1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



245 



swarm bees artificially, I would not keep them. 



Take two or three frames and the queen from a 



good colony, put in a new hive and set it in 



» place of the old one, and so have worker comb 



: in the colony that ha? no queen. Commence 



.-, as soon in the spiinir as the colonies are strong 



enough, and before they commence queen cells. 



lit Keep all colonies strong by giving weak ones 



comh from strong ones. Have managed five 



hundred colonies in this way and never lost any. 



Wm. Townsend, of West Branch, and J. 



Lewis, of Cedar Rapids, agree with Kirk's 



method. 



Mr. White. Puts a fertile queen with the 

 colony when swarming artificially ; no danger 

 -' of swarming if you commence early, before 

 ([ueen cells are made. Put on boxes early. 

 Equalize all colonies in the spring and in Sep- 

 tember, by giving weak ones comb from strong 

 ones. 



Mr. Furman. If I had but one stock I would 

 take two or throe combs, generally two, with 

 the adhering bees and place them in a new 

 ■^^ hive ; place the new hive in the place of the old 

 one. If I had stocks enough should draw a 

 comb with the queen and a quart of bees from 

 a strong stock, put in a new hive, and set the 

 * new hive in the place of some other strong stock. 

 Divide as soon as there is a supply of honey in 

 the spring. 



Second Question .•— " What is the best method 

 of handling bees so as to avoid exciting their 

 anger?" 



Mr. Hair. Bees are like men ; some are ter- 

 ribly cross. Smoke such thoroughly. If the 

 colonies are gentle, handle them carefully, and 

 give a little sweetened water, perhaps. For 

 smoking I use mostly rotten wood. 



Mr. Kirk. Unless bees have honey to fill 

 themselves with, the more you smoke them the 

 ■^ Grosser they become. 



Mr. May. I want to know of Kirk what the 

 object is in smoking bees. Is it in some mysteri- 

 ous manner to make honey for them '? 



Mr. Kirk. Bees are like Mr. May. If his 

 house was on fire he would grab all the most 

 valuable things he could leave with, and while 

 loaded down he couldn't fight. 



Thrd Question: — "'What is the best method 

 of procuring honey in the comb for market?" 



Mr. Furman. Use boxes that will hold from 

 five to six pounds. It is sometimes difficult to 

 get bees to woi'k in them. I put in three guide 

 combs ; the middle one to reach from the top to 

 •—■the bottom of the box, and placed right side up. 

 Fasten with bees-wax and rosin. It is essential 

 to have empty comb for this purpose. If you 

 have none, empty the honey from some of your 

 combs and place back in the hive, so that the 

 bees may dress it up. Then cut in strips and 

 put in the boxes. 



Mr. Hoagland, Fayette County. Bees will 

 work much sooner in tlie boxes if guide combs 

 are put in. Put them right side up. Think 

 box honey much the best way to prepare honey 

 for the market. 



BhurtJi Question: — "Do bees gather honey 

 from honey dew?" 



Mr. Furmau. Think they do. 



Mr, Kirk, There were tons of honey gath- 

 ered from it in our region, and it was not as 

 good as buckwheat honey. 



W. S. Goodhue, Lisbon. Where I reside, 

 bees gather honey rapidly from honey dew, and 

 it is of splendid quality. 



Mr. White. Have seen bees so thick on 

 white oak that I thought they were swarming, 

 and I believe they were at work on honey dew. 



Mr. Peters, Anamosa. I believe the quality 

 depends upon the time the honey is gathered. 

 If gathei'ed early it is white ; if later it is dark 

 colored. Sometimes it appears in June, and 

 sometimes in August. Found only in dry, warm 

 seasons. 



Fifth Questi!)n: — "Will it pay to use the 

 'Extractor'?" 



G. W. Barclay, Tipton. Think it will. It is 

 a great benefit when the combs are loaded with 

 honey. For want of breeding room some colo- 

 nies become weak. Use the "Extractor" and 

 give breeding room. If put up good and honest, 

 extracted honey will pay better at ten cents per 

 pound than honey in comb at thirty or thirty- 

 five cents a pound. I believe we get more box 

 honey by using the " Extractor ;" having more 

 breeding room we have stronger swarms. 



Mr. Hodge. I have my doubt aboutsthe " Ex- 

 tractor" being a benefit or profitable. We can't 

 get box honey when there is room below for 

 storing it. We can sell honey in the boxes when 

 we can't sell extracted honey; for the comb is 

 beautiful, and nice for the table. It attracts 

 attention and comment. 



Mr. Furman. I have known of the "Ex- 

 tractor" for five years, and was slow to adopt 

 it. I got one a year ago and I like it. When 

 I came to colonies that were at work in boxes, 

 I let them alone. But I found that wher> bees 

 wei'e not at work in the boxes, extracting set 

 them to work in them, because the comb ex- 

 ti'acted from was wet with honey, and they 

 would not deposit honey in it till it was cleaned 

 up. Shall use "Extractor" oftener next year. 

 It saves time and honey. I took 100 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted and 37 lbs. of box honey from one hive, 

 and m.ight have taken more. 



Mr. Hair. Some like candied honey best, but 

 comb looks best. People are prejudiced against 

 extracted honey, because they have used strained 

 honey, which is mixed with bee- bread, the 

 crushed young bee.s, etc., etc., 



Mr. King. I purchased five swarms last spring 

 and they increased to twelve, and I got oOJ 

 pounds of extracted honey. 



Mr. Furman. Extracting should be done 

 every three days. 



Adjourned to 7 o'clock p. M. 



EVENING SESSION. 



The Association met pursuant to adjourn- 

 ment, and commenced the discussion of the 



f^ixth Question : —^^ Is the Italian bee superior 

 to the native or black, and are hybrids better 

 than the native ?" 



Mr. Kirk. Italians adhere to combs better 

 than the black ; are better workers, and more 

 prolific. These three tilings make them very 

 much superior to the black. 



