518 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 15, 



bee off the face as you otherwise would ; but duriuK a part of 

 the operation, both hands will be so employed that you can- 

 not use them at anything else. Now go to the hive having the 

 queen and uncover it, giving the bees a little smoke to keep 

 them quiet, and leaving the hive open so that you can set the 

 other frames right in without any hindrance. Next go to one 

 of those you took the queen from, blowing smoke in at the 

 entrance quite freely while uncovering the hive. Blow a few 

 puffs of smoke around the combs and over them, when the 

 smoker is to be set down, and the front fingers placed between 

 the first two frames near their ends, the large fingers between 

 the second and last frames, while the third and little fingers 

 are placed beyond the third frame. Now close up with the 

 thumbs and all of the fingers, thus lifting the frames and 

 cluster of bees all out of the hive at once, when they are to 

 be carried to the open hive where they are to stay, and set 

 down in it all together, close up to the frames of bees that are in 

 this hive. Go back and get the smoker, and blow smoke 

 enough on the bees to keep them down, when you can arrange 

 the frames, division-board and hive, as you like, without very 

 many, if any, bees flying. 



Should a few bees stick to the hive you took the frames 

 out of, bring the hive to the one having the united colony in 

 it, and brush them out on top of the frames, as they will be 

 pretty well chilled by this time. In doing this you will have 

 to smoke those in the united colony pretty well, or many will 

 fly at you, for these partly-chilled bees will throw their poison 

 out on their stings so that the scent of it will anger the bees 

 of that colony that are in the united hive. 



If you fixed all as it should be when taking the queen 

 away and preparing for uniting, and smoked the bees as I 

 have told, there will be only now and then one that will re- 

 quire this last operation, as all will be snugly clustered on the 

 combs. 



Close the hive as soon as you have things fixed to suit you, 

 when everything is to be removed from the stand of the col- 

 ony that was united with the other, so that, when the bees 

 come to fly on the first warm day, they will find that all which 

 looks like their old home is gone. Some bees will fly or hover 

 over the old spot where home was, but, not finding it, will re- 

 turn to the united colony, having marked their new location 

 enough on flying out to know where to go, seeing the old home 

 is not found. 



In this way I never have had any quarreling of bees, nor 

 any queens killed, and it is so simple and easy that I like it 

 much the best of any plan of uniting bees in the fall, and here 

 give it in time so that all who wish can take advantage of it. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



The Bee-Keepers' Uniou — Some Suggestions. 



BY .1. W. ROUSE. 



I have been thinking of the Bee-Keepers' Union for quite 

 awhile, as to how it might become more popular, and so more 

 effective in its operations. I received a letter some time since 

 from a person living in a neighboring city, asking bee-keepers 

 for help ; the writer stating that he had been sued by a neigh- 

 bor for keeping bees inside the city limits. Now, had he be- 

 longed to the Union, I presume his difficulty would have been 

 soon and easily settled, as very few care to buck against the 

 Union. 



I do not know that I can give a plan whereby the present 

 difficulty of so few bee-keepers taking interest and paying 

 membership fees can be remedied, but I wish to offer a few sug- 

 gestions for consideration. 



I see it already stated in the Bee Journal that it might be 

 advisable to reduce the membership fee. I feel sure if the 

 membership fee was reduced to 50 cents, instead of f 1.00, 

 that three or four times as many bee-keepers would become 



members, and it seems to me it should be ten times as many, 

 or more, than there are now. 



Then, I have another plan to offer, which is, to reduce the 

 membership and annual dues to 25 cents, empowering the 

 Secretary to draw on each member for 25 cents more per year 

 if found necessary. It seems to me this proposition should 

 secure thousands for membership. Now, while if this plan 

 should be adopted, in making a call for the second 25 cents 

 some might not respond, the by-laws could be the same as 

 now — where one failed to respond, the benefits to be derived 

 from the Union to cease in his behalf after so long a time 

 after payment of dues should cease, or have failed to have 

 been paid. 



Then, again, it seems to me there should be a standing 

 inducement made in the form of an advertisement in one or 

 more bee-papers, to induce bee-keepers to join the Union, and 

 this should be paid for, as it seems to me it is asking too much 

 of the bee-periodicals to keep working for the Union without 

 compensation. 



As to uniting the Union with the North American. I am 

 afraid it would not be the best; however, if it should be, it 

 seems to me the vote for officers should be conducted as now, 

 for there will be very few (comparatively) of the members of 

 the Union that will likely ever be at a meeting at any one 

 time. Again, while there may be none who would belong to 

 the North American but what would also belong to the Union, 

 there would be many that would join the Union who would 

 not joiu the North American. Mexico, Mo. 



% 



What Dr. Miller Thinks. 



Superseding Queens. — Jas. F. Wood gives some good ad- 

 vice on page 485. Some might prefer to modify his plan a 

 little, and save the trouble of looking up the old queen. Put 

 a queen-cell in a cell-protector in the hive, and trust to the 

 young queen killing the old one. Doolittle says this will be a 

 success if it be done after the honey harvest. By this latter 

 plan the colony need not be queenless quite so long. 



I have some doubt whether many bee-keepers would en- 

 dorse his idea of preferring pure blacks to breed from in pref- 

 erence to hybrids. 



Yellow Bees. — I don't know that S. E. Miller meant to 

 give any such impression, but I think one might get the im- 

 pression from page 487, that all the 5-banded or very yellow 

 bees were from one source. Indeed, I had at one time the 

 impression that such a claim was made, but Mr. Doolittle says 

 he never claimed that all the 5-banded bees were of one origin, 

 but that all such that came from Italian stock were. I suppose 

 there may be 5-banded bees with no Italian blood in them. 



Signs or Working in Boxes.— On page 489, S. R. P., 

 Georgia, says : " When I put on a box and want to know if 

 the bees have gone to work in it, I place my ear close to the 

 box, and if they are not at work in it I can hear them scratch- 

 ing and clawing. That word "not " must have got in acci- 

 dentally, for the "clawing and scratching" is evidence of 

 their being at work. 



[Yes, that " not" should not have been put in. It was [.ot 

 in the copy.— Editor.1 



Give Particulars.— On page 489, H. P. Coleman gives 

 an example of what is quite common among those who write 

 for the bee-journals. He says bees have done reasonably well. 

 and reports a crop of 1,600 pounds. If he had given us the 

 number of colonies from which those 1,600 pounds were 

 taken, then we could have some idea of what he means by 

 reasonably well. If he had said he had an average of so much 

 per colony, without saying anything about the total crop, we 



