AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



593 



I believe, is the custom in other States. 

 It Is not to be supposed, however, that 

 these men will be exhibitors at the State 

 Fair. 



A motion was made by Mr. Pouder 

 that a committee of three competent 

 judges be appointed to revise the pre- 

 mium list, and present it to the Board 

 of Agriculture, that it may compare 

 favorably with other States. The mo- 

 tion was carried, and the following were 

 appointed : Sylvestor Johnson, Dr. J. 

 M. Hicks, and E. H. Collins. 



A short intermission was taken for the 

 payment of dues, the enrollment of new 

 members, and for recreation from the 

 perplexing questions. 



Pres. Russell — We will now proceed 

 with our regular programme, which is 

 an essay by Mr. Chas. F. Muth, on ' 



How to Prevent Swamung to Produce 



the Best Results, and. How to 



Make a Proper TJse of the 



Queen-Excluder. 



It appears to me that a full crop of 

 honey cannot be harvested except when 

 we prevent our bees from swarming, 

 because we know that it is the old bees 

 that are the honey-gatherers, and not 

 the young ones. cWe know, also, that a 

 swarm is usually the old bees, and when 

 they leave the hive, for nearly a week, 

 or perhaps ten days, no honey-gathering 

 is done at all. We know that when the 

 queen has plenty of chances to deposit 

 her eggs, and plenty of room, she does 

 not get the swarming fever, and she is 

 always the very last one to leave the 

 hive. 



For many years I have prevented my 

 bees from swarming, and have been 

 producing principally extracted honey. 

 How to prevent swarming at the honey 

 season is taught us by our friend G. W. 

 Demaree, of Kentucky. I heard his 

 method at the last bee-keepers' conven- 

 tion, and it struck me as a good thing, 

 and I gave it a thorough trial. 



Our honey season here begins about 

 the first of June, because then the white 

 clover commences to yield. I at this 

 time take all the combs from the brood- 

 chamber containing brood and honey, 

 and put them into another box and fill 

 the brood-chamber with empty combs, 

 thus the brood-chamber contains a 

 comb, with a queen, some of the bees, 

 and the empty combs. After this is 

 done, the queen-excluder is put on. Put 

 the upper story on, and then cover the 

 hive. If you are in favor of producing 

 comb honey, you can put sections on 

 that queen-excluder. 



In the course of a few hours you will 

 see that most of the old bees are down 

 with the queen. You will let them go 

 that way, as the bees hatch and the 

 queen has plenty of bees to assist her in 

 rearing brood, and as the young bees 

 hatch, they go down. 



Last year was a very poor one for 

 honey, as I suppose we all know, still I 

 produced some nice comb honey, besides 

 600 to 700 pounds of extracted honey. 

 I think the queen-excluder is the most 

 applicable thing to prevent swarming. 

 One objection I Ind, however, and that 

 is that I found a lot of drones upon 

 raising the honey-boxes, that could not 

 get out of the queen-excluder ; but you 

 can brush these off, and it makes no 

 difference whatever. After a while, 

 when you are ready, you take the hive 

 off, and you have no idea of the benefit 

 to the bees. You can put the bee-escape 

 on and the honey-boxes on top. I have 

 had about 20, and put in 10 bee-escapes 

 in this manner (illustrating), set the 

 honey-boxes on top, and the next day I 

 commenced to extract. It is a very easy 

 way, and scarcely any trouble at all. 



Chas. F. Muth. 



The entrance of Governor Matthews 

 at this time interrupted further discus- 

 sion. Mr. Muth made a short address 

 of welcome, as follows: 



We have taken the liberty of calling 

 on you to meet with us a littl© while this 

 morning, not with the intention of 

 having you address us as bee-keepers 

 only, but we desire your aid in putting 

 us on a level with other Associations of 

 the State. Bee-cHlture is an important 

 branch, and we want this branch of in- 

 dustry protected, and although you may 

 not be thoroughly posted in bee-culture, 

 we feel sure that you will lend us your 

 kind aid and co-operation, and would be 

 glad to have you address us on this sub- 

 ject. 



Gov. Matthews then responded in the 

 following words : 



Mr. Chairman and Oentlemen of the Con- 

 vention : — 

 I think the gentleman who has just 

 spoken has said truly when he suggested 

 that perhaps I was not thoroughly 

 posted in the matter of bee-culture ; 

 but I regard it as one branch properly 

 belonging to that of agriculture, and I 

 can safely say that everything pertain- 

 ing to It even in the slightest degree will 

 have my cordial and hearty support. I 

 think, considering the magnitude of this 

 industry, it has never been thoroughly 

 apprehended. It is an important indus- 



