

144 



SIXTEENTH ANNUAli REPORT OF THE 



d 



figure you evidently bought them for 

 less than they were worth. 



The A. I. Root Company makes a. 

 business of selling bees, and I have 

 noticed their quotations, $10.00 to $14.00 

 per colony. It looks to me as if they 

 had figured it out pretty close to-^wha^ 

 the bees are worth to them, with a 

 reasonable profit added. I know in the 

 vicinity of IndianJbpolis, if you want to 

 buy bees in the spring, you have to pay 

 $10.00 to $12.00 a 



Id they be 

 they are worth 



ould have to figure 



heatii 

 top; ii 

 not af 



Mr. Bruner — ^W 

 worth in th 

 $10.00 in the faH 



Mr. Bull — You 

 on winter losSj-r 



Question— r^llirig your honey — un- 

 ripe honey-j-why 7^^ 



Mr. WiLcox — If you have it you 

 Bhould sellMt for what it is worth, and 

 SU them what it is; let them judge for 

 ?elv^ if they like it, let them 

 .for^Mjvhat they will. 

 ?siaent Miller — When honey fiit^t 

 /to ferment you can stop it by 

 it; the foam will come to the 

 that foam is skimmed off it will 

 ict the grade of honey to any 

 great extent; it can be used in baking 

 and cooking if it has not gone too far. 

 I sold Ijalf a dozen barrels to a drug- 

 gist to make it into cough syrup; I 

 told him to boil it and he did. 



Question — Is it not advisable to buy 

 queens from outside sources in order 

 to get new brood in the yard? 



A member — I think so, if a man has 

 not time to raise his own queens, I 

 think it is the proper thing to do. 



Mr. Anguish — I do not see why we 

 should not keep up our race by cross- 

 ing; I make a practice of trying to 

 bring new blood in; I think it does a 

 lot of good. 



President Miller — I know that is the 

 theory of a great many bee-keepers 

 who have not knowledge in regard to 

 the facts in the case. 



Is there anybody here who knows 

 that crossing improves the stock? 



A member — I buy them because we 

 have black bees in the neighborhood. 



Mr. Wilcox — For the purpose of 

 changing the blood, I would never buy, 

 if I had as good as I could get to start 

 with. 



I am not so much afraid of inbreed- 

 ing as some people are. 



There is some danger no doubt; im- 

 perfections will be transmitted in 

 cattle, and with bees there is little 



danger. I would not change for that 

 purpose alone. 

 y " President Miller — I think there Is 

 very little danger from inbreeding in 

 the case of bees, and it is very good not 

 to cross strains. 



\ Mr. Bull — I would like to have some- 

 body tell me how I can tell if my bees 

 are as good as I can buy outside if I 

 do not buy outside and try them out? 



Mr. Wilcox — Buy from the outside 

 untir you have as good as you can get 

 them. 



President Miller — I think Mr. Bull 

 has reference to the remark I made 

 a while ago about raising better queens 

 than I can buy. I buy queens quite 

 frequently and compare them and find 

 my own queens are better than I have 

 been able to buy for some time. I think 

 we should all buy queens occasionally. 

 Mr. Bull — Maybe you did not find the 

 right queen breeder. It took me seven- 

 teen years to find mine. 



Question — What would we do with 

 black bees if we have European foul 

 brood? 



President Miller — ^I would say — get 

 rid of them — Italianize. 



Question — ^Where is the best place 

 to keep combs of honey for spring 

 feeding? 



Mr. Anguish — Right in the hive; put 

 it there in the fall and let the bees 

 take care of it. 



President Miller — If you have more 

 combs than you have room for in your 

 hives, then where will you put them? 

 Mr. Bull — A warm, dry place. 

 Mr. Anguish — I have been practicing 

 that for quite a few years. Feed them 

 about ten pounds more than they need, 

 and let them take care of themselves. 



Mr. Wilcox — I have decided that it 

 is best for me to feed those that I 

 know need it in the fall. 



But I do not know until I carry them 

 into the cellar, and that is too late. 



Place more than enough combs over 

 and examine them after they have been 

 flying a couple of weeks, and feed them 

 when they need feeding, but if you 

 have a lot of empty combs you can 

 extract them in the spring and save 

 honey; warm them up and extract 

 them. 



Mr. Wheeler — The way I do is to — I 

 have a shallow^ extracted super, and 

 quite often in the fall you cannot tell; 

 strong colonies will consume more 

 honey than weaker ones. I would not 



