260 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 24, 1902. 



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Convention Proceedings. 



The Chicago Convention. 



Report of the Serai-Annual Convention of the 



Chicag"o Bee-Keepers' Association, Held 



Dec. 5, 1901, 



BT A SHORTHAND KEPOKTER. 



iContinued from page 240.) 



DEPTH OF FRAMES FOR WINTERING. 



" Do bees winter better on frames deeper than the Lang- 

 stroth frames? " 



Pres. York — How many think that bees winter better on 

 frames deeper than the Langstroth ? Five think so, and I 

 suppose the rest don't think so, or perhaps don't think at all. 

 ^ Dr. Miller— I haven't a preference. 



Mr. Dadant — I prefer deeper frames than the Langstroth 

 because there is more honey over the cluster. They tell us 

 that the bees can work as well back as up. They can't have 

 it warm enongh. I have seen bees starved to death many a 

 time with honey on the side. I don't think anybody ever 

 saw bees starve to death, or freeze to death, with honey above 

 them. I suppose others, as well as I, have seen the bees 

 starve to death with honey just a little over on the side. 



Pres. "i'ork — It often is too cold for bees to move sidewise 

 in the hive, but the heat going up, they can go up. 



Mr. Baldridge — If you have two sets of six-inch or shal- 

 low frames, vou have the same as a top hive with twolve-inch 

 frames. In "fact, you have a better hive for wintering, be- 

 cause there is a space between the two sets that will enable 

 them to pass ; but it in the cellar, it makes no difference how 

 shallow, they will reach the honey if it js in the hive, if you 

 keep it as warm as I keep mine, 40 or 50 degrees. 



Mr. Riker — My experience is that the best wintering is in 

 the Langstroth frame. I suppose Mr. Dadant's frames are a 

 little deeper than the Langstroth. 



Mr. rjadant— A little over two inches deeper. 



Mr. Hiker — But with the Langstroth frame properly 

 filled with honey, it will take any colony of bees through thi' 

 winter, properly protected. I put 100 colonies in proper con- 

 dition, and all will come out unless they become queenless, not 

 on account of the frames not being right depth. 



RACE OF BEES FOR COMB HONEY. 



"What race of bees would you recommend for comb- 

 honey producers? " " 



Pres. York — How many would recommend the Italian 

 bees? Fourteen. 



Pres. York — How many wjuld recommend Carniolan 



bees ? 



A Member— 1 don't know anything about them. 

 Pres. York — How many would recommend black bees for 

 comb honey? One. 



LONGEVITY OF BEES. 



'What is the cause of longer or shorter lives of worker- 

 bees ? " 



Dr. Miller— Work. 



Mr. Dadant — Outdoor work. 



Mr. Riker— I would think It was the proper manner that 

 the queen was reared. 1 have had a little experience in that 

 line. Some queens are reared according to Nature. I never 

 have known queens reared that way but what would prodtice 

 good, long-lived bees. I have known queens reared otherwise 

 than in accordance with Nature that would live 20, 30, 60 

 days; the result was, it took the queen all her time, that is, 

 the colony wouldn't increase. The bees would die as fast as 

 she would lay eggs to produce bees, where, on the other hand, 

 bees would be three or four generations in one hive. 



Mr. Dadant— What do you mean by three or four genera- 

 tions ? 



Mr. Riker — Three or four sets of bees — three or four 

 months. The queen will lay eggs for three or four months and 

 all those bees would be retained in the hive. I have had ijueens 

 that would produce bees that would live from the first of Septem- 

 ber until the first of June— good, strong colonies without the 

 queen in that hive. 



Mr. Dadant — Suppose you took those first bees on the first 



of May instead of September, how long would they live? Sup- 

 pose you introduced a queen of another color, how long would 

 those bees live ? 



Mr. Riker — The first of April I have taken queens from 

 bees, and the first of December I had good colonies yet, almost 

 as strong. Same color. Remove the queen. 



Mr. Dadant — Those bees didn't go out to the field. If you 

 put another queen in, that's the way to test that. Take black 

 bees. 



Mr. Riker — The best way to test them is to remove them 

 entirely. 



Mr. Dadant — Those bees will not go out, because they are 

 discouraged, and they will sit in the hive. Those same bees, 

 if they have a live queen, in less than three months will all dis- 

 appear. Has any one else ever tried changing from blacks to 

 Italians, and from Italians to blacks ? 



Three voted. 



Mr. Dadant — How long was it before all the bees had dis- 

 appeared ? 



Mr. Riker — Well, with me, I have tested it that way. I 

 have tested it by taking the queen from the colony. I have 

 tested it by taking in the fall and putting in again in the 

 spring. That seems to me to be about the fairest way to test 

 the life of the worker-bee. I have taken other queens and in 

 three months from the time I have removed the queen from 

 the hive the old bees would be gone. Those are queens that 

 would rear bees that are short-lived. Take a long-lived queen, 

 and she rears long-lived bees. They always have a good, 

 strong colony. I have never known it to miss. But take the 

 other queens, that rear bees that are short-lived, and you al- 

 ways get a weak lot — invariably they will be weak. One 

 queen need not be any more prolific than the other, but the 

 long-lived bees will be the stronger. 



COMB HONEY BY THE CASE OR POUND— WHICH ? 



"Should comb honey be sold wholesale by the case or by 

 the pound ?" 



Mr. Burnett — I would like to have an expression from 

 some one else first, but I certainly have bought and sold some 

 honey in the last 25 years, and 1 have yet to buy the first 

 package bv the case ; so that answers a multitude of ques- 

 tions, perhaps, on that side. I never could understand how, 

 where 1 had to dispose of these goods again in ordinary 

 methods that are now in vogue, of exchanging merchandise 

 for money, the question of liother being altogether obsolete 

 with us ; "but I can understand that where a party has pro- 

 duced some honey, and for so many pieces of honey can ex- 

 change it for what he wants in some other merchandise — and 

 perhaps in that case, where both parties know exactly what 

 they are doing, every piece of comb being visible to the pur- 

 chaser, that a fair understanding can be had ; but where 

 honev is to be handled in any quantity, and where we must 

 sendto buyers who cannot examine the goods until it reaches 

 them, W(^ must know, it seems to me, what the weight of the 

 merchandise is. There is no way of satisfying all parties con- 

 cerned like records, and if we have those records — the weights 

 — the number of sections in a package — it is difticult for a 

 misunderstanding to arise from that standpoint. But, if we 

 send a package of honey of so many cases, we don't know the 

 weight of that package, either gross, tare or net, it is liable to 

 disappoint the buyer. For instance, it contains 2+ sections, 

 his understanding having been that 2-4 sections meant 24: 

 pounds. As a matter of fact, it may weigh 1 5, 1 6 or 20 

 pounds, or it may weigh 2.'i or 28. I am at a loss to under- 

 stand, really, why there should have been as much business 

 done as there seems to have been done in the last two or three 

 years in selling honey by the case, unweighed. Of course, we 

 have found that parties have bought it that way and have 

 been satisfied, and others have bought it that way and are not 

 satisfied. 



Mr. Dunn — Isn't it optional with the merchants of South 

 Water street to sell by the case if they want to sell by the 

 case ? There is no question that honey has been sold by the 

 case there ; that can't be denied. 



Mr. Burnett — We never have sold it. 



Mr. Dunn — Then you havn't been using the same conces- 

 sions other men have been using. 



Dr. Miller — I know that Mr. Burnett has sold hundreds 

 and hundreds of cases by the case. Of course he took the 

 weight of it 1 



Mr. Dniin — Is there one house that controls this market, 

 that can make or break it? I have sold honey two cents a 

 pound higher than I could find anywhere on the market, and 

 1 want to say that the quotations in the bee-papers are not al- 

 ways correct. They are Ijehind the times generally two or 

 three weeks, and that's not right to the men that deal in 

 honey. 



