foundation and cutting out drone comb, 



we prevent the over-production of 

 drones ; this excessive supply of drones 

 we believe causes much oi the swarm- 

 ing fever. We will reiterate, what we 

 said years ago in the American Bee 

 Journal, that a hive in which there is 

 no drone-comb to raise drones will not 

 swarm. To sum up in brief, ventilate, 

 shade, give plenty of surplus room, and 

 raise no more drones than you need, 

 and those few from choice colonies. 

 But, in spite of all these precautions, we 

 will have many swarms ; to make them 

 as few as possible with the least labor, 

 we put the first swarm in a new hive, 

 for so far we have found it useless to 

 return the first swarm. We then make 

 on the slate (of which we are the in- 

 ventor) of the old hive " '79, June 15, 

 SW"d ;*' on the slate of the new hive we 

 put " '79, June 15, sw." In from 5 to 

 10 days afterwards we have a second 

 swarm. While the bees are clustering 

 we pinch all the queen cells, and then 

 return the swarm, thereby putting an 

 end to all sw r arming of that hive for the 

 present. You will see the use of the 

 slate as a register in swarming. When 

 the first swarm came off we marked on 

 the slate " '79, June 15, sw'd;" when 

 the second swarm came off we saw on 

 the slate that they had swarmed a few 

 days previous. By this record we know 

 that this is a second swarm to be re- 

 turned. By this means our apiary of 

 250 colonies has increased but little* for 

 the last three years. 

 New Boston, 111. 



Read before the N. E. Convention. 



Improvement of the Italian Bee, Etc. 



A. F. MOON. 



Permit me to express my great grati- 

 fication that there are so many repre- 

 senting the apieultural interest of this 

 great republic. Your Association is 

 composed of members from different 



Eortionsof your State. No doubt many 

 ave come at considerable sacrifice ; 

 and I extend to you all the hand of fel- 

 low ship, and greet you all as co-laborers 

 in the great cause or apiculture. I trust 

 you have met with no sinister motives; 

 you have no* political arguments to ad- 

 vance, yon have no sectional or party 

 purposes to promulgate, but your meet- 

 ing is for purposes more important ; you 

 have met to advance apiarian science 

 and art almost coeval with the earliest 

 branches of industry. 



The improvement of the Italian honey 

 bee is a matter of great importance, and 

 one that should interest the bee-keepers 

 of our country. It is about 20 years since 



their introduction into this country; 

 they have been held and managed prin- 

 cipally by the leading bee-keepers of 

 the country, men who claim to under- 

 stand and "instruct how to breed the 

 bee in all its purity as well as any other 

 stock. Someof them have written many 

 a flowery article, setting forth their prin- 

 cipal requisites, also encouraging their 

 improvement, etc.; but I am led to be- 

 lieve that their efforts have almost, it 

 not entirely, been in "vain." even in 

 their own apiaries, which would prove 

 to the observer that they did not practice 

 what they recommoidvd, and they, or 

 some of them, have flown, like the lost 

 sheep of "Israel;" some are fleeing to 

 other countries to see if they cannot 

 find something better, and perhaps, too, 

 without even trying to improve upon 

 the best bee ever known. But. away over 

 " yonder " is the bee ; his proboscis is so 

 "long!'' Oh, sir, it's just the bee for 

 this "country;" not cont< nt or competent 

 to improve what they have, but must try 

 something new, which will add another 

 great trouble in keeping the races pure. 

 It seems that other professional bee men 

 have struck for " higher wages," and 

 gone to raising dollar queens and sending 

 them broadcast over the country. So 

 much for improvement. 



Improvement of the Italian honeybee 

 since its introduction to this country 

 has been slow indeed. I will give a few 

 ideas for the consideration or your As- 

 sociation, hoping, however, if 1 cannot 

 say anything encouraging, that 1 will 

 not say anything to impede the interest 

 of bee culture. To improve the Italian 

 honey bee means something more than 

 " writing essays." In fact. I am almost 

 led to believe that all, or nearly all. the 

 efforts that have been put forth in this 

 direction have been in vain. If the 

 bee-keepers of this country cannot be 

 prevailed upon to improve our present 

 race of bees w r e cannot see the propri- 

 ety of introducing another '-bee" to 

 augment our present trouble in keep- 

 ing them {Hire. It seems that a greal 

 amount of time has been spent in talk- 

 ing and writing in behalf of this im- 

 provement, yet we have failed to see 

 it. This, gentlemen, is all wrong. If 

 we do not improve upon our present 

 bee, we deem it folly in the extreme to 

 talk about importing .something that is 

 considered by practical bee men no 

 better. It really seems that many of 

 Our so-called lice men have lost sight 

 altogether of improvement. About 20 

 years ago the Italian bee was intro- 

 duced into this country, and where is 

 the man that can say that their quali- 

 ties have been made better, or even as 

 good, as the first importation ? It is not 



