honey. They swarmed three times before 

 June 20. The outlook is very good for a 

 large honey crop. I have had 4 swarms 

 from 2 colonies, and will have more soon. I 

 have bought a queen and one pound of 

 Albino bees, and as workers they are ahead 

 of any bees that 1 have ever seen. 



[If the queen has no i:)lace in which to 

 lay eggs, the colony will soon become de- 

 pleted. To take out the frames of honey 

 which are more than are necessary to sup- 

 ply the needs of the bees, would be a wise 

 act in this case, in order to give the queen 

 the necessary room to keep up the strength 

 of the colony.— Ed.] 



Bnt L,ittle ^Vliite Clover.— Geo. 

 Smith, Amadore, Mich., on June 21, 1888, 

 says : 



It looks at present as if the honey crop 

 will be an entire failure. There is very 

 little white clover, and but little honey in 

 what white clover there is. 



JTIanagring' Rol>l>er Bees, etc. — 



Ira N. Lyman, St. Peter, Nebr., on June 23, 

 1888, writes: 



1. Do bees ever gather poison that kills 

 them ? I have a colony that has lost some 

 bees. They came out of the hive and looked 

 full, and do not fly, walk or run out of the 

 hive. Some tried to fly, and fell in the 

 grass, where they soon died. 2. My bees 

 began robbing badly, and when they were 

 flynig thick, I earned away the hive that 

 was being robbed, after closing the en- 

 trances of both hives. I then put the hive 

 of the robber bees off its stand, and put the 

 weak colony in the place of it. I kept the 

 hive of the robbers closed over night, and 

 put it in a new place, a hundred yards or 

 more from the old site. 1 opened the hive 

 of the weak colony as soon as it was put on 



the stand where the robber hive had stood. 

 They carried their stolen sweets into the 

 hive from which they stole it. The other 

 colony seemed weak for awhile, and then 

 were all right. Is that a good way to man- 

 age robber bees ? 1 have done that way 

 twice, and it seems to me it is a good way. 

 I want to thank the readers ot the Bee 

 Jouknal for information about Albinos 

 and other bees, which I have received 

 privately, and for circulars and books. Bees 

 are not doing very well on the prairie. 

 Honey is scarce yet. I have had no swarms, 

 and swarming prospects are poor. I like 

 the Bee Jouenal first-rate. 



1. The bees were evidently diseased, but 

 it was not the result of gathering poisonous 

 honey. 



2. Interchanging hives is often practiced 

 in case of robbing, and generally is an ef- 

 fectual cure. 



Swarming'. Cliapman Iloney- 

 Plunt, etc. — Mrs. J. B. Curlee, Tamaroa, 

 Ills., on June 23, 1888, says : 



Last year nearly all the bees starved here. 

 I had 30 colonies, and lost all but 9. There 

 are but few bees in this part ot the State. 

 We are having plenty of rain now, and bees 

 are swarming. Bees liere gather honey 

 mostly from white clover (but it was all 

 burned out last summer), and the Spanish- 

 needle, which blooms in the fall. My 

 Chapman honey-plant will be in bloom in a 

 few days. It is 4 feet high, and has large 

 balls on it, looking like the wild thistle. 



■^VUite Clover not Plenty.— Dr. A. 



B. Mason, of Auburndale, O., on June 26, 

 1888, writes : 



It has been a poor honey season in my 

 locality. A few days last week were favor- 

 able, but now the cold and rain keep the 

 pets at home. White clover is not very 

 plenty, and but few bees are working on it. 



Xlie <tueen - Exclnding^ Honey- 

 Boards.— J. F. Mclntyre, of Fillmore, 

 Calif., asks the following : 



I have .500 colonies of bees in two-story 

 10-frame Langstroth hives. I do not want 

 any more increase, as my field is fully 

 stocked. I work exclusively for extracted 

 honey. 1. Wimld you advise putting queen- 

 excluding honey-boards on the hives of the 

 whole .500 colonies ? 3. How much would 

 the honey-boards increase the disposition to 

 swarm ? 



1. We should put on the queen-excluders. 



2. In some years and some localities, such 

 will tend to increase swarming— but this we 

 would overcome in another way, which you 

 will need any way, whether you use queen- 

 excluding honey-boards or not. — Heddon. 



Honey Coming- in Slo-»vly.— Geo. 



Eidemiller, McGregor, Iowa, on June 35, 

 1888, says : 



The honey comes in slowly. The season 

 is too late, the nights too cold, and the 

 honey-producing plants are too backward. 

 Last year I started with 2 colonies ; now I 

 have 9 colonies. I am very much pleased 

 with the A5IERICAN BeE Jouknal. 



Your Full Address, plainly written, 

 is very essential in order to avoid mistakes. 



