214 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



would not breed from them. I have others 

 that are uniform in color and no black tip- 

 ped ones amongst them. Why is it that 

 some of these do not get old and lose the 

 hair off that part of the body also? I can't 

 see why the workers of some queens are 

 deprived of the hair and others are not. 



Now, I am doubtful about tlieir purity, 

 and want more light from friend D. and 

 others that liave been breeding Italian bees 

 for years. Breeders please be frank. 



Virgil City, Mo., June 19. E. Liston. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Maury County Bee-Keeper's Society. 



The above society had their regular meet- 

 ing on Saturday, July 1. 



Present: W. S. Rainey, Pres., Wm. .J. 

 Andrews, Sec, and Treas., S. D. McLean, 

 Travis McLean, J. C. Moore. M. G. Grigsby, 

 R. H. Caskey, J. C. McGaw, J. M. Byers, 

 and others. 



The proceedings of the last meeting were 

 read and on motion adopted. 



Mr. J. J. Jones, who was appointed at 

 the last meeting to read an essay on honey, 

 not being present, the appointment was 

 continuea until next regular meeting. 



The President stated that he was in re- 

 ceipt of a letter from Messrs. Chas. Dadant 

 & Son, accompanied with documentary 

 evidence that they were regular importers. 



Mr. McLean did not want to see the so- 

 ciety entagled any further with what he re- 

 garded as a personal controversy between 

 Mr. Andrews and the Dadants, and he 

 thought these gentlemen should fight it out 

 between themselves. 



The Secretary said that he himself did 

 not wish to occupy the time of the society 

 with it, but in justice to himself, would 

 state that he had never called in question 

 the fact of the Dadants being regular im- 

 porters of Italian bees, but had simply com- 

 plained of the queen sent him and others. 

 After some further remarks on the subject, 

 on the part of the members present, the 

 matter was dropped, as not belonging to the 

 business of the society. » 



J. M. Byers would like to know if it was 

 advisable to extract honey before it was 

 capped. 



Mr. Grigsby did not extract until it was 

 capped or the bees had commenced to cap it 

 over. 



S. D. McLean was like Mr. Grigsby, did 

 not extract until honey was ri^)e, that is un- 

 til the bees commence capping it over, it 

 was then as ripe as it would ever be. He 

 had extracted as often as every five days. 



Mr. McGaw — I would like to ask Mr. 

 McLean what causes honey to sour. 



Mr. McGaw and Mr. Caskey had taken 

 sour lioney from boxes and hives. 



The members then engaged in an inform- 

 al discussion about honey for some length 

 of time. 



Mr. Caskey, had a number of introduced 

 (jueen cells destroyed. With queen caged 

 in hives they would nourish cells, but wlien 

 he killed the queen, the bees would destroy 

 the cells. 



Mr. Grigsby had introduced about sixty 

 and had only ten cut out of that number. 

 Thought it best to have queens fertilized 

 and introduce them. 



Mr. McLean— Cells built in free colonies 

 are rarely cut out when introduced, but 



when reared in a nucleus, especially if there 

 is a scarcity of pollen they will cut them 

 out. Cells when just capped over are very 

 tender, and a critical time to handle them, 

 as the least motion will kill the embryo 

 queen they contain. 



Mr. Grigsby— Do I understand Mr. Mc- 

 Lean to say that the handling of the combs 

 with queen cells in them will destroy them? 



Mr. McLean — No sir, unless the bees are 

 shaken from them, a thing I never do. 



Mr. Grigsby— How long after capping 

 the cell is it before they commence spinning 

 their cocoon? This question remained un- 

 answered. The members engaged in anoth- 

 er informal discussion on several topics, 

 lasting an hour or more. 



Mr. Grigsby— I move that we establish 

 an experimental department, for the pur- 

 pose of conducting experiments, and that 

 the President appoint a committee of three 

 to conduct such experiments as may be 

 agreed upon at each meeting. 



The motion being seconded by the Secre- 

 tary was adopted. 



The President appointed as said commit- 

 tee M. G. Grigsby, S. D. McLean and Wm. 

 J. Andrews. 



Mr. Grigsby— I suggest that the commit- 

 tee just appointed make the experiment and 

 ascertain at what age the larvfe passes the 

 stage of being reared into a queen; which 

 suggestion was accepted. 



Mr. McLean moved that Mr. Grigsby be 

 appointed to read an essay at the next meet- 

 ing on the management of an apiary to pro- 

 cure the largest amount of honey. Adopted. 



The society then adjourned to meet the 

 1st Saturday in October. 



Wm. j. Andrews, 



Sec'y and Treas. 



Los Angeles B. K. Meeting. 



The Los Angeles (Cal.) Herald says, that 

 on Saturday, June 17th, the bee-keepers of 

 Los Angeles Co. held a council, and that 

 there was a good swarm and they settled on 

 principle. The time was principally occu- 

 . pied in the discussion of marketing honey. 

 A degree of earnestness characterized the 

 proceedings showing that each member was 

 wide awake to his interests. 



Prof. Harbison, of San Diege, was intro- 

 duced to the meeting, who addressed it 

 upon the subject then under discussion of 

 marketing honey. We are sorry to state 

 that we cannot report his remarks in full. 

 There is no man on the Pacific coast who is 

 better posted and more competent to advise 

 on this subject than the professor. His ex- 

 perience in this department of bee-keeping 

 has been extensive. He well understands 

 the operations of dealers and commission 

 men who control the market. His remarks 

 abounded with good sound sense and facts 

 that were well received. He has had more 

 practical experience in producing and mar- 

 keting honey than any other man in the 

 United States, consequeutly his opinion is 

 worthy of much consideration, lie urged 

 united co-operation with all the honey pro- 

 ducing counties of Southern California. 

 The suggestion was acted upon by the 

 meeting and a committee of four was ap- 

 pointeu and instructed to confer with the 

 bee-keepers of San Diego, Ventura, San 

 Bernardino and other counties that may feel 

 disposed to unite in the movement. 



