Sept. 20, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



599 



that a swarm with a feeble queen will always cluster low, 

 sometimes on a weed or in the grass. 



I agree with the Professor that it is very rare for a 

 swarm to come out and not cluster at all. In 25 years I 

 have had but a single case of the kind. The swarm came 

 forth about H o'clock in the morning, and went straight for 

 the hollow of a tall elm tree about one-fourth mile distant. 

 My observation, like Prof. Cook's, points that way, that 

 bees sometimes select a home before swarming, and, that 

 after swarming they send out scouts to find a home. 



On the next point I am at variance with the Professor. 

 He says : " As many bee-keepers have observed, rarely 

 several queens go forth with a new swarm." According to 

 my experience it is not uncommon for several virgin queens 

 to go out with a swarm. With me it has occurred frequently, 

 and it occurs probably oftener than we are aware of, altho 

 when it does happen the swarm frequently clusters in sev- 

 eral different places near each other. 



Toward the close of his article Prof. Cook says : " The 



Exhibiting Bees and Honey at tlie Fairs. 



BY F. I,. (.KANT. 



THE first, and by no means the least, as regards the work, 

 is in getting ready. Perhaps one has to lie awake 

 nights to think of something new so as to get ahead of 

 the other fellows. This is not easy work ; it is rather try- 

 ing to the nerves and sometimes discouraging ; especially 

 when we call to mind that it is likely that the other fellow 

 is doing the same thing. 



After we have decided what is to be the leading feature 

 of our exhibit, then comes the " grind," the working out of 

 the details and getting them into sl^ape so as to please the 

 eye of the judges and visitors. This is very important, for 

 our success in winning premiums, and the disposing of our 

 crop of honey at good prices is largely dependent upon this. 



Whatever there is in the exhibit that is in the line of 

 novelty should be so constructed that it can be put together 



Apiarian Exhibit of Mr. F. L. Grant, at t^'e Lewiston (Maine) Fair — (From Bee-Keepers' Review). 



bees guard the queen-cells, so that the first hatcht queen 

 can not destroy the others." I am aware that other authori- 

 ties claim also, that the first hatcht queen destroys or tries 

 to destroy her rivals in their cells, but I have observed at 

 •different times that the young queen was in another part of 

 the hive 3 or 5 combs away from where the cells were when 

 the work of destroying cells was going on right along, and 

 the virgin queen, which had her liberty, did not take any 

 part in the murder of the innocent whatever. I suppose 

 that queens will act the same whether in colonies that have 

 swarmed or in colonies rearing or having reared a batch of 

 artificial cells. Ontario Co., N. Y. 



Please send us Names of Bee-Keepers who do not now 



get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get their 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this journal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



in sections, to save time, which is very limited in the rush 

 of setting up and taking down, especially the latter. 



All wax-work should be as nearly in place as it is possi- 

 ble to box it. The roof of the honey-house in the accom- 

 panying cut of my exhibit at the Maine State Fair, of 1898, 

 consists of beeswax shingles which were cut from sheets of 

 brood-foundation. They were glued to a very thin board- 

 ing on the roof, which, in this case, came apart in six sec- 

 tions. The boards were also covered with paper so as to 

 make the wax adhere to them more firmly. The wax-work 

 of the roof and other parts were shipt with soft packing be- 

 tween them. 



The windows were made whole, and were shipt in a 

 separate box packt with great care. The walls of honey 

 were supported by a frame-work made from 1 '4x1^4 joist 

 fastened together with bolt and screws. The name, " Sweet 

 Home," at the top, consists of beeswax letters suspended by 

 silk thread. The distance from the table to the top of the 

 flags was about seven feet, and the length of house about 

 six feet. 



As the picture shows manj' of the details of construe- 



