766 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



as those reared under the swarming 

 impulse. 



Mr, Armstrong favored artificial 

 swarming, as by this means he could 

 manipulate his colonies to the best 

 advantage, but it was necessary that 

 young queens should be on hand to give 

 to the new colony. 



Mr. Kindree said he had tried both 

 plans, and preferred natural swarming ; 

 he believed it was more profitable. 



Mr. Smith was in favor of natural 

 swarming. 



Mr. Richardson said he had some 

 experience in both plans, and agreed 

 with most of what Mr. Armstrong and 

 others had said in favor of artificial 

 swarming. His practice was in making 

 a new colony to always give it a queen- 

 cell nearly ready to hatch. 



Several members took part in the 

 discussion at this point, and many good 

 things were brought out. 



Mr. Armstrong said, in answer to a 

 question, that with him artificial swarm- 

 ing was the best. 



SPKEADING BROOD-NESTS. 



The President thought that spreading 

 the brood-nests would stimulate brood- 

 rearing, but when he went to put it into 

 practice, it reminded him of the boy 

 who was sent to hoe corn. When he 

 came to a good hill he said that it was 

 good enough, and when he came to a 

 poor one, he said that it was not worth 

 hoeing, and he soon got over the field. 

 It was the same way with the bees. 



Mr. Armstrong said that when he 

 commenced to keep bees, he thought he 

 kne\y more than the queen did, and 

 tried to make her lay more eggs by 

 reversing combs and spreading brood- 

 nests, but now he thought the best way 

 to stimulate breeding was to give the 

 colonies plenty of food, and the queen 

 would lay eggs as fast as the bees could 

 take care of them. 



Mr. Kindree, Mr. Smith and Mr. 

 Richardson agreed with the remarks 

 made by Mr. Armstrong, and the next 

 question was taken up. 



HOW TO REAR GOOD QUEENS. 



The President preferred rearing 

 queens under the swarming impulse, as 

 by this means the best queens were 

 obtained. 



Mr. Armstrong took his strongest 

 colonies to rear queens, and a few days 

 ■before the queens were ready to hatch, 

 he prepared nucleus hives, and put in 

 each of them a queen-cell, and left them 

 until the young queens were mated. He 

 also advised the use of a queen nursery. 



Mr. Kindree agreed with Mr. Arm- 

 strong, except that he made his colony 

 queenless when he wanted to rear 

 queens. 



QUESTION DRAWER. 



Under this head a large number of 

 questions were asked, and a great deal 

 of useful information elicited. 



On motion, Mr. M. Richardson, was 

 appointed a director for Caledonia. 



Moved that $6 be granted to the 

 Caledonia, Cayuga and Jarvis shows, and 

 $4 to the Dunnville and Rainham shows, 

 on condition that these give twice that 

 amount. 



Moved that the next meeting be held 

 at Hagersville, on the last Saturday in 

 August. Carried. 



Cayuga, Ont. 



TlatWoMerfulPniiicBee, 



Hurrah ! The bee-keepers' millenium 

 has dawned, and with thai dawning has 

 faded the vision of Apis Americana. We 

 old fellows who have worked for a 

 quarter of a century to develop the good 

 and eliminate the bad from what was 

 supposed to be the best honey-bee on 

 earth (excepting, perhaps. Apis dorsaia, 

 which was not getatable), might as well 

 hang up our horns. Is it not strange 

 that a thing may be so plain before our 

 eyes and yet we do not see it until some 

 one calls our attention to it, and that 

 one generally from a distance. 



It is all plain now. The Punic bee 

 originated during the second Punic war, 

 and was a cross between the African 

 pissmire and the Roman mosquito. They 

 retain all the indomitable energy of the 

 pissmire, with the strength of wing of 

 the mosquito. 



The centuries have come, and the 

 centuries gone, but Punic remained in 

 the dark, because the bee was dark, and 

 was in the " Dark Continent." But the 

 hustling bee-keepers of America will 

 care less for the origin of a thing than 

 for prospective results. I must be very 

 brief, for I am excited, and in a great 

 hurry to start for Hallamshire for two 

 or three of those wonderful queens, and 

 I expect at least a dozen fellows will get 

 the start of me. 



Why, my head fairly swims, and you 

 must malie some allowance for this 

 article. 



Let us see, a colony will increase to 

 20, and give 1,000 pounds of the nicest 

 honey in one season. The second year, 



