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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Nov., 



fact being slightly doubted by some members of 

 the association, the president, Mr. Rood, related 

 in detail what he had heard Gen. Adair say upon 

 the subject, stating that Gen. Adair had demon- 

 strated this matter before the Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation, at Indianapolis, and made no secret of 

 the method employed. 



Some general talk was had by different mem- 

 bers present, in regard to bees using old comb 

 to make new comb, each member stating some 

 experience of his own in regard to this fact. 

 President Rood stated, as a matter of informa- 

 tion to the association, that he had seen a piece 

 of artificial comb which was exhibited at Cleve- 

 land last year. That owing to a conflict between 

 rival claimants in regard to the patent for this 

 invention, it has not yet come to any practical 

 good. 



Mr. Porter made some remarks on the needs 

 of apiculture. The speaker claimed that there 

 should be more science and practical experiment 

 in the art of bee-culture. 



Mr. H. King, an amateur in beekeeping, de- 

 sired to know if any person present had ever 

 had the experience of the queen bee being killed 

 at the time of swarming. 



Mr. A. C. Balch suggested that in such case 

 as that suggested it might have been a strange 

 queen that had been killed, and not one that be- 

 longed to the hive. 



On motion of the last named gentleman, the 

 association adjourned to meet at 8 A. m., Wed- 

 nesday. 



Wednesday Morning's Session. 



The association was called to order by Presi- 

 dent Rood, and he stated that a paper expected 

 to be read at this morning's session by one of 

 the members of the society had not as yet come 

 to hand, and inquired what was the pleasure of 

 the meeting. On the suggestion of Mr. Porter, 

 Mr. Clement was called upon to give his expe- 

 rience in introducing the queen into the hive. 

 He said : I open the hive and find the black 

 queen as soon as I can, if I want to, I keep her, 

 otherwise I pinch her head, and have the Ital- 

 ian queen ready. Then I smoke the bees, and 

 scent them with peppermint and introduce the 

 queen upon a card of brood comb and then go 

 about my business. I have never lost one queen 

 io a hundred by this method. 



Mr. Everard, of Kalamazoo, asked if any 

 member had ever had experience in introducing 

 the queen by Mr. Alley's plan of stupefying 

 them with tobacco. No discussion was elicited 

 upon this query. Mr. A. Balch said that it was 

 easy to introduce the queen during swarming 

 time. Almost any method can be followed suc- 

 cessfully. 



Mr. Everard gave his experience in regard to 

 fertile workers. They can be readily detected 

 by the egg. 



Mr. Clement was able to discover them by the 

 same means. He had also taken a puff-ball, 

 burnt it, and the smoke had the effect to stupefy 

 them ; they dropped down and were easily 

 found. 



Mr. Balch 6a id he had taken the queen and 

 the drone and held them together, and they had 



copulated together, and a brood had been pro- 

 duced thereby. Some laughter was produced 

 by the novelty of this experiment. The presi- 

 dent asked Mr. Balch if the experiment of the 

 enforced marriage of bees was practical in the 

 hands of ordinary beekeepers? 



Mr. Balch replied that he did not think that 

 his hands wei-e more than ordinarily skilful, 

 and thought that it could be made practical. 

 He had never failed in the experiment. 



Mr. Porter wondered if this was not the true 

 key to artificial fertilization. 



Mr. Clement hoped that this might be more 

 extensively tried. 



At this point the secretary read the following 

 communication from J. M. Marvin, of St. 

 Charles. 111., on the topic of " Queens and 

 Queen-raising :" 



Select each parent stock, with all the requisite con- 

 ditions, or rear them to it, namely such numbers of 

 the different ages as honey, pollen and watergatherers, 

 and inside workers of wax and nurses. 



Drone brood or egs^s encourage queen raising. 

 Changing some or all the combs, but the one6 having 

 the queen cells on, every three days or oftener, and 

 thus keep the bees employed, so that no poison be 

 given to the keeper or to the atmosphere surrounding 

 the young bees. 



Temper. The disposition should be mild ; it de- 

 notes care in breeding. The stock should be handled 

 with great care, not to arouse their anger, or let them 

 pass beyond control, as it can be increased or dimin- 

 ished, at the will of the keeper, in the parent bees, 

 and more especially in their offspring. The temper 

 depends greatly on the keeper, in good seasons, if 

 not more so than in poor ones, as they are apt to do 

 more storing than is good for the breeding stock. At 

 6uch times, if left to themselves, they generally renew 

 their queens, and being full of stores, and nothing to 

 do but defend their honey, a bad temper is increased. 

 Prolificness. This is a quality much desired, but 

 is not utilized as yet, only to a limited extent. Some 

 few abnormal cases are not prolific enough to keep 

 up the strength of the stock, or suit the wants of the 

 keeper; such queens may be removed, and a more 

 prolific one substituted. By drawing combs of brood 

 and eggs from a queen, it increases her energy and 

 usefulness, if not carried too far. 



Color. This is also at the control of the keeper. 

 We will not enter in discussion as to whether light 

 or dark bees are the purest, but a colony of light 

 colored bees, that rival the sunshine, are things of 

 beauty, and in my judgment detract nothing from 

 longevity or usefulness, but otherwise are the more 

 easily seen and handled thau those resembling old 

 comb iu color. 



Some remarks were made upon statements in 

 the letters of Mr. Marvin by President Rood, C. 

 I. Balch, Mr. Porter, and others. 



Mr. King wanted the thoughts of others on 

 how to make bees build straight combs. 



Mr. Balch asked Mr. King what hive he used. 

 Mr. King replied that he used the hive spoken 

 of by Mr. Quinby in his work on bees. 



Mr. Balch thought that Mr. King's difficulty 

 might arise from not having the hive stand 

 straight. 



A sort of " experience meeting" talk was then 

 indulged in by the members present on various 

 topics relative to bee-culture, Mr. Bingham, of 



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