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Mr. Dailant — If Mr. Hambaiigh had 

 measured the cells of foundation, that 

 had a streak of drone-brood, he would 

 find that they had been stretched to 

 drone size, and that these stretched 

 cells were always near the top of the 

 comb. 



Mr. Wallace — Drones in worker-cells 

 ai'e much smaller than normal drones, 

 and I would dispense with them, if 

 possible. 



Mr. James — An average of from 50 

 to 100 drones per colony is sufficient. 



The Secretary — The prime factors in 

 honey-production is a good queen, and 

 a hive that you can expand or contract 

 to suit her requirements. We must be 

 able to give the queen room, that no 

 time may be lost in egg-laying; and 

 we must also have all the surplus cases 

 at hand, that we may give the bees 

 plenty of room before they are seized 

 with the swarming fever ; we must be 

 able to expand the size of the surplus 

 apartment to the requirements of the 

 large armj- of workers, to keep the 

 bees at home and at work. We must 

 also be ready to quickly remove all 

 honey from the surplus receptacles, as 

 soon as we know that the honey is 

 cured and ready, and not allow the 

 hives to become glutted with honey, as 

 this is liable to bring about the swarm- 

 ing fever. I use alcohol barrels in 

 which to store honey, and a dry room. 

 I never put honey in a cellar. 



Mr. Dadant — Sell in a local market, 

 and keep up fair prices. Sell by sam- 

 ple, but do not begin too early in the 

 season. We must not crowd the mar- 

 ket. When shipping comb honey, put 

 heavy paper in the bottom of the 

 crates. For extracted honey, use tin 

 cans, neatly labeled, and make every 

 package as inviting and presentable as 

 possible. 



Mr. Thornton — When country stores 

 ■efuse to buj', leave your honey on 

 jommission. 



Mr. Black — Each bee-keeper must 

 adapt his business to his surroundings ; 

 study his local market, and by all 

 means drive a good local trade. The 

 amount of business done depends upon 

 the ability of the man to sell. 



LAYING IN QUEEN-CELLS. 



" Does a queen ever laj' eggs in 

 queen-cells ?" 



Mr. Dadant — I think not ; their an- 

 tipathy against other queens leads to 

 that conclusion. 



Mr. Wallace — I think that they do. 



Mr. Smith had seen eggs in old 

 queen-cells, and their position would 

 indicate that the queen had laid them 

 there. 



The Secretary has doubts as to the 

 queen ever laying the egg in the 

 queen-cell, owing to their antagonism 

 lowaril each other. 



Mr. Dadant thought it probable that 

 the eggs had been placed there by the 

 workers. 



Mr. Thornton — I think that the 

 queen lays in the queen-cells, the same 

 as in other cells. 



Mr. Black was of the opinion that 

 the queen sometimes lays the egg in 

 the queen-cell, and at other times the 

 cell is built around the egg by the 

 workers. 



Mr. Wallace said that the queen lays 

 the egg in the queen-cell. 



Mr. Dadant — If we admit that the 

 queen lays the egg in a queen-cell, and 

 knows the sex of the egg, then she is 

 different from anything in the animal 

 kingdom. If she does not know the 

 sex (and size of cell governs the sex), 

 then the egg would hatch a drone. 



DIFFERENCE IN YIELDS OF HONEY. 



" What is the dilFerence in the yields 

 between comb and extracted honey, 

 when the apiarist furnishes foundation 

 for comb honey, and dry combs for 

 extracted honey ?" 



The answers were as follows : The 

 Secretary— Double the amount; Mr. 

 Wallace — A trifle more ; Mr. Thornton 

 — Twenty per cent, more ; Mr. Williams 

 — No more ; Mr. Dunbar — Fiftj- per 

 cent, more ; and Messrs. Smith and 

 Black — A trifle more. 



QnESTIONS ON DRONES. 



"Will bees admit drones from other 

 hives, when they are not queenless ?" 



The prevailing opinion was that 

 they would during a honey-flow, but 

 not during a dearth. 



" Are drones from virgin queens of 

 the same value as from fertile queens ? 

 Are drones from laying workers cap- 

 able of fertilizing queens ?" 



Mr. Dadant — According to Mr. Che- 

 shire, their organs are fully developed, 

 though tliey be from an unfertile 

 queen, or laying worker. 



Mr. Wallace — They are " uo good," 

 in my estimation. 



WHAT IS ROYAL JELLY ? 



"What is the food, or in other 

 words, the royal jelly upon which 

 young queens are fed during the larval 

 state ?" 



Mr. Dadant then read from Mr. 

 Cheshire's writings upon this subject. 



Mr. Wallace once cut out a section 

 of comb with eggs, and put it into a 

 hive with a swarm of bees, and shut 

 them up for three days, at the end of 

 which he found queen-cells tilled with 

 royal jelly, and he knew that they had 

 no possible chance to gather it from 

 the outside. 



SPRAYING FRUIT-TREES. 



At Mr. Smith's suggestion, it was 

 decided that the association be author- 

 ized to petition the State Horticultural 



Society, to prevent as far as it is in 

 their power, the spraying of fruiHrees 

 with Paris green or other deadly pois- 

 ons, when they are in bloom. Mr. 

 Dadant said that it should become a 

 legislative topic. 



The annual election of officers next 

 being in order, the following was the 

 result : 



President, S. N. Black, of Clayton, 

 Ills. ; Vice-President, C. P. Dadant, of 

 Hamilton ; Secretaiy, Daniel Shank, 

 of Clayton ; and Treasurer, G. W. 

 Williams, of Buckhorn. 



It was decided that the next meet- 

 ing be called at the option of the ex- 

 ecutive committee, in October or No- 

 vember, 1890, and that the Secretaiy 

 be instructed to secure badges to be 

 worn at the next meeting. 



Messrs. Dadant and Hambaugh were 

 appointed as delegates to the Interna- 

 tional Convention at Brantford, Ont, 

 Canada, on Dec. 4 to 6, 1889. 



At the suggestion of the President, 

 the members gave their report for the 

 season of 1889, as follows, the last 

 three names being visitors : 



No. colonies. Lbs. honey. 



J. A. Thornton 250 ... . 14,000 



J. M. Hambaugh 240. . . . 15,000 



T. S. Wallace 130.... 3.500 



Chas. Dadant & Son 450.. ..45,000 



J.G.Smith 13.... 300 



Jos. Dunbar 34.... 1,200 



G.W.James 18.... 200 



G. W. Wilhams 19.... 800 



DanielShank 19.... 500 



S.N.Black 60.... 1,200 



John H. Hambaugh 20.... 600 



E. S. Frank 9.... 125 



D.W.Miller 4.... 100 



Total 1,266 .... 82,525 



The convention then adjourned sine 

 die. J. M. Hambaugh, Sec. 



CAGES. 



A Queen-Cage for Shipping and 

 Introducing. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY E. L. PRATT. 



I have sent away quite a number of 

 samples of the queen-cage that I am 

 trying to make perfect. All who have 

 received then\ commend it very highly. 

 Mr. G. M. Doolittle calls it the " per- 

 fection cage." 



It is a simple block, l{x4 inches, 

 containing three one-inch holes J inch 

 from each other, and from the edges 

 of the block. These are connected 

 with a f-inch hole, so as to form a 

 passage-way through the one-inch 

 holes, and make an exit for the queen 

 and attendants, while introducing ; 

 when, by simply removing a small 

 cork, the deed is done, as the bees 

 will soon remove tlie candy in the en- 



