216 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



part of our honey came from colonies that did not 

 swarm. 



Fifteen years of practical experience with bees 

 has caused me to believe that, with proper care in 

 breeding, the swarming disposition can be almost 

 entirely done away with; and what is better, too, 

 we can malje our increase when and where we want 

 it, and oui' supers are not deserted just when we 

 least desire it. On the .'ith of May, 1878, a fine swarm 

 was cast from a colony in my apiary. Seven days 

 later, young queens were piping in the old colony, 

 indicating another swarm. I divided them to pre- 

 vent their swarming. In July these three colonies 

 each cast a swarm; and the one cast on the 6th of 

 May cast a second swarm, malsing an increase of 

 five from one. Other colonies did not swarm at all 

 that season. 



BAD FOR CARKIOLANS. 



In May, 188!i, I procured an extra-fine Carniolan 

 queen from prominent parties. I'his colony gave 

 me more bother about swarming than a hundred 

 colonies of Italians; for wlien the honey-fiow ceas- 

 ed, the Italians quit swarming, but the Carniolans 

 consumed tbeir stores in brood-rearing; and al- 

 though they had swarmed during the honey-flow, 

 they swarmed again at a time when there was not 

 enough coming in to enatile th^im to build comb. Yet 

 these breeders tell us Ihat they have no more trou- 

 ble in controlling the swarming impulse of the Car- 

 niolans than they do that of Italians. But if we 

 read their instructions as to liow they manage their 

 breeding-apiaries, we find that their breeding colo- 

 nies are kept at a /V'oc/- heat, crowded and fed so as 

 to have them swarm early and late and often, for 

 the purpose of securing queen-cells under the 

 "swarming impulse." Not only this, but a higher 

 value is placed upon queens produced under this 

 swarming impulse. Away with this nonsense! and 

 away with your patented or unpatented device for 

 hiving swarms or increasing the number of colo- 

 nies! Give us queens from the nou - swarming 

 strains. If properly reared they are just as pro- 

 lific; they will live just as long; they are just 

 as pretty, and are worth a hundred per cent more 

 than your swarmers, because they will stay in the 

 hives and keep the bees there during the honey- 

 flow. S. A. Shuck. 



Liverpool, 111.. Feb. 30. 



Friend S., there is some truth in what you 

 say ; but don't you step pretty hard upon 

 the toes of some of our good friends V I 

 have felt as if there were a good deal of ma- 

 chinery to these automatic hiving-arrange- 

 ments ; but then, there may be a good deal 

 in it. Let us wait for the unbiased judg- 

 ment of next season. Carniolans, — well, 

 they do swarm excessively — at least they 

 have been so reported a good many times. 

 The last we tried swarmed, and stung like 

 hornets. The first we tried swarmed like- 

 wise, but they were not so cross. E. R. 



In addition to the above I wish to empha- 

 size the point that friend Shuck has brought 

 out. Even if automatic swarming should 

 be a success, extra hives must be provided 

 for each colony that is liable to swarm, and 

 an extra swarming - machine also. Now, 

 where a bee-keeper does not desire increase 

 this will be quite an expense over the ordi- 

 nary methods of having somebody look aft- 

 er the apiary. 



THE OHIO STATE BEE-KEEPERS' CON- 

 VEWTION AT CLEVELAND. 



BECOLIiECTlONS OF WHAT WAS SAID, AS REPOUT- 

 ED BY ERNEST. 



As was previously announced, the con- 

 vention assembled in Cleveland, in the 

 council chamber of the City Hall. The 

 room was large — in fact, nearly as large as 

 the senate chambers in some of our State 

 Capitols. While it was elegant as well as- 

 commodious, it proved to be a little too 

 large for the average speaker to be heard 

 distinctly. In this connection let me say, 

 that, from what conventions I have attend- 

 ed in large halls or rooms. I am of the opin- 

 ion that it would be better if we could have 

 a smaller room — say one that would seat 

 100 persons for oitr State conventions and 

 200 or more for our International. 



There were about 75 bee-keepers i)resent 

 at the morning session. The largest num- 

 ber at any one time was something like 90. 

 This number included some quite promi- 

 nent bee-keepers, among them being Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, Dv. A. B. Mason, H. R. Board- 

 man, S. F. Newman, J. B. Ilains, O. .7. Ter- 

 rell, Mr. Spitler, F. A. Eaton, Miss Dema 

 Bennett, Dan White, Mr. II. F. Moore, Dr. 

 G. L. Tinker, Chalon Fowls, Dr. H. Besse 

 and others. Mr. Boardman, although not 

 present at the opening of the meeting, came 

 in a little later. We were previously in- 

 formed that the president would probably 

 not be in attendance, on account of ill health, 

 and accordingly Dr. Miller, who had honor- 

 ed us by his presence, was invited to act as 

 chairman, which he did until the president 

 arrived. Among the first subjects that came 

 up was : 



THE PRODUCTION OF COMB AND EXTRACT- 

 ED HONEY ; SHALL THE TWO BE PRO- 

 DUCED TOGETHER V 



It was generally agreed that the two 

 could be carried on successfully, but that it 

 will depend upon the locality and the mar- 

 ket as well as upon the man. II. F. Moore, 

 of Cleveland, who has sold tons of honey in 

 a wholesale and retail way. found that, 

 where bee - keepers produced comb honey ^ 

 there was less suspicion of the extracted hon- 

 ey being adulterated. The question then 

 turned upon the matter of preparation. 

 If the beekeeper is prepared in advance to 

 produce either comb or extracted honey, he 

 should run for one or both, according to cir- 

 cumstances. The question was then asked, 

 ''What is the preparation?" Dr. Miller 

 said. "Order your supplies early." 



" How early V " some one asked. 



I leplied, " About six months." But some 

 of the old bee-keepers said that they want- 

 ed their supplies before that time. 



The discussion finally turned upon ex- 

 tracted honey. J. B. Ilains always extracts 

 from light-colored combs. Dr. A. B. Ma- 

 son did not believe that it made any differ- 

 ence. O. J. Terrell never extracts from the 

 brood-nest. Dr. Mason does, when he 

 thinks he can do it safely. 



You know, when bee-keepers get to dis- 

 cussing a thing at conventions, in spite of 

 the president's efforts to keep them in one 

 channel of thought they will sometimes 



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