120 



THE AMERICAIS BEE JOUllJ^AL. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The foUowiug officers were elected : 

 President, C. A. Hatch; 1st Vice- 

 President, Dr. J. W. Vance ; 2d Vice- 

 President, E. France ; Secretary, F. 

 Wilcox ; and Treasurer, F. Minnick. 



Mr. Daniher exhibited a bee-feeder 

 which resembled a brood-frame with- 

 out a top-bar, with a thin board on 

 each side, the cracks and joints being 

 waxed. He recommended candied 

 honey as food, softening it with warm 

 water when necessary. 



Mr. Spangenberg exhibited a new 

 implement for uncapping honey. It 

 was like a small paddle three inches 

 wide, with small steel wires one- 

 fourth of an inch apart, driven in the 

 end. The projecting wire was sharp, 

 and curved like a cat's claw, to 

 scratch open the cappings. 



The following resolutions were then 

 passed unanimously : 



Resolved, That the tee-keepers of this 

 State endeavor as far as possible to create a 

 home marliet for their honey, so that there 

 will be no need of seeking: city markets in 

 which to dispose of our surplus products. 



Resolved, That we thank Mr. T, G. Newman, 

 of Chica£?o, for liis efforts in securinj? re- 

 duced rates of transportation on honey, and 

 congratulate him upon his success. 



Resolved, That we desire to express to Mr. 

 Newman our sincere appreciation of his 

 labor and zeal in fighting- the glucose adul- 

 terators, and bringing to light their 

 nefarious schemes against the interests of 

 bee-keepers. 



Resolved, That the bee-keepers of the 

 State are urged to make more creditable 

 exhibits at the next State Fair. 



Dr. Vance read a well prepared 

 essay on ■■ Foul Brood," reciting the 

 fact that he had since our last conven- 

 tion lost all of his bees by that dis- 

 ease. He related the experiments of 

 Mr. Cheshire, of England, in treating 

 the disease with phenol, and spoke 

 very hopeful of the result of his re- 

 searches. 



Has there ever been any assessment 

 of bees in the United States y 



F. Wilcox— lam taxed on them. 



Mr. Waller — In Richland county 

 they are never taxed. 



Mr. Elver — They pay a premium for 

 keeping them in some parts of 

 Europe. 



Mr. Sanford— I think that bees 

 ought not to be taxed. 



F. McNay thought that bees ought 

 to be taxed. 



Statistics.— Twelve of the mem- 

 bers present rej^orted 781 colonies in 

 the spring; \:sm in the fall; 10,07-5 

 pounds of comb honey ; 46,050 pounds 

 of extracted honey. 



From the census report for Wiscon- 

 sin, taken June, 18S5, we get the fol- 

 lowing : Number of colonies in the 

 State, .51,917 ; pounds of wax produced 

 the year preceding. 44.281 ; value of 

 hees, S247,481 ; pounds of honey, 

 l.i:«,76fi; value of the same, $160,076. 



Mr. Hatcli— I can sa^ of my own 

 knowledge that the statistics of bees 

 ftnd honey was not complete. 



The convention then adjouned. 



F. Wilcox, Sec. 



For tbe American Bee JouraaL 



Do Bees Hear ? 



A. W. O.SBUKN. 



ij^~ The Illinois Central Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will liMd its next meeting at 

 Mt. Sterling, Ills., on Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day, Oct. 1!) and 20, 1886. 



J. M. Haub.\ugh, Sec. 



There seems to me to be no doubt 

 that bees hear; not only do I think 

 they hear, but I have been placed in 

 circumstances when I was fully con- 

 vinced that they could hear, and hear 

 quickly, too. While keeping bees in 

 California, several times I have seen 

 bees attack horses, dogs, etc., and 

 from the time that the first bee 

 attacked these animals, it would not 

 be half a minute before there would 

 be 10,000 to take part in the battle. 

 Those that have never seen bees 

 attack an animal in earnest, can form 

 no idea how short a time it is before 

 the object of their wrath is completely 

 covered with the little stingers. Now 

 if bees cannot hear, how do they com- 

 municate so quickly y The numbers 

 and numbers of evidences that I see 

 while handling bees constantly leads 

 me to think that they can hear. At 

 that particular time when they have 

 decided to sting something to death, 

 I would say do not attempt to liberate 

 whatever they are wreaking their 

 vengeance upon, for at that time they 

 show no respect of persons. I tried 

 it once, and I shall never try it again. 

 Although I had a veil on. I was so 

 badly stung that 1 had to go to bed— 

 the only time in my life that they got 

 the best of me to such an extent. 

 Were it my own horse, dog or cow. 

 and it could not get away itself, I 

 would not take the chances for the 

 price of a good many such animals. 

 Talk about boiled down and concen- 

 trated wrath — the words do not ex- 

 press what one sees, when a large 

 apiary of bees has fully decided to 

 kill somebody ! 



Cuba, W. I., Jan. 2-5, 1886. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



LaiBD Nursery for Oneeii-Reariug, 



W. 7,. HUTCHINSON. 



As most bee-keepers are probably 

 aware, the lamp nursery is simply a 

 tin hive with double-walls, the space 

 between the walls being lilled with 

 water, which is kept at a proper tem- 

 perature by means of a lamp under- 

 neath. The one that I have was made 

 by our village tinner at a cost of $:2.00. 

 It is placed in the top of a box 4 feet 

 high, the space between the outside 

 of the nursery and the inside of the 

 box being about one inch. Blocks of 

 wood nailed in the corners of the box 

 afford a support for the nursery. 

 Strips of wood are litted in betvv'een 

 the upper edges of the nursery and 

 box. The warui air not only strikes 

 the bottom of the nursery, but has 

 access to its sides. There is a wooden 

 cover to the nursery with strips of 

 cloth tacked to it to prevent the 

 escape of heat at the joints. A ther- 

 mometer is attached to the cover upon 

 the inside, and a hole covered with 

 glass is made in the cover, thus allow- 

 ing a view of the instrument. I have 



a large tin lamp that will hold one 

 gallon of oil. 



The nursery is kept in a closed 

 room on the north side of the shop, 

 and there is no trouble in keeping the 

 temperature so that it will not vary 

 more than 5°. Incubators for hatch- 

 ing chickens have an arrangement for 

 controlling the temperature, keeping 

 it at exactly the same degree. Such 

 an attachment could be used in con- 

 nection with a lamp nursery, but I 

 hardly think it necessary, as the tem- 

 perature in a colony of bees varies 

 more than .5'^. I believe Mr. Heddon 

 keeps his queen-nursery in the cellar, 

 and succeeds in keeping the tempera- 

 ture so that it varies only 1°. 1 try 

 to keep the temperature between 9CP 

 and 95". If it goes above 100^ the 

 queens are usually destroyed. I have 

 never known them to be injured by a 

 low temperature ; and I have some- 

 times had it run down to 70^^, when 

 the light had gone out because the 

 oil was all used sooner than I expected 

 it would be. In fact, I once acci- 

 dentally left a cell out-of-doors upon 

 the north side of a hive, for two days, 

 and when I discovered it the queen 

 was just cutting her way out. 



The nursery should be of such a 

 size that several of the regular combs 

 can be placed inside. When queens 

 are reared by giving a comb of eggs 

 to a qneenless and broodless colony, 

 there is usually a large number of 

 cells upon the comb, and the queens 

 will hatch before the workers, and it 

 is advisable to brush the bees from 

 the comb instead of cutting out the 

 cells, and place the comb, cells and all 

 in the nursery. When the cells are 

 taken from a colony that has swarmed, 

 it is usually better to cut them out, 

 for the reasons that the cells are 

 usually scattered about, only two or 

 three upon a comb, and the eggs in 

 the combs having been laid at differ- 

 ent times, bees would be hatching out 

 in large numbers in the nursery. I 

 have been told that virgin queens 

 would not kill one another unless they 

 had first found and eaten food. Even 

 if this were true, which I do not 

 know, it would be diffieult to take 

 advantage of it, as, when whole combs 

 are placed in .the nursery there is 

 certainly an abundance of food, while, 

 if all cells were cut out they must first 

 be cleaned up by allowing the bees to 

 have access to them after they are cut 

 out ; otherwise there would be plenty 

 of food available at the freshly cut 

 edges. 



The best way that I have found to 

 avoid losses from young queens killing 

 one another, is to examine tlie nursery 

 often, as often, at least, as once in 

 two hours, and cage or remove the 

 hatched queens. By listening care- 

 fully, any queens that may be gnawing 

 out can be heard. A window in the 

 room can be readily shaded with a 

 curtain ; a hole in the curtain admits 

 a ray of light; by holding a queen- 

 cell before the ray of light entering a 

 darkened room, the inmate can be 

 easily seen ; especially is this the case 

 if the comb upon which the cell is 

 iDuilt is new comb. The last thing in 

 the evening I examine, by the light 

 of a lamp, all of the cells. By holding 



