552 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ill one year, while the best queens 

 are good for 3 or 4 years. He would 

 advise beginners to get young queens. 



Mr. Dodge objected to breeding in- 

 and-in from year to year, and said 

 that bee-keepers must be careful from 

 whom they get queens, and to see 

 that they have no diseased queens in 

 their own apiaries. 



Mr. Boiling stated that the queen 

 is the life of the colony ; that she 

 must be a good one in order to pro- 

 duce good queens ; that the first-born 

 queen is the best, that the old queen 

 leaves witli tlie swarm, and that the 

 old colony has the best queen. He 

 thinks that colonies formed previous 

 to June 24, do the best. He often 

 divides swarms and puts young 

 queens with them, destroying the 

 worthless ones, and advises" keeping 

 new or young queens on hand. 



Mr. Evans said that it is common 

 to have early swarms, and that he 

 cuts out the queen-cells and lays them 

 on top of the frames in colonies which 

 have lately swarmed ; selects the best 

 to allow to mature, and thinks many 

 of the queens whieli are purchased 

 are nearly worthless. 



Mr. Boiling stated that he had seen 

 queens in all stages of development. 

 If 'queens are hatched from cells 

 which are dry and empty, he would 

 not use them, for they have been 

 starved ; while if they are hatched 

 from cells with some of the royal jelly 

 left in them, they have been well fed 

 and are fully developed. In produc- 

 ing honey we must have plenty of 

 bees. He puts on the boxes as soon 

 as clover bloom appears, and thinks 

 that comb foundation is beneficial. 

 This season he had produced 1,000 

 pounds of honey, had 40 colonies, 

 spring comit. and now has 00. 



Mr. Evans said that he would 

 rather put 2 colonies together than to 

 have light colonies. They will fill 

 the hive with honey on which to live, 

 and then store considerable surplus. 

 He wished to know whether any of 

 the members had any experience in 

 using a direct passage to the boxes. 

 but no one had such experience. 



Mr. Boiling uses a skeleton honey- 

 board and sections 2 inches wide, so 

 set as to leave a clear passage. He 

 prefers sections holding one-pound, 

 and uses tin separators. 



Mr. Dodge said that he could not 

 produce honey without the use of 

 glass or separa'tors ; could not handle 

 sections and clean them without 

 breaking some of the cells, and thus 

 cause them to leak. 



Mr. Boiling asked. "If a black 

 queen is impregnated by an Italian 

 di-one, will this impregnation have an 

 influence upon her drone progeny ?"' 



Mr. Evans said that a fertilized 

 queen carries the fertility in a sac, 

 and that her drone progeny would be 

 affected. 



Mr. Dodge said that in order to in- 

 sure success in a convention, there 

 should be free and full discussion on 

 all questions of importance in bee- 

 culture by every member. 



The next meeting will be held at 

 Fredonia. X. Y.. on Sept. 6, 1S84, at 

 10 a. m.. in the Park House. 



r. E. DonciE. Preg. pro tern. 



For tlie American Bee JoumaL 



Hints to Bee-Keepers. 



.7. M. HICKS. 



It is not generally understood or 

 believed that nine-tenths of the moth- 

 worms found in the brood-combs are 

 produced by means of the bees carry- 

 ing the eggs in with the pollen or 

 bee-bread ; nevertheless it is a fact. 



Never buy a bee-hive expecting to 

 get a moth-proof hive ; for if you do, 

 you will surely be disappointed as 

 thousands of others have been in the 

 past, by not knowing or fully u)ider- 

 standing the natural laws wliich gov- 

 ern the ever "busy bee."' 



Now is a good time to prepare a 

 quantity of hard candy from sugar, 

 for fall feeding, if it is found to be 

 necessary. 



I would suggest to all who contem- 

 plate keeping few or many colonies of 

 bees, to make their increase by divis- 

 ion, performing it iii the night-time. 

 and in accordance with natural laws, 

 using flrst-elass movable-frame hive 

 for the purpose, one in which liees 

 can be easily and quickly managed 

 without irritating them. 



Always rear your young queens 

 from mothers whose worker progeny 

 has desirable qualities, such as a kind 

 and amiable disposition as well as 

 being industrious honey-gatherers. 



In order to eradicate "ants from bee- 

 hives as well from ant-hills, let me 

 suggest a free use of strong brine, 

 which, if made hot and poured on, 

 will effectually clear them out, and is 

 no detriment to the bees. Good brine 

 placed in small troughs with corn- 

 cobs or chips as floats, is good for 

 bees, and is a preventive of foul 

 brood as well as an antidote for bee- 

 diarrhoea. 



Battle Ground, Ind. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Nor. Ind. and Sou. Mich. Convention. 



On July 29, 18S4, pursuant to a call, 

 the Bee-Keepers of Elkhart and ad- 

 joining counties met at the County 

 .Superintendent's oflice, in Goshen, 

 Ind., at 2 p. m., for the purpose of 

 organizing a Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion. \y. H. Barney, of Elkhart, was 

 appointed temporary chairman, and 

 A. Blunt, temporary secretary. 



The following committee on perma- 

 nent organization was then selected ; 

 A. Blunt, (ioshen-; E. H. t'orpe. Vis- 

 tula: C. C. Carmien, Goshen. The 

 committee presented the following 

 for oflicers of the association for the 

 ensuing year, and they were unani- 

 mously elected : 



President, A. Blunt; Vice-Presi- 

 dents. Jacob C. Mishler and W. H. 

 Barney ; Secretary, Dr. F. L. Putt ; 

 Treasurer, M. J. Schrock. 



After a few remarks, the Presi- 

 dent informed the convention that 

 the first business in order would be to 

 appoint a committee on constitution 

 and by-laws, and the following gentle- 

 men were selected; W. H. Barney, 

 Elkhart; E. H. Corpe, Vistula: A. l"). 

 Hartzler, (ioshen. 



This committee reported a constitu- 

 tion and by-laws, which were unani- 

 mously adopted with the exception of 

 an article of the by-laws with refer- 

 ence to the executive committee. On 

 motion of Mr. Barney, this article was 

 so changed as to constitute the Pres- 

 ident and Secretary a part of the 

 executive committee. The President 

 then appointed the following execu- 

 tive committee to act with the Presi- 

 dent and Secretary : C. C. Carmien. 

 (Toshen ; 'Victor Garry, Millersburg ; 

 W. Buzzard, Xew Paris. 



It was then moved and carried that 

 the President should report this meet- 

 ing in such papers as he saw proper. 

 On motion, it was decided that the 

 association should hold its next meet- 

 ing in Goshen, on October 3, at 10 a. 

 111. The executive committee was 

 instructed to appoint two members to 

 read essays at the next meeting on 

 some subject pertaining to bee-keep- 

 ing. 



The association will be known as 

 the Xorthern Indiana and Southern 

 Michigan Bee-Keepers' Association. 



The signing of the constitution and 

 by-laws was considered, and 24 names 

 placed upon the Secretary's book. 



Membership fees to the amount of 

 S9..50 were received by the Secretarj' 

 and paid over to the Treasurer. It 

 was ascertained that over eight hun- 

 dred colonies of bees were represented 

 by those present. Xo one will question 

 the advantages of united effort and 

 frequent conferences by those engaged 

 in so important a rural industry as 

 that of bee-keeping ; and most cer- 

 tainly, as a subject of natural history, 

 it is worthy the careful study and 

 investigation of every thoughtful per- 

 son, ^luch interest and enthusiasm 

 were manifested by those present, 

 which betokens a successful future 

 to our association, and more enlight- 

 ened views respecting the manage- 

 ment of the apiary by its members. 

 On motion, the association adjourned 

 to meet as above specified. 



A. Blunt, Pres. 



F.L. Putt, M. I).. Sec. 



Prairie Farmer. 



Bee-Pasturage, Fall Honey etc. 



JIKS. L. IIAKRISON. 



In a recent trip through "\^'oodford, 

 ^larshall and Putnam counties. 111., 

 I was pleased to note the progress 

 that bee-culture is making. I traveled 

 slowly in a phaeton, and was continu- 

 ally on the lookout for hives. The 

 log-gum is apparently obsolete, and 

 tlie box-hive nearly so ; being used 

 only when other hives are not to be 

 obtained, or a runaway swarm is cap- 

 tured. The hives in use are the 

 Langstroth, or modifications of it. 



The proximity of bee-keepers could 

 be detected readily, by the presence of 

 sweet clover {Melilotus alba) growing 

 along the higli ways. Where the roads 

 are little traveled, this plant grows 

 luxuriantly, and the seed is carried 

 long distances, and distributed by 

 wagon wheels. It is not a favorite 

 with farmers generally, although its 

 fragrance is to be preferred to dog- 



