662 



THE AMERICAI^ BEE JOURNAL. 



same time coincidiii!? with the most 

 proBtable instincts of the bees. 



As stated above, try to reduce the 

 number of colonies that will try to 

 swarm, to the lowest minimum. When 

 one does swarm, hive the prime 

 swarm on frames filled with founda- 

 tion or full combs, and place it on the 

 old stand, transferring all the surplus 

 cases to the new colony. Put the old 

 colony on the north side (supposing 

 tlie hives of the apiary front east) at 

 right angles with the new colony on 

 the old stand. (Of course it is under- 

 stood that the liives are exactly alike 

 in construction and color.) Now, to 

 prevent after-swarming and to accept 

 the increase of the prime swarm, we 

 wait about 4.S hours, and then turn 

 the entrance parallel with the old 

 colony, and about 6 or 7 days later, 

 wlien the most of the bees are in the 

 field, we remove the old hive to a new 

 location ; all of which process is de- 

 scribed on page 126 of the Bee Jouk- 

 KAL for 1883. 



But now to prevent increase by way 

 of this prime swarm, instead of 

 taking away the old colony, just place 

 it directly behind the new one on the 

 old stand, with the front end of the 

 hive about 6 inches from the rear end 

 of the hive containing the new col- 

 ony, and cover it with a cloth (we use 

 burlap), as directed in a previous 

 article. The cloth must cover the 

 front of the hive, but not so com- 

 pletely as to prevent the circuitous 

 exit of its bees, which will constantly 

 leave it and return to the old stand, 

 and join with the prime swarm there- 

 on. In a few days more this feeble 

 colony will have a fertile queen, and 

 these removals have made it so weak 

 that no second- swarming will take 

 place. No clipping of queen-cells is 

 needed, nor even the opening of either 

 hive, as yet. The young queen will 

 be one of natural selection by the law 

 of the survival of the fittest. There 

 will be no trouble arising from over- 

 looking a cell, that was so retiring in 

 the comb as scarcely to be perceptible. 



Now, when this young queen be- 

 gins to lay (which can be readily de- 

 termined by looking for eggs), you can 

 very easily find her in so weak a col- 

 ony. Open both hives, and in both 

 you will not find more than S combs 

 of brood. Fut these 8 in the new hive 

 on the old stand, under the surplus 

 honey, and the others combs of honey 

 into your honey house. Do what ever 

 you choose with this extra queen. If 

 I had no sale for queens, I should 

 prefer to supersede the old queen with 

 the new one, thus being reared under 

 most natural conditions. An apiary 

 worked on this partially non-swarm- 

 ing plan, will contain many queens 

 that need superseding, and you can 

 do it by using this newly-hatched and 

 fertilized queen. 



Regarding the 8 combs of honey, 

 you can extract them, throwing out a 

 tirst-class consistency of honey ; or 

 you can select 5 of the heaviest with 

 honey and most free from pollen, and 

 use them to winter the colonv with ; 

 by trading these 5 for their most pol- 

 le>iized -5 combs, just as soon as brood- 

 ing is finished in the fall. 1 know 

 that this method, like Mr. D.'s, has 



the disadvantage of having to keep 

 on hand a supply of extra hives and 

 combs, and forces one to run for ex- 

 tracted honey in part, whether he 

 wishes to be a comb-honey specialist 

 or not. 



I have written this not because I 

 think that it surely is the best way to 

 keep down the increase of an apiary, 

 from year to year, but as illustrative 

 of the different detail of management 

 that Mr. D. and myself would apply 

 to the movable hive system that I 

 have been advocating for a few years 

 past. It will not be at all of a sur- 

 prise to me if the experience of the 

 future will prove that the most profit- 

 able way will be to accept of all 

 prime swarms that offer, preventing 

 after-swarms by the method depicted 

 on page 126 of the Bee Jouiinal for 

 1883, and unite the colonies with the 

 original numbers, either in the fall or 

 in the spring following. Certainly 

 the latter plan will be the best for all 

 who still lose a portion of their colo- 

 nies during the winter. 



Regarding the matter of swarming 

 tending to lessen the yield of surplus 

 comb honey, let it be remembered 

 that the largest yields on record, have 

 come from the colonies which cast 

 not only one, but two and three 

 swarms. Some of our leading bee- 

 keepers have declared it unjust to put 

 these yields .against the yield from a 

 colony that did not swarm. Of 

 course different locations and climates 

 require a different treatment; but 

 how any location can find any econ- 

 omy in keeping the queen with the 

 full combs instead of the empty ones, 

 and storing surplus comb honey above 

 solid combs of honey, I shall have to 

 have further light in order to under- 

 stand the mysteries of such location. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Haldimand, Ontario, Convention. 



The Haldimand Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation met at Nelles' Corners, on 

 Friday, Sept. 26, 1884. The minutes 

 of the last meeting were read and 

 adopted. 



The first question taken up was the 

 best method of marketing honey. The 

 President thought that it was a bad 

 plan to rush to market with honey as 

 soon as it was extracted ; by doing so 

 the price was lowered. 



After considerable discussion on 

 the above subject, it was decided that 

 Messrs. Armstrong, Williamson and 

 Campbell be a Committee of this 

 Association to ascertain the best mar- 

 ket for sale of honey, and that the 

 members furnish the Committee with 

 the amount and quality ot the honey 

 that they have for sale. 



" Best method of preparing bees for 

 winter.'' The President described a 

 clamp which he had built for packing 

 his bees in for winter. Mr. Atkinson 

 said that each colony should be kept 

 breeding late, and well supplied with 

 plenty of stores. Mr. Kitclien advo- 

 cated plenty of ventilation at the 

 bottom, a littte at the top, and the 

 purest honey left for the bees to win- 

 ter on. 



Mr. Vanderburgh stated that he 

 used a double-walled hive, with chaff 

 on top of the frames, and had not lost 

 a colony in three years. In answer 

 to a question from Sir. Armstrong, he 

 stated that he put a clean cloth over 

 the frames instead of the one used in 

 summer. 



Mr. Armstrong winters his bees in 

 different ways ; some of them in 

 double-walled hives packed in chaff 

 on the summer stands ; others in a 

 clamp, packed in sawdust with strips 

 over the frames, and 16 or 20 inches of 

 sawdust on top. Each colony should 

 have a good, vigorous queen, kept lay- 

 ing as late as possible, so as to go into 

 winter quarters with plenty of young 

 bees. 



Mr. Kindree packs his bees the 

 same as Mr. Vanderburgh, and uses 

 his judgment as to the amount of 

 packing that each colony requires, 

 giving a light one more packing than 

 a strong one. 



Twenty-two members reported 265 

 colonies in the spring, .520 fall count, 

 and 13,162 lbs. as their total crop of 

 honey for the season of 1884. 



E. C. Campbell, Sec. 



E. DeCew, Pres. 



For the American Bee JoumaJ. 



Michigan Bee and Honey Show. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. Ox 



Once more has Michigan out-done 

 herself in the exhibition of bees, 

 honey, and apiarian implements at 

 her State Fair. A building 2.8x48 feet 

 was literally filled to overflowing, part 

 of the exhibit being shown outside in 

 a neat little shed. Prof. Cook pro- 

 nounced the exhibition the largest 

 and best that he had ever seen in the 

 Ignited States. There were 150 entries 

 made, and the value of the exhibits 

 amounted to $2,780.80. 



Mr. II. D. Cutting exhibited 81 vol- 

 umes of apicultuial literature, his 

 improved hive, a Langstroth hive, 

 the walls of which were made of 

 straw, samples of Indifferent varieties 

 of lioney, besides a collection of im- 

 plements such as feeders, smokers, 

 queen-cages, etc. 



Dr. Besse, of Ohio, made quite a 

 large display of extracted honey put 

 up in two-pound glass bottles, samples 

 of 13 varieties of" honey, a one-frame 

 nucleus of Italian bees, a Root foun- 

 dation mill, a collection of queens, 

 and also a few implements. 



Mr. E. E. Mason, son of Dr. A. B. 

 Mason, of Wagon M'orks, O., had on 

 exhibition a Vaudervort foundation 

 mill and a Given press. 



W. Z. Hutchinson's exhibit was 

 much the same as tliat of last year, 

 except that it was larger. His pyra- 

 mid of comb honey contained 3,500 

 pounds, but he made no display of ex- 

 tracted honey. His display of honey- 

 producing plants, pressed and mount- 

 ed, numbering 77 specimens, were 

 fastened to the wall and upon the roof 

 back of his exliibit, and formed an 

 appropriate back-ground. His collec- 

 tion of bee-literature, 79 volumes, 

 contained full sets of both the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal and Gleanings. 



