BEE KEEPERS. 457 



Mr. Scholl. It is not always desirable to prevent swarming. There are now 

 large apiaries, and a large per cent, of queens beginning to fail, e.specially so in the 

 spring of the year, and bees should be made to supersede the old ones at as early 

 period as possible, and you will find, when this is the case, it is not best to try to 

 control swarming. You find, sometimes, hives building cells and preparing to 

 swarm when the honey flow i» poor, and unless you allow them to raise a new 

 queen as the old one is failing, you will not get much honey from that colony. 



Mr. Muth. I keep queens but two years. I think it is best to supersede, but 

 once in a while a mistake is made. A queen that has laid off a year is fertile no 

 more, and the colony knows it pretty quick. 



Mr. Gulky. I do not want to kill any queens. A year ago last fall, when 

 putting our bees up for the winter, I had a queen three years old. I thought I 

 would kill her, but my friend Davis begged me not to. She is now four years old, 

 and has done good work for me. 



Mr. Davis. Mr. Gulley's bees ran down very low. That colony was strong. I 

 helped him take a brood from that colony two years ago, to build up the other 

 colonies. I can corroborate his statement as to the age of his queen. 



Mr. Bull. If you have a young queen at the right age when the first swarm 

 comes out, let the young queen run in there. She will take care of the queen cells. 



Mr. Daugherly. I wish to spring before the convention the idea of establishing 

 a Chair of Bee Culture at Purdue University. I have renewed my promise to 

 donate a colony, with other persons, for that University. If we would donate five 

 or six Italian colonies, it would be a step in the right direction. 



Professor Troop, of Purdue University. Purdue University is the State Agri- 

 cultural College of Indiana, and should work with the State Associations as much 

 as possible. The Agricultural Society, Horticultural Society, and Bee Keepers' 

 Association are seriously needed, as well as those other industrial associations of 

 the State, and we must have them there to do efficient work — to illustrate the 

 various operations going on. In my work this fall, in order to giv? some appro- 

 priate illustrations, I had to borrow a stand of bees for a short time, while study- 

 ing bee keeping. Next spring we want to start in a small way. I suppose four or 

 five colonies would be .suflficient. 



Messrs. Cotton, Daugherty, Davis, Gulley and Johnson were appointed to revise 

 the constitution and ask the Legislature for an appropriation to carry on the bee 

 industry. 



Convention adjourned sine di*;. 



