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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Oct., 



Eobert O'Oonner. 



Mr. Robert O'Conner, well-known to many 

 of the subscribers of the A. B. Journal, who, 

 during the past few years, visited Washington, 

 D. C, died on the 17th of August, at San 

 Barnadino, Cal., whither last January he went 

 in the vain hope that the salubrious climate of 

 that locality would restore his shattered health. 

 His hopes were vain. Mr. O'Conner fell just 

 when starting out on what appeared to be a 

 most promising career as an apiarian. Pos- 

 sessing a well-disciplined and richly stored 

 mind, united with great mechanical genius, 

 his friends hoped much from his enthusiasm in 

 bee-culture. His inventions and suggestions 

 were rich indications of what he would have 

 accomplished in this particular and interesting 

 branch of industry, had he been spared to carry 

 out his well-arranged plans for giving his undi- 

 vided attention to bee-culture. But Providence 

 willed otherwise. Away from family and 

 friends, a stranger in a strange laud, his pro- 

 found knowledge of bee-culture soon gained 

 him warm and sympathizing friends. The pain 

 and depression caused by the inroads of his 

 disease, neither dampened his ardor nor less- 

 ened his interest in bee-culture. One of the 

 last of his acts on earth was to tend to friends 

 in the East a model of various improvements 

 he had, during the past summer, invented in 

 the structure of the hive. In him bee-culture 

 has lost a warm and unbiased advocate, the 

 A. B. Journal an ardent supporter, and his 

 acquaintances a kind and trusted friend. 



George S. Wagner. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Eeport of Apiary. 



I had May 23 — the real opening of the honey 

 season — eighty-nine colonies of bees of all 

 grades, some fine, some fair, and some small. 

 You will see by this that I do not take brood 

 from a good stock to build up a poor one ; but 

 let each stock stand on its own merits, giving 

 it, of course, all necessary care — without re- 

 sorting, however, to what is termed stimulating 

 feed. In this statement I shall not give my 

 reasons for not equalizing, as termed, or stimu- 

 lating, as generally practiced. No one will 

 presume that I do not do what I think the 

 most advisable, as I am not an enthusiast, and 

 never try experiments for experiments' sake. 

 My management is old, and mainly the slow 



accumulation of facts gained from others, and 

 cheaply woven into a plan so unlike others as 

 really to be quite my own. 



As above stated, I had, January 1, eighty - 

 nine colonies. These were increased from June 

 10 to twenty — on a plan all my own, which I 

 call the " Bingham plan." I will give my plan of 

 increase, which will be just as important to 

 those using difi'erent hives and the extractor. 



When my first natural swarm issues, the 

 queen is caged and returned to the hive, when, 

 of course, the bees soon return ; the cover of 

 the hive is now removed and I begin the making 

 of artificial swarms — selecting medium stocks 

 for the purpose only. A hive entirely empty 

 is set in the place of a fair-sized colony, and all 

 the bees of said colony shook into it. The 

 brood and coml)s, now beeless, are set on the 

 hive having the swarm that issued and was 

 returned. This course is continued until as 

 many hives are piled one above the other as 

 said prime swarm can thinly cover. You will 

 understand that no bottom-boards or covers 

 are used in the pile, except the prime swarm at 

 the bottom, which stands on its own bottom, 

 and the last or top hive has on its cover, or a 

 mat as desired. In this way my pile varies 

 from seven to ten hives, as the size of said 

 prime swarm may vary, 



" The Bingham Pile," as I shall presume to 

 call it, is allowed to stand for a few hours, if in 

 the morning ; or over night, if formed late in 

 the afternoon, until the bees are evenly dis- 

 tributed through all the combs. The next 

 move in order is the removing of said pile, each 

 hive of which is to be put where it is designed 

 to stand the remainder of the season. The 

 moving is to he done carefully and without 

 smoke, as great care must be taken not to 

 frighten the bees so as to disturb their even 

 distribution in the various hives. 



As we now have nine queenless hives, con- 

 taining bees ready to work in every department 

 of commune labor, we can do something for 

 them all ; that will be what so many have 

 written about, namely : " improving the breed." 

 Our prime swarm has presumedly the best 

 queen in the ranch, and her hive has lots of 

 queen cells in various stages of development; 

 therefore I give each queenless hive a cell, 

 sealed if I have it, or half done, or nicely 

 started, as the case may be, but give them all a 

 cell — as all those cells that have been shook 

 much will not mature queens. Havmg re- 

 moved all the cells, said best queen is uncaged 

 and allowed her own way. If the season con- 

 tinues she will be ready to work over in about 

 four weeks, at which time she will be likely to 

 to swarm. 



Peace now reigns; the bees have all had 

 their swarm out, and are ready for work ; all 

 of which, however, is in their domestic capacity 

 — that is, combs are to be made in empty hives, 

 and brood and queen hatched in those having 



