The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-10-15
Bee Culture in ssawry County,

Bee Culture in SEaEry County,
The Maury County Bee Society met
at The Recorders of1i"e on Saturday, the
9th. There was a good. attendance,
nearly every portion OF the county being
represented The meeting was called
to order by Mr.. W. S. Rainey, after
which the minutes OF the previous
meeting were read and adopted. The
constitution submitted at the last meet
ing was taken up and acted upon, sec>
ton by section. Articles first, second
and seven adopt d as read. Article
fourth, so amended as to make the term
of office twelve months, and the
number Of the Executive committee,
three. Article fifth, amended to make
all communities, except the Executive
appointed by the President. Article
sixth the stated meetings we're fixed on
the first Saturdays in January, April,
July and October. Article eight was so
amended as to require all a nendments
to the constitution to be made at reg
ular stated meeting. The constitution
as amended, was then read and adopted
as a whole.
The society then went into an cleo
ton of officers for the next ensuing
year, with the following result:
w. S. Rainey President; G.. G. Vaughn
Vice P 3sdent; VIM J. Andrews Sec
rotary end Treasurer; DR.. Al T. Boyd,
David Staples and J. J. Jones' were cleo
ted as the Executive Committee.
After the close of the regular business
DR.. A. t. Boyd delivered an address on
Agriculture. We will not attempt to
give the whole of the lecture of the
Doctor, but simply the heads of the diff
erent points he touched upon. In the
first place be spoke OF the kind of HIVE
Which should he used, that no one
could be a Bee keeper and thoroughly
understand his business, unless he used
The movable frame hives.
sWARMING.
he did not believe in artif fetal swan ming:
preferred natural. Spoke at some length
of after swarms. Thought one swarm
sufficient and that all after swarmipg
should be proven ed. lie clipped the
wings Of his queen; then when they
swarmed, the queen fell upon the ground
and he had no trees to climb nor large
lin bs to saw off. When the queen came
out and tell to the ground he covered
her with small box; he then moved
The hive from which the swarm had is
sued to new position some twenty or
thirty feet distant, and placed new
hive on the old stand. That as soon as
the bees missed their queen they wonld
return to thespot from whence they had
issued in search of her. When they had
sufficiently settled, he released the
queen from the box in front Of the hive,
and allowed her to crawl into the bees.
His experience was that the moving of
he hive from which the sWarms Lad is
sued, would as a rule prevent any after
swarms, but it was not allibIe-that
he had known after sWarmS to
rome from them. He made it rule to
return all after swarms to the hive from
which they issued and bad never known
bees to desert brood.
AGEOF BEES.
1t had often been said that bees were
short lived; this he was fully aware OF,
and any one could very easily satisfy
themselves Oh that score. He had him
self removed on the 18th OF August "a
black qute from hive that had only
black bees in it, and introduced a yellow
queen, and to-day it had very few black
bees i'll it-in fact, it was difficult to find
them. This Went very clearly to
prove that the bees were very short liv-
ed, that great many were destroyed on
the wing, 1t was therefore very essen~
'ial to have fertile queen to keep up
the stock from the Waste of life.
VENTILATION,
There should be upward ventilation
in winter. The bees themselves would
generally regulate their own ventila-
zion. Winter ventilation was necessary
20 prevent combs from becoming IRil-
dewGd and freezing.
ANGER OF BEES.
He had found all kinds of bees differ
mt in their anger. Some of the same
species being more gentle and mush
'asier handled than others. The lest
hing TO subdue their anger, was to
mako them fill themselves with honey;
bee ti!l-d with honey meyer wants to
,tipg, Bees always filled themselves
With honey just previous to swarming.
Another thing to prevent Thorn from be-
"ming angry, is gentle and quiet han
ling; & person should never make any
Iuick motions about their bees, but
ncir movements should be slow apd
deliberate, j-l
THEIR ENEMIES.
While the bees had many enemies he
regarded the moth the worss, but with
God strong colonies aud ter1Il3 queen
they were not to be dreaded. Moth
root hives were delusiou and hum
ug. The Italian bees protected them
elves better from the ravdges OF the
Moth than tue black bees; had never
-een black bee working at moth webs,
ave frequently seen the lillian at it.
REARING QUEENS.
On this subject he deemed it useless
t. say very much 1t was presumed
hat every bee keeper understood this
branch of the business. e1eens we're
'afche III about twenty one tys, and
we're fertilized in the air. Tnfertile
queens were drone laysrs-a fertile
IIeen viii! commence lay ing in a few
lays after being hstched, an unfertil
about three weeks. TIE queen is
much longer lived than the yorker bee
they frequently become barren when
TWO years old. Queens are enormous
= tters They lay from one 10 three
tEous md eggs a day. Early reared
queens he regarded as much the best.
THEIR KEEPERS.
Thought the bees were controlled very
much in ali their acts bYscent more than
sight. Thought they knew theirk eeper
from other persons by the scent uf his
body.
NINIERING BEES.
Their supplies frequently became ex~
hausted during The winter and early in
the spring. In that case they should be
fed. Sugar candy he thought very
good food, but honey was the best. In
The spring there was usually many dis
agreeable days-during such days it