554 



THl? MMERICMPI BEE JQ^RKMI*. 



the thickest in the air. The bees in 

 the popper will fan their wings on the 

 side next to the queen, which tells to 

 those in the air that they have found 

 the queen and are clustering about her, 

 when as a rule the swarm will at once 

 begin to cluster on the popper also. 



Some swarms, however, are determ- 

 ined to cluster on a ti-ee or nowhere, 

 and in such a case, as soon as one- 

 fourth of the bees have clustered on 

 the limb, hold the popper immediatel3' 

 under and up against those on the 

 limb, when the balance of the bees in 

 the air will begin to cluster all over 

 the popper. When about two-thirds 

 of the bees are clustered, draw the 

 popper away from the limb a little, so 

 fixing it that you can leave it, when all 

 of the bees will leave the limb and 

 cluster on the popper as you wish. 

 While you are waiting for them to go 

 from the limb to the popper, you can 

 be getting the hive ready, or any other 

 work you may have to do. As soon as 

 they are clustered on the popper, you 

 can carry and hive them where you 

 wish, the same as you would, had you 

 cut ofl' a limb. 



Borodino, N. Y. , 



SUGGESTIONS. 



The New Constitution and By- 

 Laws of the Bee-Association. 



Written for the American Bee Jmimal 



BY DK. C. C. MILLER. 



I see that there are differences of 

 opinion arising from the fact that dif- 

 ferent iiersons are quoting from difl'er- 

 ent places. Secretary Holtermann 

 says, •' I wonder where Dr. Miller is 

 quoting from." I quoted from the re- 

 port of the proceedings for 1887 with- 

 out knowing at the time that the 

 report for 1888 differed. Dr. Mason 

 and Mr. Holtermann have evidently 

 taken the report for 1888. The only 

 question of difference between us is, 

 which report shall we take? 



On page 22 of the report for 1888 I 

 find this: "Finallj' attention was 

 turned to the consideration of the pro- 

 posed Constitution and By-Laws for 

 the society. This was prepared last 

 year by Mr. Thomas G. Newman .... 

 It was voted to adopt the new Consti- 

 tution and B3--Laws." Now did we 

 adopt what was in the 1887, or the 1888 

 report ? Clearly we could not have 

 taken anything from the 1888 report, 

 for it was not then in existence. I 

 hardly think that any one will think 

 that we adopted anything but the Con- 

 stitution and, Bj-Laws as given in the 

 1887 report, for that was the only thing 

 referred to, and, unless my memory 

 is badly at fault, no change was made 



in it, nor ever talked of. If any error 

 has crept into the following report, 

 that, surely, is not to be accepted as 

 the action of the society. 



Messrs. Mason and Holtermann will, 

 therefore, I think, agree with me that, 

 according to Article VII, the President 

 and Secretary " shall constitute an 

 executive committee ; " and that ac- 

 cording to Article VIII of the By- 

 Laws, "A committee of live shall be 

 elected, who shalt have power to or- 

 ganize itself into a ' Honey Com- 

 pany.' " 



Xl«e Society's Mew j^ame. 



With regard to any change in the 

 name of the ■' International American 

 Bee-Association," its present name is so 

 cumbrous that it will probably be used 

 in full very rarely ; but it would be 

 better not to make any change, than 

 to change to a name that would appear 

 to be claiming to be what we are not. 

 Other nations charge the Yankees, I 

 am sorry to say, only too justly in 

 manj- cases, with being given to exag- 

 geration, and if that characteristic 

 should crop out at Brantford. I hope 

 that there will be enough conservative 

 Canadians there to hold things level. 



Dr. Mason's suggestion to have an 

 odd number on the executive commit- 

 tee, is a good one. There is some 

 mistake in the report for 1888, as 

 Article IV and Article VII conflict as 

 to the number on the executive com- 

 mittee. 



Dr. Mason need not look for any 

 sympathy from me on the President's- 

 address business. I am " furnenst " 

 it, at least till he is out of office ; for I 

 feel pretty sure that if he made a clos- 

 ing address, he would quote quite 

 largely from the address that I made (?) 

 when I delivered up the keys of office 

 to him. 



Marengo, Ills. 



that our copy was given out to the 

 printers, without a thought about the 

 changes, and as the printers supposed 

 the changes were made by the conven- 

 tion, they were incorporated into the 

 report. This will explain to both sides 

 of the controversy the cause for the 

 discrepancy, and we hope will satisfy 

 them. If we can get the time, we will 

 prepare some amendments to present 

 at the next meeting, and hope Dr. 

 Miller and others will do the same. 

 All we want is the most perfect docu- 

 ment on record. — Ed.] 



COMB HONEY. 



How to Care for Comb-Honey, 

 AVbere to Keep it, etc. 



Written for the Iowa Homestead 



BY EUGENE SECOR. 



[The above was written some time 

 since, and as it required some com- 

 ments, was put into a drawer, (as we 

 were then busy), and forgotten until 

 just now found there. We beg Dr. 

 Millei-'s pardon for the delay. The 

 conflict in Articles IV and VII as to 

 the number in the executive committee 

 should be amended at Brantford. In 

 fact, it needs a full revision. When it 

 was referred to the committee at Chi- 

 cago, it was expected that it would be 

 carefully revised. As they did not do 

 it, if our memory serves us right, we 

 made some corrections in writing in 

 our copy of the Constitution, (among 

 them the shall was changed to ma y) 

 and we intended to present these as 

 amendments at Columbus. We expect 



As the season for caring for honej- 

 is here, and as I am convinced by con- 

 versations with some bee-keepers, as 

 well as people generally, that a great 

 many do not know tow to care for 

 hone}-, a few words may not come 

 amiss at this time on the subject. 



In the first place, there is no hurrj' 

 about taking it ofif the hives. The bees 

 can care for it more cheaplj', and even 

 if it is not quite so white as when 

 taken ofl" earlier, its flavor is improved 

 by perfect ripening, which, to my 

 mind, more than compensates for the 

 slightly darker shade which the comb 

 presents. 



If taken ofl: during warm weather it 

 wlil sometimes be spoiled by the larvse 

 of the bee-moth. The worms can be 

 fumigated with sulphur in a tight box 

 or room, but this is seldom necessary, 

 and is not practiced to any extent by 

 the best honey producers. If comb 

 honey is produced by the best methods 

 there will be scarcely any pollen cells 

 in it, and in the absence of these the 

 moths do little harm. A worm is sel- 

 dom seen in surplus honey unless there 

 is pollen in some of the cells. When 

 honey is taken oft' the hive, if in small 

 sections containing only one comb 

 each, it can be held up to the light and 

 every cell of pollen detected. If these 

 are kept by themselves and used or 

 sold first, the rest will be comparatively 

 free from moths. 



Honey should never be kept In a cel- 

 lar — neither comb nor extracted. That 

 is the worst possible place for it. It 

 will gather moisture, or " sweat," and 

 soon become •• off flavor," if not posi- 

 tively sour. Store it in a dry, warm 

 room if possible (safe from mice), 

 then it will Keep ton years. It will not 



