Dec. 19, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL- 



SOS 



for the past two years was a cross be- 

 tween the Carniolans and the Italian. 

 Huber Root — I have found a cross 

 between a Carniolan and an Italian a 



good cross. 



Mr. Fuller — lean get the best results 

 by having full-blooded Italian queens 

 and let them mate as they please. 



Mr. Greiner, chairman of the com- 

 mittee on the score card, then handed 

 in their report, but not being quite 

 completed it was left in the commit- 

 tee's hands to be completed and for- 

 warded to the secretary. 



Mr. McEvoy moved that the report 

 be adopted as read. Mr. Smith seconded 

 the motion, which was carried. 



The convention then adjourned to 

 meet at 8 p.m., at the Epworth Hotel, 

 in Joint Session with the American 

 Pomological Society. 



(Continued next week.) 



Condensed Report of the Illi- 

 nois Bee-Keepers' Conven- 

 tion. 



The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation met at Springfield, Nov. 19 and 

 20, 1901, and was called to order by Pres. 

 J. Q. Smith. The forenoon session 

 was mostly spent in visiting and get- 

 ting acquainted, except the usual pre- 

 liminaries — secretary's report, and re- 

 ports of committees. 



The afternoon session was called to 

 order by Vice-Pres. S. N. Black. 



DARK UNCANDIED HONEY. 



" What is the dark mixture in honey 

 that does not candy ? " was asked. It 

 was too hard a question to receive an 

 answer till Mr. Smith came in. He 

 said his bees stored quite a lot of that 

 kind of honey one year, and he found. 

 on the alighting-board, dust from the 

 milk-weed, and there was a great field 



of the weeds in full bloom ; and he 

 found his bees working on it strong. 



Mr. Black — I have seen bees fastened 

 on milk-weed blossoms, and dead. 



Mr. Smith— That honey did not 

 candy. 



I-'KRTILIZATION OF WORKER-KGGS. 



Geo. Poindexter had illustrations of 

 his own pointing in evidence of the 

 Wagner theory of the fertilization of 

 the worker-eggs, and not of the same 

 for the drones. He thought the theory 

 was correct. 



Mr. Black did not think the theory 

 was correct, as he had seen where the 

 queen had laid fertile eggs in cells so 

 near the edge of the comb as not to 

 have depth enough to cause the con- 

 traction of the queen's abdomen in de- 

 positing them; others had seen the same 

 thing. 



HONEY- DKW, ETC, 



'■ Is there such a thing as real honey- 

 dew, aside from the so-called ' bug- 

 juice ? ' " 



Many illustrations were given to 

 prove that there was, and it was unani- 

 mously decided that there was real 

 honeydew honey, and that of good 

 quality. 



"Do bees always select their place 

 of destination before swarming ? " 



Arguments were advanced to prove 

 both sides, and the question is still 

 open for argument. Mr. Black cited a 

 case where bees surely went 20 miles 

 across a prairie. 



SECOND DAY. 



The meeting was called to order by 

 Pres. Smith, and a discussion was 

 opened on the premium list. Mr. Black 

 moved that the executive committee, 

 which is the President, Secretary and 

 Treasurer of the Association, be made 

 the premium-list committee, and that 

 the revision of the same be left to them. 

 Carried. 



Mr. Becker moved that the meeting 

 proceed to election of oflicers for the 

 ensuing year, which was carried, and 



■resulted as follows : 



President— J. Q. Smith ; 1st Vice- 

 Pres. — Miss L. C. Kennedy ; 2nd Vice- 

 Pres. — S. N. Black ; 3rd Vice-Pres. — 

 A. N. Draper ; 4th Vice-Pres. — George 

 Poindexter ; .^th Vice-Pres. — P. J. Eng- 

 land, Secretary — Jas. A. Stone. R. R. 4, 

 Springfield; Treasurer — Chas. Becker. 



CELI.ARVVINTKKING OF BEES. 



" Is it best to put bees into the cellar 

 in this latitude ?" 



Several said no, not if well protected. 



Mr. Smith — I just take slats out of 

 the super, cover the brood-frames with 

 a piece of gunny, then fill the super 

 with dry leaves, and I never lose any. 



LONGER-TONGUED BEES. 



Mr. Draper — "Do we need longer- 

 tongued bees ? " 



Mr. Black — Yes. The reason our 

 Italians store honey from red clover is 

 that our soil is so worn that it does not 

 produce clover-heads as large, with as 

 deep cups, as it did of old. 



Secretary — I think the whole cause is 

 the energy of Italian bees, that force 

 the cups open so that they reach the 

 nectar just as easily in the largest 

 heads as in the small ones. I have 

 watched them and seen them go as 

 readily to the largest heads as to any 

 other. 



Mr. England — I think we need longer- 

 tongued bees. 



Messrs. Smith, England and Poin- 

 dexter reported good crops of honey 

 this year. 



The executive committee chose for 

 the date of the meeting naxt year, the 

 third week in November, Tuesday and 

 Wednesday, the 18th and 19th. 



On motion the convention adjourned. 

 Jas. A. Stonb, Sec. 



t.^,i*^it.f*.M.M^fi^ii^ii^fi,^tt 





Contributed Articles, i 



x-^srvi^ffCK 



No. 4.-APICILTIIRE AS A BUSINESS. 



Localities With Limited Pollen Supply— Slow 



Flows and Effects— Why Failures Are Made, 



and the Far-Reaching- Effects. 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



IKAVE previously referred to a fact which I tlniik i.s jjcn- 

 erally conceded, that alfalfa is a slow yiclder of honey, and, 

 so far as I know, I have never seen a bee with a plump 

 pellet of alfalfa pollen. I think if bees were to depend upun 

 alfalfa pollen they would starve, if a lack of it would starve a 

 colony. In the matter of pollen, there is never a suiierabun- 

 dance of it in my locality — and this is true of many other C'ol- 

 ora<lo fieUl.s, and at times there is a dearth of it both in and 

 out of the hives. 



P()ll(Mi, in early spring, has much to do in the matter of 

 building up a colony, and have them in good condition when 

 the How comes. Here, there is no pollen in the tiehU until 

 about April lo, nor is there much, often none, in the hive, 

 either. To supply the ni-ed, bees are greedy for anythin!; in the 

 nature of flour, fretlinir into chop-feed bins, into horse feed 



troughs, mills and granaries, in fact wherever any floury 

 substance is found. 1 have seen them raking dust out of rot- 

 ten wood, sawdust, and such. Unless the matter is looked 

 after by the apiarist, his stock is behind, and that is what 

 happens with bee-keepers who are not apiarists. 



Tliere is also a considerable part of all the spring uu to .June 

 10 to 15 in which there is no nectar coming in. I call at- 

 tention to these facts to show that it is business to look after 

 details, more so when Nature does not provide these. To allow 

 a colony to lie in a listless condition through the weeks just 

 preceding a honey-flow is not business, yet there is more 

 or less of that condition in onr springs here unless obviated 

 liy the apiarist. Some writers advocate a severe letting alone 

 in the spring, saying nothing is gained by opening of hives, 

 feeding or manipulating. If your field has supplied plenty of 

 pollen in the fall, and if in the early spring and generally pre- 

 vious to the honey-flow there is pollen and nectar coming in to 

 stimulate breeding; and, if there is enough open comb in the 

 right position to keep the cpieen fully supplie<l with hiying- 

 roora, then there is not much gained by manipulation or feed- 

 ing. It is a business matter to know the things that tend to 

 make a success, and getting hosts of bees before the honoyr 

 flow is one of the biggest things of the business, and is not 

 Jooked after by the average apiarist. 



Having failed to get as many bees as might have been ob- 

 tained, the flow begins with weak colonies. Supers will be 

 put on, hut work will not be begun in them, and apiarists— or 

 rather, bei-keepers — wonder why the bees are not doing much. 

 They are packing the brood-combs with honey, and while the 

 <)ueen wants lo lay freely she cannot because she has no more 

 empty comb in the brood-chamber, and they go about with 

 sacs full of Fioney, secrete wa.\ freely, start r|ueen-cu])s, fei'd 

 thi'ir limiteil ;imountof hir,: I freely, queen lays in the queen 



