142 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL,. 



brood and queen to No. 1, from which 

 we have just taken out the queen- 

 cells. No. 2 received the brood and 

 queen of No. 6 ; No. 3 that of No. 7, 

 and so on, as we proceed giving the 

 brood of the one we start cells in to the 

 one from which we take the cells. When 



1 reach No. 11 I render another colony 

 queenless and broodless, to take care 

 of cells, until they are due, that is for 

 10 days, as No. 1 did, which I mark No. 



2 A. I give No. 1 A the queen and the 

 brood of No. 2 A. By this method my 

 colonies building cells are queenless 

 only 5 days, and as they receive the 

 brood of another, they are kept in 

 good condition. Of all the colonies I 

 used, this season (1882), for queen- 

 cells, I have extracted an average of 

 75 lbs. of honey, and besides, got all 

 the brood needed for keeping up my 4 

 and 5 frame nuclei, and they are, at 

 this date, as strong as any colony in 

 the yard. 



This is a system of rotation, which 

 may appear complicated, but when 

 practised, takes less time and is more 

 satisfactory than the system previ- 

 ously adopted. 



So as to make it easy, I keep a record 

 in a book, as follows : 



Instead of marking the month as in 

 above, I use only cyphers ; for in- 

 stance, I put it in my book 4-1 for 

 April 1st, etc. 



For my cells I use strips of brood, 

 about 3 cells wide, and hang them cell 

 down, under top bar of frame, and, 

 under another bar, nearly in center of 

 frame. 1 use but two strips of brood 

 and only 1 frame to eacb colony. I use 

 wires bent in this shape : 



c c 



to hold my strips to the bars, so that a 

 branch of it rests on top of bar and the 

 other penetrates just under septum of 

 strips of comb. I always use brood 

 one or two days old for iny cells, never 

 eggs, for reasons thatall practical bee- 

 keepers know. 



The above is given for 1 colony a 

 day, but the same method is followed 

 for more, 1 use 2 a day to supply 250 

 nuclei with cells. 



The above is about the substance of 

 an essay read at the National Conven- 

 tion, Cincinnati, which mysteriously 

 disappeared after it was read. 



Bayou Goula, La. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



How Shall We Report? 



JAMES IIEDDON. 



This subject is interesting and im- 

 portant, and moves directly upon the 

 interests of honey-producers. I wish 

 to touch it, in a little different man- 

 ner, from that upon which it has yet 

 been treated. I wish to consider it a 

 little more in the abstract. Nearly all 

 have assiduously labored to point out 

 to us the rights and wrongs of count- 

 ing extracted for comb honey, or say- 

 ing "honey" without telling which 

 kind, or weighing up wood and glass, 

 or piling 5 colonies into 1, or 1 into 5, 

 all of which admonitions are in place 

 and to the point. That is right, when 

 we speak, let us speak the exact truth, 

 not only in the letter, but in the 

 spirit. Since we have come to the 

 consideration of the truth in the 

 spirit, does it not call to our mind an 

 old and wise adage, that, " even the 

 trutli should not be told at all times." 

 I think Prof. Cook once fully appre- 

 ciated the force of this adage. 



A few years ago, the Professor, in 

 company with the Michigan State 

 Treasurer, and plenty of good help 

 and advice, I doubt not, secured an 

 extraordinary large yield from 1 colony 

 of bees. This being a " truth," im- 

 mediate report was the next step. 

 This report was an effect of the cause, 

 extraordinary yield. This effect, like 

 all other effect's, in its turn became a 

 cause, and like all other causes, pro- 

 duced its effects, which were as fol- 

 lows : Various patent hive venders 

 throughout the country incorporated 

 this report verbatim into their be- 

 nighted or humbug circulars, the 

 effects of which were to deceive and 

 rob aviiricious and ignorant farmers 

 who owned " skeps " of bees. 



Its effects, as published elsewhere, 

 like that of other larM reports, was to 

 entice many who could not succeed at 

 anything else, into the profitable busi- 

 ness of honey-producing. 



We know how prone is human na- 

 ture, especially those who are out of a 

 job, and just those that we do not 

 want, and who, for their own sake, 

 ought not to attempt our business, to 

 kindly " take " to '■ big things," read- 

 ily donning the possibilities 6t genius, 

 as the probabilities of their own sweet 

 selves. 



Suppose one of our ablest producers 

 was seeking a location in which to 

 practice his favorite calling, how 

 much notice would he take from a 

 big report from one hive, once occur- 

 ring in that locality V Would he not 

 ask, what has been the average yield 

 from a whole apiary during a series of 

 years ? " Chaff' does not catch old 

 birds." 



What can be the object in sending 

 in these big reports, no matter whether 

 false or true ? If their authors have 

 carefully obeyed the eleventh com- 



mandment, viz.: "Thou shalt not be 

 found out V" the effect is the same 

 all around. I can conceive an answer 

 to my question. The enthusiastic be- 

 ginner, when struck with the semi- 

 occasional honey shower, becomes 

 unexpectedly and unaccountably pos- 

 sessed of a large surplus yield from 

 his most favorably situated colony 

 (why most favorably situated, he does 

 not know), and his young enthusiasm 

 tills him too full for containance, and 

 out comes the report. As we have 

 some bee-keepers, whose eminence 

 sprang from reports of large surplus, 

 is another cause for sending in the 

 report, and these desires thoroughly 

 test the integrity of the reporter, 

 which, if found wanting in the least, 

 has a tendency to stretch the already 

 large yield to enormous proportions, 

 weighing up wood, glass, tin points, 

 etc., and, possibly, direct crookedness 

 gets into the ligurmg. 



It is a great error to immortalize a 

 bee-keeper for a few large reports, 

 especially from a few colonies. Con- 

 tinued authoritative reports of this 

 kind are quite another thing, espec- 

 ially if made out by second parties. 

 Such catering is not only unwise in 

 the caterers, but tempting to honor- 

 able aspirations. 



I do not honor the natural philoso- 

 pher who attempts to astonish me 

 with his new theories of gravitation, 

 based upon his assertions that he threw 

 up a brick and it is still going up, but 

 I honor the Kepler who proves his 

 theories to my reason, by his discov- 

 ered philosophy ; or the Spencer, who 

 proves his social philosophy by the 

 genius of his mighty brain, who never 

 asks you to take his word for any 

 thing, but proves his theories by re- 

 calling your attention in a philosophi- 

 cal manner to what you already know. 



Let us give in the reports of our 

 successes and failures, in the aggregate 

 or extreme, only when we have the 

 self-consciousness that the effects of 

 our reports will do justice to all. 



Dowagiac, Mich., March 3, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Keystone Bee-Keepers' Association. 



The bee-keepers of this portion of 

 Pennsylvania are still at work. On 

 the 28d day of November last, pur- 

 suant to a call, a few bee-keepers re- 

 siding in the counties surrounding 

 Lackawanna, met at the city of 

 Scranton, and organized the " Key- 

 stone Bee-Keepers' Association," 

 adopted a constitution and by-laws, 

 and elected the following officers for 

 the ensuing year, viz.: President, J. 

 W.Fisher, Drinkers ; Vice-President, 

 W. H. Hull, Olyphant; Secretary, 

 Geo. C. Green, Factoryville ; Treas- 

 urer, Justice Akeiiey, Justice; and 

 Assistant Secretary, Geo. II. Colvin, 

 Dalton. 



After transacting the necessary 

 business, and selecting questions for 

 consideration at the next meeting, the 

 Association adjourned to meet at the 

 same place Jan. 11, 1883. 



At this meeting several questions of 

 importance to bee-keepers were dis- 

 cussed, and other questions selected 



