THE AMERICAJ^ BEE JOURNAL. 



679 



will find plenty of room to lay in 

 without extiaciin^ tlie lioiiey. 



Jiinies Ileddoii : I tliink that after- 

 swiuins :ire the results of quarrels 

 aiuonsr the youiis i|Ueeiis ; ami to 

 avoid killiii!; another (juenn, or being 

 killed, a queen leads olf a swarm. 

 Now, I do not see how extracting the 

 honey is goins; to prevent this quar- 

 reling. With my plan, the old colony 

 is so reduced m numbers just at the 

 time when the queens are hatching, 

 that there are no bees to swarm, and 

 the young queens are obliged to light 

 it out on tlie line of the " survival of 

 the fittest." 



Queenlcss Colonies. 



The question was asked : " Will 

 the bees of a qneenless colony store as 

 much honey as those having a queen'i''" 

 James Ileddou : Perhaps it is not 

 exactly understood what is meant by 

 the term "queenless colony." Father 

 Langstroth defines it thus: -'A col- 

 ony having no queen, nor the power 

 of rearing one." Ami 1 do not think 

 that the bees of such colonies work so 

 well ; neitherdo 1 think that bees that 

 have simply been deprived of their 

 queen, will work so well. Bees never 

 work in the sections with such energy 

 as when there is a laying queen upon 

 the coridjs below. Bees do love to 

 have their own way, and I think it best 

 to humor them ; either let them have 

 their own way. or let them think that 

 they have it. and never work contrary 

 to their instincts, but witti them. If 

 colonies are divided, they sulk for 

 awliile. and then when they get strong 

 they swarm, thus having their own 

 way. The honey-season was nearly 

 over, one year, and a large number of 

 nearly- finished boxes of honey were 

 upon a hive con aining a strong col- 

 ony which had not swarmed, and I 

 hoped that they would not, as I 

 wanted the honey finished ; but they 

 swarmed. I said to myself. " This 

 will not do. I must have that honey 

 • finished." Sol removed the queen, 

 and put the swarm back, or attempted 

 to. fcir they hiuig out in the portico, 

 and wotdd not enter. I waited nearly 

 all day. and then drove tliein in with 

 smoke, and in a short time they were 

 out again. I drove them in again, 

 clear up into the boxes, in a little 

 while they were out again, and those 

 bees just laid their ears back and 

 sulked, and stored no honey until 

 they ha<l rea'ed a queen, when, as 1 

 ventured down town one day. they 

 swarmed and went to tlie woods. 

 Now, if I had hived that swarm, how 

 they would have gone to work and 

 filled their hive, and I should have 

 secured more surplus honey, and had 

 the increase "to boot." I give my 

 bees plenty of air, by the way of wide 

 entrances, give them shade, and 

 room to work in the boxes— this dis- 

 courages, but does not always prevent 

 swarming. When it does not. I say. 

 let them swarm, and then prevent 

 after-swarming. 



Tiering-up Sections. 



J. A. Green : I have practiced tier- 

 ing-up sections and I prefer that 

 method. 



Mr. Adams : I prefer that method. 



Mr. House : ^Vhen tiering-up one 

 tier at a time. I like the method ; but 

 with wide frames containing two tiers 

 of section.s it has been unsatisfactory 

 with nie. 



.lames lleddon : Years ago, closed- 

 top sections were used quite exten- 

 sively, now there is scarcely a call for 

 them ; this shows that the majority 

 believe in the tiering-up system. 



A. Fahnestock : I practice tiering- 

 up. The first tier of sections that I 

 put on contains closed-top sections. 



Secretary Hutchinson: What covers 

 the top of the second tier of sections, 

 after the first tier is removed ? 



A. Fahnestock : Oil-cloth. 



Mr. House : Why not have a bee- 

 space above each tier of sections, and 

 not have anything touch the top bars 

 of the sections ? 



James Heddon : There should be a 

 bee-space, not only above the sections, 

 but between each tier. This evening 

 them up with oil-cloth, setting the 

 sections down on the brood-frames, 

 or allowing one tier of sections to 

 touch another tier, is all wrong. I am 

 astonished that in this day and age of 

 the apiarian world, any one should go 

 so far as to patent a hive allowing 

 "continuous combs and continuous 

 passage ways." Like Mr. Hutchinson, 

 I say the bees put their propolis where 

 two surfaces come in contact. H sec- 

 tions are covered with oil-cloth, the 

 bees will put propohs where the edges 

 of the top-bars come in contact with 

 the cloth. When the cloth is removed 

 and put down again, the bees will put 

 in more propolis, and, as the process 

 is repeated, more propolis is added 

 until the cloth is finally so raised up 

 that the bees can put great lumps of 

 propolis between it and the sections. 

 When one tier of sections come in 

 contact with another, not only ai'e 

 bees killed when the case of sections 

 is put in place, but propolis is put 

 along the edges of the sections where 

 they come in contact. Sections can, 

 of course, be set down in contact with 

 the tops of the brood-frames, but it is 

 a great saving in jack-knives when 

 removing the sections, and no more 

 honey is received ; I know, for I have 

 tried it. 



Separator.s. 



A vote was taken, and about three- 

 fourths of the members could dispense 

 with separators ; one-fourth wanted 

 them. 



Mr. McKinney: I have tried sepa- 

 rators and discarded them, and it is 

 my observation that many others are 

 doing the same. 



James Heddon : We have used a 

 large number of one-story broad- 

 frames, in supers with separators, and 

 a large number of cases in which no 

 separators were used ; and although 

 there are advantages and disadvanta- 

 ges in separators, yet they have notb- 

 ing to do with the amount of honey 

 stored. Although only one-fourth of 

 you now vote in favor of separators, 

 the time may come when the vote will 

 be the other way. If you can produce 

 honey without separators so that it 

 will suit yourself, your commission 

 man, the consumer, and everybody, 

 all right: if you cannot, then use 

 them. 



T. G. Newman : From the appear- 

 ance of some of the honey on our 

 market. I must say that many who do 

 not use separators, ought to use them. 

 A bee-keeper and myself visited a 

 commission honey - house on South 

 Water Street, in this city, and while 

 there we .saw a clerk showing a custo- 

 mer some comb honey. With his 

 hatchet he pried loose a cover of a 

 crate, and grasping a section near the 

 center, drew it up. As he did so, the 

 comb scraped against the adjoining 

 combs, and instead of coming to view 

 as "a thing of beauty," it came up 

 dripping, dauby and disgusting. As 

 long as there are so many careless 

 bee-keepers it seems unwise to dis- 

 courage the use of separators. If a 

 bee-keeper can secure straight, neat 

 combs without separators, (and I must 

 admit that some of them do), well and 

 good ; if not, use them by all means. 



James Heddon : It is certain that 

 straight combs can be secured with- 

 out separators. At the Mich. State 

 Fair, our secretary and Mr. R. L. 

 Taylor had fine displays of comb 

 honey, all built without separators. 

 It was really finer than my own, and 

 it was these gentlemen who secured 

 all the premiums upon comb honey, 

 although their honey was in competi- 

 tion with several lots of separatored 

 honey. 



The convention adjourned to meet 

 at 9 o'clock on the following morning. 



MORNING SESSION. 



The meeting was called to order at 

 9 a. m. by President Miller. The first 

 topic was : 



Susceptibility to Bee-Poison. 



President Miller : The more we are 

 stung the less susceptible we become; 

 at least this is the case in the majority 

 of instances. Whether this is a desir- 

 able stage to reach, I do not know. 

 It is possible that the aches and ills, 

 rheumatism and neuralgia, from 

 which some suffer, are the effects of 

 our system being filled with bee- 

 poison. 



S. N. Black : If I were going to be 

 stung very much, I should be com- 

 pelled to abandon the business. I do 

 not wear a veil, but by washing the 

 face and hands with ammonia, alcohol, 

 salt and water, or something of that 

 sort, bee-stings can be greatly avoided. 



James Heddon : The first stings 

 cause the flesh to swell ; after the 

 system becomes filled with the bee- 

 poison, such is not the case, and I am 

 inclined to agree with the President 

 that rheumatism and neuralgia are 

 caused by the system being iirimful 

 of bee-poison. It is acknowledged by 

 all, that ammonia is the best remedy 

 for animal poisons, and the best ad- 

 vice that I have, is to carry a bottle of 

 it, and, when stung, scrape, not pull 

 out the sting, put the mouth of the 

 bottle over the wound and invert the 

 bottle. 



A. Fahnestock : I found that soda 

 wet with saliva is an excellent appli- 

 cation. 



S. N. Black : The best remedy that 

 I ever tried is spirits of turpentine. 



Secretary Hutchinson : My remedy 

 is a tincture of plantain leaves, pre- 



