THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



347 



Mr. J. Sallee— Too much honey is not as 

 good as enough, for bees chill on lioney. 



Mr. P. P. Collier— My experience is that 

 bees winter on sealed honey even much 

 worse than empty comb, let tliem have 

 plenty of honey, above them empty comb to 

 cluster on, as sealed honey is much colder 

 than empty comb. 



Mr. A. A. Collier — No man ever saw too 

 much honey for bees to winter on; the idea 

 is preposterous for a man to say too much 

 honey killed his bees. 



Mr. Sallee — In 1876 too much honey froze 

 my bees. 



Mr. Palmei'— No danger, he wintered on 

 summer stands with 50 pounds or more. 



Mr. Bane said honey was not colder than 

 comb. 



Mr. Trimble — Could not see that honey 

 was any colder than empty comb. It is an 

 admitted fact that any two substances close 

 together were of the same temperature. 

 For instance a block of wood and a bar of 

 iron near together was of the same tempera- 

 ture, but the iron being a good conductor of 

 heat or cold would appear much colder than 

 the wood, so it was with comb and honey. 



Mr. P. P. Collier— Will the gentleman tell 

 me the difference between a feather bed and 

 a lump of ice in the same room? 



Mr. Trimble— No difference in the tem- 

 perature; the ice being a conductor would 

 impart it much more freely than the 

 feathers. 



Mr. W. H. Collier— Here lies the whole 

 secret; honey being a conductor of cold, its 

 tendency to throw it off will chill, and even 

 freeze the bees, which wouldn't be the case 

 on empty comb. 



President— Too much honey is detri- 

 mental to the wintering of bees. 



The hour having arrived for adjournment, 

 further discussion was dispensed with. 

 The President and Secretary were ordered 

 to prepare a programme for the next meet- 

 ing. Notice was given in writing by A. A. 

 Collier, that at the next meeting a motion 

 would be made to change Article 8. Section 

 8 of the Constitution so as to admit ladies 

 free of charge. 



A resolution of thanks to the owners of 

 the Hall for its use during the session, also 

 to Dr. Larch of Ashland, and F. B. Bane of i 

 Callaway, for the able papers on " Queen 

 Bearing " and " Hives," with permission to 

 spread on the minute book and for publica- 

 tion. 



Adjourned to meet at McCready, Calla- 

 way county, Mo., on Wednesday October 

 31st, 1877. Hugh Hamilton, Pres., 



P. P. Collier, Sec. 



Report from G. M. Doolittle. 



On June 1st 1877, we (that is, my better 

 half and myself,) found we had but 80 

 stocks of bees, 50 of which were good fair 

 colonies and 30 weak. On June 12th we de- 

 cided that 13 of the 30 weak ones, were so 

 weak that they could not be worked for 

 honey to any purpose, so we broke them up 

 into 30 nucleus colonies to raise queens 

 from; all practical apiarists know the ad- 

 vantage of keeping queens constantly on 

 hand. We had, practically, but 67 stocks 

 with which to commence the season. Two 

 of these we decided to work exclusively for 

 extracted honm.', and the remaining 65 for 

 box honey. We have at date, 152 colonies 



in good condition for winter. White clover 

 began to yield honey June 18th and our bees 

 began to build comb in boxes soon after. 

 Basswood opened July 14th and lasted till 

 the 28th, which with teasel, yielded abun- 

 dantly. About August 2d the flowers failed 

 to secrete honey entirely and we could only 

 work at taking off honey nights and morn- 

 ings on account of robbers. This failure 

 lasted until August 16th, when buckwheat 

 began to yield honey, and lasted until Aug. 

 25th, when our season for 1877 was over. 

 The result of our season's work is as 

 follows: 



Box honey ... white 8,761 lbs. 



... dark 1,528 " 



Extracted 893 " 



Total 11,177 



Our average yield from the 65 stocks 

 worked for box honey was 158 lbs per stock. 

 Average yield from the two worked for ex- 

 tracted honey, 446 pounds. Average yield 

 from the 67 stocks of both box and ex- 

 tracted honey, 166% pounds per colony. 

 The best stock worked for extracted honey 

 gave us 566 pounds. Best yield per day was 

 from July 21st to 24th, being 66 pounds or 

 22 pounds per day. Tliree stocks worked 

 for box honey which we kept record of 

 gave us 896 pounds, the best giving 309 lbs; 

 the second, 301; third, 288 pounds. We had 

 several others that did nearly or quite as 

 well, but we kept no record of them. We 

 have always been satisfied with giving the 

 average yield per colony of our apiary, and 

 should have been so now, were it not that 

 Novice stated in Oleanlngs that the test of a 

 liive was to be what a single colony pro- 

 duced, and that the hive we used was alto- 

 gether too expensive a "rigging." 



In conclusion, we wouki say that with a 



Eractical apiarist, bee-keeping is a paying 

 usiness, even at the present prices of 

 honey. We have cleared nearly .'S!6,000 from 

 our bees, free of all expense within the last 

 five years, with an average of about 50 

 stocks in the spring of each year. How- 

 ever, bee-keeping only pays when our pets 

 are properly cared for, and if any one can- 

 not spend the amount of time on tliem they 

 require, he had better keep out of the busi- 

 ness, for sooner or later he will turn away 

 from it in disgust. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., Sept. 12th, 1877. 



* • m * * 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Dzierzon Queens and Cyprian Bees. 



I have received the August number of 

 The American Bee Journal, and read 

 with great pleasure Chas. Dadant's article 

 on " How we may improve our bees." Will 

 you allow me, Mr. Editor, a few remarks 

 concerning it? 



1. Chas. Dadant says, "By selection, 

 Dzierzon succeeded in raising the best col- 

 ored Italian bees obtained so far. But ac- 

 cording to my opinion his selection, con- 

 fined to color, was too one-sided; since his 

 bees, as to activity and prolificness, are 

 notable to sustain the comparison with the 

 Italians in their native country." 



It is true, Dzierzon did succeed in raising 

 the best colored Italian bees. No one in 

 Germany has reared finer and lighter col- 

 ored Italian queens than he, but no one can 

 say that all his beautiful queens are less 



