ing. The committee reported the following 

 questions to be discussed. Is the Italian bee 

 superior to the Hybrids or Natives? 2. Is 

 artificial swarming as good as natural? 3. 

 Is upward ven'tilation necessary after bees 

 are housed in the cellar as repository? 4. 

 Is the single hive as good as the double- 

 story hive for extracting ? 



All the above questions were warmly 

 discussed and the result to the first question 

 was, that Italian are not superior to a good 

 Hyrbrid in storing surplus honey in boxes, 

 but are superior in gathering honey when 

 empty combs can be given and extracted. 

 Natives or Blacks are nowhere. The second 

 question showed a large preponderance in 

 favor of natural swarming, and artificial 

 swarming or dividing should only be done 

 wdien a quick increase of stocks are wanted. 

 The opinions to the third question was gen- 

 eral, that upward ventilation should be giv- 

 en to bees in damp cellars or repositories, 

 l)ut are not necessary in dry places. Tlie 

 fourth question was answered to that eftect 

 that the single story hive is preferable in a 

 mild and cool season, but in a hard season 

 the two story hives are better for extracting 

 honey and handier for handling the tees 

 when we do not extract. 



Moved by Wm. AVolf, not to organize 

 and elect otticers this meeting, but to ap- 

 point a committee of three to draw a con- 

 stitution and report next meeting, carried. 

 Wolf, Fuerbringer and Roepler was ap- 

 pointed to serve as said committee. Meet- 

 ing adjourned until the loth day of Septem- 

 ber, 1874, at one o'clock P. M., at Wm. 

 Wolf's residence. 



AVm. Wolf, C. Gkimm, 



Becy. pro tei/i. President pro tern. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Chips From Sweet Home. 



Many bee-keepers are like ourselves — 

 few bees and many hives and combs. How 

 can we get a quantity of honey and a large 

 increase ? 



We will tell you how we do. Many of 

 our hives were very weak. We took from 

 the strong and gave to the weak, till we had 

 all strong. Then from our best queen we 

 raised queens, and as soon as they were 

 ready, we formed nuclei by taking two 

 combs and cutting out brood and adhering 

 bees, from two ditlerent hives. These we put 

 in a new hive on the right side— as we face 

 the hive — and put ii? a division board. A 

 few minutes or an hour after forming we 

 give them a young queen. Or another way, 

 but a little more trouble, when your queen 

 cells are capped — on the eighth or ninth 

 day — put one in each comb, and leave one 

 day to fasten ; then give one of these frames 

 to nuclei, and all or more bees than adhere 

 to the frame and comb of cutting brood 



from another hive. We mark on our slate, 

 "Aug. 2. — Got y. q." In five or six days 

 w^e look at them and if queen is seen, we 

 say, "Aug. 7. — Saw q." If she is out of 

 the cell, and we don't see her, we write, 

 "Aug. 7. — Q. out." In a few days we ex- 

 amine and find the queen laying; we mark, 

 "Aug. 12 — Eggs." If the weather is warm 

 we look at them in four days, but if cool, 

 not for six or seven days, and supply them 

 with a comb of cutting brood and an empty 

 comb, and write on slate, "Aug. 16.— 0. K." 

 Thus we continue, and in from two weeks 

 to a month we make a strong colony of 

 them. If they fill in too much honey, we 

 sling out, so as to give the queen "elbow 

 room." When every comb is full of brood 

 and the hive crowded with beea, we put on 

 our boxes; or, if we wish to sling, an upper 

 set of combs. If for box honey, we take 

 off boxes once a month and put those 

 combs with most brood outside, and those 

 filled honey, we sling and put inside — thus 

 we keep a greater quantity of brood rear- 

 ing, and consequently more honey stored. 

 When we have tested the queen we mark on 

 slate, if pure, "I. Q.," if hybrid, "H. Q. 

 1874." 



Readers will remember that Sweet Home 

 has a continual average flow of honey the 

 whole honey sea.son. 



We wrote "Novice" about the slate, and 

 he speaks of them in a manner to appear as 

 though we carried a "slate and pencil" 

 around with us, and then he refers to his 

 "Queen Register Cards," illustrated in his 

 number. (See Oleanings, page 267.) These 

 slates are the cheapest and most convenient 

 register we have used. When we wish to 

 make a new entiy on the slate we erase the 

 old. Sometimes we would wish to make 

 a note, which we could not do on the slate. 

 If we have anything special, we can write 

 on out side of slate — such as "Feeding or 

 gave queen, or queen cells, Aug 4," etc. 



Eliza, 111. D. D. Palmer. 



A Proposition. 



"Can the time of Swarming be controlled? 



We know if we place a queen cell in a 

 colony of bees without removing the queen, 

 the cell will be destroyed. 



The writer proposes the following exper- 

 iment to his apariau friends: Isolate one 

 or two combs from the rest of the hive, 

 without removing them from the hive, and 

 so arrange the division board tliat the bees 

 may retain the same scent, and let the bees 

 make queen cells. At the expiration of 

 eight or nine days withdraw the division, 

 whatever it may be — whether of glass, 

 wood, or wire cloth, or a combination of 

 all three — -and as the bees are of the same 

 scent, it is possible the old queen may de- 

 part with a swarm. C. C. Millett. 



