AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



259 



bees wintered better in separate clamps, 

 or a number of colonies in one clamp ? 



Mr. Armstrong thought they wintered 

 better in separate clamps, and were 

 more convenient to handle. 



Mr. Stewart wintered his bees in 

 single clamps, and had never lost any. 



In answer to Mr. Jack, Mr. Armstrong 

 said he left his bees in clamps as long as 

 he possibly could, so as to prevent chill- 

 ing in the Spring. 



The President asked whether in an 

 ordinary season he would get a better 

 yield of honey by preventing swarming, 

 or by allowing one swarm. 



The general opinion was in favor of 

 allowing one swarm, as the bees worked 

 better. 



Moved by Mr. Rose, seconded by Mr. 

 Jack, that this Association be affiliated 

 with the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, and that the Secretary send the 

 necessary fee of $5. 



The next meeting will be held at 

 Nelles' Corners, on the last Saturday in 

 May. E. C. Campbell, Sec. 



Preyeiitifln of SwarminL Etc. 



MRS. JENNIE ATCHXEY. 



As I see in the report of the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Association a 

 good deal regarding the prevention of 

 swarms, I would like to state that bee- 

 keeping in the South, or north Texas at 

 least, is different from bee-keeping in 

 the North. I find we have had but little 

 trouble here with our bees swarming 

 during the honey harvest, for honey 

 usually comes so fast that the bees 

 seem to " lose their mind," as it were, 

 and go crazy to store every drop of 

 honey they can, crowding the brood-nest 

 and all, chock-full. Our trouble rather 

 runs the other way, as we must ex- 

 tract some brood-combs to give the 

 queens a chance to lay. 



I have seen the bees so crazy that on 

 opening the hives in the height of the 

 harvest, they would jump right at their 

 queens and "ball them," just as though 

 they were angry because they had run 

 out of brood and were going down hill 

 in bees, and it was her fault ! They had 

 good young queens, too. Nor was this 

 caused by robbing, or bees mixing, or 

 anything of the kind, for a barrel of 

 honey might be emptied in the apiary, 

 and they would pay no attention to it. 



Our swarming fevers occur when honey 

 comes in slow, say in April and May, 

 just enough to stimulate brood-rearing 



to its highest pitch. From April 20 to 

 May 20 is usually the hardest month on 

 bees in north Texas, as there is a link 

 out of our chain of honey resources that 

 we must supplant by feeding at least our 

 week colonies, unless we have an extra 

 good season. 



DISTANCE VIRGIN QUEENS FLY. 



In my 12 years' queen-breeding I have 

 found that the nuclei nearest the drone 

 hive have their queens more uniformly 

 mated than those in other parts of the 

 yard; that is, if any do misraate it is 

 those furthest from the drone-hive. 

 Abundance of drones all» through the 

 mating yards is my motto. 



Floyd, Tex. 



Aplcnltiiral Experiinenl. 



The experiment conducted by the 

 Ontario Agricultural and Experimental 

 Union was, testing to what extent, if 

 any, the bees thin out the septum, or 

 base of comb-foundation before storing 

 the honey in the comb, and what effect 

 various thicknesses of foundation has 

 upon the thickness of base, finally left 

 by the bees. The object of this was to 

 see if heavy grades of foundation would 

 leave an undue amount of wax in the 

 comb, making it unpleasant to the con- 

 sumer, and injuring the sale of comb- 

 honey ; or if it might be drawn out into 

 the cell walls by the bees. 



The comb-foundation was supplied 

 free of all charges to the ones agreeing 

 to conduct the experiments. There 

 were three grades sent out, being 6 feet 

 to the pound, 10 feet to the pound, and 

 12 feet to the pound, known as medium 

 brood, thin surplus, and extra-thin sur- 

 plus comb-foundation. The sections 

 were marked accordingly before putting 

 into the hive, and instructions given to 

 place all over the center of the brood- 

 chamber to give all alike favorable 

 positions, or other>vise, for drawing out 

 and building on the foundation. 



Owing to the very unfavorable honey 

 season generally, some were unable to 

 get the foundation drawn out at all. 

 These we hope to secure next season. 



In testing for sections which had the 

 thinnest base, the three samples were 

 taken without looking at the number of 

 feet per pound, marked on the wood, 

 and by looking through the base of the 

 section and taking a piece of eacih comb 

 in the mouth, the order of thickness 

 was found, and in almost every instance 



