126 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



pound of bassvvood honey taken un- 

 capped that did not sour more or less. 

 Tiie mischief is, that the very honey that 

 it pays best to extract, viz. : that which 

 comes with a rush, is surest to sour. 



Those of us who do let this nectar be- 

 come Honey, before we extract it and 

 put it upon the market, must suffer for 

 the reputation given extracted honey by 

 the green stuff on the shelf btside it. 



I propose to label all my box and ex- 

 tracted honey, and do my utmost to give 

 entire satisfaction to the end. This is the 

 selfish course. There are two kinds of 

 selfishness, which embrace all human 

 action, viz., the wise and unwise. It is 

 selfish to be honest, for " honesty is the 

 BEST policy." James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, March 24, 1876. 



Maury County Bee Keeper's Society. 



The Maury County, (Tenn.,) Bee Keep- 

 er's Society held their regular quarterly 

 meeting at Columbia, on Saturday, April 

 1st. 



Present: W. S. Rainey, President; Wm. 

 J.Andrews, Secretary and Treasurer ; S. 

 D. McLean, Travis McLean, A. B. Biffle, 

 David Staples, W. A. Alexander, W. F. 



Moore, N. B. Sowell, Timmons, J. C. 



McGaw, J. C. Moore, Bates, T. J. 



Pickens, Wm. Gilmer, J. H. Gregory, Jno. 

 B. Bray, of Giles county. 



Owing to the inclemency of the weather 

 and rumor in regard to small-pox, there 

 was not as good an attendance as usual. 



The minutes of the last meeting were 

 read and adopted. 



Mr. J. B. Bray, of Giles, asked and ob- 

 tained permission to offer a few remarks. 

 He thought our Society a good thing, and 

 a step taken in the right direction. He 

 would ask if we propose to hold all our 

 meetings at one place, and suggested that 

 we hold meetings at different points. He 

 would like to have the Society hold a 

 meeting at Culleoka — that if we would do 

 so we would be met by a number of bee 

 keepers from over the line. 



Tlie Secretary stated the constitution 

 provided that tlie meetings should be held 

 at such time and place as a majority of 

 the members present at any stated meet- 

 ing may determine: that at the last meet- 

 ing it was agreed to hold the present meet- 

 ing at his residence, as queen rearing was 

 tlie topic for discussion, ttmt it might be 

 amply illustrated in the hive, but we had 

 Iiad a very cold snap, which had prevented 

 making any progress in that line; in view 

 ^)f which fact he would move tliat the 

 <iaestiou of queen raising be carried over 

 to the next meeting, and that another meet- 

 ing beheld at Columbia the Ist Saturday 

 in May; that one he held at Culleoka the 

 1st Saturday in June, and the next regular 

 quarterly meeting in July at Columbia, 



whicii motion was seconded by J. C. 

 Moore. Mr. J. C. McGaw thought that a 

 meeting at Culleoka would be for the 

 benefit principally of the bee keepers of 

 that section, and would suggest that the 

 bee keepers of that section organize a so- 

 ciety, and then let us meet with them 

 jointly on the first Saturday in June. The 

 Secretary's motion was adapted. 



Mr. Staples asked if we proposed to dis- 

 cuss the subject to-day. 



The President replied that it might as 

 well be opened to-day, and concluded at 

 the next meeting. 



Mr. S. D. McLean, who was appointed 

 at the last meeting to prepare an essay on 

 "Queen Rearing," then arose and read 

 the following: 



QUEEN REARING AND ITALIANIZING. 



Among the varied operations of the api- 

 culturist, the subject of queen rearing 

 and Italianizing is a very important one, 

 and should receive a due portion of that 

 care which is essential to success. To 

 note some points bearing on the subject is 

 the design of this sketch. The most es- 

 sential pre-requisiie is a queen of un- 

 doubted purity, which should also be very 

 prolific. The queen's prolificness can be 

 ascertained by mspecting the combs to 

 ascertain the amount of eggs produced in 

 a given time; her purity can only be de- 

 termined by the markings of her off- 

 spring. Should her worker progeny 

 show three well defined yellow bands 

 around the abdomen, with uniformity of 

 color, she may be regarded as having 

 purely mated. But should her progeny 

 be of a mottled appearance, or with but 

 one or two bands, she is impurely mated 

 and worthless to breed from. For the in- 

 formation of those who are uninformed, 

 as to the markings of pure Italian bees, 

 it will be necessary to remark that the 

 first band next to the thorax is very nar- 

 row; the second is broad, and separated 

 from the first by a very narrow black 

 ring; the third and last is not so broad as 

 the second, but is well defined. They 

 should all be of uniform color. Bees 

 marked thus may be regarded as abso- 

 lutely pure. 



In addition to a new queen, a full colony 

 is a necessary adjunct, for the building of 

 and caring for ([ueeu cells. The colony 

 should be in a prosperous condition, hav- 

 ing great numbers of young or nursing 

 bees, with plenty of honey and pollen, 

 especially should there be plenty of pollen 

 in the hive or coming in. From this bees 

 ])rei)are a milky white fluid, said to un- 

 dergo a partial digestion in their stom- 

 achs, which they feed to their young 

 while in the larvje state. A superabund- 

 ance, called a royal jelly, is fed to the 

 young queen to fully develop her for the 

 duties she is to perform as future mother 

 of the colony. A marked distinction is 



