THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



539 



plenty of young bees for the coming 

 winter. 



Another important article tor <i pro- 

 gressive liep-keeper to possess, is a 

 good bee-smoker— an article after 

 once using, lie will not do witliout. 

 To be successful we want plenty of 

 empty liives in readiness for the in- 

 crease, then we will not be compelled 

 to use hives which are not similar to 

 the one already in use. It is also well 

 to have our'stuplus arrangements 

 previously prepared, for we may need 

 them wlieu we do not have them at 

 hand, and thus be compelled to use 

 any old box for the surplus honey, in- 

 stead of the nice and neat sections 

 which are more convenient to use, 

 and more attractive to the buyer, I 

 have not attempted to give all the 

 necessities of the apiary, but of others 

 I leave each bee-keeper to judge for 

 himself. 



Discussions of questions being next 

 in order, the President asked, "Is if 

 advisable to put empty combs into 

 the centre of the hive V" 



.J, W. Sanders : Yes; if the central 

 combs are full of brood, one or two 

 combs at a time may be added near 

 the center, to an advantage ; or if you 

 do not have combs, empty frames may 

 be added, and you are sure to get nice 

 straight combs' built. I had a num- 

 ber of combs built that way last sea- 

 son, and they were generally clear 

 from drone cells, 



" Wliy do queens enter the surplus 

 receptacles V" Mr, Cover said, for 

 want of room in the brood- chamber, 

 Mrs. Van Meter said that she had one 

 colony which had all drone brood and 

 no sign of worker brood, and asked, 

 why is it V Mr, Cover and the Secre- 

 tary made a few remarks, stating that 

 it was queenless, and was occupied 

 by a fertile worker, which always pro- 

 duced drones. The brood of a fertile 

 worker is easily detected, for the 

 worker cells, when capped, instead of 

 being smooth, are very uneven; and 

 you will tind eggs laid without any 

 regularity, many cells being missed, 

 and others with several eggs in them. 

 As a remedy, uniting it with some 

 other colony, or giving it a queen, or 

 means of rearingone, were advised. 



The subject of " Summer Care of 

 Bees " was then discussed. Mr. Cover 

 said that he worked for honey and not 

 increase ; that he begun in the spring 

 with .").S colonies ; and that he stimu- 

 lated early breeding by feeding rye 

 flour and oatmeal until plenty of 

 natural pollen appeared. By this 

 means his bees get through with 

 swarming early, and are ready for the 

 honey harvest. His first swarm issued 

 on May U, and the last one on June 

 5, He had 84 swarms by May 24, and 

 had saved only 11 swarms. He said 

 that he works it in this way : When 

 the tirst swarm issues, he destroys 

 the queen, and the swarm returns to 

 the parent colony. When second 

 swarms issues, he captures the queens 

 and returns the swarms, or else unites 

 two or thrte swarms. At the same 

 time he gives plenty of surplus room. 

 He has some Langstroth hives which 

 have on three sets of five-pound boxes. 

 Up to this date, .July 5, he had taken 

 off 200 five-poimd boxes, and had .3(X) 



more in which the bees were working; 

 the majority being about ready to 

 take olf , 



Tlie question, '■ How do you capture 

 the queen V"' was asked him. Answer: 

 As she comes out, if he is at hand 

 when the swarm issues ; and if by 

 any means he should fail, he hives 

 them in a box kept for the purpose, 

 shakes them out upon a slieet, and 

 tries it again. 



On the subject of swarming and 

 hiving bees, Mr, Cover gave some 

 very good instructions which all 

 seemed to appreciate. 



G. W. Calhoun : " How late is it ad- 

 visable to put in Climb foundation ?" 



President : As long as the honey 

 season lasts. The President then 

 being called upon to give his methods, 

 said that he began ui the spring with 

 7 colonies, and how has 14. His bees 

 are doing well. He uses comb foun- 

 dation ; in the first place he used 

 whole sheets, but now uses parts of 

 sheets, and linds that the bees worked 

 it out and made nice, straight combs. 

 He had filled the whole space in the 

 sections, but in the future would use 

 only a little as comb-guides. He does 

 not expect to come up to Mr. Cover 

 this season. He thinks that exposure 

 to the air hurts honey, and would like 

 to hear what Mr, Cover thinks of it. 

 Mr. Cover said that it makes some 

 difference. He closes the entrances 

 to his boxes by pasting something 

 over them. 



The question, " Where do you keep 

 honey," was answered, " In a dry 

 place, the dryer the better " 



The President further said : We, 

 as bee-keepers, want to pay some at- 

 tention to the sale of our honey. In 

 the first place, we want to have it in a 

 good shape to suit the market, and 

 every thing neat and clean, for the 

 appearance will help to sell it. We 

 must not be in too great a hurry to 

 sell, but wait until there is a demand, 

 and hold out for good prices. 



Mr. Cover, on honey sales, said that 

 he sells when the price suits him, and 

 always holds out for a good price on 

 first-class honey in good shape, and 

 always gets his price. He pays no 

 attention to an inferior article in poor 

 shape and low price ; for he finds that 

 buyers prefer the good honey to the 

 poor, and are willing to pay for it. 

 He sells comb honey at 20 cents per 

 pound, and does not produce any ex- 

 tracted, 



Mr, Cover further said : Do not be 

 scared about our honey crop, for 

 there may be a crash to it like there 

 was last season, and get no fall honey. 

 There may something else happen so 

 that the crop for the season may be 

 short ; therefore, I would advise all to 

 hold out for paying prices, 



Mr, Wickersham : " How do you 

 get the bees out of the boxes ':"' 



Answer : When the honey season is 

 good, put the l)Oxes into a shed and 

 let tiie bees go out themselves. If 

 the season is poor, place them in a 

 dark room and give a ray of light. 

 Boxes to be taken otf in the morning. 



Many otlier good things were said, 

 that we did not record. By motion, 

 G. W. Calhoun, G. W. Eeeler and 

 Mrs. -J. M. Van Meter were appointed 



a committee to assist the Superin- 

 tendent of the -Vpiary Department at 

 the Fair, 



The subject for tlie next meeting is 

 •• Fall and Winter Care of liees." 

 Adjourned to meet at Marshalltown, 

 Iowa, on Oct. 4. 1.S.S4, at 10:30 a, m. 



.J. W. S.\NDERS, ii'ec. 



.Joseph Swii-t, Pres. 



Kitr tlie American Bee JournaL 



Hints about the Michigan State Fair. 



II. D. CUTTING. 



The Michigan State Agricultural 

 Societv have furnished a fine building 

 for the " Bee-Keepers' Department," 

 (size 48x32 feet) on an improved plan, 

 and it is hoped and expected that the 

 bee-keepers of Michigan and sur- 

 rounding States will turn out and 

 crowd it. We know that several of 

 our ))romiiient apiarists are preparing 

 to make a very large exhibit : in fact, 

 we have every reason to think that it 

 will be the largest and finest exhibi- 

 tion ever held at any State Fair. 



The Premium List is very large, 

 amounting to S.3(W. The judging is to 

 be done by an expert employed for 

 this department. This is a new fea- 

 ture, and I trust that it will give the 

 best of satisfaction. Exhibitors feel- 

 ing the importance of our exhibitions 

 are now making application for space, 

 and we also expect several lady ex- 

 hibitors. 



As a place of interest to bee-keep- 

 ers, I know of nothing that will give 

 you as much satisfaction as to attend 

 our State Fair. You will see a great 

 many new appliances that will help 

 you." I know of several important 

 implements used quite extensively by 

 bee-keepers that were first thought of 

 by seeing something on exhibition in 

 oiir department. A great many arti- 

 cles will be on exhibition that have 

 never been placed there before. We 

 are to have a comb-foundation ma- 

 chine making foundation during ex- 

 hibition hours. 



Application for space. Premium 

 List, or any information connected 

 with this department, should be made 

 to me. 



Clinton, Mich. 



i^ The Western New York and 

 Northwestern Pennsylvania Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will hold its 

 semi-annual meeting at .Jamestown, 

 N, Y., on Sept. 1 and 2. A general 

 invitation is extended to all bee- 

 keepers. W. A. Shewjian, Sec. 



i^° The Ohio liee-keepers will hold 

 meetmgs in which they will have 

 lectures, essays, and reports from bee- 

 keepers, during the Ohio State Fair, 

 which will be held at Columbus, O., 

 Sept. 1 and -5 inclusive. All interested 

 in bee-culture are cordially invited 

 to attend. C. M. KiNCiSBtTRY, Sec. 



I)r;. II. Besse, Pres. 



®" Letters for publication must be 

 written on a separate piece of paper 

 from items of business. 



