124 



TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



the best white honey; it depends upon 

 the party who wants it quite largely. 

 If we have amber honey that has the 

 flavor and body, a great many people 

 prefer that to the white honey; they 

 have been accustomed to honey with 

 some color to it; of ocurse the white 

 honeys, blended — white clovers, the 

 whiter we get them the better prices 

 they will bring as a rule. 



Pres. Huffman — You consider the 

 body one main essential thing, I pre- 

 sume? 



Mr. Burnett — Body and flavor; body 

 first, flavor next. 



Smoking Bees. 



"Does it make the bees angry to 

 smoke them too much?" 



Mr. Kannenberg — Yes. 



Mr. Pyles — I might ask, Mr. Presi- 

 dent, how much is too much? 

 ~ Pres. Huffman — That is the thought, 

 exactly. 



Mr. Pyles— They don't get angry %Yith 

 me with my smoking. I have been out 

 over a good part of the State of Illi- 

 nois and in out yards; I have gone into 

 places to inspect the bees where they 

 led me accross the apiaries to the other 

 side, and when I opened the hives I 

 have seen a smile on their faces, and I 

 know that they have been driven out of 

 the yard, and I handled the bees with- 

 out a veil all right. I believe a man is 

 not fit to be a bee-keeper when lie does 

 not know when he has got enough of 

 a good thing. 



In Galena, at the State Bee-keepers' 

 Association; I went to the place of a 

 man who had 158 colonies; 100 colonies 

 were in first-class condition; the other 

 50 were kept in soap boxes and such 

 things. The keepers of the apiary were 

 bachelors; two brothers; things were in 

 a very crude condition around their 

 place; they were Germans. When I- 

 got out to their place, they were 

 anxious to have me look at their bees; 

 when they got ready, they brought out 

 a bee veil. I said to them — "I don't 

 need it." They had a jacket and 

 gloves; thej- had a pair of things like 

 you fasten upon your legs when 3'ou 

 ride a bicycle; but I told them I did 

 not need any of these things; he fol- 

 lowed along with those things' in his 

 hands. I got a fire in my smoker. I 

 had a thin soft white shirt on (it was 

 a pretty warm day and I was in my 

 shirt sleeves). When I got near the 

 yard; he said to rrte, "You don't mean 

 to tell me you are going in that bee 



yard that way; my bees will sting you 

 to death; they get on me and in my 

 clothes; I have to protect myself." I 

 said to him — "Just remember one thing 

 — I have always been master of the 

 situation, and I think I will be in 

 this deal." I went up and opened the 

 hive and brought down the comb to 

 him; I put the comb back on the super 

 and closed the hive up; and when we 

 got through he said to me — "It makes 

 some difference who is handling bees." 

 — That is all there is to it. There is no 

 use in smoking bees for ordinary work; 

 when it is necessary, give them smoke; 

 control them at all times. 



Mr. Kannenberg — That is just the 

 reason why I am against smoking; I 

 can go in my bee yard and take out any 

 frame in my hive and handle them the 

 way I want to and the bees will just 

 laugh at me. I don't need to smoke 

 my bees. 



If I get a stinger once in a while 

 I pull it out and that is the end of 

 it; I get no swelling from it; I can 

 handle my bees without smoking. 



Pres. Huffman — I can handle his 

 bees — with smoke. 



Mr. Dadant — Mr. President, I would 

 not handle them without smoke, and 

 I want a veil, except in a good honey 

 flow; when there is no honey flow on 

 and the bees are cross, I would rather 

 have a veil; I can go along for a while 

 without one, but I want one where I 

 can reach for it pretty quick! 



Pres. Huffman — I don't want a veil 

 unless I have to have one, but they 

 have got to be pretty cross before I 

 wear a veil. 



Mr. Bull — I don't believe there is a 

 colony of bees in the state of Illinois, 

 at any time, from the first day of May 

 until the first day of October, that I 

 cannot handle them without a veil; 

 I don't care how cross they are. 



Mr. Cavanagh — As to croSs bees — a 

 good deal depends on the location of 

 the apiary; if the bees from infancy 

 have^ been used to seeing people, they 

 will sting much less than they do out 

 in the wilderness, or out where they 

 are not accustomed to seeing people. 



Another thing about wearing a bee- 

 veil — a veil is liable to injure the eye- 

 sight; my eyesight, they tell me, is 

 somewhat injured through wearing a 

 bee- veil; the man said he could not 

 lay it to anything else; I use a silk 

 veil — never a cotton. 



