eyes, nailed them together, making a long 

 square tube 6x8 inches ; I nailed a large piece 

 of thick board to the bottom for a foot and 

 put a pane of hot-bed glass over the top, and 

 bored a small hole near the bottom for an 

 entrance for the queen and drones. I set it 

 near a nucleus containing a virgin queen nearly 

 ready to be fertilized, and to this nucleus I 

 attached a small fertilizing cage, so as to catch 

 the young queen when she came out. 



The next day the queen came out, was duly 

 caught, and I let her run into my tall cage, and 

 put in soon after with her, two or three drones. 

 They all began to crawl and crawl, but after 

 long waiting a drone flew up to the glass, and 

 when he was once there, he staid. After a 

 good while the queen next took wing; but she 

 generally flew at one corner, and the drone at 

 another. I concluded that there ought to be 

 a dark border between the glass and the side 

 of the box, so that the one could fly around 

 the other when it was hugging the edge of the 

 glass. I replaced the glass with a piece of 

 board, while I could paste a border of black 

 cloth around it. When I returned the glass, 

 of course, all were crawling again, and they 

 continued to do so till too late for anything else 

 that day. With much difficulty I hunted the 

 queen out of that box, and returned her to the 

 nucleus, and concluded I would sleep that 

 night over the state of the case. It seemed 

 I wanted a larger box, one not so suggestive of 

 crawling, which would furnish a wider dark 

 border to the glass, and yet be better lighted by 

 the window than if narrow. 



Next morning, Oct. II, I took an empty 

 sugar barrel, clean and tight, with a cover fit- 

 ting tightly over the upper hoop, and into this 

 cover I cut a round hole about 4 inches across, 

 in the center, and fastened a piece of glass 

 against it on the under side. I now waited 

 till I had the queen again in the trap, which 

 happened about 2 o'clock. I put three drones 

 with her and threw them all into the barrel 

 standing in the bright sunlight, and quickly 

 closed the lid. They all immediately flew to 

 the glass, and before I had got ready to look 

 at them fairly, the queen had mated with one 

 of the drones. I took the barrel into a room 

 and caught the queen and returned her to the 

 nucleus. I had two other young queens, 

 which I expected would soon be out, and I 

 had traps then set to catch them ; but in my 

 anxiety to see if the thing could be done 

 again, I could not wait for them to come out, 

 so I went to the hive and caught one of these 

 queens with a queen-cage and put her into the 

 barrel with drones. She mated about as 

 quickly as the other, I next tried the third and 

 she likewise mated — not one of the three being 

 in the barrel 5 minutes. 



This was my last queen for the season. B Jt 

 I have done. I can hardly expect that eveiy 

 queen will mate as soon as these did ; but the 

 arrangement — simple as it is, accomplishes 



everything that seems to be necessary — namely, 

 it induces the bees to fly without the loss of 

 any time ; to fly in close proximity to each 

 other, and to keep constantly turning so as to 

 notice immediately a mate when near; and so, 

 I believe that queens can be put through the 

 process with sufficient rapidity, to make the 

 method satisfactorily practical. With the right 

 kind of a fertilizing cage, it does not appear to 

 be essential that the queen should be caught 

 on her way out to mate. I think she should 

 be confined to the nucleus till she is certainly 

 old enough to mate, and then picked out and 

 put into the fertilizing cage ; but neither she 

 nor the drones should be taken hold of with 

 the hands nor squeezed or touched with any 

 thing that would daub them in the least. 



Observing this caution, I think that any 

 bee-keeper who will try, can in this way have 

 all his queens fertilized in confinement ; while 

 the trouble required is as nothing compared to 

 the loss he can prevent, and the control he can 

 exercise over the purity and improvement of 

 his stock. J. Hasbrouck. 



Dr. Parmly, of New York, said that 

 he had ottered $25.00 as a premium for 

 an essay giving the plan for a success- 

 ful accomplishment of fertilization in 

 confinement. Prof. Hasbrouck gave 

 such an essay last year and he has 

 drawn his check for the $25.00. The 

 Professor gave it into the hands of the 

 President to be awarded this year for 

 further experiments. He was glad the 

 Professor had been successful with his 

 plan this year. 



Eev. O. Clute, Iowa, suggested this 

 was a most important question, as it 

 placed the matter of the proper fertili- 

 zation of the queens completely under 

 the control of the queen-breeder. 



J. Balch, 111., stated that in June last 

 he had found two combs with queen- 

 cells capped, which he removed and 

 placed in nuclei. When the queens 

 hatched he enclosed the hive with 

 mosquto-bar. On the third day the 

 young queen came out, struck the bar, 

 and flew back, meeting a drone and 

 was fertilized. The next day another 

 came out, and was mated the same 

 way ; both produced good Italian 

 workers. 



Wm. Clement, Iowa, related an in- 

 stance of a man in Iowa who had met 

 with success in fertilizing a queen in a 

 dry goods box, with a glass placed in 

 one corner. 



A. J. King, New York, related that a 

 Mr. Davis had informed him he had 

 good success fertilizing queens in con- 

 finement, by the X. C.Mitchell process- 



Prof. Cook had tried every way he 

 could think of, but without success. 

 He had not used a barrel ; but would 

 try it next season. 



