Palmer— Clothing worn until dirty and 

 full of bee stings ought to be changed and 

 washed twice a week. 



Mr. Palmer here showed his "bee shirt;" 

 it has four buttons on wristband and three 

 buttons oi left shoulder, no opening on back 

 or in front, and no bees get in; uses a straw 

 hat and a bobinet veil. 



DOES FREQUENT BUT CAREFUL OPENING 



OF HIVES AND HANDLING OF BEES INJURE 



THEM IN ANY WAY? 



Haines— I think it does not. 



Wilson— Frames sl)()uld be put back care- 

 fully and in tiie same place as before, else 

 theie is a loss of time in bees fixing up bro- 

 ken places. 



Kellogg— Think the loss of time not no- 

 ticeable. 



Palmer- Never open a hive' unless you 

 have to. My frames must fit any where, in 

 any hive; let us have our combs straight, 

 then there is no trouble. 



Opinion of the society — no harm is done. 



Palmer — I have my hives so that 1 always 

 open on the same side. In putting in queen 

 cells, cages, etc., always put in on one certain 

 frame; 1 invariably use the third frame. 



Meadows — I think the advantages of fre- 

 quently oi)ening hives and taking care of 

 bees, greatly overbalances the disadvan- 

 tages, if any exist. 



Axtel— Tiie more I handle my bees the 

 more gentle they get, and I get more honey. 



THE BEST PLAN TO START BEES WORKING 

 IN BOXES. 



Palmer— Take three or four frames out of 

 hive, extract and put back in centre. In 

 cleaning up dripi)ing honey, the bees get 

 a stream started and run clear up into the 

 l)oxes at once. When I find brood in boxes, 

 I mark the date on box, and return to hive; 

 after time enough has passed for it to hatch, 

 1 again look at it, and if all are hatched, I 

 take box off, if not, 1 replace for a longer 

 time. 



Kellogg— Would add to Palmer's plan as 

 above, astieet of comb foundation in centre 

 frame of box. for a cliud)ing place for the 

 bees; would rather cut out the brood and let 

 bees refill witli honey, as comb that has 

 brood in it is tough. 



THE BEST METHOD OF WINTERING BEES? 



Axtel — I use the Quinby hive, take out 

 side frames, put quilts down sides and on 

 top, and pack empty space with cliaff, and 

 winter on summer stands. 



Palmer— Winter none but strong stocks, 

 no nuclei; use dry cellar if we can, divide 

 liee part from the rest of the cellar; keep 

 dark and pure air; thermometer not below 

 32' nor above 50=; have onening in chimney 

 at bottom of cellar, thus keeping bottom of 

 cellar dry and no mouldy combs; to ventilate 

 hive, raise one corner of honey board on 

 little stick, caps off. 



Wirt— I use a cellar in sand; have various 

 kinds of success, good, bad and indifferent; 

 fill caps with straw, ventilators in cap; 

 rather have bees in cellar by themselves, 

 thick straw packing one of the essential 

 points of safe wintering. 



McGaw— You will save from % to Kot 

 your winter stores by wintering in a cellar. 

 Put heavy or strong stocks at the bottom, 

 light ones on top. 



Palmer— My cellar has 4 windov?s covered 

 with wire cloth on the outside, space packed 



with straw; windows on hinges inside, 

 which 1 open and close according to varia- 

 tion of thermometer. 



Atkinson— Our worst trouble is to keep 

 bees cool in a warm spell. 



Axtel— Packed in chaff my bees need a 

 temperature of 30°. 



Wilson— I winter in a cellar, and have 

 uniform success; 1 return each hive to the 

 same spot it occupied the fall before. 



Palmer— Circumstances will show which 

 is best. If there is snow on the ground 

 when bees are put in cellar and none on 

 when they are put out in the spring, I think 

 it makes no difference as to previous place, 

 and vice versa. 



Kelloeg— Always carry bees out at night, 

 it is much better than in the day time, then 

 the bees begin to fly gradually in the morn- 

 ing and not at once as they do when put out 

 in day time. 



Jarvis— Put bees out at night and place 

 on stands just as it hapjiens and find no 

 trouble, keep bees in cellar built in sand 

 bank, from about Nov. 6. 



McGaw— Put my bees out without regard 

 to previous place; keep in cellar from 5 to 6 

 months. 



Bischoff— Piled hives in a row covered 

 with boards and straw, a warm day came 

 and bees flew out, returned to old stands 

 and perished. 



Haines— Winter on summer stands; let 

 them stand just as they were all feummer: 

 never lost any; colonies packed in chaff 

 were a failure, flew out in the snow, and 

 dwindled in spring; use Quinby's hive. 



Simpson— In the winter of '1872-3 I lost 

 equally on summer stands and in cellar. 



BEE HOUSE. 



Palmer— I want a bee house, for wintering 

 bees, storing honey, extracting, a shop. etc. 

 I want to build of brick in a side hill, so 

 that when I am working in the house I can 

 see the bees swarming, etc. 



Simpson— Would build about 14x20, two 

 stories, upper story divided into 2 rooms so 

 I could keep one dark. 



Kellogg— Would have wire cloth windows 

 and doors made in such a manner that bees 

 could all go out but none get in, will have a 

 model at our next meeting. 



Axtel— The doors to my honey room are 

 double, and in the worst cases of robbing 

 have no trouble; doors have one foot space 

 between. 



Wilson— Where you have no side hills, 

 would advise using the old-fashioned cellar- 

 cave, about a foot under ground; roof cov- 

 ered with dirt, sod, etc,, and very dry. 



Axtel— Think a cellar for bees and a house 

 for a shop can be built cheaper separately 

 than both in one. 



Haines— Can bees hear a sound so as to be 

 disturbed by it in winter? Several think 

 not, but feel the concussion or jar. 



WHAT SURPLUS BOX SHALL WE USE? 



Scudder— I like the Harbison section- 

 frame-box best. 



Kellogg— Would prefer a surplus box 

 made up of frames, so that each frame can 

 be taken out without taking the box to 

 pieces; do not like the small 6 lb. boxes, 

 — would not take them as a gift. 



Axtel— I use the small frame, set on top 

 of hive loose, three frames fastened end to 

 end by a narrow strip on top, and one clinch 

 nail driven through )t into each frame; use 

 as many rows as hive will accommodate. 



