THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



209 



into tlie sections. Reversible combs 

 should be tiuMcil over wlienever there 

 is too much lioney between the brood 

 and the sei'tions. and especially a few- 

 days before the close of a lioney How. 



Always keep the brood-nest witliin 

 the capacity of the queen. Handle 

 tlie frames "often, as it induces the 

 bees to feed the queen, and she will 

 lay the more. All caps and racks 

 should be made strong, and so ar- 

 ranged that separators can be used or 

 not, at the pleasure of the operator. 

 Tlie most prolitable time to put in 

 separators is after the bees are well 

 at work in the sections and before the 

 combs are built out too far. Look 

 over the sections often in the early 

 part of tlie season, and put in place 

 any combs that are not straight, or as 

 you wish them. It will save much 

 disappointment when you harvest the 

 crop. Use comb foundation for 

 starters in all cases, and have at least 

 lialf-inch openings between the sec- 

 tions. Xo more room should be given 

 in the sections than tlie bees can keep 

 warm, or they will waste much wax. 



East Saginaw, Mich. 



Head at the N. E. Michigan Convention. 



The Best Strain of Bees. 



M. D. YOEK. 



The Italian bee is greatly magnified 

 by many ; even people who know 

 nothing "about the honey bee, have 

 come to think that if one is keeping 

 Italians, he is sure of success. 



After studying their character 

 closely for the past five years, I find 

 that the queens are very prolific, 

 more so than the blacks, and produce 

 a larger amount of bees. This trait 

 is all right for some purposes. I once 

 thought a large amount of bees in a 

 hive, and a prolific young Italian 

 queen meant lots of honey ; but I 

 have found this to be a mistake. I 

 generally get the best results in comb 

 honey from those which are less pro- 

 lific ; and, consequently, less inclined 

 to swarm. 



I said this trait of prolificness is all 

 right for some purposes. It answers 

 well if one is working the business of 

 rearing bees to sell ; and also for the 

 one who is just commencing in the 

 business ; and calculates his success 

 by the number of swarms he can get 

 from one colony. This is all right, if 

 he could only stop when he wishes to, 

 or rather vi'hen he has all the bees he 

 wants, and desires to work for honey ; 

 but he is very much disappointed to 

 find that they keep right on swarm- 

 ing, regardless of his wishes, and he 

 has to let them spend their swarming 

 energy in building brood-combs in- 

 stead of storing surplus honey. 



Again, it is all right if we wish to 

 work for extracted honey, for the ex- 

 tractor is, without doubt, the best 

 non-swarming apparatus ever in- 

 vented ; but I cannot yet believe that 

 extracted honey ever will take the 

 lead in our markets. 



I can work the blacks with }4 more 

 bees in the hive, for comb honey, 

 than I can the Italians or hybrids, 

 with far less danger of their swarm- 



ing. This swarming miinia can be 

 controlled to a certain extent, we all 

 know ; but I would rather have one 

 colony to work for comb honey that 

 swariiis naturally tlie forepart of 

 .lune, and then is satisfied, than two 

 that you have to keep taking brood 

 from," or swarm them artificially. 



I was very much pleased to see how 

 emphatically ]SIr. {lutchinson came 

 out in his "article in Gleanings, in 

 favor of natiual swarming; but I was 

 very much surprised when he also 

 came out in favor of the hybrids. 

 Although ^Ir. II. is one of our most 

 successful queen breeders, it is his 

 first year's work for comb honey i and 

 now Mr. II. should next season try 

 some pure blacks for comb honey, 

 and report. 



Now, to sum up the whole matter, 

 if it is desired to produce comb honey, 

 the common black or brown bee is 

 the best, in my opinion. It is the 

 general verdict of those who have 

 produced both comb and extracted 

 honey, that the comb honey finds the 

 most ready sale. I claim that the 

 producer of comb honey from Ital- 

 ians, or their cros.ses, cannot compete 

 in the same market, at the same time, 

 with the one whose honey is produced 

 by blacks. The honey of the former 

 is not so nicely sealed, which gives it 

 a darker and rougher appearance. I 

 have never been able, as a rule, to 

 get them to fill out their combs so 

 nice and smooth next to the wood as 

 do the blacks. 



It is my opinion that the bl.ick bee 

 will be much sought after in the near 

 future ; and I think there is nothing 

 gained in crossing them with the 

 Italians, unless making them more 

 cross and vicious to handle is an ad- 

 vantage. 



Millington, Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wabash County, Ind., Convention. 



The bee-keepers of Wabash County 

 met at the Court House in Wabash, 

 Ind., on April 11, for the purpose of 

 organizing a bee-keepers' association. 



Mr. A. Singer was chosen chairman, 

 and Mr. H. Cripe, Secretary ;jro (em. of 

 the meeting. The chairman then ex- 

 plained the object for which they had 

 met ; after which a committee was ap- 

 pointed to prepare a constitution and 

 by-laws. Adjourned till 1 p. m. 



At 1 p. m. the chairman called the 

 meeting to order, and the committee 

 on constitution and by-laws reported, 

 which report was unanimously adopt- 

 ed, after changing the membership 

 fee from 50 cents to 2-5 cents. Eleven 

 names were then enrolled. 



The election of officers was next in 

 order, and resulted as follows : Mr. 

 Aaron Singer, President ; Mr. J. C. 

 Zimmerman, ^^ice-President ; Mr. II. 

 Cripe, Secretary, and Mr. G. D. Low- 

 man, Treasurer. 



Two hundred fifty-six colonies of 

 bees were represented by the mem- 

 bers. After some discussion the con- 

 vention adjourned to meet at the 

 same place Oct. 5, 1884. 



H. Cripe, Sec. 



Aaron Singer, Pres. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Improved Bees— Comb Foundation. 



.lAMES HEDDON. 



In reply to ^Ir. Doolittle's question 

 on page 260, top of third column, let 

 me say that I have several times in 

 this JOURNAL, stated my objections 

 to such complications as he, in that 

 article, describes ; and why I consider 

 the shallowchainber indispensalile. I 

 now refer him to page 687, for 1883, to 

 quotations from Mr. Langstroth. 



Mr. D. 's attack upon the efforts to im- 

 prove bee stock is very well answered 

 by two articles on pages 278 and 280. 

 I wish to present lust one among 

 many refutations to bis article against 

 that greatest boon to scientific apicul- 

 ture—comb foundation. Formerly, 

 from 8 to 12 days of the best of the 

 honey harvest was granted to a col- 

 ony to get the brood-chamber ready 

 for surplus boxes. Now, we give 

 them just 48 hours to accomplish the 

 same, and they do it in very much 

 better shape. About 2 to 3 tons of 

 fine wire are now used annually ; and 

 actual experiment has led to this 

 wholesale use. Please let me be re- 

 membered as one who plead tor the 

 shallow-chamber between the brood 

 and surplus apartments, and full 

 sheets of comb foundation above and 

 below, with wax and honey at present 

 prices. 



Owing to the backward spring, I 

 think it better to postpone my report 

 on wintering until about May 1-5. My 

 bees are not yet out of the winter 

 packing ; they are in excellent condi- 

 tion as a w'hole. My past winter's 

 loss is small for this county. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



Kor the American Bee JoumaL 



"Western Michigan Association. 



According to appointment, the bee- 

 keepers of western Michigan met at 

 Berlin, on April 24. In the absence 

 of the President, Vice-President 

 Thos. M. Cobb, called the meeting to 

 order. 



The minutes of the previous meet- 

 ing, and the Treasurer's report being 

 called for, were read and adopted. 

 The election of officers then took 

 place, resulting as follows : For 

 President, Thos. M. Cobb, of Grand 

 Rapids ; for Secretary and Treasurer, 

 Geo. E. Hilton, of Fremont Centre ; 

 for Vice-Presidents, Ottawa Co., Jno. 

 Slabbekoorn ; Kent Co., Lewis Wood- 

 man ; Muskegon Co., G. C. Young. 



It was decided to annex the coun- 

 ties of Oceana and Newaygo ; their 

 Vice-Presidents to be appointed by 

 the Secretary. By request of the Sec- 

 retary, it was also decided to hold the 

 annual meeting at Fremont, on the 

 last Tuesday in November next. 



Topics relating to bee-culture were 

 then discussed by all the members. 

 Colonies represented were, fall 480, 

 spring, 441. Only 58 colonies being 

 wintered in cellars. Although the 

 meeting was small, much interest was 

 manifested by all. Adjourned. 



F. S Covey, Sec. 



Thos. M. Cohb, Pres. 



