148 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



to discover to wandering swarms places 

 for new homes. 



This beautiful and provident provision 

 in the economy of bee-life, so often 

 noticed by the close-observing apiarist, 

 has led many superficial observers, in 

 fact some weW known authors, to im- 

 agine that bees systematically send out 

 " scouts " to look up a future home for 

 the swarm. It makes nb difference how 

 often these ■ enthusiastic people are told 

 that it is positively contrary to the in- 

 stincts and habits of bees to do any work 

 in advance of their wants, many of them 

 cling desperately to the old "scout" 

 superstition, and are deeply troubled 

 when the light of modern research is 

 " turned on," showing that bees, like 

 other animals, are guided by the laws of 

 instinct, and not by the power of an 

 intellectual, foreseeing, calculating 

 mind. The experience of thousands of 

 years has demonstrated that "instinct " 

 alone has been sufficient to perpetuate 

 the lives of animals in the wild state. 



I have alluded to the rigid exclusive- 

 ness of bees. While I know of no 

 society of animals so exclusive in their 

 habits as the honey-bee, I know of none 

 so thoroughly social inside of their 

 homes or environments. Other animals 

 exert physical force to domineer over 

 each other. Bees live in perfect peace, 

 and maintain quiet and fairness under 

 the most distressing circumstances. I 

 have discovered large colonies of bees at 

 the extreme point of starvation, in the 

 early spring, everything going to show 

 that they had divided out their scanty 

 stores, to live or perish together. 



Bees wintered well in Kentucky, and 

 everything promised a prosperous sea- 

 son for them in the early spring. But 

 since then the weather has been too wet 

 and cool for insect life and prosperity. 

 Our bees are badly behind with their 

 numerical strength, and unless the sea- 

 son of flowers is unusually extended, 

 there cannot be a heavy yield of surplus 

 honey gathered this year. 



Bee-keepers of Kentucky should care- 

 fully save up in one-pound boxes some 

 of the finest honey they may take this 

 season, to put on exhibition at the 

 World's Fair next year; also some of 

 the finest of their honey taken with the 

 extractor. — Farmer's Home Journal. 



Christiansburg, Ky. 



Why Not send us one new name, 

 with $1.00, and get Doolittle's book on 

 "Scientific Queen-Rearing" as a premi- 

 um ? Read the offer on page 133. 



CONVENTION DIRECTORY. 



Time and place of meeting. 



1892. 



July 27.— S. E. Minnesota and W. Wisconsin, 

 at La Crescent. Minn. 

 John Turnbull, Sec, La Crescent, Minn. 



Aug. 4.— Rock River, at Morrison, 111. 



J. M. Burtch, Sec, Morrison, 111. 



Aug. 17.— Wabash Valley, at Vincennes, Ind. 

 Frank Vawter, Sec, Vincennes, Ind. 



Aug. 27.— Haldimand, at S. Cayuga, Ont. 



E. C. Campbell, Sec, Cayuga, Ont. 



Sept. 7, 8.— Nebraska, at Lincoln, Nebr. 



L. D. Stilson, Sec, York, Nebr. 



Oct. 7.— Utah, at Salt Lake City, Utah. 

 John C. Swaner, Sec, Salt Lake City, Utah. 



1893. 



Jan. 13, 14.— S.W.Wisconsin, at Boscobel.Wis. 

 Benj. E. Rice, Sec, Boscobel, Wis. 



In order to have this table complete, 

 Secretaries are requested to forward full 

 particulars of the time and the place of 

 each future meeting. — The Editors. 



North American Bee-Keepers' Association 



President— Eugene Secor.„Forest City, Iowa. 

 Secretary— W. Z. Hutchinson. . . .Flint, Mich. 



National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



President— James Heddon . .Dowaglac, Mich. 

 Sec'y and Manager— T. G. Newman, Chicago. 



setfcjypr& 



Reports, Prospects, Etc. 



\RS~ Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper with business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering with either part of the letter. 



Some Noted Apiarian Visitors. 



As I am just able to sit propped up in 

 bed, I wish to tell you who visited me to- 

 day. It was Dr. W. K. Marshall, of 

 Marshall, Texas, now in his 84th year — 

 the pioneer bee-keeper of Texas. He 

 bought the first Italian queen ever 

 brought to Texas — more than 40 years 

 ago — the same queen that the late Judge 

 Andrews, of McKinney, rode on horse- 

 back over 100 miles to see. Dr. Marshall 

 is still an enthusiast on bees, is well 

 posted, and yet able to preach four times 

 a day. 



W. R. Graham, of Greenville — the 

 comb honey man of North Texas — also 

 visited me. 



Both of these friends came over to 



