•TH® MMERicjKPf mmm jowmnmiLr. 



709 



jliwns^ of Ilir<l aii«I Itee. 



Written for the Baclxivood's Magazine 



BY C. M. O'NEIL. 



The night is come with all her silver train, 

 The moonlight steeps the sea ; 



The hour is come that I can rest again, 

 And dream o£ thee. 



The air is still, the western sky is gold. 

 And far on lawn and lea 



The shadows bring the happy thought of old. 

 And dreams of thee. 



The sweetest hour of summer day is ended ; 



The song of bird and bee 

 To the still time their influence is lending. 



And sing of thee. 



Queries % Replies, 



liosing Swarms when the Queens 

 Have Clipped Wings. 



Written tor the American Bee Journal 



Query 735.— Is there much danger of 

 losing queens with clipped wings not 

 watched closely, and permitted to swarm 

 naturally * — K. 



Yes. — H. D. Cutting. 



Yes. — Dadaxt & Son. 



Yes, sir.- James Heddon. 



Most assuredly. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



They need to be pretty closely watched. 

 — M. Mahin. 



Yes.unless the hive is close to the ground. 

 — G. M. Doolittle. 



I do not know. We do not practice 

 "clipping." — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Not if the hives are properly placed— not 

 less than 6 or 8 feet apart each way, and 

 so that the queen can crawl back. — A. B. 

 Mason. 



Yes, if the bee-keeper is not on band to 

 attend to them.— G. L. Tinker. 



It depends upon the location. If the 

 ground about the apiary is infested with 

 ants, there would be great danger. — J. P. 

 H. Brown. 



I have lost a good many. If the hives 

 were 10 feet apart, I think that very few 

 would be lost. — C. C. Miller. 



There is some danger, especially if the 

 hives are raised some distance from the 

 ground.— C. H. Dibbern. 



Yes, considerable, unless a little care is 

 exercised. It is easy to watch and prevent 

 any such loss. — A. J. Cook. 



The queen generally returns to her own 

 hive if the entrance is accessible to her. 

 Occasionally she would get into another 

 hive, if within i or 5 feet.— R. L. Taylor. 



At the time of swarming, queens with 

 clipped wings must be watched, as not only 

 they may get lost in the grass, or be killed 

 by neighboring bees, but I have often had 

 them killed by the bees of her hive, after 3 

 or 4 attempts at swarming. — P. L. Viallon. 



I think there is. Some think differently. 

 The question is a "mooted" one with bee- 

 keepers, and will never be decided posi- 

 tively, or to the satisfaction of everybody. 

 —J. E. Pond. 



Perhaps there is some danger. It would 

 depend upon, first, how near to the ground 

 the hives were, and whether it would be 

 easy for the queen to crawl back ; and sec- 

 ond, proximity to other hives. — Eugene 

 Becob. 



They are «i(>t us often lost, as one would 

 naturally suppose when relying on theory 

 instead of actual practice. It is proper to 

 know and understand, that if a colony of 

 of bees, bent on swarming, is neglected 

 when their queen is unable to follow them, 

 they will supersede her, and rely on the 

 brood of the young queen to give them a 

 glorious tilt at swarming, or casting after- 

 swarms. I wish to say here, that the plan 

 of clipping the queen's wing is perfectly 

 practicable, but the bees must have prompt 

 attention. — G. W, Demaree. 



There is danger, of course. But if the 

 hive rests on the ground, the queen will get 

 to her own hive, pretty generally, at the 

 usual time of swarming. Watching wUl be 

 necessary to prevent " queens with clipped 

 wings" being superseded, when the bees 

 find that their queen cannot follow them. 

 At such times they often become disgusted 

 and conclude to supersede the queen hav- 

 ing clipped wings, if not watched and pre- 

 vented. — The Editor. 



S'warms in October. — Mr. Roscoe 

 Laubach, of Indianola, Iowa, on Oct. 11, 

 1890, wrote as follows: 



What does it mean when bees swarm in 

 October ? My grandfather had one swarm 

 to-day. They came out and flew around 

 awhile, and finally lit on the limb of an 

 apple tree, about 6 or 7 feet from the 

 ground. They were hived, and then they 

 came out again and lit on the same limb. 

 What does this mean ? I am young, and I 

 have one colony of bees. My grandfather 

 has 12 colonies, and he is caring for 14 

 colonies for another man. 



[The bees left the hive because they were 

 dissatisfied with their surroundings. They 

 were probably short of provisions, and 

 swarmed out, prompted by self-preserva- 

 tion, hoping to find some place more prom- 

 ising for the future. If you give them a 

 frame or two of honey, and it possible some 

 brood, they will no doubt remain. — Ed.] 



Statistical. — An exchange contains 

 the following figures on bees, bee-keepers 

 and beeswax. Some of the items appear 

 rather large, but they may be correct. It 

 reads thus : 



Careful estimates put the number of bee- 

 keepers in the United States at 350,000 ; 

 over 10,000 of this number keep more 

 than 500 hives each. The value of the 

 honey produced by them in 1889 was over 

 $100,000,000, and the value of the bees- 

 war produced for the same year exceeded 

 $17,000,000. Many tons of wax were 

 mftnufactured into comb foundation to be 

 used by the bee keepers in their own api- 

 aries, as it is fully demonstrated that the 

 use of foundation in the apiaries very 

 largely increases the yield of honey. There 

 is little doubt that in the very near future 

 the bee-keeper will use all the wax he pro- 

 duces for comb foundation. One firm made 

 64,000 pounds of it last year, and found 

 sale for it at home. 



ConTention Notices. 



jy The 8th semi-annual meet in(f of the Susque- 

 hanna County Bee-Keepera' Association will be held 

 at Montrose, Pa., on Thursday. May 7. 1891. 



H. M. Seeley, Sec. 



SW The next meeting of the Turkey Hill Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, will be held at the Turkey 

 Uill Grange Hall, near Wilderman's Station, three 

 miles southeast of Belleville, Ills., on Oct. 30, IMO. 

 All interested in bee-keeping are cordially invited. 



A. Fehr. Sec. 



'I'lie Inlernationsil I'onvention 



will be held in the G. A. R. Hall, Estes 



House, Keokuk, Iowa, Oct. 29, 30 and 31, 



1890. 



PEOGRAMME. 



First Day— Wednesday, Oct. 2.9. 



9:00 A..M.— Cull to orflcr. Reception of new 

 Members. Pa.vincnt of Dues. Appointment 

 of Committees for Question-Box and other 

 purposes. 



10 :00 A.M.— Addreasof Welcome— J. E. Craig, 

 Maj'or of Keokuk. 



Recess. 



11:00 a.m.— "Fifty Years' Progress in Api- 

 culture."— Thomas G. Newman, Editor of the 

 American Bee Journal, Chicago. 



Question-Box. 



1:30 P..M.— " Apicultural Journalism."— W. 

 Z. Hutchinson, Editor of the Bee-Keepers' 

 Review, Flint, Mich. 



Discussion. 



3:00 P.M.— President's Address.- Hon. E. L. 

 Taylor, Lapeer, Mich. 



3:30 P.M.— "Honey Pasturage of the United 

 States."— A. I. Root, Editor of Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture. Medina, Ohio. 



Discussion. 



Question-Box. 



7:00 P.M.— "Apiarian Exhibit at the Coming 

 ChicagoInternationalFair."- Dr. A. B. Masou, 

 Auburndale, Ohio. 



Discussion. 



Question-Box. 



Second Day— Thursday, Oct 30. 



8:30 a.m.— "What I don't know about Bee- 

 Keeping."— Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, Ills. 



Discussion. 



11 :00 a.m.— Condensed Reports of the Affili- 

 ated Associations in regard to Crops and 

 Prospects. 



Question-Box. 



1:30 P.M.— "Is it best to use full sheets of 

 Foundation in Bi-ood and Surplus Frames ?"— 

 Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



Discussion. 



3 :00 P.M.—" Fixed Frames versus Suspended 

 Frames."— Ernest R. Eoot, Medina, Ohio. 



Discussion. 



7:00 P.M.— "The conditions necessary to in- 

 sure a Honey Crop."— Prof. A. J. Cook, Agri- 

 cultural College, Mich. 



Discussion. 



Question-Box. 



Tniird Day— Friday, Oct. 31. 



8:30 A.M.- Business of the Association. Sec- 

 retary's and Treasurer's Reports. Election of 

 Officers. 



11:00 A.M.— "In an Apiary run for Honey 

 only, are Italians or Hybrids preferable?"— 

 C. F. Muth, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



1 :30 P.M.— Volunteer contributions from dif- 

 ferent sources. 



3:00 P.M.— "The International Bee-Associa- 

 tion. Its past and future."— W. F. Clarke, 

 Guelph, Ont., Canada. 



The Question-Box Committee will receive 

 questions at any time, and will appoint differ- 

 ent members to answer those that are deemed 

 of sufficient interest or importance. 



As this is the first meeting of this Interna- 

 tional Bee-Association held West of the Jliss- 

 issippi, it is hoped that the Western bee-keep- 

 ers will m;ike an effort to show what the West 

 can do. °A number of ladies are expected, as 

 usual. The essayists named in the programme 

 will nearly all be present. 



A special room on the same floor as the 

 G. A. R. Hall, has been secured for exhibits of 

 bees or their products, or implements, and a 

 special committee will report as to their 

 merits. Articles for exhibition, if prepaid to 

 Keokuk and addressed to the Secretary, will 

 be delivered in the proper place free of charge. 



The Hotel Keokuk, one of the best hotels in 

 the West, a *3.00 house, will take members at 

 $•2.00 per day. The MeCarty Boarding, in the 

 Estes House, on same floor as the G. A. R. 

 Hall, will board members at $1.00 per d:iy. 



Parties wishing to attend will be freely 

 furnished all necessary information. Reduced 

 Railroad Rates are not to he had. 



C. P. DADANT, Seeretar.v, 



Hamilton, His. 



