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but hail moved back into the 



formed) 

 crotch. 



After placing the hive as near the 

 cluster as possible, and arranging a 

 cloth between them, with a wing I 

 lifti-d several detachments from the 

 cluster, and dumped them near the 

 entrance ; I then applied smoke to the 

 remainder, which would onlj- take 

 wing, and re-cluster, although I be- 

 lieve that most of them visited the 

 hive, but only to till themselves with 

 honej- from the moist combs.and hurry 

 out to soar aloft again, and seemed re- 

 freshed for a further journe)-. All the 

 ■while it required a free use of smoke 

 to keep them oft' the root from which 

 they had so recently been driven, and 

 which Mr. Erb had begun to chop off. 

 There was a strong west wind, which 

 tired the bees, and drove them back a 

 few rods : and while the writer plied 

 the axe, in turn with Mr. E., the latter 

 went to see what the bees were about, 

 and, upon his return, he told me that 

 they were clustering in the grass. I 

 then carried the hive over and placed 

 it near them for the second time, and 

 got the first sight of the queen (I had, 

 until then, feared that she had come 

 to an untimely end). Every induce- 

 ment was offered her for a comfortable 

 home, if she would only enter and 

 take her family along ; but no, she 

 would only run about on the cluster. 

 Her wings were large and strong, but 

 I judged, by her appearance, that she 

 was a fertile queen, so I caught her by 

 the wings with my right thumb and 

 forefinger, and then entrapped two of 

 her legs between the corresponding 

 members of the left hand, and turned 

 her back downwards, until her wings 

 were almost touching the top of the 

 hive, and with the small blade of a 

 pocket-knife, I cut her right wings off, 

 and placed her near the hive-entrance, 

 but she had no more thought of enter- 

 ing than before ; she tried for consid- 

 erable time to fiy, but her efforts were 

 in vain ; so after she had reached quite 

 a distance from the hive, I again 

 showed her the entrance to the hive, 

 which she readily entered, and the 

 bees, for the first time, began to go in. 

 At this juncture, Mr. Erb remarked 

 how quietly they had behaved all the 

 time, but questioned if "I didn't 

 charm them." But a few minutes had 

 elapsed when they were almost all in, 

 when we filled the entrance with grass, 

 and soon had them in a suitable place 

 hard by Mr. E's house, when the grass 

 was removed, and the subdued bees 

 liberated. 



After dinner, the hive was opened, 

 and the queen was soon found ; the 

 combs were quickly adjusted, and 

 covered up, and instructions given to 

 Mr. Erb, to feed a little sugar .syrup 

 every evening. 



The bees had not been at liberty 

 more than thirty minutes until several 

 could be seen about the damp pump- 

 platform. The water must have been 

 for their own immediate use, as there 

 was no brood of anj' kind in the hive, 



At the time the bees were hived 

 (Aug. 16), the honey-flow of the sea- 

 son was just o))ening from swamp 

 flowers, and in less than three weeks 

 Mr. E. was after me to go out and see 

 the bees again, as the combs (105x13 

 inches), he thought, were full. I pur- 

 posed going to see them sooner on the 

 queen's account, fearing lest I had 

 mistaken her fertility ; but when I 

 went, I was delighted to find that they 

 had an abundance of honey to winter 

 on, and brood in all stages —of course, 

 none would be matured until the three 

 weeks were up. 



I also found queen-cells with eggs 

 in them ; this I did not like, but de- 

 stroyed them, and kept my thoughts to 

 myself, but in reality I considered, by 

 what Mr. E. told me at first, of the 

 handling the bees had received, that 

 the queen had been hurt, and that she 

 now was about to be superseded ; and 

 on Oct. 28, my fears were realized, 

 when Mr. Erb told me that he had 

 found the queen-bee carried out, dead. 

 At that time we had a cold spell, with 

 a hard frost, but I promised to go and 

 see his bees on the first tine day ; my 

 promise, however, was not fultilled for 

 two weeks, when I expected a big 

 search for a virgin queen, but I was 

 agreeably surprised to find a fine 

 young queen doing duty, and the col- 

 ony in prime condition for winter. 

 Poole, Out. 



MICHIGAN. 



Report of the ]yortlica§tei*n 

 Michigan Cunventiun. 



The eighth annual meeting of the 

 Northeastern Michigan Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, was held in the Council 

 Chamber, in Lapeer, on Wednesdaj', 

 Feb. 5, 1890. The President called 

 the convention to order, and the pro- 

 gramme then followed : 



Mr. R. L. Taylor, of Lapeer, Mich., 

 delivered the following 



Pi*«!ii<leiit'» Annual Address: 



You have come here to listen to and 

 take part in discussions upon suljjects 

 pertaining to apiculture, and presum- 

 ing that you would prefer, even in a 

 President's address, something relating 

 to that subject, rather than matter of 

 mere congratulation and condolence, 1 

 shall devote the time I occupy princi- 

 pally to the former. 



You might have been surprised, if 

 you had chanced to call on me last 



Thursday or Friday, at seeing me car- 

 rying bees out of the cellar to their 

 summer stands, because I have always 

 advised leaving bees, in a cellar, un- 

 disturbed till the winter was over. 

 Two facts have moved me to take this 

 new departure, viz : The almost un- 

 precedented mildness of the season, 

 and the uneasiness of the bees. There 

 was. as yet, no appearance of disease, 

 but it seemed impossible to get a tem- 

 perature such as to prevent the bees of 

 many of the colonies from unduty 

 wasting. It was easy to see, from the 

 eagerness with which the bees took 

 wing, and from the spotting of the 

 covers of the hives in their flight, that 

 they at least thought it a good thing. 

 Were they right ? 



But I mention the matter more par- 

 ticularly to point a lesson. We must 

 not forget that general advice is given, 

 and rules are laid down, to meet ordi- 

 nary circumstances ; when extraordi- 

 uarj' circumstances come in, common 

 sense must be given free play to form- 

 ulate new rules, if necessary. In bee- 

 keeping, circumstances alter cases so 

 frequently that, to be a successful 

 apiarist, one must be full of resources 

 to adequately meet new contingencies. 

 Unthinking stolidity, at least, is sure to 

 fail. 



Early in October, in order to deter- 

 mine the amount of stores possessed by 

 each colony, I weighed each hive. 

 Out of curiosity, I last week weighed a 

 number of those removed from the cel- 

 lar, and found that they had lost, 

 generally, from 7 to 9 pounds each, 

 though some were found which had 

 lost much less. I judge that not more 

 than half the loss had been incurred 

 while they were in the cellar. 



HOW TO FIND THE QOEEN. 



Some may have noticed that I lately 

 promulgated what was (to me) a new 

 method of finding queens. I notice 

 some one claims that it is not new ; 

 but whether it is or not, it has not been 

 much practiced nor extensively known. 

 It will be found a wonderful relief 

 when queens are to be found in strong 

 colonies, especiallj" when bees are in- 

 clined to rob. I think it should be 

 known by every bee-keeper, so I give 

 it briefly here : 



If the hive to be operated on is not 

 already provided with a queen-exclud- 

 ing honey-board, and a super of some 

 kind, provide it with them, and in any 

 case see that they are loose, so that 

 they may be quickly removed. Now, 

 with the smoker well equipped in one 

 hand, and a small stone in the other, 

 kneel by the side of the hive, knocking 

 lei.surely on the rear end of the brood- 

 chamber with the stone, for about 2 or 

 .3 minutes, during which time, at regu- 

 lar intervals, puft' 6 or 8 strong blasts 



