May 30, 1907 



459 



American Hee Journal 



Report of the ChlcaKo-Notthwestern 



Bee-Keepers' Association, held in 



ChlcaKo, Wednesday and 



Thursday, Dec. 5 



and 6, 1906 



The sixteenth annual meeting of the 

 Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation was held in Chicago Dec. 5 and 

 6, 1906, with President George W. Yorit 

 in the cliair. 



The convention was c'alled to order 

 at 10:30 a. m., and R. L. Taylor, of 

 Michigan offered the following prayer : 



Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee 

 for the blessings which Thou hast given 

 us to enjoy. We thank Thee that Thou 

 hast preserved our lives for another 

 year ; that Thou hast given us a good 

 measure of health and strength. We 

 thank Thee for all the wonderful bless- 

 ings which Thou hast showered upon 

 us. And now we pray Thy blessing upon 

 us as we are met together to discuss one 

 of the subjects which Thou hast given 

 us to employ our thoughts and our la- 

 bors. We pray that Thou wilt bless 

 us as an association ; that Thou wilt 

 direct us aright; that Thou wilt keep 

 us from wrong; that Thou wilt culti- 

 vate among us a friendly, brotherly 

 feeling. We pray Thee to guide us in 

 all our doings while we are here to- 

 gether at these sessions; that Thou wilt 

 direct our thoughts; that Thou wilt en- 

 able us to walk aright; and we pray 

 that Thou wilt continue to be with us 

 during our lives; that Thou wilt bless 

 us and keep us from wrong and make 

 us like Thy Son, Jesus Christ, in whose 

 name we ask it. Amen. 



As usual at the opening of the session 

 of this convention, the President intro- 

 duced all present by calling their names 

 and requesting them to rise, so that 

 all might the more easily become known. 



The minutes of the previous meeting 

 were read and approved. 



The Treasurer read his report, show- 

 ing a balance on hand of $22.88. 



On motion, the chairman was directed 

 to appoint a committee of three to 

 audit the Treasurer's books, and Messrs. 

 Kimmey, Chapman and Wheeler were 

 appointed. 



Pres. York — We will now have a re- 

 cess for a few minutes for the payment 

 of dues. 



After the call to order again, the 

 question-box was taken up, as follows: 



Experience with Caucasian Bees. 



"Will any person having Caucasian 

 bees give his experience?" 



E. T. Abbott — A man sent me a queen, 

 and she died on the hive before we got 

 her in. 



A. A. Clarke — I have had some little 

 experience, perhaps not worth mention- 

 ing, but as I did not hear anybody else 

 reply I thought I would speak. I had 

 2 Caucasian queens the past season, and 

 I have bred nearly 300 queens from 

 them and probably sent out 150 of those 

 queens to different States, on their own 

 merits. I could net recommend them, 

 because I had not had any experience 

 with them ; but I found out that they 

 were excessive swarmers, and not bet- 

 ter honey-gatherers than a very poor 

 Italian. It would probably be safe to 

 say that they showed great tendency to 



start quecn-cclls when they had suf- 

 ficient room for all the storage capacity. 

 1 found that they were excellent comb- 

 honey-builders, as far as they went, but 

 the record in amount of pounds was 

 away behind the common German bee 

 and the Italian, and a number of bee- 

 keepers could not distinguish them from 

 the common bee. But I do not think 

 I have really hail them long enough to 

 say whether that is the natural tendency 

 or not. I think it is hardly a fair esti- 

 mate. I am wintering 75 of them, se- 

 lected ones, and I intend to try them. 



W. G. Reynolds — I haven't had ex- 

 perience myself, but a neighbor of mine 

 has. A year ago last summer he bought 

 some. He was away one day and a 

 swarm got out, and his wife attempted 

 to hive them, or to get them in, and 

 they got under her veil and she was 

 laid up for a week; and during tbRtime 

 she was in bed, between life and death, 

 her sister attempted to hive another 

 swarm, and she had the same experi- 

 ence. 



Wm. M. Whitney — I have one colony of 

 Caucasian bees, but have not had them 

 long enough to form any definite opin- 

 ion as to what they may be worth. I 

 have handled them a good deal and they 

 seem very gentle. They are what are 

 called a "grey Caucasian." I have 

 handled them perhaps a half-dozen times 

 without smoke and without veil. They 

 go over the frames with their wings 

 about half raised, as if they were going 

 to fly, but still they are very gentle and 

 easy to control. I have been told by 

 some individuals, who had had consid- 

 erable experience, that they would al- 

 most close up the entrance with pro- 

 polis — they just daub everything up — 

 but that has not been my observation. 

 I don't know what they might do. I 

 simply got mine for the purpose of ex- 

 perimenting a little, to know for my- 

 self what to make of them. 



Cause of Swarming Impulse. 



"What is the chief cause of the 

 swarming impulse?" 



F. Wilcox — I venture the opinion that 

 that question is prompted by the state- 

 ment made tliat Caucasians show a tend- 

 ency to swarming, to building queen- 

 cells, and the question naturally arises. 

 Is that tendency a hereditary tendency? 

 Is one race or strain of bees more in- 

 clined to swarm than another, or is it 

 other conditions, such as atmosphere, or 

 differences of the season? There are 

 various influences that tend to promote 

 swarming, but the question is, What is 

 the chief influence? And I wonder 

 whether the tendency to swarming is 

 anything against the Caucasians or not, 

 whether it is hereditary or not. 



H. F. Moore — It occurs to me that 

 the chief cause here is the insinct im- 

 planted in man, and all animal creation 

 from man down, to multiply and people 

 the earth. That is the reason why bees 

 swarm, and it is absolutely hopeless to 

 attempt ever to set rid of it. The ques- 

 tion is, Is it ik-^irable to get rid of it? 



Mr. Wilcox — Ihe question is, Is it 

 greater in one race than another? 



Dr. C. C. Miller-— If it is not getting 

 away from the subject, I would like to 

 reply to Mr. ^Irmre's remarks, that how- 

 ever undesirable it may be for him to 



try to get rid of the swarming impulse, 

 there are a whole lot of us that would 

 give just about half our lives if we could 

 get rid of the swarming impulse. It 

 would take off half of the trouble we 

 have in bee-keeping. I, for one, have 

 been trying to find out for a good many 

 years what is down at the bottom of 

 it, that is, the answer to that question. 

 I don't know what it is, by any means. 

 1 think possibly there may be a good 

 deal of reason in the answer that is 

 given by some, that the prime cause of 

 swarming, or the basic cause, at least, 

 is the accumulation in the nurse-bees 

 of a certain amount of the chyle food 

 they have prepared, and they become, 

 as you might term it, in that way 

 clogged with that, and then comes the 

 swarming fever. Now if Mr. Moore is 

 correct, of course we don't care any- 

 thing about that. I am sure that Mr. 

 Moore is "away off." In my case, I 

 would give a whole lot to know what 

 makes bees swarm, and put a percent 

 on top of that to know how to stop the 

 swarming. 



Mr. Moore — Produce extracted honey. 



E. K. Meredith — I suppose that the 

 impulse of swarming is in the relation, 

 to a certain extent, of birds laying eggs. 

 It is just simply a matter of nature 

 propagating or keeping up the race of 

 bees, just the same as any other bird 

 or animal does. That is my answer to 

 the question of why bees swarm. 



Mr. Abbott — I think about 15 or 20 

 years ago I wrote some articles for the 

 American Bee Journal, that seemed to 

 have a good deal of heresy in them, in 

 the minds of some of our brethren, 

 among them Dr. Miller; and I think I 

 stated in one of those articles that it was 

 just as natural to swarm as it was to 

 live, and the swarming impulse was ■ 

 what made bees valuable. I have never 

 gotten away from that idea yet. 



Dr. Miller — Never ceased to be a 

 heretic! 



Mr. Abbott — The bees that swarm are 

 the bees that do the work. They have 

 the energy and vigor and enthusiasm of 

 all young life. They have the enthusi- 

 asm of a couple that is just founding 

 a new home, and planting shrubs and 

 flowers and things about it, endeavor- 

 ing to develop and make it what a 

 home ought to be. Now bees do the 

 same thing, and are influenced by the 

 same impulses, divine in their nature, 

 planted in their being when the Almighty 

 gave them existence, and it is just as 

 futile for a man to attempt to breed it 

 out as it would be to attempt to stop 

 the sun in its course. It lies in the 

 very foundation of life itself. The first 

 germ of life that existed had in it the 

 impulse of development and division, 

 separation, and so it has gone on am- 

 plifying and increasing until we have 

 today the endless germs that people this 

 earth, and the planets that "people" the 

 heavens above, and that will go on for- 

 ever. It is all right to make the best 

 of swarming, but bees will always 

 swarm in spite of you. 



Mr. Whitney — The question is. What 

 is the chief cause of swarming? 



Mr. Abbott — The swarming impulse. 



Mr. Whitney — I think Mr. Abbott has 

 hit the nail pretty nearly on the head; 

 but we notice that in some seasons the 



