MAKOH 1, 1915 



175 



At the general session a good many matters 

 of importance were discussed. In our next 

 issue we hope (o give a very brief synopsis 

 of the most important, and possibly a pic- 

 ture of the convention. 



On the evening of the 17th, in the audi- 

 torium of the hotel, the Colorado Honey- 

 producers' Association gave a banquet to the 

 members of the National Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation. Dr. E. F. Phillips, of llie Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, 

 acted as toastmaster, and a good one he 

 was. There were over a hundred plates set, 

 and the music and toasts were of tlie very 

 highest order. There were frequent bursts 

 of applause and laughter. The affair was a 

 success in every way; and on behalf of the 

 guests Dr. Pliillips suitably expressed the 

 thanks of the National to the Colorado Hon- 

 ey-jiroducers' Association for the splendid 

 entertainment. 



The following oflfieers were elected : 

 President, Dr. B. N. Gates; vice-presi- 

 dent, Frank C. Pellett ; secretary and treas- 

 urer, Wesley Foster ; directors, E. D. Town- 

 send, E. J. Baxter, J. H. Stoneman, E. G. 

 Can-, Geo. W. Williams. 



Caucasians and Other Black Races 

 Adapted to the South on Accouimt 

 of tneir Early Breeding 



Mr. J. J. Wilder in the Feb. 1st issue, 

 p. 6n. speaks in the highest tonns of the 

 Caucasians, and he wonders why it is that 

 the editor has had so ranch trouble with 

 their bad swarming w hen neither he nor his 

 customers have had any such diflftculty. It 

 is true Mr. Benton did speak of their 

 swarming rather to excess, and we found 

 them to be even worse than Carniolans. 

 Possibly we had a bad strain of them; but 

 although our Caucasians came from differ- 

 ent sources, they all behaved alike. 



The question whetlier they swarm to 

 excess or not should not be given too much 

 consideration. The real question after all 

 is, "Are they money-makersf " We quite 

 agree with Mr. Wilder that they are excel- 

 lent for building up in the spring — better 

 than Italians perhaps. The same may be 

 said of Carniolans. It appears at this writ- 

 ing that the Virginia lirown bees, or what 

 might be called the old-fashioned black bees, 

 are ahead of Italians in this respect at our 

 Virginia apiaries. 



This matter of early building up is cer- 

 tainly a valuable feature; and for beekeep- 

 ers in the South, and perhaps in other local- 

 ities, it is a factor worth considering. 



During these war times it would be very 

 difficult to import Caucasians, for the re- 



gions where they arc bred, in the extreme 

 southwestern i)art of Asiatic Russia, are in 

 the midst of the heaviest fighting at the 

 present time. We have none in stock at 

 our yards. In fact, we were compelled to 

 discontinue using them in this locality on 

 account of their swarming propensity 

 which with us was intolerable. 



We are coming to believe that the black 

 strains, be they black bees, brown bees, 

 Caucasians, Banats, or Carniolans, will 

 breed up better than the ]iuie yellow strains. 

 The fact that blacks seem to be the persis- 

 tent and dominant race would indicate that 

 they must be a strong race capable of stand- 

 ing severe winters. The yellow strains of bees 

 are essentially a tropical race, while the 

 blacks — at least many of them — -come from 

 comparatively cold climates. 



An exception should be made, however, 

 in favor of the leather-colored strains of 

 Italians that come from the mountainous 

 regions of Switzerland where much the same 

 climatic conditions prevail as are found in 

 northern Italy. So far we have found these 

 leather-colored bees come through as well 

 in severe winters as the black; but we shall 

 have to admit, when all is said, that they 

 do not breed up quite as rapidly. 



gig 



To-DAY, Feb. 12, the weather has moder- 

 ated enough so that the temperature has 

 reached 50 degrees F. There has been no 

 sunshine, and no bees flying out. Part of 

 our bees outdoors were put in quadruple 

 ])acking-cases of the Holtermann type, a 

 ]iart in the regular Root double-walled 

 packed hives, and a few (only four) in 

 single-walled hives containing the double 

 telescope cover. The showing in quadruple 

 ])acking-cases is excellent with this excep- 

 tion : In the case of a very few of the strong 

 colonies the packing material had crowded 

 the entrance cleats over in such a way as 

 ■.learly to close the entrance but not quite. 

 In front of these hives we found large num- 

 bers of dead bees, and the entrances prac- 

 tically closed with their dead carcasses. On 

 opening up the hives we found the colonies 

 overheated and excited for Avant of ventila- 

 tion. Had we not arrived at just this time^ 

 to clear the entrances they probably would 

 have died in a day or two by worrying to 

 get out, and they may succumb before 

 spring, as it is. The entrances were partly 

 closed on some of the weaker colonies; I)ut 

 as yet they seem to be aU right. We en- 

 larged them all to full size after clearing 

 them out. 



