AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



721 



C. p. Dadant — For 15 years we have 

 had very few swarms. We give plenty 

 of empty comb in which to store the 

 honey. If we wait until the bees have 

 the swarming fever before giving the 

 room, it will not prevent swarming. 

 Excluding the queen from a portion of 

 the hive also has a tendency to cause 

 swarming. 



J. A. Green — I did not have a swarm 

 from 60 colonies where queen-excluders 

 were used. 



W. Z. Hutchinson — For three years I 

 have sold my tested queens in the Spring, 

 replacing them with young queens from 

 the South. When the young queens 

 were introduced before the swarming 

 fever set in, no swarming followed. In 

 only one instance did a swarm issue, 

 and then the queen was imperfect in 

 some respect. She laid only a few eggs, 

 and the bees seemed dissatisfied. 



C. P, Dadant — The presence of drones 

 has a great influence on swarming. 'One 

 reason why bees with a young queen are 

 less likely to swarm is that a young 

 queen does not lay so many drone eggs. 



J. A. Green — I think something might 

 be done with traps in the way of getting 

 drones out of the hive. 



C. P. Dadant — It is better not to rear 

 them. 



B. Taylor — I am inclined to agree with 

 Brother Dadant that drones have a great 

 influence on swarming. I also got some 

 hints from his idea on keeping a swarm 

 awhile before returning it to its hive. 



Do Bees 



Injure Crops by 

 Away Honey ? 



Taking" 



A. I. Root — I believe Prof. Cook has 

 answered this question in the papers by 

 saying that they do not. 



B. Taylor — Bees are needed to fertilize 

 blossoms, and Nature commits no fraud. 



President Miller — We are inclined to 

 decide as we ivish it to be. If we say 

 that honey is evaporated if the bees do 

 not gather it, it is nonsense. I saw 

 honey, last Winter, in blossoms that had 

 faded in my room. 



J. H. Larrabee — If the nectar is found 

 dried down, it is proof that the plant 

 does not appropriate it. 



President Miller — Perhaps the honey 

 left in the blossom is a benefit to the 

 stock that eats the hay. There is no 

 doubt that the gathering of the nectar is 

 a benefit, on the whole, but let us not 

 say that the carrying away of the nec- 

 tar is no injury to the plant. 



C. P. Dadant — The blossoms yield 

 honey and an essential oil. The latter 

 gives the perfume. The oil and water 



may be evaporated, but the saccharine 

 portion of honey cannot be evaported, 

 as we all know. 



Bees Injuring Grapes. 



A. I. Root — In California bees destroy 

 grapes while they are being dried into 

 raisins. This has become so serious a 

 matter that in many places the bees are 

 moved to some other locality. 



A. B. Mason — One grape-grower near 

 Cleveland told mc that the absence of 

 bees caused him a loss of $500 in one 

 season. Whenever a grape cracks it 

 soon spoils. The bees suck the juices 

 from the cracked fruit, and save the 

 labor of removing the injured fruit. 



C. P. Dadant— Bees cannot bite. They 

 can take hold of any fiber, in a fibrous 

 material, and pull it out. They cannot 

 bite the smooth surface of a grape any 

 more than a man can bite a piece out of 

 a plastered wall. 



President Miller — Last year, when 

 there was nothing for the bees to gather 

 they did not eat the grapes. If they 

 could, why did they not do it ? 

 Concluded next week. 



Bee-Keening in Central Missonri, 



CALEB L. BUCKMASTEE. 



The Fall harvest from Spanish-needle 

 has been very good, and if the extractor 

 is not used the bees will have enough 

 stores from this source to Winter well. 



There has never been as large a crop 

 of honey-dew as that gathered last 

 Spring, and all bee-keepers unite in say- 

 ing that it is the blackest they have ever 

 seen. 



There seems to be a great deal said of 

 honey-dew. I not believe the reports 

 of our scientific men on the honey-dew, 

 but I am firm in the opinion that when 

 thoroughly investigated it will prove to 

 be of vegetable origin, and not the 

 products of insects. 



I am sure of one thing, and that is, that 

 to have furnished the amount of honey- 

 dew produced in Boone County, Mo., this 

 year would have required a multitude of 

 insects sufficient not only to have filled 

 the trees, but the whole atmosphere. 



When attending the lectures of Dr. 

 J. G. Norwood, of the University of 

 Missouri, some years ago, the subject of 

 honey-dew was lectured upon, and the 

 conclusion reached that the scientific 

 world, after laborious research, had 

 decided that there was no solution to the 

 question. Since that time I have heard 



