96 



FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



the opportunity and have been re- 

 queening from that yard with good re- 

 sults. 



Mr. Stewart — Is not the queen 

 rearing habit a hazardous business to 

 the best of us? 



Mr. France — To- some extent; but 

 there are queens that are well worth 

 our time and money. 



Mr. Smith — I have been studying 

 bees for about eight years as a recre- 

 ation; I am not what you might call 

 a practical bee-keeper. 



I have read a good many books — 

 all the magazines I could get. 



I am satisfied that, in nature, the 

 bee is susceptible to exactly the same 

 forces that all other life is suscept- 

 ible to. 



Thirty or thrity-five years ago I was 

 raising hogs. I was trying to raise the 

 best. As I look back now, I can see 

 that those hogs I was raising were 

 no more like the hogs of today than 

 they were like seven or eig;ht other 

 breeds. Times have changed; condi- 

 tions of farming have changed, and it 

 has become necessary to raise a dif- 

 ferent kind of hog to make it pay. 



I am satisfied exactly the same 

 thing can be done with bees that is 

 done with hogs or cattle or with any 

 other livestock or even with thit hu- 

 man race. The same laws of nature 

 will hold. The difficulty is, the bee is 

 so much smaller than other animals 

 and much more delicate in its repro- 

 ductive results that we cannot get at 

 it. 



If some man will spend money 

 enough and time enough — and get the 

 best minds at work — the most scien- 

 tific minds at work on the improve- 

 ment of the bee, I believe it can be im- 

 proved two or three hundred per cent 

 in practically every way, but I believe 

 we have got to examine drones and 

 queens with the microscope, and spend 

 some money to find out how we can 

 improve them. 



There is one thing that we have al- 

 ways done, and that is, fight shy of 

 the advertising men who have goods 

 for sale. There is good reason for it, 

 but I believe we should get above 

 that. 



I believe the Association should have 

 some one appointed, or some commit- 

 tee appointed to ascertain for the As- 

 sociation what man is the best 

 equipped, mentally and physically, 

 and financially, to produce the best 



bees that can be produced, and then 

 let us know who he is, that we may 

 buy our bees from him. 



Find out impartially who he is, 

 whether his yard is in Virginia or 

 Texas, Illinois or Montana, and then 

 back him up; let him make some 

 money out of these queens and let 

 him produce a better bee for us. 



A few years ago, if you will allow' 

 me to refer to a personal matter: A 

 man came to me and wanted me to 

 tell him how to handle bees. He told 

 me he would give me half that he 

 made out of those bees. He was in 

 Chicago. 



WCv. purchased seven colonies of 

 bees worth $70. We ran those bees for 

 honey. He did the work; I saw him 

 three or four times during the sum- 

 mer and talked with him. That fall 

 he turned over to me $73 in cash and 

 had twenty colonies of bees to start in 

 to winter. So that there is monej' 

 enough in the bee business if it is 

 handled right, and a man can afford to 

 do it properly. 



Mr. Coppin — How do you tell the 

 difference in bees, in the size? The 

 President spoke of large bees. Are 

 the Italians larger than the black bee, 

 or how is it? How do you tell; do 

 you weigh them, so many bees to a 

 pound? Does one lot have more bees 

 to a pound than another? 



I often hear some one say when they 

 are looking at a colony of Italians: 

 "My, are they not large?" I have not 

 any proof that they are any larger 

 than any other. Whether any one else 

 can see that they are any larger, I 

 don't know. If any one has proof, I 

 would like to know. 



Mr. Rohr — I think we all admit we 

 have scrubs and the first class, ani- 

 mal or insect, in everything, and the 

 laws of inheritance have shown us 

 that like will beget like; therefore, I 

 don't doubt it, and it is very impor- 

 tant for us bee-keepers to get the very, 

 best queens to be had. 



But just there is the trouble — where 

 can we find the best bee? And then 

 again, and I think you will bear me 

 out in this, that queens, being trans- 

 ported through the mails, as a rule, 

 they won't live as long as others; at 

 least that has been my experience, and 

 it seems to me we are up against it 

 again. 



Certainly, bees are more of a side 

 issue with me, but, if a man would 



