THE MllIBRICS:r« Wmm J©^KIfS£r. 



697 



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Vice-President R. F. Holtennann, of 

 Brantford, gave this report for Ontario : 



The past winter was passed fairly 

 well by the bees. Spring dwindling 

 was excessive, owing to severe weather, 

 The clover yield was a total failure in 

 most localities, linden the same, and at 

 its close showers and warm weatlier 

 gave us some thistle honey in buck- 

 wheat localities ; the fall flow was 

 fairly good. On an average not sufli- 

 cient honey has been secured for win- 

 ter, yet colonies are otherwise in good 

 condition. Whilst the average is so 

 low, we hear of isolated cases where 

 a yield of 30 to 40 and even 60 pounds 

 per colony has been obtained ; and, 

 on the other hand, colonies had to be 

 fed in the height of the honey season. 



Increase has been but slight, and all 

 colonies remaining should be carefully 

 preserved and cared for. There has 

 been practically no comb honey taken, 

 and the extracted honey will be off the 

 market before the end of the present 

 month. R. F. Holtekmann. 



Brantford, Ont., Oct. 1, 1888. 



^^Jf^ *^ * ^ *^ ijik<>^ 



It was voted that Thomas G. New- 

 man & Son publish in pamphlet form 

 the report of the proceedings, and 

 mail copies to each member of the 

 Association, and that they be paid $20 

 for the work. 



It was also voted that the Secretary 

 be paid the balance ($7) in the treas- 

 urj' for his services. 



The following resolution was passed 

 bj- a unanimous vote : 



Resolved, That we extend our thanks 

 to the Hon. Fred Blenkner, Third As- 

 sistant Sergeant-at-Arms of the House 

 of Representatives, and through him 

 to the House of Representatives, for 

 the free use of the Hall of the House 

 for holding this convention. 



The convention then adjourned to 

 meet in social intercourse during the 

 next day, at the Bee and Hone}" Hall 

 on the Centennial Grounds ; and the 

 next meeting will be held at the call 

 of the executive committee, at Brant- 

 ford, Ont. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



Contention Notices. 



t^" Tlie Pan-Handle Bee - Keepers' Association 

 wiU hold \l^ next meetinii In the K. of P. Hall on 

 Main St., between 11th & I'Jth Streets, in Wheeling, 

 W. Vu.. on Nov.-.il and 2-J, 1888. All beekeepers are 

 cordially Invited. W. L. kinsky. Sec. 



jy The next reirular meetlof? of the Stark Co. 

 Bee-Keepers' Society will be held In Grance Hall at 

 Canton, Ohio, on Saturday. Noy. 3. inks, at 10 a.m. 

 Matters of importance to Dee-culture wi'l be dis- 

 cussed. Every Dee-keeper la requested to be there. 

 Mahk Tho.m.sun, Sec. 



f^* The Alabama State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will meet at loa.m.on Wednesday, Nov. 14. ihm«. at 

 the oflBce of the Secretary of the Stale Fair (in the 

 Fair Uuilding), In Montgomery, Ala. .Members are 

 urged to attend, and all persona interested in bees 

 and honey are cordially invited. 



J. M. Jenkins, Sec. 



REPORT FOR 1888. 



Results in tlie Apiary for the 

 Past Season. 



Written for tlu: American Bee Journal 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



My bees wintered fairly well during 

 the winter of 1887-88, my loss being 

 only 3 colonies out of 60 — two dying 

 out of those wintered out-doors, and 

 one out of tho.se wintered in the cellar. 

 The winter was very severe, and there 

 was only one day warm enough for the 

 bees to fly between Nov. 1, 1887, and 

 April 26, 1888, that being on March 

 27. Had that day in March not oc- 

 curred, my loss would have been very 

 heavy among those wintered on the 

 summer stands, for previous to this 

 they were getting very unea.sy. 



Those from the cellar which were 

 put out on April 27 and 28, were very 

 quiet, and could apparently have en- 

 dured another month of confinement, 

 without serious results. With April 

 26 came extremely warm weather for 

 the time of year, the mercury standing 

 near tlie nineties for three or four days 

 in succession. 



About the middle of May it came 

 off cold, so that frost and snow were 

 the order of the day for nearly two 

 weeks, and as this bad weather came 

 before any brood to any extent had 

 hatched in those put out from the cel- 

 lar, these colonies "spring dwindled" 

 to an extent greater than was ever 

 known to me. In front of some of the 

 colonies the alighting-board and 

 ground were covered with dead bees, 

 the most of whit-h were those that had 

 come through the winter ; while the 

 bottom-boards to the hives were cov- 

 ered with young bees which did not 

 seem to h<ave vitality enough to exist 

 without their older sisters. From this 

 source I lost two other colonies, -while 

 several more were so materially weak- 

 ened that they were good for little else 

 save using for nuclei later on in the 

 season. Others no lietter in any way 

 before tlie freezing weather than were 

 those which dwindled, held right on 

 during the same time, scarcely losing 

 a bee, and came out splendid colonies. 



Here, again, I am out at open sea, 

 for the experience of the p.ast spring 

 has taken all of the conceit out of me, 

 and I candidly confess that I do not 

 know what caiises " spring dwindling;" 

 for all that dwindled, and those which 

 did not dwindle, were wintered exactly 

 alike, and were as near " alike as two 

 peas," as far as I could see. Not a 

 colony of those wintered out-doors 



seemed to suffer a bit (rpni the effect 

 of this disease, if disease.lt be. 



The hard maple gave tlie bees plenty 

 of pollen, and the willows furnished 

 considerable honey, so that brood- 

 rearing went on fairly well the latter 

 part of May. Apple trees blossomed 

 on June 1, but owing to cold weather, 

 which now came again, no honey was 

 obtained from this source. On the 

 nights of June 1, 2, 3 and 6, ice formed 

 on the tin roofs of the bee-hive covers, 

 so as to stand up like brass buttons, 

 and again brood-rearing came to a 

 stand still, and all colonies which had 

 drones h.atehed, killed them off, unless 

 the hive was well stocked with honey. 



Clover opened about June 20, but 

 with the exception of the Alsike va- 

 riety, it did not yield any honey, and 

 as but little of that variety is grown 

 here, nothing more than a living was 

 obtained from that source. Locust 

 gave a little honey also, while some 

 was obtained from sumach, but from 

 none of these sources did the bees get 

 enough to commence work in the sec- 

 tions, except a few of the strongest 

 ones. * 



Very few swarms issued, only about 

 one third of the colonies casting 

 swarms, which was the lightest swarm- 

 ing I ever knew. Basswood opened 

 on July 8, but the bees did not seem 

 to get more than a living till July 13, 

 when the honey began to come in quite 

 lively. The yield of honey was fairly 

 good from that date for nearly two 

 weeks, when it drew to a close, grad- 

 ually, the bees following the bloom to 

 the "tops of the hills live to seven miles 

 away. 



Teasel yielded very little honey this 

 year, although now and then a bee 

 would be seen coming in, covered with 

 teasel dust, all through the basswood 

 yield. As usual buckwheat gave no 

 surplus honey, and as this plant has 

 failed to yield any honey for so long a 

 time, I have got through counting on 

 it for any surplus. 



By sales of bees and queens my stock 

 was reduced to just 17 queens of the 

 orio-inal number with which I went 

 into winter quarters, and as I used all 

 of the colonies from which I took 

 queens to form my numerous queen- 

 rearing colonies, 17 colonies and the 

 few increase from them was all I 

 worked for comb honey. 



The result in lioney from the 17 col- 

 onies in the spring, is 1,233 pounds, all 

 of which is comb honey, as I have not 

 extracted a pound of honey this sea- 

 son. This gives an average of 72J 

 pounds of honey for each old colony, 

 spring count, which was worked for 

 honey. 



On Aug. 1, 1 began getting the brood 

 out of the various nuclei, leaving only 

 enough in each to keep them along. 



