Jan. 26, 190S. 



THB AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



63 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATION. 



The President called for the report of the committee 

 on honey-organization. Mr. Pressler presented the re- 

 port as follows: 



We, the committee appointed to name the first five 

 directors to form the National Honey Producers' Associa- 

 tion, beg to report as follows: Fred. E. Brown, Cali- 

 fornia, chairman; N. E. France, Wisconsin; J. U. Harris, 

 ■Colorado; W. L. Coggshall, New York, and H. S. Ferry, 

 New York. 



Signed: F. E. Brown, H. S. Ferry, E. E. Pressler, 

 J. Q. Smith, E. S. Lovesy, Committee. 



On motion the report was adopted. 



COMB OR EXTRACTED HONEY? — HOLY LAND BEES. 



"Shall we produce comb or extracted honey?" 

 Mr. Dadant — Yes, both. 



"Give your experience with Holy Land bees." 

 Mr. Laws — I think this race of bees has been report- 

 ed as being very cross. I have not found them that way. 

 By judicious treatment they are not so. I think I could 

 find a good many bee-keepers in this audience who will 

 say they are a very quiet race of bees, and they arc fine 

 honey-gatherers. They are reported as heavy swarmers. 

 It you give them room enough they will not. The re- 

 marks as to the Caucasian bees will very well apply to 

 the Holy Land bees with reference to swarming. I find 

 the objection that has been raised to the Holy Land race 

 •of bees has been raised also against the Cyprian bees, 

 and I think those persons who have raised those ob- 

 jections are persons who have not been acquainted with 

 the Holy Land bees. They are fine breeders and they 

 •do not breed out of season. In producing comb honey 

 they cap their honey a dark, watery color. They use the 

 least amount of wax of any bee I have seen in the manu- 

 facture of their comb. I can pick out a comb of honey 

 that has been built by the Holy Land bees, the capping 

 being so thin and the wax so brittle that it will leave 

 the honey. 



Prof. Benton — I would like to ask the gentleman 

 what he calls Holy Land bees? Where do they come 

 from ? 



Mr. Laws — My importation came about ten years 

 ago from the city of Jerusalem. Since that time there 

 has been another importation. Although I reared 115 

 ■daughters from that queen I had to discard her. They 

 •came from a sister of Mr. Baldensperger. 



Prof. Benton — In regard to the Holy Land bees, it 

 •may be remembered that I went to Palestine and Syria, 

 in the year 1880, and remained in that part of the world 

 for several years, and I handled a great many bees in 

 Palestine, and I brought those bees to Germany and also 

 to this country: I pointed out in my work in connection 

 ■with those bees the fact that southward from Mount 

 Carmel the bees are quite different from those north; 

 and the term "Holy Land" was invented by Mr. D. A. 

 Jones because he thought it would sell the bees, and 

 under the term Holy Land he grouped these two types 

 that are very different, so different they deserve to be 

 called separate races. The first bees that were sold 

 under that name were really hybrid bees, crosses be- 

 tween Syrians and Palestine bees. I insisted on calling 

 those southward from Mount Carmel the Palestine race, 

 and those northward the Syrian race. Confining myself 

 strictly to the race of bees of Palestine I want to speak 

 of some of their qualities which as a race they possess. 

 They are good, industrious bees in a northern climate; 

 they breed out of season and when deprived of their 

 queens are very prone to have laying workers within a 

 very short period, oftentimes before they have time to 

 rear a young queen, and will get all the worker-comb 

 stuck up with brood which is very objectionable. They 

 rear a vast number of queen-cells; I don't know that that 

 in itself is very objectionable, but it inclines one to be- 

 lieve they would swarm very freely, but I think that can 

 be largely overcome. I have found them bad-tempered, 

 all in all. and I prefer to handle pure Cyprian bees to pure 

 Holy Land bees. I have gone on the Island of Cyiirus 

 without a bee-veil, or when I had to use a bee-veil, with 

 very little smoke, and I wouldn't attempt to handle 

 either Syrians or Holy Land bees in that way: I couldn't 

 get along with them nearly as well as Cvprians. The 

 bees of Palestine are more nearly like the Egyptians 

 than the Syrians. 



"baby nuclei" in queen REARING. 



"Are baby nuclei advisable for the ordinary honey- 

 producer? Should baby nuclei have brood given them 

 or not?" 



Dr. Bohrer — In starting up the colony I always put 

 in brood and I never have very much difficulty. Give 

 them a well-matured queen-cell and they will probably 

 hatch in three or four days, and I never had them leave 

 the boxes, or very seldom; if they did they would gen- 

 erally cluster and I would put them back. I got the idea 

 from Mr. Langstroth in the summer of 1864. He had a 

 number of nuclei at that time. These queen-cells were 

 finished up in large colonics and then transferred to these 

 nuclei swarms. 



Mr. Gill — Let the honey-producer buy his queens. 

 Prof. Benton— I would suggest the honey-producers 

 learn how to rear good queens and rear them well. I 

 believe he should avoid the small nuclei entirely. Give 

 them brood and make them pretty good size. 



Dr. Miller— Does Mr. Gill buy his queens instead of 

 rearing them himself? 



Mr. Gill — I buy all the queens I can't rear from nat- 

 ural cells. Of those that are produced under the swarm- 

 ing impulse, I use all I can, and if I need any queens out 

 of season or any other time I buy them. I produce 

 honey, and I always want a laying queen under every 

 super, and if I haven't got one I buy one. 



Dr. Miller— He said that the ordinary honey-pro- 

 ducer should not use certain nuclei because he should buy 

 his queens. I want to know whether he buys more queens 

 than he rears himself. 



Mr. Gill— That is pretty hard to tell. 1 bought more 

 queens this year than I made increase. I use all the best 

 selected stock I can from natural cells that are built 

 under the swarming impulse at the swarming season, 

 and what I can't use I throw away. At any other time 

 of the year if I want a good queen I get one from a nian 

 whom I know rears good ones. My bees are being 

 worked for comb honey and I have no time to rear them. 

 I bought last year nearly 300 queens, and this year 200. 

 I think a good queen will pay for itself in ten days m a 

 good colony of bees in producing comb honey. I don t 

 aim to make much increase because I am working for 

 comb honey, and I want big swarms, and I don't want 

 any queenless bees. I have orders for queens all the 

 time I use them that way. If you need a queen it is bet- 

 ter to buy than to rear; you can't get along without her. 

 Dr. Miller— In the first place, as to buying queens in 

 certain times of the year, instead of rearing them myself, 

 I don't believe that a queen-breeder can tell better than 

 Mr. Gill what kind of queen is good for the work. I be- 

 lieve if he will breed from his best honey-producing 

 queens he will get a better queen than he will get from 

 the average queen-breeder. , 



Mr. Gill— I don't buy from the average breeder; i 

 buy from the best. , • . 



Mr. Reinecke — My experience has been that it does 

 not do a queen any good to come through the mails. I 

 have had queens from different breeders, and good ones, 

 and I have found some that were no good, and their 

 daughters were excellent, so it shows that it may have 

 hurt them. 



Mr. Gill— I must get up in defense of the queen- 

 breeder; that he can and does send a good queen through 

 the mail, because mine come through the mail, and I buy 

 just as good ones as I rear. I am not prepared in the 

 spring, I am not prepared in August, I am not pre- 

 pared with my cells at that time, and my bees do not 

 furnish them; I buy them, and I just get as good queens 

 as I can rear. I bought 200 queens last year from a 

 man who took them out of his full colonies in the breed- 

 ing season and there were no better queens in the United 

 States, but they occasioned me $200 damage, and I have 

 only two of them left. 



Mr. Root — I would like to answer part of both ques- 

 tions. In regard to these baby nuclei for the average 

 honey-producer, with the state of knowledge about baby 

 nuclei now I do not know that the average honey-pro- 

 ducer had better fool very much with them. The first and 

 second years we tried them we did not make them work, 

 but the third year we did. I think what we have done 

 others can do. I told Dr. Miller in answer to a question 

 that he must have brood to make them work, but I have 

 found out they work without as well as with. When we 

 come to know more about these little nuclei I believe Mr. 



