596 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Sept. 18, 1902. 



I have forwarded to the Secretary a list of the names of 

 those who have joined the Association through me, and 

 accompanied the list with my check covering the amount 

 of membership fees, less expenses, etc., and I trust that the 

 statement seat therewith may be found correct. If not, I 

 stand ready to make it so. 



In conclusion, I want to thank a multitude of friends 

 for letters and words of encouragement which have come to 

 me during the controversy, and I desire to say that in the 

 future, as in the past, they will find my voice, pen and 

 hands ever ready to promote the interests of bee-keeping in 

 the United States and Canada. 



Emerson Taylor Abbott. 



It gives us much pleasure to receive the above com- 

 munication. It shows a magnanimous spirit on the part of 

 Mr. Abbott, which, no doubt, will be appreciated by all, 

 and especially by the membership of the National Bee- 

 Keepers" Association. It ends all controversy over the 

 General Managership matter, and leaves the way entirely 

 clear for action in December, when the annual election 

 takes place. And, should Mr. Abbott be elected General 

 Manager at that time, by a majority of the votes cast by 

 the membership, we can all unite in quoting, "All's well 

 that ends well." If he is not elected, the utmost harmony 

 will still prevail, and the National Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will continue to grow and be a useful institution for the 

 benefit of bee-keepers. 



Strong Colonies and Nuclei for Queen= Rearing,— In 



the effort to devise plans for rearing queens without too 

 much expense, there has been a tendency, if not toward 

 starting cells in other than strong colonies, at least toward 

 having the cells given afterward to small nuclei. The cur- 

 rent now seems to be starting in the other direction. Dr. 

 Gallup has been emphatic in protesting in this journal 

 against the use of weak colonies or nuclei for the rearing of 

 queens. Editor Root says, " I don't like to come down on 

 the small nuclei, but I believe that they will prove only a 

 disappointment and a vexation of spirit for the average bee- 

 keeper." Editor Hutchinson says amen most heartily to 

 this, and adds, among other things, " Our nuclei must 

 always be of such strength that they will be able to take 

 care of themselves,' without the danger of their being 

 robbed out. 



Really, when one considers the very great importance 

 of having queens of the very best, it seems poor economy 

 to try to save bees either in the colonies in which the cells 

 are started or in the nuclei in which the cells are afterward 

 placed. Supposed the entire time of a strong colony and a 

 number of strong nuclei be lost. What does the honey 

 they would have gathered signify, if thereby such queens 

 are reared that their workers will store an extra amount 

 sufficient to replace the loss of the colony and nuclei used 

 in queen-rearing ? And this they may do many times over. 



But there is no such loss as generally seems to be sup- 

 posed. Queenless bees do not sit in dead idleness. It is 

 true that bees in a nucleus will not store as much in propor- 

 tion as in a strong colony, but they are by no means idle ; 

 they keep at work, and when a young queen emerges from 

 her cell the field-bees of the nucleus work with intense 

 vigor, if anything can be had to work on. 



It can hardly be emphasized too strongly that the 

 queen is the most important factor of a colony, and that a 

 very poor place to practice economy is in her rearing. 



Please send us Names of Bee=Keepers who do not now 



get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can verj' likely afterward get them 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this journal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



Convention Proceedings. 



♦nsfTsrwT^i 



Report of the Texas State Convention, Held at 

 CoUeg-e Station, July 16 and 17, 1902. 



BY LOUIS SCHOLL, SEC. 



(Continued from page 58- ) 

 AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The convention was called to order at 2:30 p.m., where- 

 upon Mr. Toepperwein talked on the subject of the 



ADVANTAGE OF HAVING PROPER SUPPLIES, GOOD OUBENS, 



ETC. 



He called attention to the advantages of frame hives 

 over the old-style box-hive ; and of the various dovetailed 

 hives, of which the 10-frame size seemed best adapted to 

 Texas localities. He preferred the Ideal super for all pur- 

 poses, and those containing the ten shallow extracting- 

 frames, for the production of extracted and bulk comb 

 honey, for sections, the Ideal, or 3_;\sx5':!, on plain slats, 

 with fences or separators, as these fill out the super better, 

 and allow of more sections to each super. 



It was thought that the Danzenbaker section super was 

 a little better, in that it contained narrow sections, causing 

 thinner combs to be built in them, which would be capped 

 sooner. 



The difference in depth in the different styles of supers 

 was also discussed. The very shallow or 4 '4 depth are too 

 shallow, while a full-depth body is again too deep for tier- 

 ing up, leaving the S's-inch depth as the best super, and 

 most satisfactory. 



Mr. Newell asked if anyone had been able to prevent 

 the bees from gnawing away the paraffin mats used above 

 the Danzenbaker supers. As none present had used these 

 mats, they could not reply. 



QUEEN-REARING — CONDUCTING A OUEEN-BUSINESS. 



Mr. Aten said that on account of the very dry seasons, 

 which had been discouraging to queen-breeders, he had quit 

 that phase of the business. Others were of the same 

 opinion, and had to be coaxed to speak on the subject. Mr. 

 Aten told why it did not pay to rear queens, on account of 

 the fact that too many bee-keepers are already engaged in 

 it, and prices have become so low that it is impossible to 

 rear first-class queens at prevailing prices, and make a 

 reasonable profit. 



To this Mr. Victor said that Mr. Aten had hit the nail 

 squarely on the head. 



Mr. Aten uses the Alley plan of queen rearing. Larva; 

 for this purpose should not be over two days old ; and he in- 

 sinuated that by grafting cell cups, as in the Doolittle 

 method, there was danger of using larv;c that were too old, 

 which would result in inferior queens. He takes a row 

 of cells containing eggs and destroys the egg in every other 

 cell. This strip or row of cells is then attached to the lower 

 edge of the comb, cut out to receive it. By this method 

 there is no danger of using larva- that are too old. He 

 makes his cell-building colony queenless on one evening and 

 gives the prepared cells the next morning. 



H. H. Hyde considered this time as being entirely too 

 long, as the bees have almost lost their desire for construct- 

 ing cells by that time. He gives his cell-cups within two 

 or three hours, and in 30 minutes finds them to contain 

 royal jelly. He uses the Doolittle method with some changes 

 of his own. He described the methods he used the present 

 season. He used drone-cells that are neither too old nor too 

 new. In the case of very old drone-comb, he found that the 

 cells were too tough and hard ; and, on the other hand, new 

 drone-comb would be gnawed down by the bees. Drone- 

 comb about two years old is about right. The cells are 

 shaved down to about half their original depth, after which 

 a lead-pencil is twirled in each cell to '^'we. it the form of the 

 queen -cell. These are then given to the queenless colony 

 for a few minutes, when they will be gone over by the bees 

 and nicely polished. They are then removed and " grafted," 

 i. e., the young larva; transferred into them. When placed 

 in the queenless colony they are readily accepted. 



For this cell-building Mr. Hyde selects a strong, rousing 



