XHS SMEiRICSri BBS JQURNSL. 



631 



time the cells are started ? I have 

 seen cells in difl'erent stages in the pro- 

 cess of building, even to completion, 

 or capped cells, and yet thej- would 

 turn up missing, and no swarm would 

 issue ; but this proved to me that the 

 bees did have some " notion of swarm- 

 ing," which was afterward abandoned. 

 — G. W. Demaree. 



Bees never build nor start queen- 

 cells, unless they have some notion 

 that a queen will be needed. Those 

 half-grown queen-cells may have con- 

 tained eggs at one time. — Mahala B. 

 Chaddock. 



Do they ? You ask a question, pre- 

 supposing a state of things that may 

 not exist. In case, however, that your 

 supposed statement is correct, you are 

 asking a question to whicli the only 

 answer must be a gwis. — J. E. Pond. 



How do you know that they had " no 

 notion."' The very fact that they com- 

 menced to form the cells, indicated 

 some " notion," did it not ? Like us 

 of the genus homo, bees often com- 

 mence a work, and from discouraging 

 circumstances, back out. Is not yours 

 such a case ? — A. J. Cook. 



When the bees commenced to build 

 those "queen-cells" thej- evidently 

 had a •'notion" to swarm — but they 

 might have expected a rich honey- 

 yield, which the elements prevented, 

 in some way, from coming, and. like 

 other beings, "changed their notion," 

 and left their building incomplete, 

 as millions of other buildings have 

 been started but never completed. In- 

 sect folly is no worse than man's folly. 

 We have often heard of an unfinished 

 building, when going to decay, called 

 "somebody's folly." — The Editor. 



Convention Notices. 



Zy The Nortbweslem Bee-Keepers* Society will 

 hold its annual convention at the Commercial Hotel, 

 corner of Lake an,t Dearborn Sts.. in ( hicajio. Ills.. 

 on Friday anri Suliirdar, Oct. 11th and IStb, 

 at 9 a.m. Arruntjeuient-t have been luade with the 

 Hotel for hack ritoiu.nne bed. two persons, tl.To per 

 day, each ; front room. $i:.o<.i per day for each per- 

 son. This date occurs tluring the Exposition, when 

 excursion rales on the railroads will be one fare 

 for the rounri-lrip. pnod from Oct. 10 to 14, inclusive. 

 There has been a fair crop of honey in the West, 

 and an old-tiiue rrfiwd luav be expected at this revi- 

 val of the Northwestern from Its "hibernation." 



W. Z. HDTCHIN80N, StC. 



ZW The International Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will meet in the court-house, at Brantford. Ont., 

 Canada, on Derember 4, 5, and fi, ]kn;(. All bee- 

 keepers are invited to attend, and State and District 

 bee-keepers' societies are requested to appoint del- 

 egates to the convention. Full particulars of the 

 meetini; will be given in due time. Anyone desirous 

 of becoming a member, and receiving the last Annu- 

 al Report bound, may do so by forwarding %\.0(} to 

 the Secretary,— R. F. HoLTKHMAXX, Sec. Romney, 

 Ont.. Canada. 



tW The Union Bee-Keepers' Society will meet In 

 Mount Sterling. Brown Co.. Ills., on Oct. 23 and 24. 

 I«89. The prospects are very nattering for a grand 

 time, and ,%ll w)io are interested in bees or honey 

 are cordially invited to attend. 



J. M. HAMB.iroH. Sec. 



Snbscribers who do not receive this paper 

 promptly, will pleaje notify us at once. 



MAINE FAIR. 



Bees and Honey at the Klainc 

 Slate Fair. 



Written for Vie American Bee Journal 

 BY L. K. ABBOTT. 



Maine has to add the present as the 

 third extremely poor season for honey 

 gathering. Tliree such seasons in 

 succession, with hard winters interven- 

 ing, is not very inspiring to the api- 

 arist who has just faith enough in the 

 business, under the most favorable 

 conditions, to devote afew spare hours 

 to his bees, and get what honej" he can 

 from the least outlay and care. 



But there are a few bee-keepers in 

 Maine who, while thej' know that bees 

 cannot be kept profitably unless 

 climatic and other conditions are fa- 

 vorable, still keep their colonies up to 

 nearly their highest mark, as to num- 

 bers, and hope for a change for the 

 better. 



Under the depressing condition 

 which the honey interest has been sur- 

 rounded from the above cause, it was 

 not to be expected that bee-keepers 

 would show much enthusiasm in mak- 

 ing an exhibit at the State Fair at 

 Lewiston this year ; but when the bee- 

 men focused at the exhibition building 

 on Tuesday, .Sept, 10, the opening daj' 

 of the fair, they shook hands all 

 around, and looked in surprise at the 

 splendid exhibit, both in quality and 

 quantity, of honey displaj'ed, and the 

 comprehensiveness of the exhibit in 

 other directions. In fact, as Mr. 

 Jonathan Pike remarked — to whose 

 activitj- and faithful management, with 

 that of Mr. J. B. Mason, of the Bee- 

 Keepers'' Advance, the success of the 

 apiarian exhibit in the past as well as 

 the present season is largely due — 

 " this is the best exhibit of the bee- 

 interest ever made in Maine." 



Then, again, to a single exhibitor, 

 Mr. E. H. Greeley, of Clinton, is due 

 the credit of furni.5hing the back-bone 

 of the exhibit in his grand display of 

 honey in sections, and extracted ; for, 

 be it known, while the rest of Maine 

 has been thoroughly under a cloud, as 

 regards the honey interest, Mr. 

 Greeley's bees have gone swimmingly 

 on, producing exceptionally large 

 amounts of honey each year, while the 

 rest of us poor fellows have had to 

 scratch around to devise ways to keep 

 our bees alive. Mr. Greeley attributes 

 his success to the large amount of 

 Alsike clover accessible to his bees, the 

 farmers in that section all sowing it 



freely for the excellent hay that it 

 produces. 



While Mr. Greeley was the main ex- 

 hibitor, the honey display made bj- 

 Mr. Pike, of Livermore Falls, was by 

 no means a poor one. The whole of 

 one side of the east wing of the second 

 floor of the large exhibition building 

 was filled with the apiarian exhibit. 

 The lioney was mainly arranged in 

 three large pyramids, six or more feet 

 high, built upon the wide table or coun- 

 ter. The base was formed of tilled 

 glassed section-cases, and those sur- 

 mounted b}' sections tastefully arranged 

 with jars and glass pails of extracted 

 honey, placed at the corners, the 

 whole verging to a point at the top, 

 and surmounted with a single package 

 of some form of extracted honey. Thus 

 arranged, the display was attractive 

 and beautiful. 



Mr. Mason, of Mechanic Falls (as 

 also did Messrs. Pike and Greeley), in 

 addition to his honey exhibit, had full 

 colonies of bees, and several small 

 colonies in observatory hives. The 

 Italian, Carniolan and blacks were the 

 prevailing kinds shown. 



Mr. S. H. Stockman, of East Auburn, 

 has mainly the Italians, and had a 

 large exhibit of implements for the 

 apiary, besides bees and honey. 



Probably the most varied and ex- 

 tensive exhibit of implements and tools 

 necessary to carry on work in the api- 

 ary, was made by Mr. Mason. 



Mr. Costellow, of York countj", had 

 also samples of supplies. Mr. Farr, 

 of Castle Hill, Aroostook county, had 

 fine samples of honey in cases from 

 that famed honey region ; but Aroos- 

 took, in common with the principal 

 portions of Maine, has experienced an 

 " off year" in its honey products this 

 season. 



Lewiston, Maine. 



FALL WORK. 



The Fall Crop a Fallure- 

 I'niting Colonies, ete. 



Written for the Prairie Farmer 



BY MRS. L. HARRISON. 



Manv persons rushed off their honey, 

 selling at a low figure, anticipating a 

 big fall flow, as the season was wet. 

 In this they have been disappointed ; 

 the bee-poiice are now marching out 

 the drones. Bloom has been abun- 

 dant, but the winds did not favor the 

 .secretion of nectar. Of course locali- 

 ties difler ; there have been some 

 favored spots ; but as a whole, the 

 product is not large. 



A bee-master can judge intelligently 

 of the inmates of his hives, by watch- 

 ing their entrance. If the colony is 



