Nov. 21, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



741 



her worker-bees and know from their 

 markings that they belong to the race 

 they are supposed to belong to. A 

 queen is partially tested as soon as you 

 have seen her deposition of e^'-gs, when 

 you have observed that she has depos- 

 ited eggs and laid them regularly; but 

 in the popular parlance, it is a queen 

 whose workers you have seen and 

 which come up to the standard of the 

 race she is supposed to belong to. You 

 can carry a test somewhat farther and 

 test her for her queen progeny, test 

 her for their gathering qualities; but I 

 think everybody understands the pop- 

 ular test. 



Mr. McEvoy — I like a queen to lay 

 her eggs so that when they come to 

 cap the cells they will all be capped in 

 one day. I do not like an irregular 

 layer. 



Mr. Benton — I want the brood to be 

 in solid. It develops better because of 

 its mutual heat. The developing in- 

 sect develops a great deal of heat, and 

 we can test a queen from the appear- 

 ance of her eggs. 



Mr. Moore — I have an idea that the 

 man who asked that last question 

 would like to know if he has an Italian 

 queen. How would j'ou know the 

 progeny? What is the marking of an 

 Italian bee? 



Mr. Benton — The first and prime 

 point is three yellow bands on the an- 

 terior part of the abdomen, that is, 

 directly under the wings or near the 

 thorax of the insect. Not necessarily 

 light, because there are dark and light 

 Italians, and I should say that the 

 queen that gave workers showing those 

 three yellow bands and the general 

 large form of the Italian, with a 

 brownish tint over the body that is due 

 to the fuzz on the body, would come up 

 to the standard of an Italian queen, 

 and the more even that marking is the 

 better it would be in that particular 

 respect. An evenness in the points. 

 every worker like every otlier. 



A Member — I would like to ask Mr. 

 Benton if he would deem a bee an 

 Italian that showed four bands? 



Mr. Benton — I would say that was a 

 queen that had been produced by selec- 

 tion, but I would not require that the 

 workers had four bands in order to 

 come up to the Italian standard. 



A Member -Suppose most of the 

 bees had four bands, but once in a 

 while you saw one with only three, 

 would that be against her? 



Mr. Benton — Decidedly. I would 

 not call that a pure Italian bee. 



Mr. Wilcox -I agree with Mr. Ben- 

 ton, that uniformity of markings is the 

 most important point. 



MISCELI.ANKOCS MATTEKS. 



The secretary then read a letter in- 

 viting the members of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association to the an- 

 nual meeting of the Ontario Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, to be held at 

 Woodstock, Ont., in December. 



Mr. Heise warmly seconded the invi- 

 tation to the members. 



Mr. York — I would move that we as 

 an association accept the invitation so 

 courteously tendered by our friends 

 from across the border, and as many 

 as possible attend their meeting. 



The motion was seconded by Dr. 

 Mason and carried. 



Mr. York-It seems to me it would 

 be well to have a committee on resolu- 



tions to report at the close of the ses- 

 sion. 



On motion, Messrs. Abbott, C. C. Mil- 

 ler and N. D. West were appointed. 



Mr. Benton--I move that the con- 

 vention adjourn tomorrow at 1 o'clock 

 and meet at the Epworth Hotel in the 

 evening. 



The motion was seconded. 



Dr. Mason — I move as a substitute 

 that those who wish to go to the Pan- 

 American can do so, and the others re- 

 main here. 



After a brief discussion the substi- 

 tute was carried. 



Mr. York — I move that the matter of 

 selecting a badge be referred to the 

 Board of Directors. 



The motion was seconded by Dr. 

 Mason, and carried. 



Mr. York — On the matter of score 

 card, I would move that the same com- 

 mittee that acted last year be re-ap- 

 pointed to act this year. I think Mr. 

 N. E. France, of Wisconsin, was chair- 

 man of that committee. Mr. Hutchin- 

 son was also a member, and Mr. Her- 

 shiser. 



The motion was seconded. 



Dr. Mason — If I remember correctly, 

 the score card committee last year 

 made a recommendation and it was 

 adopted by the Association. 



Mr. York — They reported after the 

 close of the convention, by mail, and 

 that report was printed with the rest 

 of the proceedings. With the consent 

 of the seconder, I will withdraw my 

 motion. 



Mr. Hershiser — I move that a new 

 committee be appointed to revise the 

 work of the old committee. 



Mr. York— I move that this conven- 

 tion select a committee of five to re- 

 port on the score card before we ad- 

 journ, as recommended last year. 



The motion was seconded by Dr. 

 Mason, and carried. 



Mr. York — I nominate Mr. Benton. 



Mr. Wilcox — I nominate F. Greiner. 



A Member— I nominate Mr. Miller, 

 of Canada. 



The score card is a card recom- 

 mended to be used by judges at honey 

 exhibits. 



Mr. Hershiser — I nominate Mr. 

 Hutchinson. 



Mr. Heim--I nominate Mr. Hershiser. 



Mr. Benton--I would prefer to with- 

 draw in favor of somebody else. 



A Member — Then I would nominate 

 W. F. Marks, of New York. 



The motion was put and carried. 



It was moved, seconded and carried 

 that the roll of those present be called 

 by States. The result was as follows: 

 Massachusetts 2; New York 42, Penn- 

 sylvania 8; New Jersey 3; West Vir- 

 ginia 2; Cuba 1; Texas 2; Missouri 2; 

 Iowa 1; Minnesota 3; Wisconsin 1; Illi- 

 nois 4; Indiana 1; Michigan 4; Ohio 8; 

 Canada ix; Maryland 1; Connecticut 1; 

 New Hampshire 1: Jamaica 1. 



QUESTION ON UUEEN-RE.ARING. 



"How many days after the egg 

 hatches in a queen-cell does the queen 

 cease to live on the royal jelly, and 

 what does she then live on?" 



Mr. Benton It varies from 5|^ to 6 

 days; in other words, she lives on this 

 royal jelly or larval food during her 

 whole larval period: the cell is then 

 sealed over, and .she then lives on the 

 fatty tissues derived from the food she 

 ate in the larval condition. The tip of 

 the abdomen, or nymph, is inserted in 



the food which remains there. I ex- 

 press the opinion that by absorption 

 she does take from this food something 

 in addition, but for the greater part I 

 should suppose that she lives from the 

 food deposits or tissue derived from 

 the food she had eaten while in the 

 larval period. The pupai of many in- 

 sects remain over winter-large num- 

 bers — and some insects remain two or 

 three years in this condition before 

 they come out, and then we have the 

 17-year locust that remains 17 years in 

 this condition, living on the absorbed 

 tissue. 



Mr. Betsinger — A similar question 

 was discussed within the last two 

 years, and I asked the question how 

 the queen took this food, and of course 

 the answer was given similar to what 

 Mr. Benton gave; but I see he has 

 added that she takes the balance of the 

 food through the abdomen. 



Mr. Sleeper — I think I have seen in- 

 dications that this substance called 

 royal jelly is largely absorbed by the 

 posterior portion of the abdomen dur- 

 ing this time after the larvae is sealed. 



Mr. Benton--It might be well for me 

 to say that I expressed an opinion 

 merely; I have a little basis for that 

 opinion. I have noticed that if cells 

 are shaken at a certain period, this 

 juncture of the pupa in the queen-cell 

 is broken, and she drops to the bottom: 

 of the cell and may never emerge after 

 that — it depends upon the state of de- 

 velopment if she emerges; and if she 

 emerges, she may be somewhat infer- 

 ior through having dropped down. M)' 

 inference was that she was deprived of 

 the final part of the nourishment. 



Dr. Mason — I think I have seen cases 

 of that kind where the queen was de- 

 tached in that way in an early period 

 of the development. It injured the 

 queen very materially. 



Mr. Benton — The idea would then be 

 not to handle queens roughly, or to 

 move them as little as possible until 

 the perfect queen has emerged. 



MEIIBEKSHIP QUERY. 



" If I fail to renew my membership 

 and renew it afterwards, when does 

 the renewal date from?" 



Dr. Mason — The renewal dates from 

 the time you renew. If you are a mem- 

 ber of the Association and you fail to 

 renew that membership by the time 

 the year expires, 3'ou cease to be a 

 member; so, those of you who are mem- 

 bers, don't entertain the idea that 30U 

 can have the protection of the Associa- 

 tion and pay at the end of the calendar 

 year. 



DOES COMB COI.OR AFFECT COLOR OF 

 EXTRACTED HONEV? 



" Does the color of comb make any 

 difference in the color of extracted 

 honey?" 



Mr' McEvoy — Take old combs and 

 sprinkle them well with water, shake 

 them, and see if you don't get some- 

 thing a little the color of tea. Take a 

 white comb, shake it and see what you 

 get from that. Now, after a comb has 

 been used several times and extracted, 

 the bees have cleaned it out so much 

 that YOU cannot see much difference, 



Mr. Betsinger — I made it a business 

 to attend a good many fairs and I have 

 seen some pretty fine honey; I have 

 made a great point to find out where it 

 came from, and I believe there is an 

 exhibition today in our State, and the 



