THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



667 



changed for combs with brood from 

 strong colonies, when their honey- 

 chamber is put on also. We cannot 

 prevent queens entirely from enter- 

 ing the upper story, but by an observ- 

 ance of the above, it is the exception 

 rather than the rule to find combs 

 filled with brood in the upper story. 

 When producing extracted honey ex- 

 clusively, brood in the upper story 

 does not bother us any. When comb 

 honey is produced, a zinc division- 

 board will prove a pretty certain 

 preventive. 



When the combs of the upper story 

 are filled with honey, I exchange 

 them for empty ones," and whenever 

 a comb with brood is found, it is 

 placed on the left side in the honey- 

 chamber. When done with all, and 

 extracting is over, those hives having 

 brood in the upper story, get another 

 overhauling. When the number of 

 brood-combs in any one honey-cham- 

 ber indicate that the queen has been 

 neglecting her business below, the 

 brood-chamber is looked over, and 

 combs with honey and beebread, if 

 any there be, are exchanged for combs 

 ■with brood from above. Otherwise 

 those combs with brood and adhering 

 bees are used to strengthen up 

 weak colonies to form nuclei, or to 

 make colonies by division. The par- 

 ent colonies are thereby not deprived 

 of any of their foragers, as all the old 

 bees return. My colonies made by 

 division consist of 20 combs, if pos- 

 sible, containing brood and honey and 

 adhering bees. A queen-cell or queen 

 is given them on the following day. 

 If the latter is the case, the new col- 

 ony needs a looking over in the course 

 of a week, or earlier, as the case may 

 be. 



The same process is gone over in 

 the same manner when the combs are 

 filled again, and so on to the end of 

 the season. The result is that old 

 colonies and new swarms are alike 

 well provided, and that the latter 

 gave me as much honey as any, in 

 proportion, and natural" swarms have 

 not bothered me any. The queens 

 having had ample chance to deposit 

 their eggs, contract their brood-nest 

 with the close of the season, honey 

 takes the place of brood in the side- 

 combs, and If the necessary winter 

 stores are not accumulating in the 

 brood-chamber, it is accidental and 

 caused by the season. Extracting is 

 never done too closely, and honey 

 enough is left in the upper story to 

 give each colony its full supply, and 

 to provide for an unexpected emer- 

 gency the following spring. We 

 never calculate these combs as'part of 

 the crop of the season, as we want 

 our bees to be self-supporting if pos- 

 sible. 



I do not want to winter my bees on 

 sugar syrup, and I fail to see the ad- 

 vantage and the good policy in doing 

 so. It is uncertain, of course, what 

 the next winter may bring, but as far 

 as wintering is concerned luilh pollen 

 or urithout it, and with natural stores, 

 I will run a race with any one of you 

 syrup-feeders. 



With the above method I verily 

 believe that my bees, not my hives, 

 have gathered as much honey as the 



bees of any one of you. The interests 

 of sugar refiners have not been bene- 

 fited at the expense of bee-keepers ; 

 my neighbors do not suspicion me of 

 producing honey from sugar syrup, 

 and my labor has not been excessive, 

 but has met all the requirements of 

 my colonies. If labor and expense 

 are worth any consideration, my 

 apiary proves, in only a fair season, 

 the most grateful of any of my in- 

 vestments. 



Mr. Muth's essay was then dis- 

 cussed, especially the parts referring 

 to the profits of the apiary as com- 

 pared with other investments, and 

 the spreading of the brood. Mr. 

 Muth stated that in one of his api- 

 aries in ^which he had 17 colonies in 

 the spring, he had extracted three 

 times, and had taken 2,(300 pounds of 

 honey. He said that this particular 

 apiary paid better for the amount in- 

 vested than did the 90-acre farm upon 

 which the apiary was located. Mr. 

 Muth also stated that he could easily 

 dispose of all his crop of honey 

 among his neighbors, at from 12 to 1.5 

 cents per pound. 



Relating to the subject of spreading 

 the brood, some thought it advisable 

 if done at the proper time, and under 

 the right conditions. Mr. A. I. Root 

 said he believed that letting the col- 

 ony alone would be just as well, and 

 a great deal the easiest way. He also 

 suggested that a very proper place to 

 test and decide the advisability of 

 spreading the brood would be in an 

 apiary connected with a State Agri- 

 cultural College, which every such 

 college should have and sustain. 



THE BEE OF AMERICA. 



After a further exchange of ideas 

 on the spreading of brood, the discus- 

 sion passed on to the subject. " Has 

 Apis Americana been reached ?" It 

 was thought that whether or not the 

 bee of America had been reached, 

 many had attained their ideal bee. 

 Prof. McLain advised that in breed- 

 ing if more attention were paid to 

 the drones employed in the fertiliza- 

 tion of the queens, far greater ad- 

 vancement could be made, and also 

 more rapidly ; that prepotency is on 

 the side of the drone. 



After some more discussion on the 

 subject, Mr. Newman said : 



Apis Americana, when translated, 

 simply means the " Bee of America," 

 and I am inclined to admit that some 

 few Americans, by careful breeding 

 and selection, have arrived at that 

 degree of perfection which warrant 

 them in claiming to possess their ideal 

 bee — the "Bee of America." I have 

 just visited the apiary of Mr. L. Reed, 

 of Kent, O., and finding his apiary a 

 model of perfection, examined his 

 bees and their work, and I am satis- 

 fied that Mr. Reed has attained to 

 his ideal- Mr. Benedict, one of the 

 first breeders of bees in America, and 

 the oldest member of this society now 

 present, has attained his ideal, and 

 has a frame of live bees with the 

 queen here on exhibition. There are 

 scores of others who now have " the 

 Bee of America " — Apis Americana. 

 In deciding the merits of our ideal 



bee, five points are essential, and may 

 be enumerated thus : The queen 

 must be prolific in order to have the 

 hive full of bees at the proper time to 

 gather the harvest of honey wlien it 

 comes ; the bees must be industrious, 

 to let nothing escape their vigorous 

 search while gathering the nectar ; 

 they must be docile, to allow the api- 

 arist to manipulate them and the hive 

 with ease and pleasure, in order to be 

 profitable ; they must be hardy and 

 strong to endure the rapid changes in 

 this very changeable climate ; and 

 they must be beautiful in order to 

 secure the admiration of the fanciers 

 of fine stock. These five points are 

 all essential characteristics of Apis 

 Americana I Yes, Mr. President, 

 " our ideal bee " will be present at the 

 very moment when the slumbering 

 flovi'er, under the penetrating dew, 

 awakes to consciousness, and unfolds 

 its buds to take in the first rays of 

 the morning sun ; and as so nicely 

 pictured out by Brother Root in his 

 ABC, our ideal bee will welcome 

 "Old Sol" at the break of day, by 

 dipping into that tiny fountain which 

 distils the honey drop by drop, and 

 with joy unbounded will bear away 

 the sweet treasure to its cells of wax 

 in its populous little home. The bee 

 with these traits of character is well 

 named Apis Americana— nud some at 

 least have arrived at that greatly- 

 desired point in excellence in develop- 

 ing " the bee of the i'uture." 



The convention then adjourned un- 

 til 7:30 p.m. 



EVENING SESSION. 



At 7:30 p.m. the convention was 

 called to order by the President. 



It was moved and adopted that the 

 minutes of tlie present convention be 

 printed in pamphlet form, under the 

 same conditions as last year. 



The committee on the President's 

 annual address reported that they 

 endorsed the President's recommen- 

 dations referring to the Bee-Keepers' 

 Union, but did not think favorably 

 of publishing a bee-keepers' annual, 

 of 300 or 400 pages, such as is pub- 

 lished by agricultural and kindred 

 societies. Accepted and adopted. 



After discussing the two or three 

 questions that had been handed in to 

 be answered, the convention adjourn- 

 ed until 9 a.m. on Wednesday. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1886. Time and pLace Of Meeting. 



Oct. 21.— Southern Illinois, at Bentnn. Ills. 



F. H. Kennedy, Sec, Duquoin, Ills. 



Oct. 23.— Eureka Springs, at Eureka Springs, Ark. 

 Dr. d. S. Purceli, Sec, Eureka Spring;, Ark. 



Oct. 123.— Wabash County, at Wabash. Ind. 



Aaron Singer, Sec. Wabash, Ind. 



Oct. 27-29.— Western, at Kansas rity. Mo. 



P. Baldwin, Sec, Independence, Mo. 



Nov. 24, 25.— Illinois Central, at Mt. Sterling, Ills. 

 J. M. Uambaugh, Sec, Spring, Ills. 



Dec. 1, 2.— Michigan State, at Tpsllanti, Mich. 



H. D. Cutting, Sec, Clinton, Mich. 

 1887. 

 Jan. 12.— Nebraska State, at Lincoln. Nebr. 



H. N. Patterson, Sec, Humboldt, Nebr. 



tW In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Bd. 



