1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



323 



hibit it. I believe that all articles of 

 food and medicine should be sold un- 

 der their proper names, and as honey 

 is used both as tood and medicine. I 



recommend that you take such action 

 as in your wisdom may seem best to 

 bring about the end desired. 



Several valuable inventions in use- 

 ful tools and implements have been 

 made the past year, and quite an ad- 

 vance in our bee' papers and literature 

 is to be seen— new ones being issued. 

 older ones enlarged and made more 

 attractive. The Amkuican Bke Jour- 

 nal, published by Tlios. G. Newman. 

 Chicago. 111., is now printed weekly, 

 and is the only weekly paper in the 

 world devoted exclusively to bees. 



I return thanks to all the bee papers 

 for publishing the notice of this meet- 

 ing ; also to the committee of arrange- 

 ments, for their labors in getting the 

 use of this hall to hold our sessions in, 

 and for obtaining hotel and railroad 

 rates. 



A programme has been printed and 

 distributed for use at this meeting; 

 I return my thanks to all those who 

 have contributed to its interest. 



In conclusion, allow me to thank 

 you for the honor of presiding over 

 your Association the past year. I 

 have spent both time and labor in fur- 

 thering its interests, with the hope 

 that it would prosper under my admin- 

 istration, and that this meeting would 

 be the best ever held in the Western 

 World. May your deliberations be 

 pleasant and profitable to all present. 



Dr. E. Family, of New York, Re- 

 cording Secretary, having resumed his 

 official duties, read the minutes of the 

 last annual Convention, which were 

 approved. 



The selection of a committee on 

 nominations being in order, O. O. 

 Poppleton, Iowa, moved that the 

 President appoint the committee. 

 Carried. 



President Allen appointed as said 

 committee : Hon. \V. H. Andrews, 

 McKinney, Texas ; Hon. G. W. Dema- 

 ree, Christiansburg, Ky.: O. O. Pop- 

 pleton, Williamstown.Iowa; F. Delia 

 Torre, Reisterstown, Md.; and Dr. J. 

 P. II. Brown, Augusta, Ga. 



Prof. A. J. Cook, of Lansing, Mich., 

 delivered the following able address : 



The New Races of Bees. 



A little less than two years since, as is 

 well known to all, two American gentlemen 

 D. A.Jones, of Canada, and Frank Benton, 

 of Michigan, started for the old world in 

 quest of new races and species of bees, in 

 the hope that they might discover and in- 

 troduce into America some new and val- 

 uable races or species. After visiting the 

 principal apiaries of Europe, they located 

 m Cyprus, where they established a large 

 apiary in the city of Larnaca. Mr. Benton 

 remained in Cyprus in charge of the bees, 

 which consisted of two distinct varieties, 

 the Cyprian and the Syrian, while Mr. 

 Jones returned to America in June, 1880, 

 bringing a large number of the queens of 

 the two races with him. 



The following winter Mr. Benton pro- 

 ceeded to Ceylon and Java, hoping to lind 

 "the great bee of Java," Apis dorsata, 

 and perhaps others that were valuable. 

 His quest on the Island of Java was very 

 thorough, but utterly fruitless. No sign 

 could he see or word could he hear of the 

 great "Javan bee," Apis dorsata. It was 

 not there, and Mr. Benton gained the ex- 

 pensive information that the name Java, 

 as applied to this species, was a serious 

 misnomer. His search in Ceylon, how- 

 ever, was better rewarded, as he procured 

 on this island, after severe labor, great 

 privation, and serious hardships, which 

 came near costing him his life, two new 

 species of Apis; the large dorsata which 

 fastens its immense combs, all exposed, to 

 the underside of the branches of trees ; 

 and the minute florea, which nests in the 

 hollows of trees and rocks, as do our com- 

 mon bees. The comb of Apis dorsata is 

 very thick and heavy, while that of A. 

 florea, some of which I have received 

 through the kindness of Mr. Benton, is 

 very delicate and beautiful. The cells 

 are % less in diameter than are those of 

 our common bees. 



Upon the arrival of the new queens in 

 America, I at once procured one of the 

 Syrians, and Syrianized the entire apiary 

 at the Michigan Agricultural College, as I 

 then could learn their peculiarities with 

 much more certainty than though I kept 

 several races. 



As the Syrian is the only one of the new 

 races and species with which I have had 



personal knowledge, I will confine the bal- 

 ance of this paper to them, reserving the 

 description of the other species and race 

 for a future occasion. 



The Syrian bees are of the yellow type, 

 and so are closely related to the Italians, 

 indeed, there are reasons to believe thai 



these hitter bees are the modified offspring 

 of the Cyprians, which as probably were 

 the descendants of the Syrians. 



The queens of this race are remarkably 

 uniform In coloration, and thus appear 

 more fixed as a variety, than do the Ital- 

 ians, whose queens are quite variable in 

 color. This uniformity is so striking that 

 of 20 Syrian queens which I have reared, 

 it is uext to impossible to distinguish one 

 from another. The head, thorax, femora, 

 and bands on the dorsal surface of the ab- 

 domen are black. The abdomen above is 

 brown or leather-color, while the legs, ex- 

 cept the femora, and the under side of the 

 abdomen are a little lighter. The black 

 bands on the back border posteriorly the 

 segments from the 3d to the 5th inclusive. 

 They broaden from before hack to the 

 last, which nearly covers the 5th segment. 

 The 2d and 3d bands are a little broadest in 

 the middle, and the last segment is wholly 

 black. In form the Syrian queens are es- 

 sentially like the Italians, nor do they dif- 

 fer in size. 



The drones are black above and yellow- 

 ish-brown beneath. The legs are black. 

 Each segment of the abdomen is bordered 

 above posteriorly with goiden brown. 

 Olive brown hairs cover the thorax above, 

 while beneath the thorax on the under 

 side of the head, and at the base and tip of 

 the abdomen, the hairs are of a lighter 

 hue. These drones are also unlike the 

 Italian drones in their wondrous unifor- 

 mity. Each seems exactly like every 

 other. The Syrian and Italian drones do 

 not differ in form and size. In breeding 

 these bees, I have had striking proof that 

 impregnation has no effect to modify the 

 drones. The first 4 queens that I reared 

 must have mated with Italian drones, as 

 there were no others in the apiary, and no 

 Syrian drones in the State. Yet of a great 

 number of drones from these queens, not 

 one was seen that did not show the marks 

 of a pure Syrian in every respect. 



The Syrian workers are like those of 

 the Italians, except that they are more 

 yellow beneath ; this color prevailing to 

 the last segment wldch is dark. The 

 young Syrians, just as they come from the 

 cells, appear very dark. This peculiarity 

 furnishes the readiest means by which to 

 identify these bees when there are no 

 drones in the hive. The workers are a 

 little brighter than are the Italian work- 

 ers, and perhaps a trifle smaller. The 

 tongue of the Syrian worker, I find, after 

 examining a large number of each kind, to 

 be the same length as that of the Cyprian, 

 and to average .00*; of an inch longer than 

 that of the Italian, and more than ,02 an 

 inch longer than the tongue of the Ger- 

 man worker. 



I have found the Cyprian bees to be very 

 prolific, and persistently so. Autumn 

 frost or summer dearth of honey secretion 

 does not check brood rearing as is the 

 case with the Germans or Italians. This 

 does away with all need of stimulative 

 feeding, and keeps the colonies strong at 

 all times. Young bees are present at dawn 

 of winter, which is an important adjunct 

 in safe wintering, and a safeguard against 

 spring dwindling. The Syrians are excel- 

 lent honey gatherers, certainly equal, if 

 not superior to the Italians. They are 

 even more sure to repel robbers than are 

 the Italian bees. 



Some of the characteristics of the Syr- 

 ians are not so desirable. They fairly 

 crowd the queen cells when preparing to 

 swarm. Sometimes 5 or 6 queen cells will 

 be massed in one"great pyramid ; so it is 

 often difficult to separate them without 

 ruining large fine cells. The speedy de- 

 struction of the remaining queen cells af- 

 ter the first queen comes from the cell, 

 and the quick appearance of fertile work- 

 ers in queenless colonies and nuclei, are 

 objectionable features. These bees are 

 more irritable than are Italians, and worst 

 of all when once aroused, they are totally 

 indifferent to smoke and fight on all un- 

 dismayed, even in the presence of the best 

 Bingham smoker. This objection is not 

 very serious, however. The bees are 

 breeding at all times, and so are almost 

 alwavs peacable, so much so, that I have 

 handled them now for a year, without 

 gloves, veil or smoke, and with no fear or 

 annoyance, except in case of colonies or 

 nuclei which had no queens. Queenless 

 colonies are often very irritable. By wait- 

 ing a little after opening the hive we are 

 safer, but even then it is not always agree- 

 able to handle them without full protec- 

 tion. Fortunately it is not necessary to 

 handle them much at such times. It is 

 much easier to protect fully these few 

 times, than to have to use the smoker most 

 of the year. After a year's experience, I 

 can give hearty praise to these bees, which 

 are certainly a most valuable acquisition 

 to American apiculture. 



Rev. L. Johnson, of Walton. Ky., 

 thought orders for Cyprian and Syrian 



queens should be sent to Mr. Jones.in, 



order to remunerate bii.i in part for 

 his outlay of time and money to se- 

 cure a superior and pure race of bees 

 for dissemination in this country. 

 The bees mentjoned are good natured 

 if properly handled. 



Prof. Cook thought a substantial re- 

 cognition of Messrs. Jones and Ben- 

 ton's arduous and hazardous labors in 

 this behalf should be made by the 

 bee-keepers of North America. 



G. W. Demaree, Christiansburg, 

 Ky., was satislied that there are two 

 races of bees— the yellow and black. 

 All the races of yellow bees are un- 

 doubtedly derived from the same par- 

 ent stock, and all variations which are 

 apparent are the result of climatic in- 

 fluences. Mr. Demaree said be had 

 better results in rearing queens from 

 fresh eggs than from larva?. He 

 found, where giving larvse already 

 batched from which to rear queens, 

 the queens are always darker and 

 their workers not so fine. 



D. A. Jones, was of the opinion 

 there were but two races originally — 

 the Syrian and the Dalmatian bees. 

 He thinks the Syrian bees were taken 

 to Cyprus from Palestine, and from 

 Cyprus to Italy, where they came in 

 contact with the Dalmatians, and by 

 acclimatization they formed the pres- 

 ent Italian bees, which have become 

 a fixed race. He has known nearly 

 250 queen-cells to be constructed in 

 one hive by the Cyprians. A neigh- 

 bor in Canada claims that the Cyp- 

 rians gathered an average of 20 pounds 

 more honey per colony than the Ital- 

 ians did. 



C. C. Coffinberry, Chicago, 111., read 

 a paper on the subject, " Can we make 

 honey a staple product." as follows : 



Can Honey be made a Staple Product! 



Since bee-keeping has emerged from the 

 mysterious labyrinths of superstition 

 which popularly surrounded it and been 

 allotted a high position among the scien- 

 tific arts, the great obstacle which, till 

 quite recently, attended its successful pur- 

 suit and development has been an outlet 

 or market for the surplus production above 

 the quantity actually required for home 

 consumption. 



This, however, having been overcome, 

 the next serious question which arose in 

 the minds of some of our most successful 

 producers was the fear of glutting the 

 market; but thanks to an intelligence 

 which could comprehend a country and a 

 market as great as our own. this fear has 

 been allayed, and a demand has sprung up 

 abroad which we frankly acknowledge we 

 cannot satisfy, until we can make honey a 

 staple production. By "staple produc- 

 tion," I mean when its supply will average, 

 one year with another, as will pork, or 

 beef, or butter, or cheese, or wheat, or 

 corn, or any other product that is depen- 

 dent alike upon the seasons and the in- 

 telligence of the producers. 



Contemporaneous with the fear of glut- 

 ting the market, was broached the bug- 

 bear of over-stocking the country with 

 bees, and many intelligent and deeply in- 

 terested bee-keepers approached the sub- 

 ject with fear and trembling, while a few 

 proved by actual figures that two or three 

 hundred colonics of bees did not gather as 

 much honey per colony as formerly did 

 their half-dozen or less colonies. Last 

 winter, however, done much to remove 

 their fears of over-stocking ; in fact, one 

 advertised this spring to buy or run on 

 shares bees with which to continue his 

 over-stocking process. 



The all-important questions now arising 

 are. Can honey be made a staple product ? 

 and if so, How? If we were to ask an 

 intelligent pork-raiser where he expected 

 his hogs to find mast enough to fatten on, 

 lie would smile at our simplicity, and 

 point to his well tilled fields where he 

 raised the corn to feed them ; ask the 

 dairyman how he expects the best results 

 from his cows in butter and cheese, and 

 he will point to his ample pastures and 

 haystacks ; inquire of the wheat-grower 

 where he finds so much wheat to cut, and 

 he will with pride show you his broad 

 fields ; but the average bee-keeper if asked 

 where his bees get the nectar with which 

 to fill their surplus boxes, will with a 

 smile of satisfaction point to the roadside 

 where abounds what of the clover the 

 hogs have not uprooted, or to the linden 

 grove in somebody's wood-lot, or to some 

 slovenly field where Spanish-needles have 

 taken possession, or "over yonder is a 

 marsh with lots of smart weed." But he 

 has never planted an acre for his bees, 



"because it will not pay." Perhaps, once 

 in a while, some neighbor has put in a 

 field of buckwheat, or nature has been 

 lavish, and the bees, true to Instinct, have 

 done well— as they always will if the op- 

 portunity is provided tlieui. 

 But Mr. (). (). Poppleton, of Iowa, can 



tell you truthfully that his bees average, 



per colony, (he product of an acre of 

 wheat; Greiner Brothers, of Naples, \. 

 Y., realized equivalent to two acres of 

 wheat from each colony ; Alderman * 

 Roberts, Wewahitchka, Fia., Iiavereallzed 

 this season enough to purchase an acre of 

 land for each colony. Many others have 

 done quite as well ; and why ? because 

 they have had almost continual bloom. 



It is not my intention to suggest what 

 to plant, but to provoke the questions: 

 Should we not plant to secure a continuous 

 bloom ? and with a continuous bloom of 

 judiciously selected plants. Can we not 

 make honey a staple product? When 

 every year becomes an extra good honey 

 season, instead of every fifth year, will not 

 honey have become a staple product ? If 

 thirty days of good honey How will con- 

 stitute the average honey season one with 

 another, will not four times that number 

 of days every season (which 1 believe can 

 be realized by judicious planting), not 

 only make the product a staple one, but 

 apiculture will become one of the most 

 pleasant, mostcertain.and most profitable 

 pursuits we can adopt. 



When we have learned what to plant, 

 when to plant, and how much to plant, 

 then, too, will we have overcome tin' 

 greatest difficulty in wintering, and we 

 will hear no more of bees starving. Our 

 honey will always be the best, because we 

 have robbed nature of the privilege of 

 making the selection. Our colonies will 

 always be strong, from early spring till 

 late in the fall, for we have allowed no 

 cessation in honey flow. Our ramifica- 

 tions for newer and hetterbees will cease, 

 for our beautiful American-Italians will 

 only be forced to "jump over the fence 

 and help themselves;" and our hybrids 

 and blacks will become morally and 

 socially better, because not forced from 

 infancy to steal their living. Then, too, 

 will prices become as staple as the product, 

 and the apiarist can with some certainty 

 figure up his probable profits ; a few days 

 of adverse winds will not ruin a season's 

 prospects, and bee-keepers will expunge 

 from their vocabulary the dismal term, 

 " blasted hopes." 



T. F. Bingham, Abronia, Mich., in- 

 quired of Mr. Coffinberry how much 

 buckwheat would be required for a 

 given number of colonies ? 



O. O. Poppleton, Iowa, answered 

 the question by stating that last sea- 

 son 25 acres of buckwheat gave his 

 bees 6,000 pounds of buckwheat, and 

 he does not know how much was lost, 

 because of inability of bees to take 

 care of or gather it. 



Prof. Cook said that the subject 

 matter of the paper was of the great- 

 est, importance to the bee-keeper, as it 

 touched on all the vital points con- 

 nected with successful apiculture ; he 

 had no doubt the honey season could 

 be very greatly lengthened, and the 

 crop increased almost indefinitely by 

 a judicious system of planting. He 

 hoped every bee-keeper in America 

 would give the matter of planting for 

 honey a generous trial. 



On motion, the President appointed 

 the following gentlemen as a com- 

 mittee on apiarian supplies, queens, 

 bees, etc.: Dr. L. E. Brown, Emi- 

 nence, Ky.; D. A. Jones, Beeton.Ont.; 

 and D. S. England, Sparta, Tenn. 



The following communication was 

 read from Henry L. Jeffrey, Vice 

 President for Connecticut : 



Report from Sept. 1st, 1880, up to date. 



Hie honey yield from fall flowers in 

 1880 was below the average as a crop, and 

 consequently the condition of colonies for 

 winter, in the majority of cases, was a 

 scant supply of honey. The pollen yield 

 was as much in excess as the honey was 

 deficient, and in many places the pollen 

 yield was the heaviest ever known. 



Winter came suddenly upon us, about 

 Nov. 23, and held severe until Dec. 15. 

 when the bees that were in sheltered lo- 

 calities flew a little for two or three days 

 and were then shut in until the fore part 

 of March, when they had another fly for a 

 day or two, then, having only an oc- 

 casional fly until May, when they began 

 to work in earnest every pleasant day, 

 carrying in pollen, and the bees decreased 

 in a greater proportion, by the old ones 

 wearing out, than the hatching brood could 

 replace, thus leaving the colonies on the 

 average no stronger than they usually 

 were the fore part of April. 



