148 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 6, 19( 2 



Convention Proceedings. | 



Report of the Ontario Co., N. Y., Bee-Keepers' 



Convention, held at Canandaigua, 



Dec. 12 and 13, 1901. 



BY F. GREINERj SEC. 



It was the I2th annual meeting of the Ontario Co., N. \.. 

 Bee-Keepers' Association and a bee-keepers' institute was 

 held in connection with the meeting, under the auspices of 

 the Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Farmers Insti 

 tutes. , , , 



The President, W. F. Marks, in his message, dwelt upon the 

 importance of organization at the present time, pointuig out 

 some of the benefits of the local organization and what had 

 been accomplished through it. He compared the prevailing low 

 price of honey with that of an early date and suggested that 

 it was about time for the producers to name the price of 

 that product. He censured the teachings that honey is a 

 luxury, and called the attention of his hearers to the fact 

 that most of the food upon their tables was luxuries and yet 

 much of it had come to be looked upon as a necessity, and 

 why not honey? He thought the bee-keepers, through their 

 periodicals, w^ere much to blame for spreading and main- 

 taining the luxury idea, and it should be discouraged. 

 The producers of other foods did not try to make the con- 

 sumer believe that their foods are luxuries. The bee-keepers 

 should not only fix the price, but it is the duty of each 

 to work up a local trade, and thus increase consumption. 

 He spoke of the display of honey at the county fair and urged 

 bee-keepers to take advantage of this opportunity to adver- 

 tise their honey, and at the same time to secure the liberal 

 premiums offered. In conclusion he told his hearers not 

 to get discouraged, but to have some desired object in view, 

 and to work for that object. 



HONEY STATISTICS OF THE UNITED ST.\TES. 



In the discussion following, it was suggested to appeal 

 to the Government for aid in collecting monthly statistics 

 as to amount of honev produced, and other matters pertain- 

 ing to apiculture; but it seemed to be the sense of the meet- 

 ing that the Government would not be able to collect reliable 

 data as the present staff of regular correspondents would 

 not be in any position to know or find out what the honey 

 crop was. It was believed that the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association could do this work much more effectively, and 

 a resolution was adopted later on asking the officers of said 

 body to devise a plan and put it in operation. 



THE GOVERNMENT AND MATING OF QUEENS. 



Further, it was proposed that the Government establish 

 an apicultural experiment station on some small island where 

 no honey-bees were found present, and assist the bee-keepers 

 to improve the honey-bee. In such an isolated 

 place the mating of the queens could practically be con- 

 trolled, and such a course would be more effective than 

 mating queens in tents, for, when unconfined nature would 

 usually select the strongest drones as the successful ones; 

 in the tent no such selection could take place. It was be- 

 lieved that we had just as good bees in America now as 

 anywhere on the globe, and what money our Government 

 expends in importing queen-bees from other lands might 

 better be made use of in the line proposed. 



While the Association did not take action on this proposi- 

 tion, still the matter was brought up again by another mem- 

 ber, showing that it had gotten a hold. Undoubtedly it will 

 be pushed on at some future time. 



APIARIAN EXHIBITS AT FAIRS. 



As to the securing of liberal premiums at agricultural 

 fairs it was shown that even a single person could some- 

 times accomplish a great deal. The agricultural society in 

 a small town of Ontario County, had thus been influenced, 

 and had also increased the premiums on apicultural prod- 

 ucts and implements from 50 cents to about $30, in con- 

 sequence of which the bee and honey exhibit had been 



a most attractive feature of the fair. It was the general 

 opinion that, while bee-keepers take great pride in mak- 

 ing creditable displays, they cannot afford to spend time 

 and money without fair pay. 



"bee-keeping — ITS CHARACTER AND REQUIREMENTS." 



Hon. R. L. Taylor, of Michigan, delivered an address 

 on the above subject He said bee-keeping differed from 

 ordinary farming m-so-far as the bee-business was subject 

 to greater variation; there were too many exceptions to 

 the rules, and the bee-keeper had to be on the alert all 

 the time. The farmer may grind away each day without 

 much thought, but each day in the apiary brought new 

 work and needed thought; new problems had to be worked 

 out constantly. To keep bees successfully, he said, one 

 would have to observe the following:. Abundant and 

 timely breeding of worker-bees, requiring an abundance of 

 stores, for bees used scantily from scanty stores. All short- 

 age should be remedied at an early time. Sufficient supply 

 was not enough. Attending things in season was essen- 

 tial, procrastination is the thief of the honey crop. 



In addition to giving plenty of honey some of the sealed 

 stores should be uncapped at short intervals, as bees would 

 not use sealed stores as fast as was desirable for best re- 

 sults. The more they eat, the faster they would breed. 



spreading of the brood, he said, should be practiced very 

 cauLiously, giving empty combs or uncapped frames ot 

 nuiicy in the center 01 tne brood-nest, as was thought best. 

 Jtle reconmiended the Heddon method for treating the 

 young swarms, using Heddon hives of 5 Langstroth irames 

 capacity, with queen excluding honey-board between brood- 

 cliamber and supers. One empty comb given in the cen- 

 ter of the brood-nest, he said, would prevent pollen being 

 SLored in the sections. He is getting all the surplus from 

 tne young swarms, drawing on the old colonies for bees 

 to re-inforce the swarms. In the fall the young and the 

 parent may be united, killing the old queen, thus prac- 

 tically re-queening all his colonies that cast swarms. How 

 many bee-keepers, he said, have I seen, that would leave 

 the supers on the mother colonies, giving no surplus room 

 to the swarm, thus losing the greater part of the crop. In 

 view of the fact that section honey built by swarms is 

 always of higher quality than honey stored by old colonies 

 over old combs, it is advisable to get all surplus from 

 the swarm, for the market demanded unstained section 

 honey. If it was desirable to produce well-filled sections, 

 sealed all around, then not too much room should be 

 given. In other words, the bees should be crowded ; but 

 if quantity is the object regardless of fancy filling, then more 

 room should be allowed. 



All comb honey, as soon as finished, should be taken 

 from the hives and stored in a warm, dry room ; unfinished 

 boxes, when found, to be returned to hives where room 

 was needed. 



The improvement of our stock should be looked after 

 during swarming-time. All queens from colonies not doing 

 well should be removed and queen-cells from good stock 

 should be inserted, utilizing as far as possible all the cells 

 from the best colonies. 



However, it was Mr. Taylor's opinion that Nature had 

 already done all it could do in the line of producing a 

 hardy bee, as well as one of greatest honey-gathering qual- 

 ities ; she had weeded out all the weak and the indolent, 

 while she had preserved the strongest and the diligent ; 

 a process that had been in operation a great many thousands of 

 years, we could therefore not hope to make any more gain 

 in these directions. 



In the line of perfect capping of honey, the honey-bee 

 might be improved. The color of bees could be changed, 

 or in other lines, wherein Nature had not busied herself, 

 had not cared seemingly to bring about greatest perfec" 

 tion, there we might expect to accomplish something. As 

 a comparison he said : Hardiness and fleetness had been 

 developed in cattle, and long horns had been given them, 

 so they might protect themselves against enemies 

 and endure the hard winters. It was not possible to make 

 any improvement there, but evidently Nature had not 

 cared to develop the beef and milk-producing qualities of 

 cattle, and man had brought about wonderful clianges. Tlie 

 difference between bees and cattle was, that Nature had 

 developed as far as possible those qualities in the bee that 

 are desirable for man; but she had not done this much for 



