THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



731 



He gave his experience witli trans- 

 planting a few thousand, year-old 

 plants, that liad been cultivated. He 

 said that it took two pair of oxen to 



Elow it up, and then a furrow liad to 

 e opened on either side of tlie row, 

 and the plants plowed, or father cut 

 off, leaving most of the roots in the 

 ground ; that the laterals were very 

 numerous and strong, and were three 

 or four feet in length, and often an 

 inch in diameter; the taproots were 

 as large and perhaps as long. He dug 

 two wagon loads of roots from the 

 rows and left half of them in the 

 ground. He plants an acre of ground 

 from a pound of seed in this way, but 

 considered too much unnecessary 

 labor. He was asked if stock would 

 eat it. He thought they would not; 

 as they had free access to it, both cat- 

 tle and horses, and had never seen 

 anything eat it. 



He was asked if there were more 

 than one kind of it. 



He said that two species were 

 described, and by some three. 



Dr. Marshall stated that horse-mint 

 did not grow in his locality, asked 

 "what time it bloomed. 



Dr. Howard answered that it usually 

 commenced rather after the 20th of 

 May, and lasted, when seasonable, 

 over forty-live days, but that this year 

 it would commence the lirst week in 

 May, before the ratan vine was done, 

 and it lasted, usually, more than forty- 

 five days. 



"Is the bee moth an enemy to the 

 culture of the honey-bee y" was next 

 discussed. 



Dr. Marshall remarked that no one 

 need to fear any losses from the rava- 

 ges of the moth worm, if he kept 

 strong colonies ; that the worm would 

 injure combs if allowed free access to 

 then), could not be denied, but that 

 no one need fear destruction. He 

 thought that the Italians were more 

 vigilant, and more apt to protect their 

 homes against its ravages than were 

 the blacks. 



Judge Andrews said that the bee- 

 moth was not to be feared among sci- 

 entific bee-keepers, that all moth-nroof 

 hives and their vendors were humbugs. 

 He spoke in positive terms against 

 moth-traps. 



Dr. Howard said that the natural 

 food of the moth larva was wax, and 

 not bees or honey, and that during the 

 spring and summer months beeswax 

 was liable to become infested with 

 these larvae, if exposed, and he re- 

 garded them as an enemy to bee-cnl- 

 turists, as they certainly destroy wax, 

 and this article is becoming one of 

 great importance. That comb honey 

 should be noticed occasionally and 

 fumigated with sulphur to destroy the 

 larvae ; that strong colonies was tlie 

 key-note to the successful protection 

 of the hive— that a hive giving at all 

 times free access to every part, fur- 

 nished with a full colony of bees, with 

 a vigorous laying queen, was al)so- 

 lutely; moth-proof so far as the injur- 

 ious inroads of this insect was con- 

 cerned. 



" The best method of transferring 

 bees from old boxes to movable frame 

 laves," was next discussed. Dr. How- 

 ard read an essay on " transferring 



bees," in which he gave the modus 

 operandi at length. 



•' The best method of marketing 

 honey " was next discussed. 



Dr. ilarshall thought that the culti- 

 vation of a home market was advisa- 

 ble, and should be encouraged. He 

 had sold 4,000 lbs. at home, last fall. 



All favored the cultivation of a home 

 market, and putting up honey in an 

 attractive shape, and convenient size, 

 to suit the purchaser. 



Adjourded till 9 a. m., to-morrow. 



SECOND D.^Y— MORNING SESSION. 



The meeting was called to order by 

 Dr. Marshall. Judge \V. II. Andrews 

 read an essay on "bee literature— 

 what it is and what it should be," in 

 which he stripi)ed the literature of the 

 present, of its fallacies, its " tine spun 

 theories " and atrial speculations, and 

 dealt fairly and squarely with solid 

 facts, and claimed that all deductions 

 should be based upon the same solid 

 basis. It was highly interesting. 



The committee on subjects for dis- 

 cussion reported the following : 



What is the best mode of Italianiz- 

 ing an apiary V 



Judge Andrews gave his views and 

 condemned the method described in 

 the books. He then asked Dr. How- 

 ard to answer the question he had 

 asked him to answer m the American 

 Bee-Journal, to wit: 



"Does the Dzierzon drone theory 

 necessarily follow from the establish- 

 ment of the much cherished idea of 

 parthenogenesis V" 



Dr. Howard answered the question, 

 but the Judge rather accused him of 

 being on the fence. The doctor said 

 it was, to the scientific mind, a mooted 

 point. He gave in detail many inter- 

 esting experiments with bees. The 

 anatomy of the qneen under different 

 circumstances, as revealed by the aid 

 of the microscope, he dwelt on at 

 length ; all of which was interesting. 



[For answer to Judge Andrews' 

 question, see— "Review of the Dzier- 

 zon Theory," American Bee-Jour- 

 nal, Vol. xviii, p. 277.— Sec] 



The Judge admitted parthenogene- 

 sis so far as related to the production 

 of drones from mifecundated mothers 

 and no further. He related several 

 interesting experiments in the breed- 

 ing of other stock — cattle and hogs. 



Is it advisable to import other races 

 of bees than Italians y was discus.sed. 

 It was the general expression that 

 the Italians were superior to any other 

 race yet introduced, all things con- 

 sidered ; and the importation of other 

 races was advisable. 



AFTERNOON session. 



The election of officers for the en- 

 suing year was held, which resulted 

 as follows : < 



President— Vf . H. Andrews, of Mc- 

 Kinney. 



Vice President— yV . K. Marshall, of 

 Marshall. 



Serretary—W . R. Howard, Kingston. 



Treasurer— F. P. Cline, Mesquite. 



Resolutions were passed, thanking 

 Judge Andrews and the citizens of 

 McKinney for hospitality ; expressing 

 sympathy with the Rev. L. L. Langs- 



troth in his affliction ; and thanking 

 Dr. Marshall for his kind assistance 

 and presence, and the exhibitors of 

 apiarian supplies. 

 Adjourned to meet in April, 1883. 

 \Vm. R. Howard, Sec. 



[The foregoing report has but just 

 reached this office, on account of the 

 Secretary being unable sooner to pre- 

 pare it for publication. — Ed.] 





Mt Season's Work.— Bees are still 

 working on mignonette and some 

 drones are yet in the hives. Spring 

 count, I had 17 colonies starving, I 

 have now 57 colonies rich in honey ; 3 

 being from the woods. My surplus is 

 between 1 ,200 and 1,500 lbs. honey ,one- 

 half comb and half extracted. I am 

 selling the comb at 20c ; extracted at 

 25c. I received a package of Golden 

 Honey Plant seed from Dr. Tinker, he 

 having learned that seed purchased 

 last spring failed to grow. 



Wm. Camm. 



Murraysville, 111., Nov. 9, 1882. 



My Report for 1882.— Number of 

 colonies in the spring, 8 good and one 

 weak ; the good ones were as good or 

 better as when they went into winter 

 quarters ; the weak one had a good 

 youngqueen,butnot one pint of bees, 

 i built it up with brood from strong 

 colonies. The early spring was good 

 for bees, but April was cold and wet. 

 I had to feed some to keep them breed- 

 ing ; fruit bloom did not amount to 

 much, as we had some hard frosts, 

 which killed it.* White clover came 

 on in due time and continued in abun- 

 dance until September, but think that 

 it did not yield much honey; just 

 enough to keep bees breeding all the 

 summer. Swarming commenced June 

 12, and they kept it up until Septem- 

 ber. Bees were stronger in numbers, 

 but gave very little surplus honey. I 

 winter them on the summer stands, 

 packed in drv sawdust, 6 inches all 

 around the hive and on top, and lost 

 none. My increase by swarming was 

 21, and I put back 12 or 15 swarms. 

 In September I doubled down to 21. 

 I have now on the summer stands 5 

 packed in sawdust, same as last win- 

 ter, 16 in double walled brick hives, 

 with dead air space of one-inch be- 

 tween the brick walls ; on the top, a 

 cover of old carpet, and on that one 

 foot of dry sawdust, covered with a 

 good shingle roof. The idea of brick 

 hives I obtained from the Bee-JouR- 

 nal, but what number, or who wrote 

 on the subject, I do not know, whoever 

 it was, only spoke of brick hives and 

 gave no description. So far I like 

 them, but I may hate them next spring. 

 One of our bee-keepers is brimstoning 

 about one-half of his bees and taking 

 the honey. Murder ! murder ! 



Abe Hoke. 



Union City, Ind., Nov. 5, 1882. 



