THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



273 



flumes better for finding the queen or 

 manipulation, as a less number are 

 required in a liive, and it did not take 

 as much time, as if the frames were 

 smaller and more of them. 



Mr. J. Knran thought short frames 

 more easily manipulated ; he liked 

 single-walled hives better than chaff 

 hives; they were more easily handled. 



Mr. Smoot preferred the American 

 hive with the cap to slide down over 

 the lower hive, in winter. He was 

 very successful in wintering, but gave 

 no upward veiililatiou. 



Mr. Funk used tlie chaii hive for 

 winter, and let the snow remain 

 around the hive until it began to 

 thaw ; then remove it to keep the hive 

 dry. 



The next subject was " swarming," 

 and Mr. Hayes made artificial swarms 

 by taking three frames of brood and 

 bees from the old colonies as often as 

 they could be spared, and in this way, 

 last season, increased from 2 to 13 

 colonies. 



The next subject was " bee pastur- 

 age,'' and Mr. Wolcolt thought there 

 was a marked difference in bees kept 

 in ttie city and tliose in the country. 



Mr. Cox thought that, in good sea- 

 sons, if the honey was taken away as 

 fastsas collected, there would be but 

 little difference. 



Mr. Funk was asked if he noticed 

 whether his bees gathered any honey 

 during the first part of last August. 

 He said there were but few days that 

 his bees did not get some honey, and 

 that was during stormy weather. 



" Different races of bees " was next 

 discussed. 



Mr. Kiiran : Holy Land bees were 

 very prolific, but no better honey- 

 gatherers than Italians ; he could tell 

 the Holy Land bees by their peculiar 

 motions ; they were worse about rob- 

 bing. Black bees were bothered more 

 by the moth. 



Mr. Funk said the Holy Lands were 

 very sensitive, and took some time, 

 after being handled, to become quiet. 

 They did notproperly seal their honey. 



The next subject was " queen-rear- 

 ing," and Mr. Kuraii liad not noticed 

 any difference between artificial and 

 natural queens. 



Question by the President. — " Are im- 



Eorted queens any better than those 

 omebred V Answer by Mr. Kuran : 

 He could not see that tliey were better 

 in any respect. 



The next subject was " marketing 

 honey." Mr. Cox said he could get 

 twice as much extracted as comb 

 honey, and, with him, it was the 

 most profitable. He sold extracted 

 clover honey at 10 cents, and fall 

 honey at 9 cents per pound. He 

 thouglit it best to cultivate a home 

 market, by retailing at wholesale 

 price. 



Mr. Wolcott said if people were ac- 

 quainted with the real value of honey 

 all that could be produced would 

 easily be disposed of . Adjourned. 

 Jas. Poindextek, Sec. 



ror the American Bee Journal. 



Clipping ftueens' Wings. 



DU. G. L. TINKER. 



t^ The Central Kansas Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association will meet at Manhat- 

 tan, Kansas, on June 30, 1883. 



Thos. Basslbr, Sec. 



A few bee-keepers, including Mr. 

 G. W. Deuiaree, think tliat the clip- 

 ping of queens" wings is liable to 

 injure tlie wiiig-powerof worker bees. 

 As this is a question of much im- 

 portance to all bee-keepers, it should 

 liave thoughtful consideration. For 

 myself, I should dislike greatly to 

 liave my queens go luiclipped. But if 

 it could be shown that there is danger 

 from the practice, it would be dis- 

 continued. 



The fact that a colony in a very 

 large hive, in some instances, never 

 swarm, is evidence that some queens 

 do not again take flight after the time 

 of mating. It is exceedingly rare, if 

 it ever occurs, for a fertile queen to 

 leave the hive except with a swarm. 

 Hence, in a non-swarming hive, the 

 queens' wings could be of no use to 

 her after fecundation, and it would 

 not matter whetlier her wings were 

 clipped or not. Probably, Mr. Dem- 

 aree, nor any one else, would venture 

 to assume that because the laying 

 queens of non-swarming hives rarely 

 or never take flight, ttiat eventually 

 the worker bees would, in consequence, 

 suffer a loss of wing-power. 



As the clipping of queens' wings is 

 never practiced except upon the fe- 

 cundated queen, it seems to me that 

 there is nothing analogous about it to 

 the domestication of fowls, which, 

 from ages of confinement, has re- 

 sulted in a loss of their wing-power. 

 If, iiowever, a plan of artificial ferti- 

 lization could be devised by which the 

 mating of queens could take place 

 without having to take flight, then we 

 would have, no doubt, an analogous 

 case to the domestication of tlie com- 

 mon fowl, and, after many years of 

 such practice, we might have worker 

 bees going " on their bellies " after 

 nectar. 



The question therefore arises : Is 

 not the fact that the virgin queen is 

 rarely, if ever, mated except upon the 

 wing, a wise provision of the creator 

 against the possible loss of the wing- 

 power of the worker bees, either 

 through natural processes, or the 

 hand of man in securing artificial 

 fertilization V 



I take it that Mr. Uemaree's sug- 

 gestions are applicable, not to the 

 clipping of the wings of fecundated 

 queens, but to the proposed and at- 

 tempted practice of artificial fertiliza- 

 tion, which would necessitate more or 

 less of confinement of virgin queens. 

 In view of the possible dangers indi- 

 cated by Mr. D., may we not be 

 thankful that it has never been ac- 

 complished in a practical manner, and 

 hope that it never will be. 



But the proper clipping of the 

 wings of laying queens cannot, in my 

 estimation, be considered in any sense 

 injurious, and I sliall continue the 

 practice for the many well-known 

 reasons that liave been given. 



HIVING SWAKMS. 



After the swarm is out and the 

 queen found and caged, tlie old hive is 



moved back and covered with a 

 sheet, the new hive to be set in its 

 place with the caged queen near the 

 entiHuce. To juevent the returning 

 swarm irom going into the adjoining 

 hives, I take off the covers and set up 

 ill front of them, or sheets may be 

 thrown over them. After the bees 

 get well started into the new hive the 

 queen is liberated. Tiie swarm is 

 readily hived, and when set upon a 

 new stand, will work just as well as 

 if a great din had been made upon 

 the dinner-horn and a lot of tin pans, 

 before clustering in some tree-top to 

 be hived in the ordinary manner. By 

 the way, there is less danger of a 

 swarm going to the woods at once 

 where the queens" wing is not clipped, 

 than of its bidding good-bye to the 

 new hive and the bee-keeper a few 

 hours after hiving. By having the 

 queens' wing clipped, this annoying 

 dilemma is avoided. 



now TO CLIP THE QUEEN'.S WING. 



The comb on whicli the queen is 

 found, is lifted out and hung on a re- 

 volving stand for the purpose, or it 

 may l)e leaned against a hive. With 

 the thumb and finger of the right 

 hand, lift gently the queen off from 

 the comb by the wings— not one wing. 

 With the thumb and finger of the left 

 hand, take hold gently of the queen 

 by the thorax, or middle part of her 

 body. Do not let go of tlie wings un- 

 til she is held firmly, but very care- 

 fully, in the left hand. Then with the 

 right hand take a pair of sharp-pointed 

 scissors and steady the lower blade 

 upon the second or third finger of the 

 left hand. About one-half, or nearly 

 one-half, of the thin edge of only one 

 of the large wings is cut lengthwise, 

 or nearly so, of the wing. By this 

 means the deformity can be hardly 

 noticed, which is a matter of some 

 moment to me, since I believe it to be 

 cruel to cut more than is necessary, 

 and injurious to cut the wing squarely 

 off. By the method here given the 

 queen goes about her duties as if 

 nothing had happened, and I have yet 

 to see that it is in any way detri- 

 mental. 



With bee-keepers having large or 

 stiffened fingers or who are very 

 nervous, it might not be safe to handle 

 queens in the manner here given. In 

 such case, the lady of the house could 

 perform the operation as dexterously 

 as any one. 



New Philadelphia, O. 



For the American Bee JuunuU. 



The " Strained " Bees. 



W^. H. SHIBLEY. 



After reading Dr. E. B. South- 

 wick's remedv for the small section 

 craze, on page 256 (May number of 

 Gleanings), I commenced to take his 

 remedy, and it has made me feel so 

 much better that I have sent to the 

 Doctor for a prescription for "the 

 strained bees." 



We take the Doctor to be a home- 

 opathic physician, and if we under- 

 stand rightly, their way is to test the 

 strength of all medicines on them- 

 selves before giving to their patients. 



