810 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



C. P. Dadant— We have wintered 

 bees in two cellars— one wet, the 

 other dry, and the bees wintered bet- 

 ter in the dry one. 



Ira Barber— In a damp cellar the 

 temperature must be liigher thiin in 

 a dry cellar. I have wintered bees 

 successfully in a temperature of fr»m 

 60^ to 90-. 



Dr. A. B. Mason— I agree with Mr. 

 Barber, except that I would take 

 away the pollen. I do not say that 

 the bees cannot be wintered well with 

 pollen in the liives, but if tiiey have 

 no pollen they can have no diarrhea. 



C. F. Muth asked if he understood 

 Mr. Hall correctly yesterday, that liis 

 honev harvest closed about July 20. 

 and that last vear he did not put his 

 bees out until'May 2. If so, how did 

 he obtain a sufficient force of bees to 

 get in the honey during so short a 

 harvest V 



Mr. Hall replied that the secret lay 

 in the bees being kept so warm that 

 they bred early. lie expected his 

 hives to have "several combs with 

 brood in them by the time he put 

 them out in the spring. By May 20, 

 there would be not only brood in 6 or 

 7 combs, but that number full of 

 brood. He could not winter without 

 pollen, because if he did, he would 

 not have his bees bred early enough 

 in the spring to gather in the honey. 

 If they started without brood they 

 would not build up to strong colonies 

 until near winter. He did not agree 

 with Mr. Heddon upon the pollen 

 theory, but must thank him for his 

 surplus case. 



James Heddon— I expect to be as 

 successful as Mr. Barber. I think 

 that nothing has been said that dis- 

 proves the pollen theory. Pollen does 

 not injure bees unless they consume 

 it. Prof. Cook has explained that 

 bees may breed without taking pollen 

 into their intestines. In some instan- 

 ces honey may be free from pollen ; in 

 others it is not, and the bees cannot 

 avoid its consumption. I kept bees 

 in a cellar in which the temperature 

 often fell to 20'-^. Those having nat- 

 ural stores suffered from diarrhea, 

 some perished with it ; those having 

 sugar stores were free from itf I will 

 furnish the facts that in many instan- 

 ces one colony has survived and an- 

 other perished under exactly the same 

 conditions except food. Who will 

 furnish tlie explanation V 



Ira Barber— The higlier the temper- 

 ature, the better my bees have win- 

 tered. There is sometimes water in 

 the cellar, and the combs are slightly 

 mouldv. 



Mr. Heddon did not consider that 

 the experience of Mr. Barber and Mr. 

 Hall conflicted witli the pollen theory, 

 because bees did not necessarily eat 

 pollen when they fed it to larvie. Pol- 

 len would not hurt bees in winter, 

 unless they ate it. and if the temper- 

 ature was right they would not con- 

 sume pollen. 

 Adjourned till 2 p.m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Ex-President Root called the 



meet- 

 ing to order at 2 p.m. 



Prof. Cook offered a resolution of 

 respect to the memory of the late 



Moses Quinby, of St. Johnsville, N. 

 Y.. and announced the contribution 

 of a handsome purse with which to 

 purchase a portrait of the deceased to 

 be presented to his widow. Mr. 

 Quinby was one of the originators of 

 this Society and its second president. 

 This compliment to his memory was 

 exceedingly appropriate and its an- 

 nouncement was enthusiastically re- 

 ceived bv the convention. 



A. I. Root— I must go away in a 

 few minutes, and before 1 go I desire 

 to say that I have enjoyed this meet- 

 ing very much. We may not have be- 

 come rich by producing honey, but 

 this meeting lias certainly done much 

 good in uniting the bee-keepers of 

 this country into one band. This con- 

 vention has " taken the conceit out of 

 me " and has given me a better opin- 

 ion of my fellow men. 



The discussion on wintering bees 

 was resumed by Mr. S. F. Newman, 

 who said— If such gentlemen as Mr. 

 Barber and Mr. Hall meet with no 

 winter losses, I should like to know 

 what becomes of their bees. 



Ira 13arber — I work against increase 

 and when I get more than I can use, I 

 sell them. 



T. Pierce — I have wintered bees for 

 3 or 4 years, the same as Mr. Barber 

 does, and have been successful. I keep 

 the temperature at from 44'^ to 50-'. 



L. C. Root— Do we understand Mr. 

 Barber to say that he has no objection 

 to feeding bees just before putting 

 them into the cellar ? 



Ira Barber— I do not approve of it, 

 but if I find any that need feeding 

 when putting them in, I feed them. 

 I think that fall honey is just as good 

 for winter stores, provided the temper- 

 ature is kept high enough. Old bees 

 are just as good as any for wintering. 

 Jas. Heddon—" Spring dwindling " 

 I call bee-diarrhea in disguise. The 

 bees have had their vitality taxed to 

 the utmost in retaining their feces, 

 and when they begin brood-rearing 

 the strain is too great, and they per- 

 ish faster than young bees can be 

 reared to replace the dying. When 

 my bees winter well tliey are not 

 troubled with " spring dwindling." 

 I am not yet certain how mucli there 

 may be in this pollen theory, and I 

 am yet experimenting. 



Rev. W. F. Clarke said there were 

 three matters of great importance to 

 liim whicli had transpired today. 

 First, ilr. Hall had explained his 

 method of bee-keeping, and he was 

 nuicli obliged to him for it. Second, 

 Mr. Barber and Mr. Hall had sup- 

 plied conlirmation of the liibernation 

 theory. A year a ago he did not un- 

 derstand Mr. Barber's metliod. Mr. 



B. said at the Rochester convention 

 that he (Mr. C's) method was a cold 

 system of wintering, and his (Mr. B's) 

 a warm one. This was a mistake. 

 Our systems are alike, only Mr. Bar- 

 ber secured the right temperature in 

 the whole cellar, and I secured it in 

 the single hive. But Mr. Barber's 

 bees quiesee in the fall ; if the hive is 

 too full of bees, a cluster will hang 

 outside ; they remain in torpor until 

 the breeding instinct awakes, and 

 then they arouse to activity. Third, 

 the pollen theory has got its quietus 



from Prof. Cook. He has told us in 

 scientitic terms the nature of bee- 

 food, and the process of assimilation. 

 He has maintained that bees cannnot 

 breed witliout pollen, and that they 

 cannot stand work without taking 

 nitrogenous food. If they take that 

 food it must be digested and the 

 feces excreted. Well, Mr. Barber 

 and Mr. Hall have proved that bees 

 breed largely, i. e., work hard, and 

 therefore must eat and, digest strong 

 food. The inferences are plain. The 

 bees, if they excrete, do it in dry 

 feces. They must excrete, that is 

 clear. Therefore, there is no danger 

 in having pollen in the hive. On the 

 contrary, it is necessary. 



Thomas G. Newman, chairman of 

 the committee on statistics, reported 

 as follows : There were 103 members 

 present, but quite a number had 

 given no report of the past season's 

 operations. Those reported summed 

 up as follows : 



Bees. — Colonies last May. . . . 4,283 

 Increase 3,196 



Total now 7,479 



Honey.— In comb lbs, 15.5,3.54 



Extracted.... " 86,928 



Total honey produced. lbs, 242,282 



Beeswax produced lbs, 2,233 



Honev Unsold.— Comh..ms, 43,275 

 Extracted.... " 33,425 



Total honey unsold, lbs, 7(),700 



Only about one-third present at the 

 meeting had become members of the 

 Society, and only about one-quarter 

 of those present were included in the 

 statistical report. 



The smallest report was : 1 colony 

 last spring, increased to 5, giving 43 

 pounds of extracted honey. 



The laraest report was : 470 colonies 

 in May, 740 in the fall. Honey ob- 

 tained from them 3S,000 pounds in 

 comb, and 6,000 pounds of extracted ; 

 125 pounds of beeswax— all having 

 been sold except 2,000 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey. 



All other reports of bees and honey 

 varied between these. It was re- 

 quested that no statistical table be 

 published — the aggregate amounts 

 being all that will serve the interests 

 of bee-keepers in general. 



The report was received and adopt- 

 ed, and the committee discharged. 



Mr. D. A. Jones read the following 

 on 



DIFFEUENT RACES OF BEES. 



It is not my purpose to occupy the 

 valuable time of this Convention with 

 a long essay on what has been done in 

 the past in reference to this subject, 

 nor shall 1 trouble vou with a history 

 of the efforts put forth, the trials and 

 hardships endured, and the successes, 

 failures and disappointments con- 

 nected with the importation of the 

 different races of bees in which I 

 have participated. The object of the 

 majority of the bee-keepers of to-day 

 is to have their capital and labor yield 

 them as good a return as possible, and 



