AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Jan. 3, 19tl. 



placed in the middle of the brood-nest of a strong- colonj' 

 during- the fall months ?" 



The above is something- which has puzzled many a 

 queen-breeder, and while some say they can secure drone- 

 egg-s whenever they desire, the trying to rear drones after 

 August 25th, by myself, in this locality, in an average sea- 

 son, has resulted in an entire failure. 



The only sure way that I know of, after trying nearly 

 every experiment given, to have drones during September 

 and October, is to mass what drone-brood (the drones from 

 which are to our liking), can be found at the end of our 

 summer honey-flow, placing the same in a large hive which 

 will accommodate all that we may have, making the colony 

 contained in this hive queenless, so they will keep these 

 drones as long as you wish them, which they will do. pro- 

 vided no queen is allowed to hatch in the hive. 



If you do not have a hive as large as you wish, you can 

 make one of any proportions you may desire, by tiering one 

 or more on top of each other. Worker brood must be given 

 every ten days or two weeks, in order to keep up the 

 strengh of the colony, else they may be liable to be robbed 

 when an entire scarcity comes in the fall. This hive must 

 also contain a large amount of honey, as a hive having 

 many drones in it grows light as to honey quite rapidly, 

 and, if not properly fed, drones do not fly as freely as they 

 should. As our basswood keeps in bloom until August, the 

 drones which are in the egg form, when the combs are mast, 

 will not wear out because of old age before it will be too 

 late to rear queens, say from the first to the tenth of Octo- 

 ber. In some cases I have had such drones live over, so as 

 to fly quite plentifully on warm days in March and April, 

 tho they are soon gone after the bees begin to have general 

 flights. 



After all other drones are killed off, if we wish to secure 

 the very best results, this hive of drones can be gone over 

 some day when it is cloudy, and the mercury stands at from 

 55 to 60 degrees (at which temperature the drones are not 

 likely to stampede oft' the combs), and all of the undersized 

 and inferior drones culled out and killed, after which we 

 can be almost sure that our queens will mate with the de- 

 sired drones. This hand-picking of drones is quite a tedi- 

 ous job, but pays well where we have the object of the im- 

 provement of stock in view. 



I have practiced the above plan for the past ten or 

 twelve years, so I am not entirely ignorant in the matter, 

 and am quite sure I have made much advancement as re- 

 gards the quality of my bees by so doing. 



Onondaga Co.. N. Y. 



No. 10.— Interesting Notes on European Travel. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



THE International congress of bee-keepers took place 

 Sept. 10, 11 and 12, 1900, on the Exposition grounds. 



Each of the delegates was provided, by the secretary, 

 with a pass, for the duration of this congress, so they could 

 go back and forth without having to pay any entrance to the 

 grounds. I was privileged in the matter of passes, or " ser- 

 vice cards " as they called them, for I had been appointed 

 delegate from Illinois to the Exposition, and about all the 

 advantage I derived from it was,the grant of two service 

 cards, one for myself and one for my daughter, by the man- 

 agement of the American exhibition. The fee for entrance 

 to the grounds was very low. It had originally been put at 

 one franc ( 20 cents ), but the issue of shares of stock had 

 been accompanied by an equal issue of tickets, so that each 

 purchaser of stock had the value of his stock in tickets. 

 In this manner, 65 million tickets had been issued, and as 

 there were only 50 odd million of these used, the holders 

 soon perceived that the price would have to fall. But it 

 fell below reasonable prices. When we arrived in Europe, 

 the tickets were selling on the street at 7 cents, and when 

 we came back to Paris, in August, they were at 6 cents 

 (30 centimes). 



Altho this International congress of bee-keepers 

 was very interesting, I think more beneficial results have 

 been achieved in many of our national meetings ; but the 

 most interesting feature to me was the opportunity of be- 

 coming acquainted with so many foreign apiarists. If I am 

 not mistaken, there were 15 dift'erent nations, 24 foreign 

 associations, and 35 French associations, represented. 

 There were bee-keepers present from South America, Spain, 

 Italy, Russia, Bosnia. Austria, Germany, Belgium. Switzer- 

 land. England, and other countries. All but two or three of 

 these men understood the French language, and all the dis- 



cussions were in French : but the handling of different top- 

 ics was placed in the hands of committees with foreign 

 chairmen appointed to control the discussions of these top- 

 ics, and it was quite interesting to notice the different ac- 

 cents of these men who occupied the chair in turn, and who, 

 altho very familiar with French, still showed in their 

 speech and enunciation that it was a tongue foreign to 

 them. 



Having long known the energetic and amiable secre- 

 tary of the congress, Rlr. Caillas, by reputation, I had paid 

 him a visit a few daj's previously, at his home, to get per- 

 sonally acquainted with him and also to hand him my cre- 

 dentials, written with a great eulogy, by Pres. Root of our 

 National Association. He received me with the greatest 

 cordiality, and when I offered to pay the membership fee, 

 he stopt me and said that all foreign delegates were ad- 

 mitted as honorary members, free. 



So much for French hospitality. 



When I arrived at the congress hall, I was stopt at the 

 door by a registering clerk, who askt my name and cre- 

 dentials, before permitting me to enter. I felt rather 

 intlined then to criticise the French love for rules and reg- 

 ulations, which is so conspicuous, not only in France, but 

 thruout Europe. But they took the pains to explain to me 

 that this registering at the door, which seemed to me rather 

 vexatious, was the only method that could be used of com- 

 pelling members to help sustain the institution by paying 

 their membership fee. Otherwise, they said, a number of 

 people, who can enjoy our meetings, would come and listen 

 and even discuss and vote, and wofild go home without 

 having subscribed as much as a single cent towards de- 

 fraying the expenses incurred. I could not help thinking 

 that this was good logic, and that I had heard some of our 

 leading bee-keepers in the United States deplore the fact 

 that there were bee-keepers at each convention who took 

 advantage of the meetings without helping their success in 

 a pecuniary way. If we wish to be hospitable and enter- 

 tain visiting foreigners without expense to them, we must 

 expect our local men to help us, and a bee-keeper who thinks 

 enough of a congress of this kind to travel a number of 

 miles purposely to attend it, ought to be willing to help de- 

 fray the costs. 



The number of delegates present must have been 150 or 

 more. I have not yet received the report of the secretary, 

 so have none of the proceedings to refer to, and can only 

 speak of what I recall tomemorj'. I was particularly struck 

 by the number of doctors, teachers, and clergymen, whom I 

 met. It seems to me that they must have composed fully a 

 third of the attendance. The peculiar clothing of the 

 French clergy make them so much more conspicuous than 

 our Protestant ministers. But a pleasanter set of men I 

 never met. 



Among the subjects toucht in the discussions, I will 

 mention the " Role of the drones in the hive." It seemed 

 to be the opinion of the majority that the destruction of 

 drone-comb and replacing of these by worker-combs, in 

 inferior combs, was desirable, for a motion to recommend 

 this was past, but there was considerable opposition. One 

 member came with a report showing that he had experi- 

 mented on two hives, the one with many drones, the other 

 with few. I will quote a part of his report : 



" In a hive I obtaiued many drones by plachig in it, in the spring-, 

 some drone-combs already built and some unlniilt frames with j^uide. 

 in which, as you all know, the bees would build more drone than 

 worl^er combs. In another liive I placed comlis l>uilt of worker-cells, 

 so as to have but few drones. The definitive gain of the hive with 

 many drones, in weight, during the season, was about a pound. On 

 the other hand, I weighed five hives with many drones, and five hives 

 with few drones. The five hives with many drones iucreast 116 kilo- 

 grams. The five hives with few drones increast 123 kilograms." 



This shows a difference of seven kilograms, or 16'i 

 pounds, in favor of the hives with few or no drones. But 

 this gentleman does not think that this difference is suffi- 

 cient to condemn the drones, and thinks they are advanta- 

 geous in keeping the brood warm. He did not stop to note 

 that before these drones could keep the other brood warm, 

 they had to be kept warm themselves while in brood, and 

 that, too, at a time when the bees are not numerous and the 

 weather is cooler than during the honey crop ; and that if 

 there had been workers reared instead of drones, they would 

 be just as likely to be able to keep the brood warm if the 

 weather became cold enough to necessitate this. 



But one thing I heard asserted by a number, and which 

 I entirely disbelieve, is that the bees change worker-comb 

 to drone-comb when all the drone-comb has been removed. 

 I do not mean to contradict any one, but I believe that the 

 asserted change from worker to drone comb was not the 



