THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



177 



4. Italian vs. black bees. 



5. Does extracting pay? 



6. Best mode to secure the most amount of 

 honey. 



Swarming. -It was considered best to malse 

 artificial swarms by building up from nucleus 

 stocks, etc. One objection was, ihe bees 

 sometimes built too m'ucli drone comb. 



Queen Reaking.— H. Haines and others 

 thought it best to rear queens in full colonies, 

 by making a frame to contain from 12 to 16 

 queen cages; putting in queen cells after 

 hatching. It is only necessary then to intro- 

 duce them into swarms, etc. 



Honey Plants.— Mr. .Simpson— "White clov- 

 er, buckwheat, basswood, golden-rod, and 

 bergamott arc useful and good for honey. 

 French and alsike clover was decided to be a 

 failure. 



Italian Bees.— Italian bees [make [more 

 honey than blacks. 



There was a ditTerence of opinion in regard 

 to extracting. 



On the last question, several decided that 

 the best way to get tlie most honey wasUo 

 have none but Italian bees, and small brood 

 nest; for box honey, give plenty of room, etc. 



A report from Wm. J. Andrews was expect- 

 ed, but was forgotten. 



A tine essay' from Rev. A. Salisbury, on 

 "Wintering Bees, was tlien read. Tlie meeting 

 adjourned to meet at Oquauka. on Oct. 2 and 

 8, 1877. Hakdin Haines, Sec., 



Wm. Kellogg, Pres. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Foreign Notes. 



GLEANED BY FRANK BENTON. 



It is estimated that there are 90,000 to 

 100,000 hives of bees in Sweden. 



Schwarmeinbrlngungsgeraethe are the 

 affairs that tlie Gevmaiis use to catch 

 swarms. It must be that they never lose 

 any; for wouldn't the mere utterance of 

 this musical word suddenly arrest the most 

 determined fugitive swarm ? Suppose 

 some of our American bee-keepers who 

 allow natural swarniinjj;, try it this season ? 

 Just murmur the word in tenderest accents 

 and note its effect on the circling swarm. 



FORMING NEW COLONIES. 



A French apiarist, M. Cayette, says in 

 UApicultcur: "I believe it is difficult to 

 determine long beforehand exactly the best 

 time for forming new colonies if oiie wishes 

 at the same time to secure the largest and 

 best yield of honey. Good apiarists in our 

 locality have natural swarms during 2, 3, 

 and 4 weeks. Tlie best are not always 

 those that issued first. If the yield of honey 

 only becomes abundant in the second or 

 third week, the swarms that issue during 

 this favorable time are the heaviest. The 

 first swarms must devote themselves to the 

 rearing of brood, and are tlous occupied 

 during the harvest; the second swarms, on 

 the other hand, having little or no brood, 

 but with a strong population which can be 

 sent into the field, are in the best condition 

 to lay up ample stores. If the bee-keeper 

 were satisfied that the loss of harvest sus- 

 tained through swarms issuing or made at 

 inopportune times, is made up by the excel- 

 lent stocks which these swarms make, he 

 would have no cause for complaint, but 

 there is great reason to doubt this. 



"My ett'orts are now directed towards ob- 

 taining strong colonies in the spring, in 

 order to make my swarms, at will, as nearly 

 as possible at the exact time which appears , 



to me the most favorable for obtaining the 

 maximum yield of honey. It is necessary 

 to know wlien this time arrives or else be 

 content with a smaller return." 



DEAD BEES IN THE COMBS. 



"No one can clear dead bees from combs 

 more quickly or skillfully than mice. If 

 combs filled with dead bees are set for 2 or 3 

 days in a still place so that mice can get at 

 both sides, they will be found completely 

 cleaned out. This work, which would be 

 very tedious and tiresome for the bee-keep- 

 er, and which he could scarcely perform 

 without serious injury to the combs, is very 

 neatly done by the "mice; and they only 

 knaw a cell here and there — where the body 

 of a bee does not come out readily, or where 

 tliev find a little pollen which thf^y nibble." 

 — T. Sliwk(t, in dcr Schlesische linker. 



The apiculturists of France seem to be 

 very much interested in having a good 

 apiarian display at the next Exposition, 

 which is to be held in Paris in 1878. After 

 stating that colonies of bees could be ex- 

 hibited, one of the editors of Le Rucher 

 (Bordeaux) remarks: '"We are certain that 

 the apiculturists of Paris will do themselves 

 the honor of exhibiting their colonies, and 

 will carry high the fiiig of Progress, which 

 could not be confided to better hands." 



POINTS FOR BEGINNERS. 



1. Procure only healthy and populous 

 colonies, even though they cost more than 

 unhealthy or weak ones. 



2. In general, buy in the spring, after the 

 colonies have been successfully wintered, 

 and get some well-informed apiarist to 

 assist you ill making selections, or at least 

 purchase from some bee-culturist with 

 whom you are acquainted. 



3. Clean thoroughly the Iiives in which 

 you place swarms. 



4. Allow no emi^ty combs which j'ou wish 

 to use in hives to lie about in the open air, 

 ill the bee-house, or any place where moths 

 can get to them; for such combs become 

 genuine brood-nests for wax-inoths, the 

 larvfe of which destroy the combs and fill 

 the hives with their webs, so that, if pre- 

 caution is not taken the existence of the 

 stock is endangered. — Bieneyivuter aus 

 Boehnien. 



The Bee.— That within so small a body 

 should be contained apparatus for convej'- 

 ing the " virtuous sweets," which it collects 

 into one kind of nourishment for itself, 

 another for the common brood, a third for 

 the royal, glue for its carpentrj^ poison for 

 its enemies, honey for its master, within a 

 probosis almost as long as the body itself, 

 microscopic in its several parts, telescopic 

 in its action, with a sting so infinitely 

 sharp that, were it magnified by the same 

 glasi which makes a needle's point seem a 

 quarter of an inch, it would yet itself be in- 

 visible, and this too, a hollow tube— that all 

 these varied operations and contrivances 

 should be enclosed within half an inch of 

 length and two grains of matter, while, in 

 the same "small room," the " large heart" 

 of at least thirty distinct insects is contain- 

 ed, is surely food for vast thought.— My 

 Scrap Book. 



