May 30, 1907 



American Hee Journal 



son and what was coming, and prepared 

 for it, or wliat would cause tliem all to 

 take that notion at the same time. I 

 then reached the conclusion it was the 

 hatching period, and the prospect of a 

 honey-flow, or something of that kind. 

 There is a good deal there worth con- 

 sidering. I have, however, had some 

 colonies that did not swarm, never 

 swarmed, and I don't know whether I 

 could make them swarm or not. I 

 never tried to. But they didn't. They 

 were prolific and good honey-producers. 

 I followed the queen up in one particu- 

 lar case. 1 had an excellent crop of 

 honey and the bees never swarmed, and 

 her progeny — as I reared queens from 

 them — was not inclined to swarm. So 

 there is something in that hereditary 

 tendency, but how much I would not 

 care to say. I want to know more 

 about it. I know that I can prevent 

 an apiary from excessive swarming, in 

 comb or extracted honey, by giving 

 them surplus room and good ventilation 

 a little before they are ready for that 

 — a little too soon rather than too late 

 — and giving them shade, plenty of it, 

 will check the swarming impulse very 

 much. 



Mr. Meredith — While bees may be 

 bred to a certain extent non-swarming, 

 possibly the same relation may apply to 

 bees as does to poultry. The Mediter- 

 ranean class, including Leghorns, as we 

 usually keep them, are non-sitters, but 

 if they have their own way, where they 

 can go out into the brush and lay their 

 eggs, I think that they will have the 

 sitting fever the same as any other 

 breed of chickens; and I think, possibly, 

 that same rule might apply to bees that 

 if they get back to their natural rock 

 cavities, or logs, they will swarm just 

 the same as ever. 



Using Quilts Over Frames. 



"Are quilts worth enough to bother 

 with?" 



Mr. Wilcox — What do they mean by 

 "quilts?" 



Mr. Chapman — Covering for the 

 frames in the hive. 



Mr. Wilcox — An enameled cloth is 

 not a quilt for covering the frames. 

 That is used for another purpose. A 

 quilt is used to prevent the heat from 

 escaping at the top, and an enameled 

 cloth is. used to prevent the cover from 

 sticking. I used to use the enameled 

 cloth, and I have tried a good many 

 times to use a board, but it causes me 

 more trouble than it is worth, so I con- 

 tinue to use the enameled cloth. 



Dr. Miller — Allow me to suggest that 

 there are three alternatives in that. 

 One is the quilt, another is the enameled 

 cloth, the other is to use the naked 

 frames ; and it might be worth while, 

 instead of discussing the matter, just to 

 take a vote on that, how many prefer 

 the naked frame. 



Pres. York — How many prefer the 

 enameled cloth, just raise your hands? 

 S. How many prefer quilts, raise your 

 hands? None. How many the naked 

 frames, without anything over them? 12. 



Mr. Whitney — It would depend upon 

 what that quilt is used for. I would 

 prefer a quilt for certain purposes. I 

 do not know the difference between the 

 enameled cloth and the board, because 



I use the enameled clo\h and I know 

 nothing about the other. But I use 

 a quilt sometimes over the section-cases 

 to keep them warm. 



Mr. Abbott— Do I understand they are 

 used without any covering at all — any 

 board, or anything? 



Dr. Miller— Let me explain, Mr. Ab- 

 bott, that this is a body of bee-keepers, 

 and that they li.-ive their little ways of 

 talking about things without using a lot 

 of words ! 



Mr. Abbott — They should use good 

 English. The best thing I ever saw to 

 put over the top is a board. 



Dr. Miller — That is a good thing 

 too! (Laughter). 



Mr. Abbott — Mr. Wilcox says they 

 stick fast to the boards. In most hives 

 they only touch in two sections, and I 

 do not see how they stick as much as 

 the cloth. When we used to use a cloth 

 in Missouri the top would stick fast. 



Mr. Wheeler — How about the bees? 



Mr. Abbott — -That is the way they do. 

 and there is a row of propolis right 

 around, just the shape of the section. I 

 never saw any in Missouri that did not 

 do that. 



Mr. Wilco.x — I am surprised, for I 

 have used them for 40 years and never 

 saw a single instance of sticking to the 

 enameled cloth. I am sure that won't 

 happen in Wisconsin. They of course 

 build new combs to them, so that the 

 enameled cloth is stuck a little, but you 

 can take hold of one corner and turn 

 it back without disturbing or alarming 

 a single bee, and for that reason I much 

 prefer to use such an arrangement and 

 to scrape the frame down, often, be- 

 cause they will build up to it, and some- 

 times push it up and fill up the space; 

 but when you have only the board, if 

 you leave it long enough the bees will 

 stick it down and close the cracks air- 

 tight, and if you do not it will stick 

 in places and the wind will blow right 

 through under it from one side to the 

 other. The heat must escape. It cer- 

 tainly cools ofT the top of the frames 

 more than it does where there is an 

 enameled cloth over it ; and for that re- 

 son I prefer the inconvenience of the 

 enameled cloth rather than the board 

 with its perfect fitting on the upper 

 edges of the hive. 



Dr. Miller— :May I ask, Mr. Wilcox, 

 whether you ever knew your bees to 

 carry the black material from the oil- 

 cloth 'down and use it in the section- 

 combs? 



Mr. Wilcox — I have known several 

 such instances. It is not a common oc- 

 currence. If there should be any ragged 

 edges the bees could get at they would 

 tear it out, and they might carry it 

 down and attach it to the cappings of 

 the combs in some cases. 



Mr. Abbott— Will they cut holes 

 through them? 



Mr. Wilcox — Xo; I never knew of it. 

 A worm will do it, and do it quickly, if 

 there are any moths in it, but the bees do 

 not do it unless the enamel is cracked 

 from being handled when cold. 



Is Honey Vegetable or Animal.? 



"Is honey a vegetable or an animal 

 product?" 

 Dr. Miller— Yes. _ 

 Mr. Abbott — I think some that I have 



seen in our market was purely animal, 

 and two-legged animal. The ordinary 

 honey I tliink is vegetable. 



Mr. Taylor— Is a boiled potato an 

 animal or a vegetable production? 



Dr. Miller— I believe that is really a 

 serious question, after all. I am sure I 

 don't know what the answer is. 



Mr. Moore- About a boiled potato? 



Dr. Miller — Mr. Taylor's question is 

 entirely applicable, and yet the ques- 

 tion would come, Where is the line to 

 be drawn? I should say a boiled potato 

 was a vegetable without any question, 

 because it has not ceased to be a vege- 

 table, and yet the thing gets mixed up 

 and in the case of the bee here is a vege- 

 table material that is afterward worked 

 up by an animal and there is animal mat- 

 er in it. I confess I don't know. I wish 

 I did know. If Mr. Taylor has an 

 answer to it, I wish he would give it 

 to us. 



H. M. Arnd— I asked that question. 

 I knew it would cause a good deal of 

 laughter, but one of my customers met 

 me on the street the other day, and I 

 told him that honey is vegetable, and 

 he argued and argued with me that it is 

 animal. I told him there was going to 

 be a bee-keepers' convention, and I 

 would bring it up. 



Mr. Wilco.x — In my opinion it is a 

 vegetable product. There is nothing 

 animal about it. Sugar is not an animal 

 product. Sugar syrup isn't animal; has 

 nothing to do with it. It is derived 

 from a vegetable in the first place, and 

 it is boiled down — as it were, somewhat 

 digested, perhaps — I am not sure about 

 that — but at any rate, it is derived from 

 a vegetable and retains a vegetable 

 character, and there is no animal char- 

 acter injected in it, although it might 

 be digested and assimilated and convert- 

 ed into animal, but I do not think it 

 has reached that stage. 



Dr. Miller— We do know that there 

 is injected into the honey something 

 by the bee. Come back to milk. Is 

 milk a vegetable or an animal product? 

 If you are going to rule honey out, and 

 say there is nothing animal about it, 

 by the same token we can rule milk 

 out. There were those who said that 

 honey was gathered from the flowers — 

 bees do not make honey. There were 

 those who said, the bee makes honey. I 

 think nowadays we are pretty nearly all 

 agreed that the bee has something to do 

 with making honey. If it has, look at 

 it and see if there is something animal 

 in it. 



Mr. Moore — Maybe this will throw 

 some light on the question, the illustra- 

 tion of Ihe maple tree. A man taps the 

 maple and carries the sap to the sugar 

 camp and boils it down. There might 

 one of his finger-nails drop in it, or 

 even a lock of his hair; there might be 

 some slight mixture of animal with the 

 vegetable. Here a bee carries the sweet 

 from the flower just the same as a man 

 carries sweet from the tree. 



The Members— No, sir! No, sir! 

 Not a bit of it! 



Mr. IMoore — There is no chance for 

 argument, I believe. They are both 

 vegetable absolutely, all the time. 



Mr. Taylor — If the bee should carry 

 the nectar, put it into the cell and leav-. 



