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year does not depend as much upon the 

 fact that it is preceded by a white or 

 black Christmas, as upon the number 

 of bees that survive the winter. 



Bee-Conventions are Modern Societies, 



Bee-culture is a modern science. 

 Thirty years ago a bee-keepers' asso- 

 ciation was scarcely thought of ; to-day 

 they are found in nearly every progres- 

 sive county of the Union, where any 

 attention is paid to the culture of bees 

 at all. He who will take the time to 

 run over the records of the last thirty 

 years, will very soon discover some of 

 the benefits derived from such associa- 

 tions. No single individual has ever 

 been able to discover all that can be 

 found out concerning any one thing. 

 God never designed that he should, 

 Man's dependency is one of the causes 

 of his sociability ; and should he be- 

 come independent in any one particu- 

 lar thing, in that proportion will he be- 

 come reserved and selfish. So the 

 benefits of sociability and meeting with 

 friends and neighbors, and the ex- 

 change of opinions that come to the 

 members of every association are found 

 as well in this organization. 



But it is our purpose to ascertain 

 some of the special benefits derived 

 from a bee-keepers' association. These 

 benefits may be classed in two divisons, 

 viz : the immediate and remote. I take 

 the prime object of bee-culture to be 

 the production of honey ; and whatever 

 relates especially to that in this essay, 

 I have denominated as immediate bene- 

 fits; and those things which relate to 

 the study of the bee as an animal, or to 

 the development of the flora, I have 

 designated as remote benefits. 



Bee-Hives Used liong Ago. 



It was thought at first that the hive 

 most nearly like the one the bee used 

 in its wild state, would be best suited 

 for her demands ; so a portion of a hol- 

 low log was used, and probably received 

 the name of "gum" trom the tree of 

 the same name, from which it was 

 taken. When the tree could not be ob- 

 tained, a box opened at one end, whose 

 diameter was about the size of the sup- 

 posed tree, was used. Where do you 

 find such a hive today V Show me such 

 a hive and I will show you a man who 

 either does not take much interest in 

 bee-culture, or else he has been com- 

 pelled by emergency to use it merely as 

 a temporary convenience. 



With such a hive the colony was 

 almost destroyed every time the honey 

 was taken ; and then we called it " rob- 

 bing "the hive; the word hardly ex- 

 presses the act. unless we think of it as 

 a highway robbery, where the individ- 

 ual is knocked down and left for dead. 

 To-day, with the aid of recent inven- 

 tions, we are enabled to take the honey 

 without either robbing the hive or de- 

 stroying the bees. 



Value of movable Comb Hlvrs. 



The invention of the movable comb- 

 frames has added probably as much to 

 the real progressive spirit in beecul- 

 ture as any other one thing. With 

 these the frames can be removed with 

 the comb, and the honey extracted 

 without injury to either the bees or the 



comb. This method of removing the 

 honey from the combs and then re- 

 placing them, is a great saving, both in 

 time and honey. 



Mr. Milton, of Wisconsin, says that 

 it takes the bees as long to produce one 

 pound of wax as it does to procure 20 

 pounds of honey ; and Dr. Kirtlaud 

 says they consume 25 pounds of honey 

 in producing one pound of wax. For 

 every pound of wax they produce it 

 costs 45 pounds of honey. All of this 

 is saved to the farmer by the invest- 

 ment of a little means in improved 

 hives, and a cheap apparatus by which 

 the honey is driven from the combs by 

 means of centrifugal force. 



Besides the increase in honey ob- 

 tained on account of the movable 

 frame hives, they greatly aid in the 

 regulation of the breeding. The drones 

 are like some who go by the same 

 name in the human family, eating 

 much and doing little; hence, when 

 the drone season is over, the workers 

 kill the drones or drive them out to 

 starve ; but, if the workers make a mis- 

 take and form too many drone-cells, 

 the drones will sometimes be so numer- 

 ous as to eat the honey as fast as the 

 workers can procure it ; but with the 

 improved hive containing the movable 

 comb, the drones can be removed and 

 a comb for rearing workers can be in- 

 serted in its place. In fact the whole 

 breeding department can be regulated 

 to suit the convenience of the bee- 

 keeper. 



In the cross-fertilization and the 

 rearing of queens, the movable frame 

 hives, says Kichard Colvin, of Balti- 

 more, are indispensable. He says that 

 without them he would despair of 

 Italianizing an apiary of even moderate 

 size. 



The inventions in bee-hives during 

 the last few years, have been quite 

 numerous ; and it is the design of these 

 associations to take up these different 

 inventions and discuss their relative 

 values, and select the best from all. 



Knowing Hoiv to Winter Bees. 



It is of great importaince to know 

 just how to take care of bees through 

 the winter. Some farmers seem to be 

 very successful with their bees without 

 any special care, while others with all 

 their care lose nearly all. One will 

 leave his hives standing during the 

 winter just in the same place, and with 

 no more protection ih-tn they had dur- 

 ing the summer; while another places 

 straw, or perhaps carpet, around his 

 bees, and a few will put their hives into 

 the cellar; audit happens frequently 

 that each one has some peculiar experi- 

 ence. In these meetings these peculi- 

 arities are made known, and their 

 causes inquired into. The annual or 

 semi-annual meetings are fraught with 

 more good than we at the time realize. 

 It not unfrequently happens that many 

 facts are recorded with all their coin- 

 cidences which at the time illuminates 

 nothing, but in the course of a few 

 years become of great interest. 



TI«e Purpose of Bee-Conventions. 



The meetings are to a great extent 

 for the purpose of collecting and com- 

 paring data ; and among the abundance 



that will be collected, there will be not 

 a little that will be classed as " trash ;" 

 but a great deal of it will be of untold 

 value to the progressive bee-keeper. 

 In making our deductions from these 

 data, we should be very careful to 

 make the fullest examinations of all 

 the facts. No conclusions must be 

 hurriedly formed. It is not sufficient 

 to say that one man lost his bees be- 

 cause they were left out-of-doors ; for 

 probably his neighbor never lost a sin- 

 gle colony, and to all appearances they 

 had the same things to encounter. It 

 is a common occurrence that two ther- 

 mometers of the same make, and only 

 a short distance apart, will register 

 from one to three degrees differently. 

 The circumstances should be given in 

 all their particulars, as to the make of 

 the hive, the protection trom the wind, 

 rain and snow, how near the ground, 

 etc. 



\%'interlns Bees In Cellars. 



Bee-keepers in general, who have 

 tried it, recommend the wintering of 

 bees in the cellar, which should be kept 

 at a temperature of about 40^. It has 

 been found that bees when well pro- 

 tected in this way, consume about two- 

 thirds less honey than when left ex- 

 posed to the weather. The bee must 

 be treated in a great many respects as 

 we treat other domestic animals. They 

 do not hibernate during the winter as a 

 great many persons suppose. Two 

 things are absolutely necessary ,namely, 

 food and warmth ; without either they 

 are sure to die. It not unfrequently 

 happens that colonies are very poorly 

 supplied with honey for the winter, and 

 must be fed. To ascertain how well 

 the provision is lasting, examinations 

 must occasionally be made. This can 

 be accomplished with any degree of 

 satisfaction, only with the use of the 

 movable frames. 



Bees Dflns Witiiout Apparent Cause. 



Occasionally bees seem to die without 

 any apparent cause, and the question 

 is asked all over the country, "What 

 was the matter with my bees V They 

 have all died while the combs are full 

 of honey. They could not have starved 

 to death, for the hives were found to 

 contain an abundance of honey. It is 

 hardly probable that they iroze to 

 death, for in former years they with- 

 stood days of severe cold." Such has 

 been the reasoning in respect to this 

 puzzle. I remember one year ago, 

 some thought owing to the drouth in 

 the fall, the bees had been compelled 

 to gather poisonous honey, and there- 

 fore they had all been poisoned. But 

 all of the bees did not die ; and if some 

 colonies had gathered this poisonous 

 honey, would not all in the same apiary 

 have gathered it V The theory of being 

 poisoned does not seem to me to be a 

 reasonable one. 



I remember at the same time some 

 reported a few hives empty of both 

 bees and honey, and the conclusion 

 reached was, that these were weak 

 colonies and poorly supplied with 

 honey, and did actually starve to death. 

 One bee-keeper stated that a portion of 

 his bees he wintered in the cellar, and 

 another portion were left out and were 

 well protected. Of those that were 



