16 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[July, 



Our next meeting is to be held in this city, 

 on the last Wednesday in June; and our annual 

 meeting on the second day of the fair of our 

 County Agricultural Society. The secretary was 

 instructed to put our society in communication 

 with the N. A. Bee-keepers' Association ; (and 

 Mr. Editor and President, you may just consider 

 this obeying that instruction, if you please.) 

 Our proceedings were ordered published in full 

 in our six county papers, and notice of our or- 

 ganization to be given to the diflFerent bee-journ- 

 als a-„d papers. Don't you see we intend to let 

 our lighc shine? 



About three weeks ago in looking through 

 my colonies of bees, I discovered that my black 

 col.'Uy (I have but one colony of blacks,) were 

 fighti'ig their queen. They had her l)y the 

 wingfc and legs, and any^Yhere they could get 

 hold of her, and I tound it was quite difficult to 

 release her. I replaced her on a different card 

 of comb three times, and they seemed l>ound 

 to commit murder. I believe they knew 

 that our state had advanced so far in civilization 

 (?) that people don't liave to be hung for mur- 

 der. 1 tlien enclosed her in a quei-n cage just 

 as I Avould ro introduce any queen into a strange 

 colony, and in about seventy hours (I was too 

 busy to release her sooner) opened the cage and 

 let her walk out on a card f>l' comb among the 

 bees, and they commei'cod to make bows to her 

 ami accepted her in tne very best style, and the 

 next moining .showed that the quei n was not 

 afraid of work, for she had added at least 2500 

 eggs to the stock previously on hand. 



Can any one tell me why these bees tried to 

 destroy their own quoen V I have not Italianized 

 this colony because the qui.'en is as prolific as 

 any Italian I have , and the workers will gather 

 honey whenever the Italians can ; and they were 

 the first to raise brood this season, and are do- 

 ing splendidly in that line yet. 



A. B. Mason. 

 Waterloo^ Iowa, May, 1873. 



[For the American Bee Journa,] 



Our First "Swarming." 



Not to experienced apiarians do I relate the 

 Btory. I Would humbly beseech rather that 

 they please to not listen. But if among lady 

 bee keep( rs there be one who knows as little, 

 praciically, of " natural " swarming as did I on 

 the morning of May 27, 1873, 



"'J'o her my tale I tell." 



The morning was cool, cloudy, breezy, and 

 I said to sister Nellie, as we rose from the 

 breakfast table, 



'' We shall not be able to divide the bees to- 

 day, I fear." 



" Will it matter ? " she asked. 



"Oh, no," I replied, serenely and confidently. 

 ** They will not think of emigrating under a 

 "week — their preparations are but just begun — 



and in cool weather they are better off as they 

 are." 



As the morning advanced the wind died 

 away and the sky cleared. At noon it was 

 bright, warm and still. I noticed at this time 

 that the bees at one hive were very quiet — 

 scarcely a bee in sight — while at the other they 

 were humming merrily. The first mentioned 

 being the stronger colony, I wondered a little 

 at their inactivity ; its real meaning was clearly 

 apparent some hours later, especially after re- 

 reading a forgotten passage from " Langstroth." 

 " If in the swarming season, but few bees leave 

 a strong hive when other colonies are busily at 

 work, on a clear, calm, warm day, we may look 

 with great confidence for a swarm, unless the 

 weather proves unfavorable." 



An hour or so after noon, thinking the bees 

 were making an unusual and unnessary amount 

 of noise, I stepped to the door to see that at 

 this but recently so silent a hive, there was now 

 quite a commotion. Many bees were whirling 

 about and over the hive, while more were pour- 

 ing forth in an unprecedented way as to numbers 

 and hurry. Come forth in a very large stream 

 they could not. The evening before having 

 teeen cold and stormy, I had shut the fly-holes 

 and somewhat contracted the lower entrance; 

 and as the morning had been cloudy and the 

 bees quiet, no change had as yet been made. 

 Now, as I stood gazing at them, spell-bound at 

 my first surprise, there flashed across my mind 

 the query, " are they swarming?" But it was 

 only to be at once dismissed. For didn't I 

 knoiv that they, were not ready to swarm? 

 Hadn't I looked into the hive but a day or two 

 before, and found in the most advanced queen- 

 cell only an egg? 



My second and accepted thought was this, 

 that the sudden warm sunshine had given a 

 general impetus to honey gatherers and young 

 bees to go forth, and that the unusually narrow 

 door-way excited and troubled them. 



Still there was no cesation to the steady out- 

 ward flow, and in larger and yet larger circles 

 around and about the hive, i^omethi ng mnst be 

 wrong ! 



" Nellie !" I ' called piteously to sister in the 

 next room, "I don't know what is the matter 

 with my bees ! " 



She hurried to the door. " Why, they're 

 swarming!"' she exclaimed with decision. 



That settled it. She spoke as one who knew, 

 and my own rejected first impression came 

 back with overwhelming conviction. They 

 were swarming. What should I do? 



I had no course of action marked out, be- 

 cause I had long before determined that my 

 bees should not swarm. Most excellent care 

 would I take to prevent that in these great 

 woods, where, if they went beyond the clearing 

 it might be impossible to follow or to find 

 them. I had a vision of them now, sailing off 

 over the tree-tops beyond my reach, and I felt — 



