Feb. 25, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



137 



CHICAGO- NORTH WESTERN. 



Report of the Chicag-o-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, Held in Chicag-o, Dec. 

 2 and 3, 1903. 



(Continued from pa^e 68.) 

 ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 



The annual election of ofticers was held at this stage in 

 the proceedings, with the following result: President, George 

 W. York; Vice-President, Mrs. N. L. Stow; and Secretary- 

 Treasurer, Herman F. Moore, of Park Ridge, 111. 



MOST PROFITABLE STYLE OF SECTIONS. ■ 



"Which are th.e most profitable sections for the pro- 

 ducer, the beeway or the plain?" 



Pres. York— How many think the beeway sections are the 

 most profitable? Eight. 



Pres. York— How many think the plain sections? Seven- 

 teen. 



Pres. York — How many have tried both? Nineteen. 



Pres. York — How many think it doesn't make any differ- 

 ence whether plain or beeway? Three. 



Pres. York — How many don't know? Eight. 



PRESENCE OF DRONES AND SWARMING. 



"Does the presence of a large number of drones tend to 

 intensify the swarming tendency or impulse?" 



Pres. York — How many think it does? Six. 



Pres. York — How many think the drones don't make any 

 difference as to the swarming tendency? One. 



Mr. Wilcox — How many think the swarming propensity 

 tends to increase the number of drones? [Sixteen.! 



Mr. Whitney — I asked that question. On examining my 

 bee-hives I found a large number of drone-combs. I never 

 had so much swarming in my life among my bees. I had 

 .11 colonies to start the season with and I had 54 swarms, 

 i thought I knew how to keep down swarms. I increased, 

 pave them plenty of room, cut out aueen-cells and did every- 

 thing I could do, and yet they swarmed, and I never saw so 

 many drones as I had. 



Mr. Moore — I would like to ask in this connection, when 

 you control the production of drones by workers, can you 

 thereby solve the swarming question? 



Dr. Miller — No, you can't do it; and I would like to say 

 to Mr. Whitney that he will find that there will be years 

 when he will have exactly the same amount of drone-comb 

 in his hives, and possibly with the same amount of drones, 

 and he will have swarming more than other years. With quite 

 a number the last season was an unusual one for swarming. 

 It has been one of the worst years for swarming that I ever 

 knew. I know I spoke of it more than once. There seemed 

 to be a scarcity of drones, the smallest number of drones 

 I ever had was this year, yet I think it was about the worst 

 year for swarming. The two things don't always bear the 

 same ratio. Mr. Hutchinson says that if it wasn't for the 

 swarming you wouldn't have any drones. The two things are 

 not always in proportion. ,^ 



Mr. Starkey — I noted that drones would tend to increasq 

 swarming, but by doing so I meant this : That nistcad of 

 drOnes, if the same amount of labor had been expended in 

 producing workers we would still have had the same amount 

 of swarming tendency. I don't believe that the presence of 

 drones would increase it any more than the workers them- 

 selves. However, I believe that it would be an advantage 

 to the colony in, point of the value ta.the honey-producer if 

 these drones had been prevented. 



Dr. Miller — If you suffer a large number of drones in 

 your apiary you will have more swarming, and I believe if 

 you allow a large amount of drone-comb in your hives you 

 will have more swarming for it. One of the means to help 

 cut down swarming is to allow as little drone-comb as possi- 

 ble to remain in the hives. 



Mr. Longsdon — You may put a drone-comb into a very 

 small colony, but the colony that doesn't show any tendency 

 at the_ time of swarming, and immediately, almost, if other 

 conditions are favorable, that colony will swarm. I know 

 it is the change of the drone-combs that does it. I believe 

 the drones have a very great amount to do as regards the 

 swarming of bees. 



Mr. Whitney— I attempted to prevent swarming by cut- 

 tinq- queen-cells. I had a hive-box that I would put the queen 

 in, and turn it in front of the hive so the swarm couldn't get 

 back, and they would all cluster in that box, and I cut the 

 queen-cells out. They would work for some time ; perhaps put in 

 a case or two of honey and then swarm. I had one swarm 

 come out with 200 or 300 bees, and I made them a hive and 

 they are a good colony of bees today; but there was only 

 about 200 or 300 bees in the whole swarm, so you see what 

 I produced with the queen. She gathered 200 or 300 bees 

 and they swarmed out in a cracker-box. I merely mention 

 that as the tendency of swarming in my yard, as one bee 

 against four. 



Dr. Miller — A single bee never swarms. 



Mr. York— That's so; I believe they have to get married 

 first! 



Mr. Duby — I don't believe a large or small number of 

 drones has anything to do with it. I have had colonies that 

 swarmed three timfes, and they had but very few drones, 

 and I have seen lots of drones and have had no swarming. 



Mr. Hutchinson — Mr. Aspinwall is now working with a 

 non-swarming hive. I believe he spent $1,000 in making 

 wooden combs and his idea was that the bees wouldn't rear 

 drones, and he was going to get rid of swarming that way, 

 but the bees swarmed just the same with those wooden combs. 



METHODS OF WIRING BROOD-FRAMES. 



"Why are brood-frames wired horizontally and not ver- 

 tically?" 



Mr. Hutchinson- — I have seen a great many that were ver- 

 tical. 



Mr. Baldridge — I wire all of mine vertically. I never had 

 a pupil that went to the horizontal wiring. 



Dr. Miller — I have had lots of them wired both ways. 

 One reason for the horizontal wiring is. it doesn't make any 

 difference with the strength of the top or bottom bar. A good 

 many have found by wiring vertically that there was a tend- 

 ency to draw together. The horizontal wiring is not affected 

 in that way. Mr. Hutchinson says put in an upright stick to 

 hold that. Yes, some have used that and some have used a 

 piece of tin, but that's so much more machinery. For myself, 

 I prefer to put in several little sticks. 



Mr. Baldridge — The reason, perhaps, that I wire up and 

 down is because I commenced that way, and I found it a 

 very good way. I don't have to have a saw-kerf. The top- 

 bar is 5-8 thick, and the bottom-bar is 3-8 and I use only six 

 bars in a frame. I don't fasten my foundation at the top at 

 all. It is not necessary to fasten it at the top, and it is not 

 necessary to have a saw-kerf to insert, neither one, if it is 

 wired properly, and I can use narrow strips. I use the 

 standard shape of frame. I put all those strips on the per- 

 pendicular wire, and I use every particle, and when they are 

 done you can not tell that they are made of strips. You 

 can use a half inch or an inch strip that way. 



Mr. Whitney — Do you split those strips? 



Mr. Baldridge — No, they are all woven together, and 

 just as nice combs as though of solid foundation. 



MATING OF A SUPERSEDED QUEEN. 



"If a queen is superseded in the fall and not fertilized 

 then, will she be fertilized the next spring? 



Mr. Hutchinson — I don't know. 



Mr. Moore — She may be sometimes. 



Dr. Miller — The Atchleys reported a number of cases in 

 which the young queen superseded in the fall laid in the 

 soring, but I think they claimed the queen would be fer- 

 tilized in the fall and didn't lay until the spring. For my- 

 self, I wouldn't give very much for the chances of a queen 

 being a good queen if she didn't lay in the fall. 



Mr. Abbott — The probabilities are she will not be a good 

 queen. If she is superseded she will not be. She will be 

 dead. 



SOUR HONEY IN THE BROOD-CHAMBER. 



"Can the case of sour honey in the brood-chamber be ex- 

 plained? That is, where honey sours in the brood-chamber?" 

 Mr. Wilcox — I think it can be explained, but I don't see 

 how it can be helped. I have seen sour honey because it was 

 gathered from something that was sour before it was gath- 

 ered, and also because it absorbed so much moisture from the 

 temperature. It was a very weak colony, and it got just 

 warm enough so fermentation would commence ; but the 

 main cause is where it is .gathered from some sour sub- 

 stance. 



