160 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 



could make by this management. He said he 

 had made nineteen large swarms from one. The 

 first division he made four new ones, and as they 

 were strengthened up by breeding, he went 

 through the same process with each of the new 

 colonies. A quart was his standard for winter- 

 ing, and it was enough to start with in the 

 spring. He used common "factory," to make 

 feeders of. The whole theory was to keep the 

 bees feeding all the time when they can get none 

 in the fields, regardless of the time of year. The 

 past season he had not done as well as usual. 

 He started in the spring with twenty-five colo- 

 nies. His sales of bees from them amounted to 

 $528, and he had secured two thousand pounds 

 of honey, and had now one hundred and eight 

 colonies. Sold swarms at prices averaging $15 

 each . He said he had made as high as ten colo- 

 nies from one in September. 



Sugar syrup was as good or better than honey 

 for feeding, but he generally fed honey, as it was 

 cheaper to him. He estimated that it cost him 

 a cent a pound ; he raises all his queens from 

 one hive, and makes up the swarms from the 

 others. As he takes out sheets of brood for 

 queen raising, he puts in empty comb, and in 

 that way one queen would furnish all the eggs 

 needed. 



He was asked if he had ever secured one thou- 

 sand pounds of honey from one swarm. He an- 

 swered that he never had said so, although it 

 was reported over the country that he had so 

 stated at Cleveland . He only proposed to do it 

 if some one would buy all his bees except ten 

 colonies. He thought he could do it; he be- 

 lieved that he had done it this year, but did not 

 keep the stocks long enough to put the steel- 

 yards to them. He disliked to state what he be- 

 lieved he could do, as it would be said that he 

 said he had done it. His offer made last year at 

 Cleveland was still open. No one had yet ac- 

 cepted it. It had been said that he used magic ; 

 the magic of the whole thing was that he had the 

 best honey-producing district in the world. He 

 was a bee hunter when he went to Minnesota, 

 but he lived there five years before he could get 

 the bees to work on -'bait;" the yield of the 

 honey was so great and so continuous, that they 

 had to be "lined" from the flowers; such was 

 not the case all over his State, it was only so in 

 certain favored localities, but he could point out 

 a number of localities that were as good as his. 

 The wild rice was perhaps the best of the flow- 

 ers, but it was confined to certain districts. 

 There had been no cessation of the honey flow, 

 this year, from May to September, although it 

 was generally pronounced a poor season. He 

 sowed eight acres of black mustard (sinapis ni- 

 gra, the seeds of which furnish the mustard of 

 our tables). It furnished abundance of honey. 

 He added that it was not uncommon for twelve 

 natural swarms to issue from one hive in a sea- 

 son in Minnesota, and to be successfully win- 

 tered. The Society adjourned to 1.30 P. Jll. 



Afternoon Session. 



The society met at 1^ o'clock, the President 

 in the chair. 



The best method of increasing stocks was 

 further discussed. 



Mrs. E. 8. Tapper said, as soon as she took 

 her bees from the cellar in the spring, she aimed 

 to increase them as fast as possible, by feeding, 

 so as to have all her swarms made early. Early 

 swarming is necessary in successful bee-keeping. 

 The early swarms make all the honey. About 

 the last of May she divided every hive, by taking 

 out of each a strong colony. She thus doubled 

 her stocks, and afterwards prevented farther in- 

 crease. At the time of making the swarms, she 

 had' a young queen to give to each colony, which 

 prevented after-swarming, but if allowed to raise 

 their own queens they would swarm. This sea- 

 son she had made some late swarms after Hos- 

 mer's quart plan, and had twenty-two in the 

 cellar to try. 



In the spring she tried to have plenty of honey 

 in the hive, and empty comb, to induce early 

 brooding. As the comb was filled with eggs, she 

 moved it apart and inserted empty comb. The 

 queen will lay in the spring in proportion to the 

 room she has, the supply of food, and the tem- 

 perature of the hive. She closes the hive as 

 tight as possible, as Mr. Hosmer does in the 

 spring, and covers the top of the frames with pa- 

 per, so as to retain as much heat as possible. 



A . F. Moon had given his method before, but 

 would repeat it. He had the best success in the 

 spring by first equalizing his colonies, so as to 

 make them all strong alike. When rapid brood- 

 ing is secured, he goes among his hives and takes 

 a frame of brood from each colony, with the ad- 

 hering bees ; from strong colonies he takes two 

 frames. When enough are obtained, he fills a 

 hive with them. He furnishes each new colony 

 with a queen cell, which he has raised by taking 

 queens from enough hives to raise a sufficiency 

 of queen cells. He repeats the operation every 

 three or four days, until he has increased to the 

 desired number. 



The next topic in order was : 



"How to secure the largest amount of surplus 

 honey?" 



W. R. King, of Ky., moved to suspend the or- 

 der of business for an explanation. Carried. 



W. R. King, said he understood from the re- 

 port of the committee that settled with the 

 treasurer, that $158.76 had been paid for print- 

 ing the transactions of the last meeting of the 

 society. If so, did they not belong to the so- 

 ciety, and was not each member entitled to one ? 

 He said he had applied for a copy and was told 

 he would have to pay twenty-five cents for it. 



H. A. King, of N. Y., said, that of course they 

 belonged to the society, and they had a right to 

 dispose of them to members gratis. 



W. R. King moved that they be ordered to be 

 brought in for distribution, which motion was 

 adopted. 



The discussion of the topic in the regular or- 

 der, was resumed. 



Mr. Hosmer was called for. He declined. He 

 said he once had the misfortune to be a tax-col- 

 lector, aud had to collect a special tax. Every 

 man he went to had to have the object of the 

 tax explained, and he repeated the same tale so 

 often that he got tired of it long before he col- 



