1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



265 



association E. J. Smith, an able member and one of our vice- 

 presidents, be it 



Resolved, That we tender our heartfelt sympathy to the 

 family and friends of the deceased in this our loss and their 

 sad bereavement. 



The committee to confer with the Board of Control at the 

 Experiment Station in regard to experimental work to be done 

 there the coming season, consisting of O. J. Lowrey, H. VV. 

 Scott, and M. P. Cram, was re-elected. 



BEE-PARALYSIS— GRADING COMB HONEY. 



" In view of the rapid strides of the disease known as 

 bee-paralysis, is it safe to buy queens of any one and every 

 one who sees fit to advertise them for sale ?" 



J. E. Crane — " I have had cases which seemed similar to 

 bee-paralysis that were probably due to some form of poison- 

 ing." Others reported similar cases. It was the opinion of 

 Mr. Crane that what we have had in Vermont is not true bee- 

 paralysis. 



How shall we grade our comb honey ? 



R.H.Holmes — " We have to grade according to the re- 

 quirements of the market to which the honey is sent." He 

 thinks that the general call is for but two grades. 



H. M. Everest — If a cell of pollen is In the section put a 

 drop of alcohol on it to prevent moths from developing. 



MANAGING OUT-APIARIES. 



" How to manage oiit-apiaries " — J. E. Crane. If running 

 for extracted houey the matter is very simple. Strengthen 

 the colonies as much as possible in the spring, then take out 

 the honey. For comb honey, know that the queens are clip- 

 ped, put the sections on early, and cut out all queen-cells. In 

 eight days if cells are found, remove the queen; in another 

 eight days cut out cells again, and introduce virgin queens. 

 Do not remove the queens unless the colony is preparing to 

 swarm. 



THE QUESTION-BOX. 



" Which is best for wintering, sugar syrup or honey ?" 



J. E. Crane — I have no hesitation in saying sugar syrup. 



"Which queens are best for Vermont bee-keepers, those 

 reared in the northern or southern part of the United States?" 



R. H. Holmes — Get the very best queens possible, and 

 from our own climate. 



"Will a wooden feeder keep as sweet as a metal one?" 



V. N. Forbes — Never use metal. Waxed wooden feeders 

 are best. 



"What is the best way to keep combs from the bee- 

 moths ?" 



H. B. Isham — Place tarred paper on the floor and between 

 every brood-nest. 



G. W. Fassett hangs them on a rack with a space between 

 the combs. 



" When can we most successfully feed for wintering ?" 



M. F. Cram prefers to feed quick, when honey and pollen 

 are scarce, late in the fall. 



" Does a bee Inherit its working qualities from the queen 

 or drone?" From both. 



The attendance was good, and much interest was shown 

 throughout all the sessions. It was voted to hold the next 

 annual meeting in Burlington. The convention then ad- 



f, journed. C. W. Fisher, Sec. 



1 Burlington, Vt. 



How to Get the Most White Comb Hoaey. 



BY W. H. PUTNAM. 



I wish to touch briefly upon how to secure the greatest 

 amount of white honey. We hear so many bee-keepers say 

 every year that they did not get any white honey, or very 

 little white honey. The plan generally pursued by the ordi- 

 nary bee-keeper is to let the bees alone in the spring until 

 they begin to swarm ; then he hives the new swarm, and, 

 after about two weeks, he puts on his surplus cases. A little 

 knowledge of honey-producing plants, and their time of blos- 

 soming, would change all this ; for, be it understood once for 

 all, bees do not make honey — they simply gather it, and store 

 it in the hive. 



In my locality the first surplus honey cotnes from white 

 clover, in May and June, followed by a short spell of no honey 

 at all, and then comes the basswood the last of June and first 

 of July. Basswood bloom is all over from July 10 to the 

 15th, and then comes another famine. In order to get white 

 honey in my locality, the bee-keeper must have his bees in 

 condition to gather honey by the middle of May. He must 



put on his surplus-cases as soon as his bees begin to build 

 brace-combs. It is my practice to tier up as fast as possible, 

 and sometimes I have two or three surplus-cases nearly filled 

 at swarming time. 



As soon as a new swarm issues I remove the old hive a 

 little to one side, placing it at right angles to the old stand. I 

 place the new hive exactly where the old one stood ; place the 

 partly-filled section-cases on the new hive ; and in less than 

 ten minutes after swarming, the cases are again filled with 

 workers ; each worker carries a saeful of honey with her 

 when the swarm issues, aud thirty or forty thousand bees can 

 hold a considerable amount of honey. I have weighed new 

 swarms that weigh 18 to 20 pounds without the hive — in 

 fact, before they had been put into the hive at all. I have no 

 doubt that two-thirds of this weight was the honey in the bees. 



With me, bees swarm during white honey-flow ; and by 

 following the method here described, no time is lost; they go 

 right on, and more cases may be added. Meantime the old 

 hive is moved nearer and nearer the new hive, day by day, 

 until they stand side by side and very close. 



On the seventh day after swarming, in the middle of the 

 day when the most workers are in the field, quietly and care- 

 fully pick up the old hive; carry it quietly, and put it down 

 softly at the greatest distance possible in the same yard, from its 

 former position. Notice the effect. Almost instantly you will 

 see a swarm, as it were, collecting around the place where 

 this hive had stood; they are the workers returning from the 

 field ; their home is gone ; they are confused, and fly aimlessly 

 about for a few seconds ; they alight at the entrance of the 

 new hive ; their mother is the queen there reigning; the bees 

 have the same scent ; they are received, deposit their load, 

 and go again to the field for more honey. Likewise the work- 

 ers that were in the old hive which we moved so carefully do 

 not know their home has a new location : they go forth, but 

 return to the old location ; they are received, and a rousing 

 colony is the result, No wonder the honey-sections fill up 

 quickly, as there are so mauy workers. 



But what happens at the old hive in its new location ? 

 Nearly all its working force has been drained away to the new 

 swarm. In a day or two the new queen hatches. She has 

 few bees to hamper her actions ; she makes a tour of the hive, 

 and murders her sleeping sister-queens, yet unborn. She is 

 monarch of all she surveys, and there is none her right to dis- 

 pute. You will not be troubled with second swarms. No 

 time has been lost since white honey began to flow, and now 

 we have the whole working force concentrated on compara- 

 tively few sections. If there is any white honey, we get it. 

 After a week or two we can put sections on the old hive, and 

 all our bees will be in shape for the dark or fall honey. — Bead 

 nt the Wisconsin State Convention. River Falls, Wis. 



CONDUCTED BY 



AIRS. JEIfXIE ATCNLEY, BEEVILLB, TEX. 



A Northerner's Trip to the South. 



BY C. THEILMANN. 



(Continued from page 230.) 



Mr. Hanna had a fine garden with many subtropical 

 plants and trees, among tbem were fine specimens of the 

 banana trees, with their smooth stems 5 or 6 inches in diam- 

 eter, and 6 to 7 feet high, and leaves .5 to 6 feet long and 

 nearly 2 feet wide. The fruit-stem starts out of the top cen- 

 ter of the leaves (it is the continuous inside of them), and 

 makes a bow of a half-circle downwards, and hangs in this 

 position while the fruit-pods grow perpendicularly upwards. 

 Mr. Hanna told me that every tree drinks as much water 

 dally as an ox. 



He Is well fixed for irrrigating his garden, has a good 

 house and cistern, but no cellar. Mrs. Hanna was going to 

 show me her cellar, which consisted of a store box under the 

 house. The houses are all set on ;) to 4 feet high posts. I 

 have not learned why it is done. I found them built so every- 

 where In Texas. I doubt whether there Is a cellar in Texas. 

 It Is claimed that fresh potatoes would rot just as quick in a 

 cellar as in the ground. They will keep good only a short 

 time anywhere after ripe. 



About 9 a.m. Dec. 27, we started for the Midwinter 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention, 2X miles away at Mrs. Atchley's, 



