220 



Mr. Betsinger found the treatment differ- 

 ent for Italians and blacks, and Mr. House 

 agreed with him ; when the Italians wanted 

 to do anything, they generally succeeded. 



Mr. Bacon found too much swarming 

 spoiled the honey crop. 



Dr. Marks wanted the Italian bees to 

 swarm once, and in 7 or 8 days later he dis- 

 troyed the queen cells, all but one; if he 

 has a fertile queen he destroys all the cells 

 and introduces her. 



Mr. House, after the bees swarmed once, 

 found but little trouble in controlling re- 

 maining swarms. 



Mr. Stewart removed two cards of brood 

 with the queen into a new hive and put it 

 on the old stand with simply frames. 



The subject was further discussed by 

 Messrs. House, Marquisse and Betsinger. 



Mr. Everett gave the bees plenty to do, 

 plenty of boxes to fill, which kept them 

 from swarming. When he made new colo- 

 nies he did so after the honey season, taking 

 one comb from each hive, enough to make a 

 new hive. Supply the place of the comb 

 taken away in each hive by foundation. 



The chair thought Mr. Everett's plan a 

 good one ; he could prevent swarming by 

 using the extractor, if all other efforts 

 failed ; furnishing a young queen had a 

 tendency to prevent swarming. 



Mr. Snow furnished plenty of box room, 

 and then if the bees did not go to work he 

 removed combs with honey to the center of 

 the hives and partially uncapped them. 



Mr. Betsinger said after the white honey 

 season was two-thirds advanced and had 

 hives partially tilled, if he wanted the boxes 

 completed to simply move the comb contain- 

 ing the most honey to the center, uncap and 

 the bees will put it in the boxes. 



How to get Prolific Queens. 



The chair said if the colony was strong it 

 was'an indication that thequeen was prolific. 



Mr. Betsinger gave these tests for a fine 

 queen. A queen should be good size, taper 

 well: she should skip no cells in laying; 

 she should not lay eggs on the edge of the 

 cell ; she should not act like a cripple, and 

 occasionally a fine queen puts two eggs in a 

 cell. 



The president would judge of the general 

 appearance. Experience will assist in 

 determining when a queen is worn out, or 

 becoming infirm. To secure good queens 

 we should use selected stock and breed in 

 localities where they have the range of a 

 large territory. Above all things he wanted 

 prolific queens. The cheap queen traffic he 

 denounced as only harmful. 



Comb Foundation. 



This topic was next discussed. Mr. Bet- 

 singer pronounced it a failure. Mr. Bacon 

 fought it in surplus boxes, but was not op- 

 posed to it in brood chamber. 



Mr. Warner had used it in brood chamber. 

 It worked well in some cases, in others 

 badly. About seven out of fifteen melted 

 down ; others sagged so that cells were 

 stretched. Had used it as small starters 

 in boxes and found bees accepted it well 

 — about as well as natural comb. He was 

 opposed to adulteration and did not think 



its use as starters in honey boxes was 

 adulteration. 



Mr. Clarke did not think the use of comb 

 foundation in the boxes was adulteration. 

 He had been successful in using it in the 

 brood chamber. In honey boxes he used 

 white foundation and the bees did not 

 accept it. In using the dark foundation he 

 was more fortunate, but he did not think it 

 could be depended on. 



Mr. Marquisse gave his experience with 

 comb foundation, which was unfavorable — 

 tue comb falling and stretching badly. 



Mr. Everett with his method of using foun- 

 dation was successful and would not dis- 

 pense with its use. 



Mr. Betsinger had trimmed natural comb 

 down to the thinness of foundation and 

 found that it was accepted and finished more 

 readily than foundation. If foundation 

 stretches more than one-half inch in nine 

 inches, it is made of impure wax. Bees 

 will only work on foundation when com- 

 pelled to, and he pronounced it a failure. 



Mr. Van Deusen had experimented with 

 foundation. His son's plan wUs to place 

 small pieces of it on cross bars in brood 

 frames and insert the same in brood cham- 

 ber until the bees lengthened the cells. Then 

 remove and use for starters. 



The president did not object to foundation 

 in boxes on the ground of adulteration, but 

 on the ground of its being artificial. He 

 approved of its use in brood frames. To 

 prevent sagging he would use the wired 

 foundation. 



Mr. Betsinger claimed that the wire in 

 foundation was death to the brood, as it 

 corroded. He had tried it and was satisfied 

 of the truth of this. 



In answer to a question, the president 

 thought foundation 6 feet to the pound the 

 best weight. 



Mr. Everett thought the bees would use 

 the wax of the foundation and so save the 

 consumption of honey. He thought they 

 would even thin the base of the cells and 

 use the wax for lengthening the side walls. 



Mr. Clarke thought the bees did not ac- 

 cept the white foundation as readily as the 

 darker, because of its being harder. 



At 5 o'clock the convention adjourned to 

 examine apiarian appliances on exhibition. 



Mr. Bacon showed some samples of glu- 

 cose and grape sugar, and then explained 

 their manufacture. He understood that 

 10,000 bushels of corn were daily used in 

 Buffalo in the manufacture of these articles. 



EVENING SESSION. 



Treasurer Bacon raised the question as to 

 the cause of the uneasiness of certain colo- 

 nies of bees while in winter quarters. The 

 president gave his views, ascribing the 

 presence of parasites as one prominent 

 cause. He had discovered nine varieties of 

 these pests. Some of these are so minute 

 as to be present in the pores of the wood, as 

 he had proven by certain tests. He hoped 

 our scientific bee-keepers would thoroughly 

 investigate this matter. 



The president suggested the offering of 

 prizes for the best essays and the best api- 

 arian implements. To that end, Mr. Clarke 

 offered a resolution that the executive com- 

 mittee be empowered to offer prizes not to 



