678 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 22, 1903. 



[ Convention Proceedin$sj 



THE LOS ANGELES CONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceeding-s of the 34th Annual 



Meeting- of the National Bee-Keepers' 



Association, Held at Los Ang-eles, 



Calif., Aug- 18, 19 and 20, 



1903. 



Continued from pape 663.) 



Mr. Moe— After listening to Mr. Mclntyre's experience 

 in hiving bees, I would like to ask if he has any difficulty 

 with af ler-swarming, or secondary swarming ; and, also, if 

 he has had any experience with young queens reared in the 

 same colony. If they have any disposition to swarm during 

 that ^^eason, as well as introducing his queens. 



Mr. Mclntyre— I have very little difficulty with after- 

 swarms. That is why I use the queen-excluder. By setting 

 the brood-chamber out with a very few bees in it, and then 

 introducing a cell ready to hatch, there is hardly ever an 

 exception to this rule. 



Mrs. D. A. Higgins — I always think the crossness 

 depends a good deal upon who handles them, and how they 

 are handled. We never have any trouble with cross bees. 

 I think the way they are handled has a great deal to do 

 with it. 



J. K. Williamson — I wish to ask if there is any Cyprian 

 blood in nearly all of the light-colored strains of bees. It 

 always seems to me they are crosser and more vindictive 

 than any of the dark strains that I get. 



A. I. Root — In Cuba, last winter, they complained a 

 great deal that when they had a long continued flow of 

 honey the worker bees would fill all the cells with honey to 

 the exclusion of brood, and the colonies would get depopu- 

 lated. I laughed at the idea that that would stop queens 

 from rearing brood. It seems as though the bees filled up 

 everything with the honey. I said to them. We want some 

 Holy Land bees. I used Holy Land bees years ago, and 

 they would go to work at the approach of winter and fill up 

 the cells with brood. I would like to ask if you have any 

 trouble in California, when there is a very large flow of 

 honey, with the bees filling the combs with honey to the 

 exclusion of brood ? 



Frank Benton — I Viave shown this condition with any 

 of these Eastern bees, and I ought, perhaps, to supply from 

 the Cyprians and Holy Lands to a certain extent. I merely 

 intend that, I think, as crossing material and breeding 

 material, the Cyprians are to be preferred to the Holy 

 Lands, and that rather gentle Cyprians can be found on the 

 average. Now, when it comes down to the question, any of 

 these Eastern races will introduce that element of prolific- 

 ness, swift flight, strong wing power, energy in collecting, 

 and if we can only avoid that sharpness of disposition by 

 the introduction of the gentle qualities from the male ele- 

 ment, then we could meet all these conditions and get bees 

 where there was an early flow, and we want them to go 

 through the winter in powerful colonies; where the flow 

 comes especially during the winter they would be especially 

 valuable in keeping up the brood-rearing, storing their sur- 

 plus in supers, and keeping the body of the hive well filled, 

 whether the honey is coming in in that manner. 



Another point, their continuous industry causes them, 

 when other bees slack up and do nothing, to keep up enough 

 to keep up the honey. That is not the case with the Ital- 

 ians. Then their lack of hardiness causes them to dwindle 

 easily, and we prevent this by combining with one of the 

 Eastern races, whichever one of them may be preferred. 



Now, just one word more. I mentioned the Caucasian 

 race of bees. I have had very little experience with them, 

 but I am very favorably impressed with them, and it is quite 

 possible that we will have there a moral element that will 

 be preferable even to the Carniolans. 



T. O. Andrews — It seems to me that we are devoting a 

 sight of time to questions that have been gone over time 

 and time again. There are a thousand and one imortant 

 questions relative to foul brood, treatment of foul brood, 

 and things that are vitally important. As to this question 



of Cyprian bees—" Holy Terrors," I call them— I was very 

 glad when they decided they would not live in my climate. 

 Every one to his notion in this, just as in the matter of the 

 hot knife or cold knife. I move that we proceed to the elec- 

 tion of officers, and then to the question-box. 



The following officers were then chosen to serve for the 

 year 1904 : 



President— J. U. Harris, of Grand Junction, Colo. 



Vice-President— C. P. Dadant, of Hamilton, 111. 



Secretary— George W. Brodbeck, of Los Angeles, Calif. 



Proceeding to the question-box after a recess, with Mr. 

 T. O. Andrews in the chair, the first question read was : 



METHODS OF RUNNING OUT-APIARIES. 



" Which system is best for out-apiaries, hired help, or 

 furnish bees and everything, and give a manager a percent 

 of the net profits 7" 



E. T. Abbott — May I give my experience a little with 

 hired help? On general principles, it is absolutely worth- 

 less. Once I turned over to a man ISO colonies of bees. I 

 agreed to pay him $30 a month and his board. I had no way 

 of telling whether he earned his board or not, because I was 

 away for about four weeks. On my return, I found that he 

 did not know where a single colony in the yard was located. 

 The colonies were all numbered, and for quite a little while 

 I manipulated the bees from my location, saying. No. 3 

 would do so and so, and so on, and I told him that the col- 

 ony of fine Carniolans should not be permitted to swarm, 

 and that they were not to be divided until absolutely nec- 

 essary. When I got home, my wife said that a swarm of 

 bees was hanging on a tree outside, and I went out in the 

 morning and put a swarm-catcher under them, when I dis- 

 covered my SIO queen had been hanging in a tree all night. 

 When I asked him what had become of the colony of Car- 

 niolans, he said he did not know ; and he was a very good 

 young man and wanted to look after my interests. That is 

 the reason I gave up manipulating bees. Whenever I have 

 undertaken to hire a man to keep bees, I have become con- 

 vinced that I could not hire it done. That has been my 

 experience. 



Mr. France — This subject, to those keeping a good 

 many bees, is one of vital importance. As Mr. Abbott re- 

 marked this morning, it is getting to be everything on the 

 union line. Labor is a big figure, and to get labor on the 

 farm is not so difficult as in the bee-yards. I find I must 

 either hire them at a definite stated price, they to do as I 

 direct, or they must work upon a commission for a part of 

 the product of the apiary — one of these two methods. In 

 my own locality I am fortunately situated, having one of 

 our State Normal Schools, and students, especially those in 

 the third year, anxious to stay in the -vicinity over the sum- 

 mer vacation, and the busy season comes just at a time 

 when their summer vacation is on, and I take in these 

 graduate boys as my assistants. But, generally speaking, 

 I question if it is desirable to take the ordinary laborer, as 

 we find him, on a commission basis. Their whole interest, 

 then, is as to the number of pounds of honey they can pro- 

 duce, and they may overreach, and you will be sorry for the 

 experience. I think this is largely a matter of locality. 



H. H. Hyde — I would rather have a man work on com- 

 mission than on wages. 



Mr. France — Yes, sir ; rather than work for wages, be- 

 cause if I am not there things will go on in an indifferent, 

 careless way. On the other hand, if it is his labor, he is 

 willing to work more than six hours a day, and as a labor 

 union dictates. 



Mr. Williamson — In both systems, whether you hire the 

 man or whether you rent the bees to him on a commission, 

 the principle involved is the same. A man is trying to get 

 all out of the bees he can. His interests and his employer's 

 are antagonistic, and they can never be harmonized. The 

 laboring man sells his labor and renders only so much as 

 he must in order to hold his job. It is a business proposi- 

 tion with him ; and, on the other hand, it is a business prop- 

 osition to get all out of a man he can. There never will be 

 harmony between employer and employee ; it is impossible. 



F. G. Corey — If you want to run an engine, you must 

 have an engineer. A railroad company can trust a man 

 a thousand miles away, if he understands his work. 

 If a man has no taste for that kind of work he is not a bee- 

 man. You can trainmen to work in the fields or the or- 

 chards, and they must be trained to be of real service in the 

 bee-yards. 



BEST BEE FOR COM 1! HONEY. 



"What is the best bee for Uie production of comb 

 honey ?" 



