April 20, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



243 



hive it back agfain, when the trouble is over. Like Mr. Van 

 Aniburgfh, I get my surplus from the swarm. This contrac- 

 tion of the brood-nest leaves a colony in a condition that is 

 not strictly first-class for wintering'. If there is a fall flow, 

 an additional case can be given, and the bees will build up 

 into a good colony. If the location is such that there is no 

 fall flow, then I unite the swarms at the end of the main 

 honey harvest. To do this I remove one-half the queens 

 about two days before I wish to make the unions. The 

 queenless colonies are carried and set up on the top of 

 those having queens. Queenless bees are much more inclined 

 to give up their location than is the case with those having 

 a queen. There is also less danger of quarreling if the bees 

 of one colony are queenless. This, in brief, is a sort of out- 

 line of IH3' management with the Heddon hive. 



Mr. Bingham — I would like to know hove small a colony 

 will winter well. I may say, however, that I think that 

 colonies are more nearly of an average size in the fall than 

 many of us imagine. 



Mr. Hutchinson — I prefer a colony of ordinary strength, 

 but the bees must be young bees. A large colony of old 

 bees is not of much value compared with even a small one 

 of young bees. 



THE BUILDING OK \ HONEY-HOUSE. 



The question was askt, " What kind of a honey-^ouse 

 should be built for 100 colonies of bees ?" 



Mr. Hutchinson — My honey-house was for 100 colonies. 

 It was only 8x10 feet in size. The sills were 2x4 inch oak 

 scantling laid upon stones. The sides were of boards nailed 

 to the sills and plates. It was battened. The boards were 

 painted a dark red, and the battens white. It had a peakt 

 roof, and there was a door in each end and, a window in 

 each door and in each side. These windows allowed us to 

 see if swarms were coming out. The windows slid to one 

 side, and there was wirecloth over the windows on the out- 

 side. This wirecloth extended up above the windows, and 

 was held out a little distance from the side of the building 

 so that bees could crawl up and escape. This building an- 

 swered very well as a honey-house, but we had another 

 larger building near by that was used for a shop and store- 

 house. Our honey-house stood in the middle of the apiary. 



H. S. Wheeler — I would like a larger house than that. I 

 want one in which there is room to do some work, also to 

 store from 4,000 to 6,000 pounds of honey. I would have the 

 house at least as large as 15x16 feet. 



Pres. Hilton — I agree with Mr. Wheeler. It costs but 

 little more to build a large house than it does to build a 

 small one. I would have it at least 12x16 feet. 



Mr. Bingham — I would have a trap-door in the roof so 

 arranged that it can be opened, and the opening closed with 

 wirecloth. When extracting in hot weather the heat in the 

 closed building is something that is almost overpowering. 

 This door in the roof would allow the heat to pass off. T 

 would have wirecloth over the windows, but inside the glass 

 instead of outside of it. I would have my work-shop in a 

 separate room from the honey-room. We often wish tlie 

 honey-room closed, and it is not a comfortable place in 

 which to work. 



.ADVISABILITY OF H.WING OUT-.\PIARIES. 



The question was askt as to how an out-apiary should 

 be managed in swarming-time. 



Mr. Woodman — If I had it to do I should want a cheap 

 hand to help me. 



Mr. Bingham — I would keep a close watch at each api- 

 ary and see where the bees did the best, and take all of the 

 bees to that place. I doubt if it pays, many times, to have 

 out-apiaries. It increases the work wonderfully. 



THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE WILLOW-HERB. 



Mr. Wheeler told how quickly a colony had filled the 

 combs of an upper story when willow-herb was in bloom. 



Mr. Gilford — I once hived a swarm, and in seven days it 

 swarmed again. I examined the hive and found the 10 

 combs full of honey, except a few patches of brood, and the 

 two supers of sections were also full. 



Mr. Bingham — I object to the publication of such 

 stories. It induces men to go into the business only to be 

 disappointed. In this instance they are probably true, but 

 they are not representative yields. Michigan does not yield 

 more than IS pounds per colony on the average. 



Pres. Hilton — For eight years I kept a careful account, 

 and m3' average 3'ield for the eight years was 75 pounds per 

 colony. 



Mr. Bingham — Yes, but that was when the woods were 

 full of honey. It was when Mr. Root got the cistern full. 



Pres. Hilton — I presume that Mr. Bingham is reall}' 



correct in saying that the average yield for the whole State 

 of Michigan is not more than 15 pounds per colony, but in 

 this region SO pounds per colony is a fair average, and I can 

 aff^ord to hire a man to care for my bees and pay him good 

 wages, and make money out of the business. It must be 

 remembered that bees cannot be neglected if we are to get 

 good yields. 



Mr. Van Amburgh — I have taken as much as 50 pounds 

 a colony in a little basswood flow ; but I have hadbasswood 

 harvests in which I got onlj- five pounds. 



L.AY'ING WORKERS, HOW TO DETECT THEIR PRESENCE, AND 

 HOW TO GET RID OF THEM. 



In reply to a question as to how the presence of a laying 

 worker could be detected, Mr. Hutchinson said : 



" It can be detected by a large number of eggs being 

 deposited in one cell. The eggs are seldom in the bottom 

 of the cell. Perhaps the worker cannot reach to the bottom 

 of the cell. They are always on one side, and near the bot- 

 tom. When the eggs hatch all of the larvffi soon die except 

 one, and when the cells are capt over the)' have a conical 

 or raised capping the same as the capping over drone-brood. 

 It is very seldom that a laj'ing worker is seen. Once or 

 twice I have seen a worker laying eggs, or at least it lookt 

 as if she was laj-ing. I caught and killed her, but it did not 

 stop the laying of workers. I presume that there is more 

 than one in a colony." 



Mr. Bingham — The bees act uneasy. Thump on the 

 hive, and they will keep up a humming for a long time. 

 Thump on a hive containing a colony with a queen, and 

 the bees will make a short hum, or buzz, and then stop. 



Mr. Hutchinson — The quickest and easiest way of get- 

 ting rid of a laj'ing worker is to unite the colony with some 

 other colony having a laying queen. Or the colony with 

 a laying worker may be moved away and a nucleus with a 

 queen set in its place. The workers will return to their old 

 home and join the nucleus. When most of the bees have 

 joined the nucleus the rest of them may be shaken down in 

 front of the nucleus, and all will be well. 



PREVENTION OF BUR-COMBS. 



Mr. Rankin — We have tried various frames, and the 

 Hoffman frame with top-bars I's wide and. /s deep, spaced 

 '4 inch apart, gives us the least bur-combs. 



Pres. Hilton — My experience is the same. With this 

 frame I see no need of a honej'-board. Such a top-bar also 

 has a tendency to keep the queen out of the supers. 



PLACE OF MEETING AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 



Thompsonville was selected as the next place of meet- 

 ing, and the following officers chosen : President, Geo. E. 

 Hilton ; vice-president, H. Gift'ord ; secretary, W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson ; and treasurer, J. M. Rankin. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



Purity of Drones from a Mismated Mother. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



THE following was referred tome to answer in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. I don't know why, for I do not pro- 

 fess to be informed on such matters, as do some of our 

 more scientific brethren in apiculture. But I will try to 

 throw what light I can on the subject from a practical 

 standpoint. Here is the subject referred to : 



Editor York:— Tlie Scientific American supplement No. 1207 con- 

 tains an article on the honey-bee, reprinted from a pamphlet issued by 

 the United States Department of Ajjrriculture as Bulletin No. 1, Division 

 of Entomology. The article closes thus: 



*• The fact that drones develop from unfertilized e^^^s is to be noted 

 as having" an important practical bearing- in connection with the intro- 

 duction of new strains of a given race or of new races of bees into an api- 

 ary. From a single choice home-bred or imported mother, joung queens 

 of'undoubted purity of blood may be reared for all of the colonies of the 

 apiary, and since the mating- of these young queens does not effect their 

 drone progeny, thereafter only drones of the desired strain or race and 

 pure in blood will be produced, rendering, therefore, the pure mating of 

 future rearings fairly certain if other bees are not numerous within a 

 mile or two. Eventually, also, all of the colonies will be changed to the 

 new race, and without admi.\ture of impure blood, provided always that 



