Nov. 14, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



725 



duced Rose Comb White Minorcas, so 

 I started with that jet-black male Mi- 

 norca, and the single-comb White Mi- 

 norca hens. Now, after two or three 

 generations, I get fowls that are pretty 

 nearly white all over, by selection. I 

 selected the lightest always, and by 

 elimination in that way, in a few gen- 

 erations I secured a fowl that was en- 

 tirely white, and reproduced itself and 

 had a low rose comb, the true Minorca 

 type, without any crossing %vith Leg- 

 horns or any other type at all, and pro- 

 duced with a male that was jet black, 

 and whose progeny were always jet 

 black. Occasionally, one of them 

 would throw back, but that was only 

 the exception, and that was done by 

 in-and-in breeding. After this first 

 cross between the jet-black male and 

 the white female I didn't get any other 

 blood into them. 



J. H. M. Cook, of New York— What 

 relation is the drone of a hive to the 

 virgin queen produced in that hive? 

 What true relation do they hold to 

 each other? 



Mr. Benton — You might say half- 

 brother, perhaps. 



Dr. Miller— I do believe that there 

 has been a great deal of misapprehen- 

 sion on this subject, and yet amongst 

 intelligent breeders I don't think that 

 Mr. Abbott has been so much alone as 

 perhaps he has felt. He has had good 

 company. I believe that all intelligent 

 breeders will tell you that if you put 

 down the dictum that in-breeding must 

 not be allowed, that it puts an end to 

 nearly all improvement in breeding. 

 It should be understood that in-breed- 

 ing is the thing through which you 

 will perpetuate the good qualities, and 

 it is also the thing through which you 

 will perpetuate the bad qualities. It is 

 a good thing that a part, at least, of 

 that old view should remain and to 

 understand that fresh blood introduced 

 will be a good thing, and that the 

 cross-breeding after all is tor the aver- 

 age layman the safe thing rather than 

 to continue to breed exactly the same 

 stock straight along. I believe the old 

 view, just as bad as it may be, is the 

 safer view. If you get into a man's 

 head the idea that he doesn't need to 

 pay the least attention to in-breeding, 

 and that no harm can come from that, 

 you are going to damage that man be- 

 yond computation. 



Mrs. Acklin — We get our queens 

 from different queen -breeders occasion- 

 ally to try them, and we test them two 

 years anyway before we take them in, 

 but we always get the same strain of 

 bee; we don't make a cross at all, and 

 I suppose that there always is more or 

 less in-breeding, because a great many 

 times we breed from the same bees. 



Mr. McEvoy — I would like to have 

 Jtr. Benton's opinion on the subject of 

 crossing good Italians with Carnio- 

 lans. Would it be profitable? 



Adjourned to 1:30 p. m. 



Wkdnesd.w Aftkknoon Session. 



The convention was called to order 

 at 1:30 o'clock by Pres. Root, but, 

 owing to a meeting of the Board of 

 Directors at the same hour, he called 

 Mr. York to the chair. The question 

 asked by .Mr. McEvoy previous to ad- 

 journment was then taken up. 



Mr. Benton — I have never crossed 

 Carniolans with Italians, so that my 

 opinion in that matter would have to 



be theoretical, and from what others 

 have told me. As I was rearing Car- 

 niolans exclusively in one of my api- 

 aries and have had Italians in another, 

 and not desiring to cross the two races, 

 I haven't attempted any experiments 

 in that line. I have heard, however, 

 very favorable reports of such crosses, 

 I and I see no reason why they should 

 not be successful. The general type 

 of the two races is alike as regards the 

 form of the bee and their general 

 economy in every way. They are not 

 so radically different as the bees of 

 Europe and the bees of the Orient. 

 The Eastern races of bees are an en- 

 tirely different type, and to cross an 

 Eastern bee with the races native to 

 Europe, would be like crossing, we will 

 say, a race-horse and a cart-horse; 

 some such comparison might be made, 

 but when you come to crossing Ital- 

 ians and the Carniolan bees there is 

 not that radical departure from the 

 general type, and I see no reason why 

 the two races would not amalgamate 

 well, and having made the first direct 

 cross I would then keep myself close to 

 the Carniolan type, and wouldn't make 

 any other direct cross, but breed from 

 the best constantly. Incase 1 brought 

 in any fresh blood after that first cross 

 I should myself desire to keep close to 

 the Carniolan, simply because of the 

 qualities that they possess, but I be- 

 lieve that the Italian wotild introduce 

 a disposition in the bees perhaps to 

 breed a little bit less during the honey- 

 dearth than the Carniolans, and in 

 some localities that might be benefi- 

 cial, provided, of course, 3'ou could get 

 those bees to breed during a dearth for 

 a future harvest without having to 

 feed them too long. The Italians, 

 when the honey harvest lets up, are 

 disposed to breed less than the Carni- 

 olans. The Carniolans are continually 

 breeding during this time. That is a 

 good quality, provided those bees that 

 are produced then can be broLight into 

 a succeeding harvest. If there is no 

 succeeding harvest to put them into 

 immediately, it would hardly pay to 

 feed them up to the time of the next 

 harvest. In such conditions I think 

 such crossing would be beneficial. 



Dr. Mason — I had two of Mr. Ben- 

 ton's queens that I crossed with Ital- 

 ians, and I think they made the cross- 

 est bees in the countr3-, outside of Mr. 

 Coggshall's apiaries. 



Mr. Benton — It seems to me that 

 would be rather an exceptional condi- 

 tion, and, as I suggested, by keeping 

 close to the first cross the gentleness 

 would preserve in the main, 



HIVE-COVERS FOR SUMMER AND WINTKK. 



"Have we a satisfactory hive-cover? 

 Is there one made with a dead-air space 

 so as to be warm for winter and cool 

 for summer, and that will not warp or 

 twist?" 



Mr. Heise— When that question was 

 raised I was wondering why any one 

 wanted a warm hive-cover in winter; 

 all that I want a hivt-cover for is to 

 keep dry the packing that I expect to 

 keep the bees warm with. All that I 

 use is a half-inch board for the roof, 

 painted white on the top, which makes 

 it cooler in the summer. I provide my 

 bees with suHicient packing- under the 

 cover, and I don't care much what the 

 cover is like so long as it keeps the 

 1 packing dry. 



G. F. Davidson — We use in Texas a 

 flat cover without an air-space, but I 

 never found one yet that wouldn't 

 warp. We need an air-space in the 

 summer to keep the combs from melt- 

 ing down, but we never have found 

 one yet that would not warp — in Texas. 

 We have used the flat board, and the 

 covers that were made of three differ- 

 ent boards, " auxiliary covers" they 

 are called, and they all warp in Texas. 

 We have there about six or seven 

 months of sunshine, without any rain 

 on them. 



Mr. Betsinger — I have a cover that 

 doesn't warp or twist. It is a simple 

 frame box with a tin cover telescoped 

 on top of the hive, and is cleated so 

 that the cover doesn't come down to 

 the board within half an inch. Now, 

 the telescope cover is half an inch 

 larger every way than the hive. That 

 cover, won't warp or twist I don't care 

 where you put it. And it is cool in the 

 summer; I never had combs melt under 

 it. For experiment I had made another 

 case just like the cover with the 

 cover fitted that left a dead-air space 

 all around the inner hive, then combs 

 melted. A telescope cover lets the air 

 all around the interior of the hive, and 

 although the sun shines directly on it, 

 the combs will never melt under it. 

 The covers will cost about 50 cents 

 apiece if _vou make them right. A 14x 

 20 sheet of tin makes the cover. 



As Mr. York was called out to confer 

 with the Board of Directors at this 

 time, Mr. Heise was requested to take 

 the chair. 



Mr. Wilcox — I have a gable-roof 

 cover that sheds the water and is a 

 very good' one. I have also such a 

 cover as Mr. Betsinger has described, 

 which also sheds water. Either will 

 do well, but to guard against the melt- 

 ing of comb in very hot weather you 

 need the double thickness with the air- 

 space between, in some localities, but 

 I would rather have a cover, if possi- 

 ble, that would make a hive warmer 

 than to make it cooler. In Wisconsin 

 we are troubled more with cold 

 weather than warm weather, but the 

 difficulty has been with flat covers — 

 the water would seem to work in it, 

 ooze in around the hive, unless you 

 have a gable cover, and I want some- 

 thing better if there is any. 



Mr. Heise — I would like to have the 

 next person who takes up the subject 

 of hive-covers to tell us what is a dead- 

 air space. 



Mr. Wilcox. — If you have a gable 

 cover it is eas.v enough to lay a flat 

 cover inside of that, and there will be 

 a dead-air space. A dead-air space is 

 simply the thickness between two 

 pieces of boards where the air cannot 

 circulate. 



Mr. Betsinger — That point is very 

 important. We don't want dead air; 

 we want live air. 



Mr. Wilcox — I want to criticise that. 

 He says we don't want it. It depends 

 upon what result he desires to attain. 

 The dead-air space to keep the cold out; 

 the opposite to let the cold in, in hot 

 weather. 



Mr. Betsinger — A dead-air space is 

 colder than no space at all. When the 

 sun shines more heat will penetrate 

 through one wall than two walls. The 

 interior of the hive is dryer where the 

 sun can shine on one single wall. 



Mr. Wilcox — Suppose it is so cloudy 

 for three months that the sun doesn't 



