THE AMERICA]^ BEE JOURNAL. 



409 



minds the very great importance of 

 tliis care. New extracted honey 

 should stand in open mouthed ves- 

 sels for quite a while before being 

 closed up, so as to become thoroughly 

 rii)ened. It should also be borne in 

 mind, that with the extractor we are 

 likely at times to take every pound of 

 honey in the hive, and if at a time 

 like this, the (low of honey should 

 cease suddenly, the bees must be fed, 

 or they are likely to perish for the 

 want of necessary stores. A neces- 

 sary point to be taken into considera- 

 tion is the time necessarily required 

 in extracting honey, for during good 

 yields the lioney must be removed 

 every third or fourth day, for gen- 

 erally colonies run for extracting are 

 not .so likely to swarm, unless neg- 

 lected, and are very full of bees. 



Northwestern Wisconsin. 



The N. W. Wisconsin Bee-Keei)ers' 

 Convention met in LaCrosse, Wis., 

 June 9, 1882, at 10 a. m., Pres. Markle 

 in the chair. Minutes of last meeting 

 were read and approved. 



VVm. Lossing moved tliat the meet- 

 ings hereafter take place about May 

 1 and October 15. Carried. 



The President called for a report, 

 from all the members present as to 

 the successful wintering of bees the 

 past season. The loss reported was 

 about one in fifty. 



\V. Lossing complained of being 

 troubled with a species of bee-destroy- 

 ing bird. The bird he said was a 

 trifle larger than the kingbird, of a 

 brownish color, with wliite breast. 

 He said he shot 57 in one day. 



Pres. Merkle complained of being 

 troubled a great deal with the king- 

 bird, and thought the best way to 

 dispose of them is with a good shot- 

 gun. He asked the ojiinion of the 

 members as to the best bee-hive, and 

 it was generally agreed that the Lang- 

 stroth was the best ; at any rate, a 

 hive to be better must be on the same 

 principle. 



The question arose, " Would it be 

 proper for the Society to place a price 

 on honey, and to appoint some one to 

 mark it according to grade ? 



Mr. Lossing was of the opinion that, 

 as he understood G. J. Pammel to say 

 he would open a honey depot at 

 LaCrosse, all the members could let 

 him have their honey, and he would 

 dispose of it as he best could. 



Question— Does bee-keeping pay to 

 make a specialty of it V Upon this 

 question quite a discussion arose. 

 After several members gave a state- 

 ment of their bee account, it was 

 agreed that it does pay. 



Question — What is the best method 

 for compelling the bees to work in 

 the second story y Answer — Take one 

 or two frames of brood from the brood 

 chamber, and put them, with a few 

 bees, into the second-story, when the 

 bees will take care of the brood 

 and commence work in that apart- 

 ment. 



Question— Has any one seen a queen 

 in the act of fertilization, and what 

 were the results to the drone V Mr. 

 Lossing said that his assistant had 



seen a case, and that .the drone died 

 instantly, showing that it performs 

 one duty. 



Question— How does a bee get pollen 

 on its legs V Answer— It takes the 

 pollen from the (lower with its tongue, 

 and puts it on one of its fore legs, 

 from whence with a quick movement 

 it transfers the pollen to the hind 

 legs. 



Question — Ilowdoes the bee get the 

 pollen off y Answer— It backs into 

 the cell and shoves the pollen off with 

 its middle le^s. 



Question— What queen cells pro- 

 duce the best queens V Answer — Re- 

 move the queen from a strong colony 

 that has plenty of brood and eggs, 

 then cut a stripof comb from the bot- 

 tom of a whole comb with eggs in, 

 about one inch wide, giving the bees 

 plenty of room to build large queen 

 cells. Select the best from the whole 

 number, and you will be pretty cer- 

 tain to get good (lueens. 



The President spoke of the effect 

 of extracted honey on the market. He 

 looked upon it as a great evil, and 

 only there to make room for fraud. 



Messrs. Lossing and Pammel re- 

 butted the remarks of the President, 

 after which he expressed a determin- 

 ation to buy a liouey extractor. 



The Convention adjourned. 



G. J. Pamjiel, Sec. 



Madison, Wis., Convention. 



The monthly meeting of the Madi- 

 son, Wisconsin, Bee-K6epers' Asso- 

 ciation, was held at Madison on 

 Saturday, June 10, at 7. .30 p. m., and 

 was presided over by Prof. R. 15. An- 

 derson. Papers were read by Dr. J. 

 W. Vance, C. Spangenberg, D. D. 

 Daniher and Prof. Anderson. 



Mr. C. Spangenberg, on the subject 

 of swarming, said : Tlie month of 

 June is the real swarming month 

 among bees. It then often happens 

 to bee-keepers, who like to have large 

 swarms, and do not care to increase 

 the number of hives more than ab- 

 solutely necessary, that they are at 

 times troubled with the so-called 

 swarming fever. Although we may 

 have destroyed all the queen cells one 

 day, the same liive may show signs of 

 swarming the next day, and this may 

 be followed by a second attempt, nay, 

 even by a third and fourth, simultane- 

 ously, so that we geta genuine revolu- 

 tion in the apiary. To suppress this, I 

 open the hive and sprinkle a small 

 amount of water over and between the 

 frames, which at once quiets the bees. 

 Then I either give them more room or 

 make a new swarm by taking two or 

 three frames of brood and bees, out 

 of each of these hives, or the same ex- 

 citement will occur again the next day; 

 for at such times they work continu- 

 ously on queen cells. As the swarming 

 fever keeps the bees away from their 

 work of making honey, it is necessary 

 that the bee-keeper should be on his 

 guard to orevent the occurrence of 

 such perioas. 



Prof. R. B. Anderson gave the fol- 

 lowing on bee-keeping and its ad- 

 vantages : Our fields and forests pro- 



duce immense quantities of flowers 

 that can be utilized and made to in- 

 crease our wealth, if bee-keeping as 

 a pursuit is properly encouraged and 

 adopted. 



I knovi- but very little about bees, 

 but it lias ofcurrecl to me to ask how 

 much the wealth of our state and 

 country niiglit be increased by a judi- 

 cious adoption of bee-culture. We 

 know tliat we cannot raise wheat and 

 potatoes on tlie same piece of ground 

 at the same time, but it seems that 

 bee-keeping instead of interfering in 

 any way with tlie productiveness of a 

 farm, is absolutely beneficial to the 

 plants from whose flowers the bees 

 gather their jiolleu and honey. Nor 

 does the keeping of bees require much 

 of the bee-keeper's time. I heard a, 

 farmer who keeps about 50 colonies of 

 bees and sells about S-00 worth of 

 lioney every year, say tliat he consid- 

 ered this money clean profit, since 

 the bees took care of themselves 

 and claimed no part of his farm for 

 their specliil feeding. He added that 

 the bees were his only animals that 

 did not annoy him. His horses, and 

 cows, and sheep, and jiigs were al- 

 ways after him, teasing him for some- 

 thing to eat, while his bees only asked 

 to be let alone. 



As stated, I should like to know to 

 what extent our food produce could 

 be increased by a judicious adoption 

 of bee-culture the country through- 

 out, and I think the results of a fair 

 calculation should be pressed into 

 the notice of the public. They tell 

 me bees will go miles after their pol- 

 len and honey, and that therefore 

 every man in the city might keep 

 bees, and in this way furnish his 

 household with tlie necessary amount 

 of pure and delicate sweet. I do not 

 know how this may be. 



I suppose if every family in Madison 

 went into bee-culture, the supply of 

 pollen and honey from flowers would 

 be exhausted, and the amount of 

 honey we should get would be much 

 smaller in proportion than if only a 

 third of our citizens kept bees ; but 

 tlien, on the other hand, the honey- 

 yielding flowers and trees might be 

 vastly increased without any great ef- 

 fort on our part. Indeed, I do not 

 think a selection of trees and flowers 

 with reference to the needs of bees 

 would lessen the beauty of our streets 

 and gardens, and in many instances 

 the gain to be received might stimu- 

 late many of our citizens, who now 

 neglect their shade trees and flower 

 gardens, to plant more trees and r^ise 

 more flowers, thus positively adding 

 to the beauty of our fair city. Bees 

 need intelligent care, but the amount 

 of time required to see to them is so 

 small that no other business in which 

 the bee-keeper is engaged need to suf- 

 fer on account of his bees. 



The meeting adjourned to the even- 

 ing of July Sth. at which time others 

 will present valuable papers. 



1^ Constitutions and By-Laws for 

 local Associations $2.00 per 100. The 

 name of the Association printed in the 

 blanks for 50 cents extra. 



