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loss, and is not in good shape now ; many of 

 the queens, even, appear sickly. The hives 

 are all alike ; the caps filled with leaves, 

 space contracted inside, and well filled up. 

 One suggestion is the location as to damp- 

 ness of the atmosphere. The one that win- 

 tered well was close to the river, the other 3 

 miles in the country near low lands, and has 

 always wintered the poorest of any of our 

 apiaries. Till last year this apiary has al- 

 ways had a large fall crop of honey; last fall 

 we got none from it. 



Jas. A. Simpson— My experience in this 

 respect has been varied. I had 2 apiaries 

 half a mile apart ; one had a cellar covered 

 with straw ; it was snowing at the time I 

 hauled the straw to cover, and it got a layer 

 of straw, then one of snow. The other one 

 had a wall of dirt 2 feet thick; dry straw 

 on top. The first one was very damp, of 

 course. The bees in the 2 cellars wintered 

 about equally well. Location, flight and 

 pasture about the same. The bees in the 

 damp cellar were most all Italians, the other 

 nearly all blacks. The Italians seemed to 

 carry in the dripping water from the en- 

 trance. The Italians wintered the best, if 

 anything. 



How shall we prevent the rearing of an 

 excessive number of drones ? 



E. D. Godfrey— Cut out all drone comb, 

 and save it to use in the sections. 



Jas. A. Simpson— That will not always 

 do. The bees will sometimes raise drones 

 in worker cells when they have no drone 

 comb. Cut off their heads with a honey 

 knife just before tbey are ready to hatch. 



L. H. Scudder— I have known bees to 

 lengthen the worker cells to raise drones in. 



C. P. Dadant— Cutting the heads off is 

 poor policy ; bees cost more to raise than to 

 feed after tliey are hatched. They will not 

 raise many drones in worker comb. 



E. D. Godfrey— Keep good, young queens, 

 and bees will not trouble you much with 

 drones if you keep out the drone comb. 



O. Clute— I have had no trouble with too 

 many drones. 1 use a great deal of comb 

 foundation, and thus have all worker comb, 

 and think that, and keeping queens joung 

 and vigorous, the best way. 



C. P. Dadant— I noticed an instance in 

 France, where one colony had all worker 

 comb, and raised a few small drones; an- 

 other had all drone comb ; the colony was 

 kept up from other hives ; the queen laid 

 very little, and the bees made the opening 

 to the cells narrow and raised worker bees 

 in them, but only raised a few bees during 

 the summer. 



What is the earliest time that any one 

 present has discovered drones flying in the 

 spring? 



II. F. Putnam— I saw them this spring in 

 February and March, but think they were 

 raised last fall, as there was no brood or 

 queen in the hive. 



Jas. A. Simpson— I saw them last season 

 very early, but they were from a last year's 

 drone-laying queen. 



It is \y z miles from my apiary to the edge 

 of white" clover, the clover extending V/ 2 



miles further ; will it pay to move my bees 

 for the white clover run f 



L. H. Scudder — I would prefer to move on 

 some accounts, but hardly in this case. 



O. Clute— Much has to be taken into con- 

 sideration m a question of this kind ; the 

 effects of wind in Hying, hills to keep off the 

 wind, or for the bees to fly over. If there is 

 likely to be much wind encountere'd, I think 

 it would pay to move. 



Which is preferable for use in the sec- 

 tions, drone or worker comb foundation? 



D. Rider— We discard all the drone comb 

 we can, and in extracting kill off all the 

 drones. We prefer the worker comb foun- 

 dation every time. 



L. H. Scudder— Prof. Cook, in his book, 

 says drone comb above is better. I never 

 thought the subject debatable at all. 

 Would it not be better for us to have work- 

 ers raised in the sections if the queen gets 

 up there at all ? 



C. P. Dadant— Bees do not put pollen in 

 drone comb, while they do put it in worker 

 comb, and in the sections, too. We prefer 

 worker foundation. 



T. G. McGaw— When honey is coming in 

 very fast, bees build much drone comb. 

 I would a little rather use drone comb. 



C. P. Dadant— When we compare the dif- 

 ference in rearing drones and workers, the 

 workers are ahead by all means. 



L. H. Scudder— If the bees were furnished 

 drone comb at the start, I am inclined to 

 think the queen would be more apt to use it. 

 If worker bees are reared, no loss occurs. 



Geo. Bischoff— I let my bees build comb 

 as they please ; they will do it anyhow. I 

 prefer worker foundation. 



E. D. Godfrey— 1 save all drone comb and 

 use it in the sections, that is any way light 

 enough, and have very few drones above. 

 1 use very thick foundation. 



L. H. Scudder — I was annoyed the past 

 season more than ever before ; had whole 

 sections filled with drones. 



What are the prospects of bee-keeping? 



T. G. McGaw— I think the days of fancy 

 prices for honey have gone by. There was 

 a time a few years ago when honey sold for 

 40 and 50 cents a pound, but I think hereaf- 

 ter what a man gets out of bee-keeping will 

 be done by hard work. 



O. Clute— That is a question that is easy 

 to make a long speecli on. Now, suppose 

 we think only of low prices for honey, and 

 that many are going into bee-keeping, and 

 look at it from the gloomy side ; do a great 

 deal of dolorous croaking, we should go 

 home with a strong desire to sell out. One 

 always hears such croakings at all meetings. 

 At the farmers' club meetings there is the 

 same talk of low prices, how many there 

 are taking up farming for a living ; but 

 farmers have been doing about as well as 

 usual, dairymen are doing better, the mar- 

 kets are getting better for American butter 

 and cheese. In spite of all croaking these 

 interests of farming have gone forward. 

 Men and women who have kept courage- 

 ously at work have made good progress in 

 the onward march ; those who stick to it 





