ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



47 



■one of the chief characteristics is 

 .gentleness. 



Mr. Handle — My position is the re- 

 •verse; the yellow stock is the gentlest. 



Mr. Hinzel — I have good yellow bees 

 ' and I don't think Mr. Kildow was ever 

 stung when at my house. 



Mr. Hawkins — I am not getting up 

 here to defend Goldens, because I like 

 three banded much better, but I have 

 been fortunate in one or two breeders 

 of Goldens. When you want to see 

 , something nice — open them at night 

 ■even — without the use Of smoke, and 

 never be stung. I don't doubt that 

 there are a lot of Goldens bred for 

 color alone but some Goldens in this 

 -country will compare favorably with 

 three banded. 



Mr. Stone — I have colonies of the 

 ■Golden; I have gone to them when 

 you could handle the whole hive and 

 it seemed like not a bee would fly 

 from the comb and they would let you 

 examine all you wanted to~Nand would 

 make you no trouble; at^another time 

 I have gone to the same hive and they 

 "would not let me touch' them without 

 they would be cross. 



When you are in a hurry, you had 

 better stay away from your bees. 

 When you have plenty of time to go 

 at them just right and cautiouslj', they 

 are quite different. 



President Baxter — I want a bee I 

 can handle at all times. Life is too 

 short to flght with bees, and one of 

 the first characteristics of bees for me 

 must be gentleness. I get rid of bees 

 that are not gentle, as quick as I can. 

 Gentleness and prolificacy and results 

 are what count. 



Mr. Bennett — If I can get a bee that 

 p-*v^ill make honey, I will get the honey 

 I. all right. 



Mr. Hawkins — I think Dr. Miller has 

 the Grossest strain of bees that are in 

 the United States, and yet he gets as 

 good a crop of honey as anybody 

 around here and gets it in poor Rea- 

 sons, and he has often stated in jour- 

 nals that he doesn't go after gentle- 

 ness in bees. 



Mr. Dadant — I think there is a great 

 -deal in that, and I think a good stand- 

 ard of bees can be made cross by 

 handling them wrong. 



I had a good friend at Keokuk, la., 

 living on the BJuff. I told him my 

 neighbors were complaining that his 



bees stung them. He said — "They 

 never stung me. They are very 

 gentle." 



I went to visit him; he opened his 

 hives without smoke; he was one of 

 that kind of men the bees doi^'t sting. 

 I am not. 



He opened the hive without smoke 

 and the bees paid no attention to him, 

 but one or two of the bees came from 

 the hive and for me. 



I said to him — "If you will smoke 

 your b§es you wiU^ not have compiaiHt"- 

 from your neighbors. The bees do not 

 sting you while you are handling them 

 but they will sting your neighbors." 



You know there are men w^ho are 

 practically immune from the way they 

 go at the bees, but if a neighbor came 

 around they would sting him at once. 



Another instance: W^hen I went to 

 Italy two years ago, at the first apiary 

 I visited the man handled his bees 

 without smoke. W^e went to the 

 apiary; he had beautiful bees, such 

 Italians as I like, three banded, not too 

 bright, although he was seeking for 

 bright bees to show me because he 

 knew Americans liked bright bees. 



He opened the hives without smoke; 

 they got angry and did not sting him 

 but they went for us, and we had to 

 get a smoker and tame them down. 



I traveled for three weeks in Italy 

 and visited apiary after apiary; we 

 never had a veil on but we always gave 

 them a little smoke, and they were as 

 gentle as could be^ such as the Italian 

 bees we have here if you handle the 

 combs right. 



In regard to the three banded let it 

 be well understood: The first band 

 next to the thorax is one of the three; 

 then the next two broader bands; but 

 if you will fill one of those bees with 

 honey, give it all it can carry, you will 

 notice other bands below those that 

 are yellow; the only difference between 

 those bees and the Golden is that dark 

 band next to the yellow is narrower or 

 wider according to breed. "S^he leather 

 colored is just simply a little less 

 brighter than the golden yellow; that 

 is done by breeding. 



If you breed orily for color you are 

 going to have inferior bees. The great 

 point is to breed for quality — for re- 

 sults first and secondly for color. If 

 you have xtwo colonies, one dark and 

 one light, any they are both equally 

 good, breed from the light. 



