THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



Fchruory 



the production of comb honey. A very 

 important point he made was tliis: As 

 soon as it is advisable to put on tlie 

 honey boxes or supers give a suppr full 

 of drawn comb. This will keep the 

 hon(!y out of the brood-chamber and 

 start the bees rio-jit. Empty sections, 

 or such iillcd with foundation, do not 

 till the bill here. When the bees once 

 get in the habit of storing their honey 

 above, they are apt to continue thus 

 throughout the season; when they form 

 a habit of lillingtlie brood-chamber witii 

 honey at the beginning of the season, 

 they then are slow to enter the sections 

 any time after. Mr. Hutchinson had 

 observed that by giving supers full of 

 drawn comb a case of honey was gained 

 above what other equally as good colo- 

 nies had made supplied with empty sec- 

 tions. The swarms are treated according 

 to the Heddon plan. Mr. Hntciiinson 

 had done a good deal of experimenting 

 witli young swarms, hiving tliem alter- 

 nately on combs, foundations and start- 

 ers. The combs always gave the poorest 

 results with him, and the foundation, 

 aside from insuring perfect combs, 

 proved a total loss. No young swarm is 

 allowed more than five L frames or one 

 section of the Heddon hive. Contraction 

 is only practiced on the young swarms. 

 He has come to the conclusion that it is 

 not always profitable to supply the bees 

 with foundation. During a good flow he 

 claims wax is produced anyhow and if 

 there is no opportunity to use it some- 

 where a large portion of it is lost. And 

 after all he expressed his opinion that 

 good, straight worker combs were not 

 too dear at the expense of the founda- 

 tion. 



Mr. E. R. Root then gave a talk on 

 bee diseases. He can easily tell foul 

 brood from blaek brood, but cannot so 

 easily tell pickled brood from black 

 brood. When the perforations through 

 the capi)ings have a ragged edge you 

 have foul brood; when not, it is very 

 likely black brood. It seems the disease 

 must be making considerable progress 



and is distrib\ited ov<u' a large territory, 

 for two or three samples of brood are 

 received by the Root Company every 

 day. Mr. Root takes these samples to 

 the boiler-room, opens the package, ex- 

 aniini s the comb, then burns everything 

 and disinfects his hands. 



F. Greiner explained the Dzierzon 

 theory and the Dickel theory, and stated 

 thata thorough microscopic examination 

 of bees' eggs had been made by the 

 University of Freiburg, Germany, and 

 that among 37:^ eggs taken from drone 

 comb, only one egg was found to contain 

 sperm, while among the 62 eggs taken 

 from worker comb all were found to 

 contain sperm. He said further: 

 Although we know that a queen larva 

 receives slightly different food than a 

 worker larva, he cannot believe that 

 this difference in the food can cause a 

 diflfeiently constituted bee to develop, 

 hut that we must seek a different ex- 

 planation. We do not note any such 

 results in raising other stock. 



Mr. O. L. Hershiser spoke of the Pan- 

 American Exposition, in particular as 

 to the bee and honey exhibit. The pro- 

 position is to erect a commodious build- 

 ing to accommodate the bee-keepers. 

 Bees alive will be exhibited in regular 

 yards as kept in different lands, and 

 articles from the bakery, into which 

 honey has entered as an ingredient, are 

 also to be shown. Mr. Hershiser sajs 

 that the New York bee-keepers will be 

 allowed to exhibit at least 2, .500 lt)S of 

 comb honey and the same of extracted. 

 The latter is wanted in bulk, the State 

 to furnish the packages in which it is to 

 be exhibited; tiie State will als(. furnish 

 the cases for the comb honey. All bee- 

 keepers of New York who have any 

 honey suitable for exhibition should 

 address Mr. Hershiser. He will buy the 

 honey right out-and-out, which. however, 

 he will not do next year wlien the new 

 crop comes in. It should further be 

 stated that no exhibitor will have to jiay 

 any freight charges. On request the 

 honey will be returned to the exhibitor 



