588 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAJL. 



'■?• , i^'*!. 



CONDUCTED BY 



Greenville^ Texas. 



iiXfcA^ 



Report of the Texas State Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention. 



(Continued from page 560). 



FIRST DAY — Afteknoon Session. 



Promptly at 2 o'clock the meeting was 

 called to order by Dr. Marshall, Presi- 

 dent pro tern, and all at once the atten- 

 tion of the whole body was called by Mr. 

 Joe Dyer, artist of Greenville, asking 

 the bee-keepers to scatter about through 

 the apiary, as he wished to photograph 

 the entire body of 75 persons, and the 

 apiary consisting of about 400 colouies. 

 This was done, and then he wished the 

 convention to assemble at the conven- 

 tion stand, which they did, and he then 

 photographed them in a group. The 

 pictures are very fine, and every face 

 recognizable, and even the numbers on 

 the bee-hives are readable. The pictures 

 we will try to give to the readers of the 

 American Bee Journal soon. 



THE SWARMING OF BEES. 



Then the swarming subject was re- 

 sumed and finished, and this question 

 asked, " Is it best to have something 

 convenient for bees to alight on ?" 



T. E. Miller thought it best to have 

 some trees or shrubery in the apiary for 

 the bees to cluster on. 



SELECTING A HOME BEFORE SWARMING. 



" Do bees select a home before swarm- 

 ing?" 



A. M. Tuttle, J. R. Atchley, Mrs. Jen- 

 nie Atchley, and C. M. Davis said that 

 bees do not always select a home, as 

 they have been known to swarm and re- 

 main settled for two days on the tree, 

 and at other times they have been 

 known to travel one day east, and clus- 

 ter, then next day go west, showing 

 that they did not always have a home 

 selected 



CARNIOLAN BEES. 



There were but few present that bad 

 any experience with this race of bees. 

 Mrs. Atchley had tried them, and from 

 all her observations they were nothing 

 but a foreign black race of bees, mixed 

 more or less with Italians. 



CYPRIAN BEES. 



Only three or four present had reared 

 the Cyprians, as they called them, and 

 all gave their experience with them — 

 that they were good honey-gatherers, 

 prolific queens, and great swarmers and 

 cell-builders, but fearful stingers when 

 properly stirred up. 



HOLY-LAND BEES. 



In the discussion on these bees It was 

 decided that the Holy Lands and Cyp- 

 rians, or Syrians, were about one and 

 the same thing, only being bred in dif- 

 ferent countries made a little diflference 

 in their characteristics ; about the same 

 contrast made between the imported 

 Italian and the homebred. 



After all the discussion on the differ- 

 ent races of bees, J. R. Atchley said 

 that taking everything into considera- 

 tion, he thought the Italians superior to 

 any of the races, as they had been tried 

 side by side, and year after year, with 

 the blacks and most other races, and, to 

 be honest, we must give the " blue rib- 

 bon " to the Italians. 



HIVE-ENTRANCE AND FRAMES. 



A question was then asked, " Is there 

 anything gained by having the entrance 

 to the hives parallel with the frames '?" 



W. T. Pryar's observations were that 

 it did not matter where, or what part of, 

 the hive the bees entered, just so they 

 had entrance sufficient for them to go in 

 and out. 



Dr. Howard — I used to use a hive of 

 the slanting pattern, and the bees en- 

 tered at the side. My observations go 

 to prove that bees unload at the first 

 chance after entering the hive, and it 

 makes no particular difference where 

 the bees enter. 



A. M. Tuttle — My observations are 

 that bees that come in unload to the 

 young bees, and they put the honey 

 where wanted, so the bees may enter at 

 any part of the hive with the same re- 

 sults. 



C. M. Davis prefers an end entrance, 

 and certainly would not like bees to en- 

 ter at the sides of the hives. 



Dr. Howard — I think we may always 

 get some good comb honey if the bees 

 enter at the side, as the surplus will 



