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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 1, 1904. 



Their president expresses pleasure at the invitation, but 

 states that they will be unable to send a representative. 



The Irish bee-keepers promise a representative from St. 

 Louis, who will attend. Dr. Charles D. S. Dig-ges. 



The Spanish bee-keepers, with headquarters at Bar- 

 celona, inform us that Mr. S. Castello has been appointed a 

 representative to our convention. 



Pres. Harris — You have heard the reading of the letters. 

 I wish to say on this occasion that our vice-president has 

 done all in his power to get foreign representation, and we 

 should thank him for his efforts in that direction. 



Mr. York moved that the letters of reply be placed on 

 file, and a vote of thanks tendered to Mr. Dadant for his 

 efforts to secure foreign representation. 



Dr. Miller — From the reading of a number of foreign 

 bee-journals I know that if it has done no other good, Mr. 

 Dadant has succeeded in calling the attention of bee-keep- 

 ers all over the world to this meeting, and quite extensive 

 notices have been made in the foreign journals as the re- 

 sult of this work. 



The motion was then put and carried unanimously, the 

 members rising. 



Mr. Dadant — I thank you for your vote of thanks. I 

 am well repaid for the little trouble I have taken. 



In the absence of a program, on account of the sickness 

 of the secretary, Mr. Dadant moved that the rules of order 

 be supended and a question-box be opened. Carried. 



BEES THAT SEEM TO LOSE THEIR ENERGY. 



Mr. Krebs (Texas)— My bees last year, and the bees of 

 a friend of mine this year, seemed to cease all energy of 

 every kind and would not keep a queen, rear one, or accept 

 one, and would not even take care of the brood. If there is 

 any remedy I would like to hear it. 



Mr. Gill (Colo.)— Is it under artificial or natural swarm- 

 ing, or what ? 



Mr. Krebs — I manage them by division. The bees seem 

 to have a dilatory disposition, starting with a full colony 

 and simply dwindling down to nothing, and refuse every 

 effort in every particular, whether divided or not divided, 

 to accept a queen or rear one, or keep the one they already 

 have, and kill off their old queen. Some have told me they 

 thought it was caused by laying workers, but there were no 

 eggs there, and consequently it could not be that. Others 

 in the same neighborhood have had the same experience. 

 As to handling, it does not matter. The other gentleman I 

 spoke of did not handle them at all. With reference to the 

 forage, almost anything that is raised in the United States 

 we have. 



Mr. DeLong — Does the gentleman suggest an individual 

 colony, or a number of them ? 



Mr. Krebs— A number of colonies in both cases men- 

 tioned. 



Dr. Miller— Do I understand that those men in the same 

 neighborhood have their colonies go in the same way ? 



Mr. Krebs— Yes. 



Dr. Miller— Those bees are so thoroughly disappointed 

 because we did not go to San Antonio this year that they 

 have lost their vigor I [Laughter.] 



Mr. Krebs — I think that is one very good answer to the 

 question ; I hope you will all come down to see us. 



Prof. Benton (Wash.)— In regard to that question, let 

 me ask the time of year. 



Mr. Krebs — It occurred mainly in the spring of the 

 year, although it seemed to be on certain occasions, any 

 time during the summer. But mainly in the spring of the 

 year, from the commencement of swarming or until the 

 middle of June. 



Mr. Dadant— I would like to ask whether the bees are 

 numbed in any way ? Do they seem to have the disease of 

 bee-paralysis ? 



Mr. Krebs — Sometimes they have paralysis, but in this 

 case there does not seem to be anything the matter, only 

 the dilatory disposition. 



Mr. Hutchinson— I have had some trouble along this 

 line, but it was during the honey-dearth. I have never had 

 any trouble of that kind when the bees were gathering 

 honey. 



Prof. Benton— I hardly think the condition mentioned 

 is due to disease, but rather more to certain other peculiar 

 conditions. If you examine the bees at this time of the 

 year in any part of the country from here eastward and 

 southward, you will find that in a very heavy aster harvest 

 they fail, and are a little weak for brood-rearing ; they neg- 

 lect the queen, and do not care whether they have a queen 

 or not. They go queenless oftentimes when the queen is in 

 the hive, yet they are getting honey rapidly, and they are 



in a normal condition, but they dwindle very rapidly if 

 they have not been cared for in July and August, for the 

 simple reason in much of the territory southeastward about 

 here thej' get very little honey and rear very little brood, 

 and the bees are June-reared. In this heavy aster harvest 

 they drop off rapidly, and peculiar conditions arise. They 

 go into winter quarters with a few old bees and come out 

 poorly in the spring. That is merely the result of getting 

 honey so rapidly late in the season. That is the reason I 

 ask the question. I have had many a man tell me this aster 

 honey was poisonous to the bees. But, on the other hand, 

 examine a colony that has been well cared for in the sum- 

 mer, has had a young queen and bred up rapidly, and you 

 find it strong in bees reared during July and August; they 

 gather the aster honey in rapidly, and the combs at the 

 opening of the aster harvest being filled with brood, are 

 only gradually filled with honey in the interior of the hive, 

 a good surplus is obtained, and they go into winter quar- 

 ters in good shape. But, on the other hand, a colony with- 

 out the combs being filled with brood, when the aster har- 

 vest opens, if made queenless, will have very little brood, 

 and be very little inclined to accept a queen and gets in a 

 very abnormal condition. 



Dr. Miller — He says this is in the spring. 



Prof. Benton — Similar conditions might occur then. 

 This is particularly true of Kentucky, Tennessee, North 

 Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, and even extending, I 

 believe, as far west as this. 



Dr. Drunert (Mo.) — Since I have been working with 

 bees, for 45 years, both in Europe and here, I never had but 

 one inactive colony ; that is, they did not work. A neigh- 

 bor said it was the hive. We examined it, and there was a 

 fine black queen in there and a very few bees, but the bees 

 had not swarmed. I came to the conclusion that the queen 

 was too old to breed, and the bees did not get rid of her to 

 get another one. 



Mr. Reinecke (Kan.) — I had a very strong colony; it 

 was during the time when there was not much flow that 

 they acted that way. 



Dr. Bohrer (Kan.) — Do bees when refusing to accept a 

 queen or rear one, continue to store honey and fill up the 

 hives 7 



Mr. Krebs — It is not from careless breeding, nor is it 

 from any late flow in the fall. It is after the flow com- 

 mences in our neighborhood that the bees commence from 

 some cause to refuse to do anything — do not work, do not 

 gather honey, do not accept queens, do not attend to the 

 brood, do not do anything but lie around and die. 



Mr. Hyde (Tex.) — I believe the cause of the trouble is 

 that the bees have gotten some kind of poison from some 

 poisonous flower gathered from near the river ; I think that 

 is about the only answer to the question, unless we could 

 examine the bees and know more exactly what the condition 

 was. 



Mr. Gill — I am satisfied the trouble is with the food, and 

 very likely in the pollen. 



HONEY AT BOARDING-HOUSES. 



" Should bee-keepers stay at a boarding-house where 

 ihey have no honey to eat ?" 



Mr. Calhoun (Mo.) — I would suggest that where they 

 have not, we call their attention to it and thereby extend 

 the sale of our honey. 



Mr. Hagood (Tex.) — I believe the best plan would be to 

 eat where they have no honey, and always make it a rule to 

 call for it. 



Dr. Bohrer — There is a better plan than that. I would 

 recommend that we do as the young man did who went to 

 see his girl, and when invited to take his seat at the table 

 said he had brought a lunch with him. He didn't come 

 there to sponge. 



Mr. York — I think if the young man went to see his 

 girl his " honey " was right there ! 



Mr. Tyler (111.)— I went to register at the hotel, and the 

 first thing the girl said to me was, " Have you brought any 

 honey along "? 



Pres. Harris — Some of us have brought honey with us 

 in the form of our wives and babies. 



Mr. Andrews (Calif.) — I have often asked why they did 

 not have honey on the table, and they have said the board- 

 ers will use j ust as much butter without the honey as with it. 



Mr. Stewart (Mo.) — I spent two months and a half in 

 one city trying to sell extracted honey to boarding-houses 

 and hotels, and there was not one out of twenty-five that I 

 could interest in honey. Why ? It cost more than most of 

 the things they buy. It is better than most of the things 

 they buy. It costs them more to feed tlicir people on honey 



