206 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



some queens were imported from this coun- 

 try to England. It is possible. In the 

 British Bee Journal no one advertises 

 home-bred queens, for the imported are the 

 only ones relied on as pure by the English 

 bee-keepers. 



Since I speak of the British Bee Journal 

 I will ask Mr. Abbott why in England they 

 call the Italian bees Ligurianbees? 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Two Things Proved by Experience. 



I have recently made two observations in 

 my bee yard which are worth while to be 

 reported, proving conclusively two points, 

 viz. : that bees transport larvae from one 

 comb to another, and tnat bees swarm with- 

 out a queen. 



On July 1st. at 2 p. m., a fine swarm is- 

 sued and settled on a young tree, in such a 

 position that I had to bag them and empty 

 out in front of the hive, which contained 

 one frame of brood, three empty combs and 

 four empty frames. The bees went in only 

 reluctantly, which showed that the queen 

 had not entered yet. My son, who assisted 

 me, found her in an outside cluster, and 

 capturing her by the wings we tried to in- 

 troduce her by a hole in the honey board. 

 The corks fitting too tight, I could in the 

 hurry not move any. By trying to intro- 

 duce her through an opening made by mov- 

 ing the honey board, she was caught and 

 squeezed between the honey board and top 

 of hive. Although I could not perceive 

 that she was crushed, yet she lay motion- 

 less in my hand. I could see only a faint 

 moving of her legs. Thinking she might 

 yet recover, I laid her carefully on top of a 

 frame, closed the hive, drove in the balance 

 of the swarm and moved it to its final place. 

 I spread a bed sheet in front of the hive, 

 knowing that the queen if dead would soon 

 be thrown out. Next morning. July 2, she 

 lay dead on the sheet. On opening tl.e hive 

 I found no queen cell commenced yet, 

 which made me think that perhaps there 

 had beeni two queens. Next morning, July 

 3, 1 found on the brood comb several com- 

 menced queen cells. I then saw that by an 

 oversight one of the empty combs was a 

 clear drone comb. It hung next to the 

 brood comb. On lifting it out I saw it was 

 full of commenced queen cells. On the side 

 next to the brood comb I counted 37, on the 

 other side 7 cells. As the brood comb was 

 from a hybrid stock I looked for a pure 

 Italian gueen cell, which I soon found, two 

 cells being close together. Inserting these 

 into the brood comb, I destroyed the com- 

 menced cells and took the drone comb with 

 the 44 cells into the house. On examina- 

 tion I found 30 queen cells X tilled with the 

 white queen jelly, and imbedded in it a 

 worm in each of them. This I think is a 

 positive proof of the ability of bees to move 

 grubs as can be thought of. The drone 

 comb had been in the house since October, 

 1875, had been built in the side room, was 

 full of honey and emptied by the macliine, 

 put back for a day to be cleaned by the 

 bees and then put away until now. The 

 bees had no (lueen, as I killed her, they 

 made all the cells, filled them with queen 

 jelly and trans))()itc(l 44 grubs from one 

 comb to another in 'M hours. On July 5, 

 a queen had eniorged from one of the intro- 

 duced cells, and the other was destroyed. 



The other observation was this:— June 

 24, 1 saw a little swarm on the wing which 

 presently settled on a low branch of a tree. 

 There were only perhaps a quart of bees. I 

 perceived at once that they were none of 

 my bees, as they were entirely black. Their 

 behavior was very remarkable. Scarcely 

 had they settled when they wildly dissolved 

 to alight again on the nearest hive, evident- 

 ly trying in a wild manner to enter from all 

 sides. They showed that ihey were hungry, 

 awful hungry, so I dropped a little honey 

 on top of the hive they oeleaguered. You 

 ought to have seen the eagerness with 

 which they fell upon the honey. The idea 

 struck me to experiment with this starving 

 swarm. I dropped honey on another spot 

 and watched closely for the queen. There 

 was none. I then placed an empty hive 

 near by, removed tne honey board, and 

 dropped a little honey on the bottom of the 

 hive. In two minutes every bee of the 

 swarm was collected on the bottom of that 

 hive. Giving them a small brood comb, 

 with a closed queen cell and an empty 

 comb, I put in a partition board, closed the 

 hive, and lo, the bees have remained. They 

 have now a fertilized, beautiful yellow 

 queen, and I expect to make it before fall a 

 good swarm full of young bees, by feeding 

 and introducing brood combs. 



Sigel, 111., July 6, 1876. ,Chas. Sonne. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Southern Kentucky Bee-Keeper's 

 Association. 



The following is a condensed report of 

 the proceedings of the Southern Kentucky 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention, which met at 

 Smith's Grove, Kentucky, June 1: 



The convention was called to order and 

 opened with prayer by the President, Dr. 

 N. P. Allen. Calling of roll dispensed 

 with. The minutes of the last meeting 

 read and approved. 



The Secretary, H. W. Sanders, announc- 

 ed to the convention the death of one of its 

 members, R. W. Stithe, of Hardin County, 

 Kentucky. Whereupon the President ap- 

 pointed the following committee to draft 

 appropriate resolutions on the death of 

 Brother Stithe: H. W. Sanders, N. H. Hol- 

 man, W. E. G. Allen. 



The following committees were then ap- 

 pointed : 



On Apiarian Supplies on Exhibition — L. 

 P. Smith, W. W. Wright, C. N. Allen. 



On State of Bee Culture — R. A. Alexander, 

 I. N. Greer. Dr. S. T. Botts. 



On motion. Convention adjourned till one 

 o'clock, p. M. Dinner on the ground. 



The convention met at 1 o'clock p. m. 

 Calling the roll was dispensed with. The 

 journal of the morning session read and ap- 

 proved. 



The following rci)orts were made: 



We, your coiuiiiittci', apiiointcd to draft 

 resolutions of resnect to tlic memory of our 

 worthy brother, R. W. Stithe, of Hardin 

 county, would beg leave to submit the fol- 

 lowing: 



Whkkkas, It has been the will of our 

 lleavtMily Father to remove from our midst 

 our beloved brother R. W. Stithe, of Grand 

 View, Hardin county, Kentucky; 



Resolved, That in the death of Bi'other 

 Stithe, we have lost a true and worthy 



