THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



683 



fertilization of queens i* Nature is 

 always very prodigal in all matters 

 bearing upon the certainty of repro- 

 duction, and we can often step in and 

 interfere to an advantage. A few 

 dozen drones to each hive is surticient 

 in an apiary. And right here let me 

 say that we have very properly paid a 

 great deal of attention to the rearing 

 of our queens ; have reared them 

 from the best of mothers, and in the 

 best manner possible, while the 

 drones have been reared hap-hazard. 

 The breeders of stocli well know that 

 prepotency is on the male side, and 

 work accordingly. 



It seems that the artificial fecunda- 

 tion of queens is possible, but not 

 practicable for the owner of a large 

 apiary who produces honey tor a 

 living. We sometimes may learn to 

 control the mating of queen's as easily 

 as the mating of other stock is con- 

 trolled ; and we may not, but we can 

 do this : We can allow no drone 

 comb except the few cells that the 

 bees will crowd in at the corners of 

 <5ombs, in all ordinary colonies, while 

 in some of our best colonies we can 

 rear an abundance of drones. We 

 should rear our drones with as much care 

 ■as we rear our queens. 



As perhaps many are aware, I have, 

 for the past four years, been allowing 

 newly hived swarms to build their 

 own combs in the brood-chamber; 

 and that I have found it a profitable 

 practice. Since I have written so 

 much upon the subject, others have 

 tried it. Some have succeeded as 

 well as myself, while others complain 

 that the bees build too much drone 

 comb. In almost every instance 

 when the bees built done comb they 

 did not rear drones in it, but filled it 

 with honey, which shows that they 

 did not build it because they desired 

 drones, but rather because honey was 

 coming in rapidly, and sufficient in- 

 ducements were not offered them to 

 store it elsewhere, so they built store 

 or drone comb to store the honey in, 

 because more room could thus be 

 secured more quickly and with less 

 labor. The only instances in mv ex- 

 perience in which brood has been 

 reared in drone comb newly built in 

 newly hived swarms, was when the 

 ijueens were old and about to be 

 superseded. This has occurred in my 

 apiary only twice. When using Lang- 

 stroth frames I hive a swarm upon 

 five or six frames; and have in one 

 instance had two frames filled with 

 drone comb and the comb filled with 

 brood. The queen was old. In no 

 other instance have I had more than 

 one drone comb built, and this has not 

 occurred more tlian three or four 

 times. I have more than ."50 colonies 

 in the new Ileddon hive, and so far I 

 have found only two drone combs. 



To be brief, the building of drone 

 comb has, with me, proved to be no 

 objection to the- hiving of swarms 

 upon empty frames. I have, through 

 the beepipers, several times given 

 my method of management ; but I 

 will briefly recapitulate : Do not have 

 the brood-chamber larger than five 

 Langstroth frames. Have the frames 

 supplied with starters of foundation 

 J^ of an inch wide. Place the frames 



not farther apart than 1% inches 

 from centre to centre. Use a queen- 

 excluding honey-board. Have young 

 queens. Remove the supers from the 

 old to the new hive at the time of 

 hiving, adding an extra case of sec- 

 tions, next to the hive, if necessary to 

 give the bees plenty of room. 



It is, of course, possible that there 

 are some other points, in this matter, 

 that I have not presented, but I have, 

 for four years, made a success of this 

 system, and as nearly as I can dis- 

 cover, I have given the reasons for 

 my success. 



T. r. Bingham— Why not use full 

 sheets of foundation ? 



W. Z. Hutchinson — Because they 

 vi'ould soon be drawn into full combs, 

 when honey that would otherwise be 

 stored in tlie sections, would be placed 

 in the brood-chamber. 



T. F. Bingham — I have several 

 times tried hiving swarms upon shal- 

 low frames, both with and without 

 foundation, and have secured better 

 results by using foundation. Bees 

 will occupy an empty brood-chamber 

 sooner than they will a super filled 

 with foundation. 



W. Z. Hutchinson— I do not put on 

 supers filled with only foundation 

 when hiving swarms, but move the 

 supers from the old hive to the new, 

 and the sections in these supers have 

 combs in all stages of development, 

 and the bees are soon back at work 

 upon the very sections that they so 

 hastily deserted. 



. O. O. Poppleton— At our Iowa State 

 Convention, held a short time ago, 

 this subject was discussed in a lively 

 manner, and five-sixths of those who 

 spoke reported trouble from excessive 

 building of drone comb. Perhaps the 

 success of Mr. Hutchinson may be 

 attributable to his locality ; for ex- 

 ample, the flow may be slow. 



W. Z. Hutchinson— I know that I 

 succeed, and I have given all the rea- 

 sons I can think of why I succeed, 

 but I am well aware that there may 

 be other reasons, and the one men- 

 tioned by Mr. Poppleton is a fair one 

 for consideration. 



The committee on exhibits, would 

 report the following articles on ex- 

 hibition : 



J. Van Deusen & Son, Sprout Brook, N. Y., 

 comb foundation, Tbin and Heavy, the latter 

 wired and unwtred. 



James Forncrook & Co.. Watertown, Wis., white 

 basswood one-piece sections. 



G. W. Broadbeck, Indianapolis, Ind., wooden 

 feeder. 



Bingham & HetherinKton. Abronia, Mich., 

 honey-knife and smokers. Brood-ncst of sting- 

 less bees. 



N. N. Betsinper, Marcellus, N. Y.. woven-wire 

 separators, and section-case. 



N. D. Coffin, Westland. Ind., Blat honey-board. 



Cera Manufacturing Company, Baltimore. Md., 

 foundation on wood, paper and linen. 



H. D. (vUttine, Clinton, Mich., tin bee-feeder, 

 and section-box former. 



Dr. Q. L. Tinker, New Philadelphia, O, sections 

 and queen-cage. 



W. Mason. Fillmore. Ind., extracted honey. 



E. S. Armstrong. Jerseyville, Ills., reversible 

 hive. 



G. W. Demaree. Chriatiansburg, Ky., supers for 

 comb and extracted hooey. 



H. D. Davis. Bradford, Vt., surplus sections and 

 shipping case. 



The Hub Manufacturing Company, New Hamp- 

 ton. Iowa, Wells' patent window screen for honey- 

 house windows. 



A. Cox, Whitelick, Ind., " I'UUE HONEY," in 

 letters as worked by the bees, also several glass 

 globes nicely fliled. 



Ora Knowlton. New Brunswick, Ind., very fine 

 display of honey-plants mounted on card-board. 



G. B. Lewis & Co., Watertown, Wis., sections for 

 honey. 



T. S. Bull, Valparaiso, Ind., extracted honey. 



B. O. Tuttle. Bristol, Vt,, photogruph-medley of 

 the principal bee-keepers in America. 



H. Chapman, Versailles, N. V.. Chapman honey- 

 plant. 



Dougherty & Wiley. Indianapolis, Ind., books. 

 smokers, sections, and general stock of bee- 

 supplies. 



Chas. Dadant & Son, Hamilton, Ills., comb foun- 

 dation. 



The essays offered at this meeting 

 were both numerous and lengthy, and 

 when the hour of adjournment ar- 

 rived there were several unread 

 essays yet on hand, and the pent-up 

 feeling upon the subject resolved 

 itself into the following : 



Besolved, That the executive com- 

 mittee be instructed to select essayists 

 and assign topics for the next conven- 

 tion ; to have fewer and shorter 

 essays, and to exclude, except in rare 

 cases, all essays written and for- 

 warded by absentees. 



The convention then adjourned sine 

 die. F. L. Dougherty, Sec. 



Convention Notices. 



l^" The next annual meeting of the Michigan 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association will be held Id 

 Ypsilanti. Mich., on Dec, 1 and 2. ISf^B. 



H. D. CUTTING, S«. 



1^' The Illinois Central Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its next meeting at 

 Mt. Sterling, Ills., on Nov. 24 and 2.3, 1886. 

 .1. M. H.»MBAUOH, Sec. 



^W The next annual meeting of the Nebraska 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association will be held in 

 Lincoln, Nebraska, on Wednesday, Jan, 12. 1887. 

 Location of Hall to be used and Hotel accommo- 

 dations will be given after further arrangements 

 have been made. H. N. Patterson, Sec. 



VW" The next meeting of the Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation of Hamilton and 'i'ipton counties, Ind.. 

 will be held at Westdeiri, Ind.. on Saturday, Nov. 

 6, ISHG. The following interesting programme has 

 been arranged ; Opening exercises : Music ; Ad- 

 dress of welcome, H. Mills ; Best method of win- 

 tering bees, I). Learning : Discussion opened t)y 

 Marion Moore : Best method of realizing the lar- 

 gest amount of priitit on a colony of bees M. 

 Doherty ; Discussion opened by Isaac Booth . Best 

 mettiod and time to prepare the bees for spring 

 work, Zimri Kivett : Discus.sion opened by liixon 

 Bray : Question box. All interested in bee-keep- 

 ing are invited to come, bringing their baskets 

 well tilled, so as to stay all day. and make this one 

 of the most interesting and profitable sessions that 

 the Association ever held. 



^F* The Patsaliga Bee-Keepers* Apsociation of 

 Ala., request bee-keepers throughout the State, to 

 meet delegates from this Association in Mont- 

 gomery, Ala., on Nov. St, IS86. for the purpose of 

 forming a State association. The State Agricul- 

 tural Fair will meet there on Nov. S!, and hold one 

 week. Liberal premiums are offered to bee-men. 

 Let me hear from everv bee-keeper at once. 



J. R, McLend n, Prts„ Stoddard, Ala. 



Our Book Premiums.— To encourage 

 all our present readers to get one or more 

 additional subscribers we will present 23 

 cents* worth of books for every new sub- 

 scriber (accompanied with $1 for one year's 

 subscription), sent direct to this office. Thus 

 for five new subscribers with $5, the getter 

 up of a club gets $1.25 in valuable reading 

 matter, to be selected by himself from our 

 list on the second page of this paper. It 

 will pay you to devote a few hours to the 

 interests of the Bee Journal. Every one 

 who keeps bees ought to take it. We will 

 furnish sample copies free in any quantity 

 to those who intend to get up clubs. We 

 expect to get ."),000 new subscribers for 1887. 



