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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 11. 1902. 



he refers to me, and wishes me to " make a note of it ;" he 

 seems to intimate that I assign a reporter to each county of 

 the United States. I do nothing of the kind ; I do not try 

 to get reports, either, for all the counties. I don't know 

 what he refers to when he says I assign a man to a county. 

 [Continued next week.) 



Report of the Northern Illinois Convention. 



The Northern Illinois Bee-Keepers' Association held 

 its convention in Freeport on Oct. 21 and 22, 1902. The 

 meeting was opened with a fair attendance, considering the 

 short crop of honej'. Pres. N. A. Kluck delivered an 

 address, referring to the peculiar season for bees, outlining 

 the work for the season, and urging harmony and regard 

 for the opinions of each other. 



There were reported 781 colonies, spring count, and 909 

 colonies in the fall. Pounds of cotnb honey produced in 

 1902, 8560 ; extracted, 4639 — or an average of a little less 

 than 17 pounds per colony. 



It was generally admitted that the past season had been 

 one of the strangest known for many^ears. Nearly every 

 one reported having to feed the bees all through the month 

 of June, and very few took any surplus honey before the 

 middle of August. The excessive rains all summer caused 

 white clover to bloom in August and September, giving 

 some honey late, which is very unusual. All reported bees 

 in good condition for winter. 



Mr. Arthur Stanley, a queen-breeder, showed some fine 

 queens, also his method of making queen-cups, putting 

 royal jelly in them, and transferring larva; to cups. He 

 also showed his queen-cell protectors. He has applied for 

 a patent on them. 



Among the questions discussed were : 



" Which is the best size for a hive ?" The most prefer 

 the 10-frame. 



" Would there be any advantage in having two queens 

 in one hive ?" The most of the members thought not, but 

 Mr. Lee thought it would be an advantage. 



" How do you prepare your bees for wintering in the 

 cellar?" Mr. Hitt takes oif the honey-boards and puts 

 three thicknesses of burlap over the bees ; a number of others 

 use burlap and like it better than the honey-board. J. W. 

 Johnson takes off the bottom-boards and puts on a wire- 

 screen with strips to make a larger space between the screen 

 and the lower part of the brood-frames. 



" Is the fence separator and tall section a success?" 

 Many of those who had used them like them, as they 

 thought a nicer article of honey could be produced with 

 them. 



The election of officers resulted as follows : President, 

 N. A. Kluck ; Vice-President, O. Taylor ; Secretary and 

 Treasurer, B. Kennedy. 



The next annual meeting will be held in Rockford, 111., 

 in October, 1903. B. Kennedy, Sec. 



Winnebago Co., 111. 



l(,;»LJ!CJ«>^!t>JiCJ^.;!iL^4.« 



\ Contributed Articles. 



3 



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Something About Carniolan and Italian Bees. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



" I am a beginner in bee-keeping, and have been taking the Amer- 

 ican Bee ■Journal for a short time. I have been very much interested 

 in your answers to questions during this year, as you make things so 

 plain. I have only the black bees, but I see by reading that there are 

 bees called Carniolan, and others called Italians. Will you please t)e 

 so kind as to tell us, through the American Bee .Journal, something 

 about these bees, so that I may know something of them. 



" Correspondent." 



Answer. — In reply will say that, with the editor's per- 

 mission, I will do the best I can in this matter. 



If I am right. Carniolan bees are natives of Carniola, 

 and were imported mainly into this country through Mr. 

 Frank Benton, when he was in Germany. There seems to 

 be a difference of opinion regarding these bees, some extol- 

 ling them very highly as corab-builders and honey-gather- 

 ers, while others have no words of favor for them. Some 



years ago I obtained a Carniolan queen, and, from careful 

 experiments, comparisons, and close observations, it seemed 

 to me that they were very nearly allied to the black bees I 

 had years ago, when I first entered the ranks of bee-keep- 

 ers. As there were several traits about them which I did 

 not like, I got rid of them. The two main dislikes were that 

 they would not go at brood-rearing to make a business of it 

 till the honey harvest came on, when they would boom their 

 brood at a tremendous "pace," and begin to swarm, and 

 keep at it all through the honey harvest, which resulted in 

 the consuming of nearly or quite all of the honey gathered 

 through the harvest in rearing bees, which, later on, would 

 consume all there was left in the hive before winter came, 

 so that they gave little or no surplus, and were universally 

 short of stores for winter, I having to supply them their 

 winter stores from other colonies. 



Later on I was led to think that those first tried might 

 not have been the genuine article, so I procured some queens 

 from two others who advertised the " Simon pure." But 

 these last proved to be little, if any, different from the first. 

 I kept these two years, but as I always had to feed them for 

 winter, with no results in surplus honey as compared with 

 the other colonies in the apiary, I again pinched the heads 

 of all of these queens and installed others in their places. 

 There may be localities in the country where the seasons 

 and honey-flow are different, where they would do well, but 

 I cannot help thinking that where there is only one regular 

 honey-flow, and that lasting onlj' three or four weeks, as a 

 rule, these Carniolan bees are about the poorest of any for 

 such a locality. 



The Italian bee belongs to one of the yellow varieties, 

 to which also belong the Cyprian and Syrian. The Italians 

 are very quiet and gentle, while the other two varieties 

 named are comparatively cross and vindictive, especially 

 the Cyprians. Italians were imported from Italy into this 

 country as early as 1860, so that they iiave had a longer ex- 

 perience in the United States than any other bee except the 

 blacks. 



Nearly all agree in placing the Italian bee at the head 

 of all others, both as to ease of manipulation and honey- 

 gathering qualities. As comb-builders they are not quite 

 as good as the German bees, or what are commonly called 

 black bees, which our correspondent says he has. Neither 

 do they use so much wax in capping their surplus honey, 

 %vhich gives the surplus product a little inferior appearance, 

 or what is commonly termed a " watery look." They cling 

 very tenaciously to their combs, while the black bees often 

 stampede and fall off their combs when the same are being 

 manipulated. This tendency in the Italian bee makes the 

 handling of the combs very pleasant, unless we wish to get 

 the bees off for extracting honey, or for other purposes, 

 when it is much more work to rid the combs of bees. 



However, the main point of superiority of the Italian 

 bee is its honey-gathering qualities, and its booming the 

 broQd in just the right time so as to have the maximum 

 amount of bees on the stage of action just when the honey 

 harvest is at its best. If there is any honey to be had they 

 are away to the fields after it, and will toil incessantly all 

 day for a very little, while the black bees often seem to 

 think this little is not of enough account worth looking 

 after. 



In times of a good honey-yield there is not much differ- 

 ence between the working qualities of the two races of bees 

 — the Italian and the German — except that the Italians are 

 more likely to have a larger force ready for the honey-flow 

 than the others ; and, then, in connection with this, they 

 will reduce their brood during the honey-flow so that we do 

 not have so many useless consumers after the flow is over, 

 to eat up what should be the winter stores. Then, in addi- 

 tion to this, they toil, as I said, for the littles, so that often, 

 after the main harvest is past, they will hold " their own," 

 even if they do not add to it, while the blacks are showing 

 a decrease in their stores right along. 



This is as I find it in this locality ; but I realize that in 

 a locality where there is a continuous flow of nectar for 

 three or four months, a bee that is likely to breed steadily 

 right straight along — one which did not slack up during the 

 honey-flow — might prove to better advantage during the 

 latter part of the season. 



Therefore it is well for each to look for the bees best 

 suited to his own special location, and after once having 

 found such bees, I should hold to them the same as I do to 

 the Italians for Central New York. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y. 

 .*-•-# — ■ 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth working 

 for. Look at them. 



