Our Convention Trip.— According 

 to announcement in the last Journal 

 we visited the following conventions 

 during the past month : 



Southern Kentucky, 



Central Kentucky, 



Western Illinois and Eastern Iowa, 



Muscatine District, Iowa. 



On our way to the first, we called on 

 Mr. C. E. Muth, in Cincinnati, and en- 

 joyed a day with him in viewing the 

 city, and calling at the apiary of Mr. J. 

 S. Hill, at Mount Healthy ,0. Mr. Hill's 

 apiary is in good order, and his bees 

 were working lively on fruit bloom 

 when we were there. Mr. H. showed 

 us his bottle-feeder, for which his hives 

 are arranged, for feeding from an in- 

 verted bottle, and reached only from 

 the inside. Also his " swarm-catcher," 

 which is exceedingly handy. We here- 

 with present a cut of it. The bag may 



be" made of factory, having a handle 

 of cloth on the inside as'well as the out 

 — making it reversible. With a long 

 wooden pole it will reach any swarm, 

 and when the bees are emptied in front 

 of the hive the handle on the outside 

 gives the apiarist control of it, and 

 when turned inside-out a handle is still 

 on the outside, as it has two of them. 



We enjoyed a visit with Dr. N. P. 

 Allen of Smith's Grove, Ky., and his 

 pleasant family, and the neighboring 

 bee-keep3rs, who came in and spent the 

 evening with us. 



At Gainesville, Mr. & Mrs. T.M. Good- 

 night entertained us very agreeably. 



At Lexington we spent Sunday and 

 Monday with Mr. Wm. Williamson, who 

 took us to see the celebrated Horse 

 Farm of Major Thomas. The Major en- 

 tertained us right royally, and showed 

 us his fancy horses most willingly, one 

 of the best being imported from Eng- 

 land, and worth $25,000. 



At Hamilton, 111., we enjoyed a good 

 visit with those excellent apiarists— 

 Ch. Dadant & Son, the Kev. O. Clute, 

 Messrs. Scudder, Palmer and others. 



At Muscatine, we had a good visit 

 with Mr. Kirk, Major Allen, the Eev. 

 E. L. Briggs and many others who at- 

 tended the convention. 



We saw some old friends and many 

 new ones, and had an exceedingly pleas- 

 ant trip of over two thousand miles. 



Comb Building.— Mr. Taylor propounds 

 the following question: 



Novice says "that bees gorging them- 

 selves, at (as 1 understand it) any season, 

 the same will cause them to at once pro- 

 ceed to comb building ?" Is this your idea ? 

 I have always thought that after the ex- 

 citement that caused them to fill up was 

 over, they would disgorge and return the 

 honey to the combs, and become as they 

 were before this gorging. I can not see that 

 this simple action necesarily puts them to 

 comb-making. 



We have no evidence that bees build 

 combs for other than two purposes, viz., for 

 storing honey and for the queen to lay in. 

 When the hive contains combs for these 

 two purposes, sufficient for present needs, 

 nothing can induce them to build more. 

 Bees never build comb except for immedi- 

 ate use. 



Humbug.— Dr. Decker has sent us a copy 

 of the Aroostook Valley (Me.) Sunrise, con- 

 taining the letter of Mr. Clements, which 

 appeared in the Bee Joubnal for January, 

 concerning Mrs. Cotton's transactions. That 

 paper then remarks as follows: 



We hope Mrs. Cotton will give our readers 

 the facts in the above case, if not already 

 quoted, and thus free our minds from the 

 suspicion that a female trickster resides in 

 our midst. Mr. Blaisdell of this town gave 

 Mrs. Cotton a challenge through this paper, 

 but as yet we have heard nothing from it, 

 and Dr. Decker, the "bee-king" of Aroos- 

 took, informs us that such a statement as 

 Mrs. C. makes is wrong in fact and in prin- 

 ciple, for he is certain, from many years' ex- 

 Eerience with bees, that such yields cannot 

 e made as stated in her advertisement. If 

 Mrs. C. is robbing the people by palming off 

 such cumbersome rubbish as represented, 

 and not fulfilling her agreements, she most 

 certainly should be exposed and the public 

 put on their guard against such fraud. 



i^° Eor the brood chamber the thick 

 comb foundation is superior to the 

 thin. It adds strength- to the combs, 

 as well as supplying the wax for build- 

 ing out the cells. 



