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veteran bee-keeper, used to tell us that 

 we should do. 



They were hived about 2 p.m., and 

 I went to bed that night feeling that 

 my first swarm of the season was well 

 provided for, and would be sure to 

 stay. Tne next morning I took a look 

 at them, and went into the field some 

 distance from the house to work. 



At about 9 o'clock, the cry, "Bees 

 are swarming," was heard, and upon 

 reaching the bee-yard, the new swarm 

 was seen going for parts unknown. 

 My lips were bit, as I thought of some 

 apjjropriate words to say about the one 

 who had recommended this plan, still 

 I never put those words in print, al- 

 though I thought the author of this 

 plan of keeping swai-ms from abscond- 

 ing, deserved a good chastising. 



I then resolved that in the future I 

 ■would keep the wings of all of my 

 queens clipped, which was done with- 

 out delay. Since that time I have 

 often hived swarms, and given them 

 brood by way of experiment, and have 

 also given brood to swarms made by 

 dividing, and had many of them come 

 out, but their queens could not lly, and 

 so of course they could not abscond. 

 Probably three-fourths of the swarms 

 hived in this way have stayed and 

 worked all right, yet not one in fifty 

 hived in an empty hive has bothered 

 me in attempting to leave, which 

 proves that the brood was, on the 

 whole, no preventive, but, on the con- 

 trary, an incentive for the bees to leave 

 the hive. 



But, says one, "Bees ought not to 

 leave unsealed brood, as it is contrary 

 to their nature to desert such." Let 

 us look into this matter a little, and 

 see if this claim is correct. When all 

 prime or first swarms issue, they leave 

 brood in all stages in the parent hive, 

 from which they came, whether con- 

 trary to their nature or not, and in 

 giving the frame of brood to swarms 

 having the old queen with them, we 

 place them in exactly the same condi- 

 tion, as far as this frame of brood is 

 concerned, in which they found them- 

 selves immediately before they swarm- 

 ed. It is evident that the prime 

 swarms issue because there is a pros- 

 pect of more bees hatching than are 

 needed to make a fairly prosperous 

 colony, which, with the instinct that is 

 implanted within them, "to multiply 

 and replenish the earth," causes them 

 to swarm. By giving them brood we 

 place the hive in a similar condition to 

 what the one was which they left for 

 the purpose of getting away from those 

 conditions, Is not this plain ? 



Upon examining hives with brood 

 placed in them, from which a swarm 

 had tried to decamp, I find that they 

 will have two small pieces of comb 

 built, one on each side of the frame of 



brood given, while queen-cells have 

 been built upon the frame of brood in 

 which tlie queen has deposited eggs ; 

 thus showing that tthey consider the 

 conditions the same, or nearly so, as 

 they were in the parent hive from 

 which they had issued the day previous. 

 In these cases of desertion, there 

 are nearly bees enough left to protect 

 the brood in the frame, which also 

 shows that they swarm under nearly 

 the same impulse which was upon them 

 when they first left their parental roof. 

 This being the case, when is brood 

 ever a preventive to swarms' abscond- 

 ing ? Swarms having vii'gin queens 

 issue from a plurality of queens in the 

 hive, and not because the hive is be- 

 coming over populous ; besides, such 

 swarms never leave any unsealed brood 

 behind, without the interference of 

 man. If, now, they have unsealed 

 bi-ood given them, it secures to them 

 the means of rearing another queen, 

 and as such swarms are always smaller 

 than prime swarms, and the queen will 

 not get to laying in nearly a week, this 

 brood is to them a means of safeguard 

 against accident when the queen goes 

 out to be fertilized. 



For the above reason it is always 

 best to help such small colonies along 

 a little whenever they are hived, for it 

 not only prevents their leaving a posi- 

 tive means of getting a queen (should 

 the one they have be lost before she 

 gets to laying), but the brood so given 

 helps them to get to be a self-support- 

 ing colony much sooner than they 

 otherwise would be ; for the few thou- 

 sand bees which will hatch out of this 

 comb thus given, are a gi'eat help, 

 coming as they do in a time when they 

 are the most needed. 



In the above we have the true secret 

 of giving brood to swarms when hived, 

 always giving such as have virgin 

 queens, brood, and withholding it from 

 those which have the old or laying 

 queen. This lack of discrimination on 

 the part of those who have recom- 

 mended the plan, is what has caused 

 much of the trouble in the past. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



Erie county be divided into four dis- 

 tricts, and a Vice-President chosen 

 from each eistrict. The following Vice- 

 Presidents were then chosen : E. D. 

 Keeney, of Arcade, for the south^vest- 

 ern district of Wyoming county ; Milo 

 Bundy, of Angola, for the southwest- 

 ern district of Erie county ; U. E. 

 Dodge, of Fredonia, for the southwest- 

 ern district of Chautauqua county, and 

 Luther Corry, of Yorkshire Corners, 

 for the northwestern district of Cat^ 

 taraugus couuty. The election of other 

 Vice-Presidents for the remaining dis- 

 tricts was deferred until the next 

 meeting. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



NEW YORK. 



Report of the Erie County Bee- 

 Convention. 



WrttUn Sot the American Bee Journal 

 BY O. L. HERSHISER. 



The fii'st regular meeting of the Erie 

 County Bee-Keepers' Association met 

 at East Aurora, on June 15, 1889. The 

 meeting was called to order by Presi- 

 dent Charles Penton. 



After the reading of the minutes of 

 the previous meeting, it was decided 

 that each of the five counties adjoining 



The following question was pro- 

 pounded, and discussed : 



" Can more honey be secured by 

 allowing bees to swarm, than by pre- 

 venting them from swarming ?" 



The opinion prevailed that more 

 honey could be procured bj' allowing 

 the bees to swarm naturally, and then 

 take advantage of the impulse to work, 

 which prime swarms always have. 

 After the bees have swarmed, the hive 

 from which the swarm issued should 

 be moved from its place, and another 

 hive (of the same pattern as the old 

 one) and the swarm should be placed 

 where the old one stood ; thus securing 

 all the old working bees in the new 

 colon}'. The surplus sections should 

 then be removed from the old to the 

 new colony, and a laying queen intro- 

 duced to the old colony. As all the 

 bees in the old colony ai'e young, no 

 danger will result in introducing the 

 queen. 



Italiaaizing-— Liaying: W^orkers. 



"What is the best method of Ital- 

 ianizing an apiary ?" 



Mr. Keeney said: "Buy a good 

 Italian colony, and rear queens from it 

 to Italianize the apiary. The colony 

 should be kept, if possible, out of reach 

 of other races of bees. It is much 

 better to rear drones from one colony, 

 and the queens from another. This 

 would necessitate the purchase of two 

 pure Italian colonies." 



" Has any one present ever seen a 

 laying-worker ?" 



In the discussion which followed, it 

 appeared that no one present had ever 

 seen laying-workers, and there was a 

 division of opinion as to whether they 

 really existed. Some thought that 

 what are supposed to be fertile 

 workers, were really nothing more 

 than queens so poorly developed as 

 not to be distinguishable from a com- 

 mon worker. Neai'ly all had seen the 

 results of laying-workers. Experi- 

 ments will be conducted, and reports 

 given at the next meeting, to prove as 



