873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



16S 



there he found a black swarm that must have 

 come from the mainland, a distance of, at least, 

 twelve miles. 



W. R. King asked if bees on flying off did 

 not keep in the same direction invariably. 



Mrs. Tupper. They do nothing invariably. 



Mr. Hawkins knew of a swarm that changed 

 its course twenty degrees. 



Mr. Southioorth had a swarm that went 

 straight about fifty rods and then turned at a 

 right angle. 



D. L. Adair followed a swarm through the 

 woods for several hours and saw them change 

 their course at least twenty times. 



Question 3. — "Why do Italian swarms leave 

 the parent hive without first filling themselves 

 with honey? " 



Mrs. Tupper. They did not seem to prepare 

 for swarming in all instances as the black bees 

 do. They often swarm before any queen cell is 

 started, when the hive is very populous. Many 

 times they issue without filling with honey. 

 They seem to swarm from the impulse of the 

 moment. The swarming fever comes on sud- 

 denly. She could give no reason for it. 



Question 4. — "Management of extracted 

 honey. Will it sour if not heated '? " 



Mrs. Tupper never had seen a spoonful of sour 

 extracted honey. She takes it out when nearly 

 ready to cap. In twenty-four hours a scum 

 will rise, which should be taken off. It does not 

 come again. Dealers will not buy boiled honey. 

 Basswood honey is not as thick as most other 

 honey. It should be left in until about to be 

 scaled. Golden rod honey is denser. 



Mr. Southioorth had had enough of boiled 

 honey. It injures it very much, and does not 

 prevent candying. 



President Clarke said that he was reported in 

 the proceedings at Cleveland as having recom- 

 mended boiling honey, whereas he only advised 

 gradually heating it after candying, to restore it 

 to a liquid state. 



Question 5. — "Is there any means by which 

 we can call back swarms, or settle them? " 



Mrs. Tupper. The old remedies she thought 

 of no avail, but flashing the sun on them by the 

 reflection of a looking glass would cause them 

 to settle. She had seen conclusive proof of its 

 efficacy this year. 



H. A. King said that to run ahead of a swarm 

 with a pail of sand, throwing handfuls of sand 

 among them, would confuse the bees, and cause 

 them to settle. 



TF. R. King followed a valuable Italian swarm 

 three fourths of a mile, and fought them nearly 

 an hour with dirt, by throwing it among them, 

 and thereby settled them. Had several times 

 seen them brought down, when flying off, by 

 shooting a shot gun at them. 



I. W. Winder said cold water thrown among 

 them was effectual. 



Scth Hoagland had tried throwing dirt without 

 effect, until he learned the fact that there is al- 

 ways a convoy of bees ahead of the main swarm. 

 If they are confused in any way, it has the ef- 

 fect to settle them. He had used the Hydro- 

 pult, also, with effect. 



S. P. Shipley said he never lost a swarm of 



bees by going off. When he knew of them 

 swarming, he whistled them back. Had last 

 season a neighbor to come in and tell him that 

 one of his swarms was going off. He stepped 

 out and whistled for them, and they came back 

 and settled, although they had got some distance. 



N. E. Prentice. If you can only get ahead 

 of the swarm and confuse the advance guard, 

 they will settle. Rattling behind them does no 

 good. 



Dr. Lucas related an instance in which he 

 Saw a swarm in full flight, arrested by a bright 

 flash of lightning, causing them to descend 

 quickly. 



A. F. Moon never made noises or threw dirt, 

 but when he sees they are going away, water 

 thrown on them will settle them. 



Dr. Hamlin had tried dirt and sand and other 

 things, and was of opinion that anything that 

 would confuse them had a tendency to stop their 

 flight. 



A. L. Williams of Westville, la. Had never 

 tried whistling them back, but had repeatedly, 

 ever since he was a boy, stopped them by get- 

 ting before them and shooting back at them. 



Mr. Southioorth. Hived one swarm four times, 

 and the last time they came out they clustered 

 on a bush and he left them there at night. Dur- 

 ing the night they disappeared. 



Question 6. "Is there such a thing as honey ?" 



Mrs, Tupper. Honey is generally defined to 

 be a secretion of plants, which is gathered from 

 the flowers by the bees. 



President Clarke. Some scientists think that 

 bees make honey. That after they gather the 

 nectar from the flowers, it undergoes a change 

 in the honey sac, by coming in contact with 

 formic acid ; while others contend that they 

 merely gather it, and deposit it in the comb cells 

 without any alteration in it. 



Mr. Tupper said : — A convention of German 

 beekeepers had discussed the subject and de- 

 cided that there was no chemical change in the 

 substance, that the bees gathered from the 

 flowers, unless the flight of the bees operated 

 mechanically and had a kind of churning effect 

 on it. 



Dr. Borher said, some contended that formic 

 acid, which was the poison ejected by the bee 

 into the wound made by stinging, was mixed 

 with it, but that could have no effect, except 

 to change the taste. But honey undoubtedly 

 undergoes a change after it is deposited in the 

 hive before sealing over, by the evaporation of 

 water, and the peculiar odor which pervades 

 the hive. 



Mrs. Tapper. In Connecticut, the honey ga- 

 thered from certain plants was when first ga- 

 thered unfit to eat, on account of its acrid taste ; 

 when sealed over it was clear of it. 



Dr. Lucas agreed with Mr. Dunlap, that what 

 we know least about we can talk most about. 

 He thought that the honey sac was only a recep- 

 tacle in which to carry the honey to the hive, 

 and it had no appendages or glands that indi- 

 caded that any chemical change could be pro- 

 duced on the honey. 



President Clarke wanted to know if there was 

 no change produced in the sweets gathered by 



