348 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Nov. 2, 



Northwestern District Convention. 



The Northwestern District Bee- 

 Keepers' met in Convention at the 

 Bee Journal office, in Chicago, on 

 Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 2 o'clock p. m.. 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, President, in the 

 chair. 



The minutes of the last session were 

 read and approved. 



The Treasurer's report was sub- 

 mitted and accepted. 



New members were enrolled and 

 annual dues paid. 



Election of officers being in order, 

 Mr. Ira G. Bull and Dr. Haskin were 

 appointed tellers. Dr. C. C. Miller, 

 receiving a majority of all the votes 

 cast, was declared duly elected. 



F. \V. Chapman was elected Vice 

 President. 



C. C. Coffinberry was re-elected Sec- 

 retary, and T. G. Newman was re- 

 elected Treasurer. 



The Executive Committee were in- 

 structed to call the next annual meet- 

 ing of the Society to take place on 

 Wednesday and Thursday, during the 

 last week of the Exposition. 



T. G. Newman offered the following 

 resolution, which was adopted unani- 

 mously : 



Resolved, That the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Society be invited to 

 meet with the Northwestern District 

 Society in annual consolidated session 

 at Chicago, during the Exposition, in 

 the fall of 1883. 



Best Race of Beee. 



Mr. F. W. Chapman has Cyprian 

 bees, but cannot speak favorably of 

 them as better honey gatherers than 

 the Italians. They are not so desira- 

 ble in point of disposition, but they 

 may develop some superior traits. 

 Has not tried the Syrian bees. 



Mr. George Thompson has found 

 the Cyprian bees a little more irrita- 

 ble than the Italian bees; he thinks 

 they are earlier and later breeders, and 

 hence thinks they are a desirable ac- 

 quisition, if for no other purpose. He 

 thinks they may be crossed with Ital- 

 ians to some advantage. 



Mr. H. \V. Funk finds Syrians more 

 nervous and irritable than the Italians, 

 but thinks they are not more liable to 

 sting, if handled with care and nerve. 



Mr. T. G. Newman : the Cyprians 

 and Syrians have been in the Bee 

 Journal apiary less than one full 

 3eason, which is not sufficient time to 

 test them for points of superiority or 

 inferiority. 



Queen Bearing. 



Mr. L. C. Wemple inquired if, to 

 rear queens, a division of the colony 

 would not produce good ones. 



Decided in the affirmative, if the 

 young bees were left in the queenless 

 hive. 



Question : Will queen cells left in 

 the hive after a swarm has emerged, 

 produce better queens than those 

 reared in a hive made queenless V De- 

 cided there was no preference. 



Mr. C. W. McKovvn stated he had 

 lost about 50 per cent, of the young 

 queens he had reared this season. 

 Why is it? 



President Miller thinks much loss is 

 occasioned by a sameness in hives in 

 position and appearance, and by plac- 

 ing them in rows at regular intervals. 

 He reverses the entrances of his hives 

 containing virgin queens, and with 

 good effect. 



Mr. L. II. Scudder said he had heard 

 the loss of young queens attributed to 

 the birds. His nuclei are placed in 

 the orchard, and he has never had bet- 

 ter success with queen-rearing and 

 mating than this season, and the birds 

 have never been more numerous in 

 the orchard. 



Mr. Funk but seldom loses queens 

 from his fertilizing nuclei ; he has 

 them sitting around wherever most 

 convenient. 



Mr. Thompson lost about 65 out of 

 a hundred young queens early in the 

 season, when birds were most numer- 

 ous ; but later, when the birds were 

 not so plenty, he has had compara- 

 tively good success. 



Several persons mentioned having 

 seen bees fighting birds. 



Question : Where the best queens 

 are desired, is it preferable to give the 

 queen-rearing colony eggs or freshly- 

 hatched larva? ? 



Answered by several : Eggs are 

 preferable. Remove the queen, eggs 

 and young larvse from a strong colony, 

 then select two or three combs of 

 freshly deposited eggs from the colony 

 you wish to rear queens from, and 

 place in the centre of the queenless 

 colony. Retain the first completed 

 cells, and destroy the others. 



President Miller has reared some of 

 the best queens in this manner, and 

 some of the very poorest he ever saw. 



A communication was read from J. 

 Messimore, Millwood, Ind., entitled 



The Dzierzon Drone Theory. 



I am sorry that I cannot attend the 

 Chicago Convention this session. Had 

 it been a month earlier I could have 

 attended, but now the time approaches 

 when bees must be prepared for win- 

 ter, and as I have not made much 

 preparation in that direction as yet, 1 

 must be getting them ready. I an- 

 ticipated being with you, but circum- 

 stances will prevent it. I intended, 

 if I could have been present at the 

 Convention, to give the Dzierzon the- 

 ory concerning the drone progeny of 

 pure, but mismated queens, a little 

 probing, as I see that many apiarists 

 are beginning to doubt the truthful- 

 ness of that theory. When I first 

 commenced the study of bee-ology I 

 accepted the theory, but have, for 

 some time, had serious doubts about 

 it; but not having the means at hand, 

 I have never experimented on it. One 

 thing, however. I haveobserved. which 

 led me to doubt the theory : I have 

 had queens whose workers showed no 

 signsof impurity whatever, and whose 

 drone progeny were so uniform and 

 similar that you could scarcely tell one 

 from another. Daughters of such 

 queens I have had mate with black 

 drones, and, as a consequence, their 

 drone progeny were just as dissimilar 

 as their workers, not only in color but 

 also in size. Now, how can that be 

 accounted for if the Dzierzon theory 

 be true ? This led me first to doubt 

 the correctness of the theory. Have 

 we no apiarists in America capable of 

 testing this matter, with the proper 

 means at hand ? Must we forever de- 

 pend on men of other nations to dem- 

 onstrate this matter to a certainty V 



Millwood, Ind. 



How Increase—Natural or Artificial 7 



Mr. Thompson thinks the practice 

 of natural gwarming should be con- 

 signed to the shades of the past, with 

 the discarded box hives, 10 and 20 

 pound boxes, and brimstone fumes. 



Mr. Funk suggested that at times 

 the trouble was not so much how to 

 increase, as to the_ best methods of 

 preventing it. 



President Miller is opinion that all 

 depends upon whether increase is de- 

 sired. 



Mr. C. W.McKown prevents swarm- 

 ing by clipping the wings of queens. 



Mr. A. J. Hatfield has found that 

 clipping the wing of a queen has a 

 tendency to break up and demoralize 

 the swarm, they frequently entering 

 other hives besides their own, and cre- 

 ating great confusion among other 

 colonies. 



Mr. T. S. Bull much prefers natural 

 swarming, and but seldom loses one ; 

 this season, with more than 40 natural 

 swarms, he has lost but one. 



Mr. Hatfield has found that his col- 

 onies which stood in the sun, without 

 any shade whatever, swarmed most 

 persistently. 



President Miller has had them 

 swarm quite as frequently where the 

 hive was entirely shaded, as those 

 standing in the sun. 



The majority of opinion was that 

 with plenty of shade over and room in 

 the hive, the tendency to swarming 

 was much lessened. 



Adjourned till 7 p.m. 



EVENING SESSION. 



Bee and Honey Shows. 



The Secretary read the following 

 communication from the State Vice 



President of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Society : 



Peoria, 111., Oct. 22, 1881. 

 To Nortluvestern District Convention: 



During the late State Fair, held at 

 Peoria, III., we were conversing with 

 members of the Board of Agriculture 

 with reference to the meager pre- 

 miums offered by that body for bee- 

 culture. We were told that it was the 

 apiarists' fault, that they had not 

 taken any interest in the matter. We 

 were requested to issue a call for a 

 Convention to assemble at Springfield, 

 at the time of the meeting of the State 

 Board of Agriculture, to take action 

 in the matter. Bee-keepers of Illinois, 

 is it best to issue this call ? We would 

 like to see a big show of everything 

 pertaining to a first-class apiary at the 

 fair of 1882, and we can have it only 

 by working for it. Those of you who 

 deal in supplies are the ones who 

 would be benefitted more or less by 

 this display, and are you willing to as- 

 sist? Let us hear from the bee-keep- 

 ersof Illinois on thisquestion. whether 

 it is best to call a meeting, or try to 

 work up the desired result by writing. 



LUCINDA IlAItKISON. 



State Vice President. 



On motion of C. C. Coffinberry, Mrs. 

 L. Harrison, of Peoria, III., was made 

 an honorary member of the Society. 



The following resolution wasoffered 

 by Mr. Coffinberry : 



Resolved, That the Northwestern 

 Bee-Keepers' Society indorse the ac- 

 tion of the National Convention in 

 encouraging bee and honey exhibits 

 at State and Eocal Fairs and Exhibi- 

 tions, and that Mrs. Harrison, Vice 

 President for Illinois, and the Com- 

 mittee appointed by the National So- 

 ciety, have our hearty co-operation 

 and encouragement in their labors in 

 this behalf. 



Mr. Coffinberry hoped the Society 

 would take most positive and unmis- 

 takable action on the communication 

 from Mrs. Harrison ; the question of 

 making exhibits at State, county and 

 local fairs was one of the gravest im- 

 portance to those engaged in bee-cul- 

 ture. It is not enough to form socie- 

 ties and hold conventions for the 

 purpose of instructing bee-keepers as 

 to the best methods of preparing bees 

 for winter, or of producing honey for 

 market, or as to the best race of bees; 

 we have but half done our work when 

 we have learned all the improvements 

 our fellow-apiarist employs, or taught 

 him all we know. There is a vast 

 public which needs educating as to 

 the value of honey for dietetic and 

 medicinal consumption. Their preju- 

 dices must be removed, and a desire 

 and taste created for honey, as now 

 exists for sugars and syrups. Bee pa- 

 pers cannot accomplish this work, be- 

 cause they circulate wholly among 

 that class of people who can already 

 appreciate the value of honey; it can- 

 not be done through the agricultural 

 press, because nearly all farmers are 

 already consumers,and utilize its econ- 

 omic properties ; we cannot educate 

 the masses through the metropolitan 

 and general press, because they col- 

 late their reading matter with a view 

 to interesting the general reader. 



The speaker can see no plan for car- 

 rying on this educational w T ork so fea- 

 sible, as to take advantage of the large 

 popular gatherings— and especially 

 fairs and expositions — where pure 

 honey can be exhibited in large quan- 

 tities in its most attractive forms. 

 Notonly should the honey be exhibited 

 and sold, but our beautiful and gentle 

 Italians should be manipulated on the 

 grounds, to attract the people through 

 their instinctive curiosity; now and 

 then a comb might be extracted and 

 samples exhibited through the crowd ; 

 this, too, is a good opportunity to ex- 

 plain the process of granulation in 

 honey, and how to liquefy it. The 

 primary lesson in the consumption of 

 honey can now be instilled on the pub- 

 lic mind by having a quantity on sale 

 in neat, attractive packages, and of 

 proper sizes for family use. 



By offering liberal premiums and 

 encouragement for apicultural dis- 

 plays, the agricultural boards and 

 managers are not benefiting honey 



producers alone. If it be their duty 

 to assist in developing the natural and 

 possible resources of our country, they 

 certainly by every means should en- 

 courage these exhibits. Our present 

 product of millions of pounds can be 

 easily developed into billions, and 

 many millions of dollars be added to 

 the productive wealth of the country. 

 Certainly, at our State and county 

 fairs, the apiarian department should 

 be given a prominence at least equal 

 to that of the horse, cow and sheep, 

 and second to none. 



Nor need bee-keepers fear that edu- 

 cation will lead to over-production. 

 We have, and there is springing up, a 

 foreign demand for American honey 

 that will consume, at remunerative 

 prices, all the surplus we may have to 

 spare, even though It be an hundred 

 fold. Over-production, over-stocking 

 and competition are fast losing their 

 terrors for the reflecting mind, and 

 stimulated consumption, generous ri- 

 valry, and co-operative effort are fast 

 usurping their place. 



Mr. T. G. Newman said that he in- 

 dorsed most fully the remarks of the 

 last speaker, and would give a few ex- 

 amples of the educating power of bee 

 and honey shows. 



Some two or three years ago Mr. 

 Scudder, one of the members present, 

 took several thousand pounds of honey 

 in the comb to Canada to sell, and 

 found it almost impossible to dispose 

 of it. Since then, magnificent dis- 

 plays have been made at the fairs, and 

 every pound at those displays was sold 

 on the ground at good prices. Now 

 Canada cannot supply her home de- 

 mand, and this year has sent to the 

 United States for thousands of pounds 

 •more. What has made the change ? 

 Consumers have been educated— have 

 tasted of honey and found it good, as 

 Solomon said, and now are everywhere 

 demanding more. 



At the St. Joseph, Mo., Exposition 

 the honey and bee display attracted 

 more attention than everything else 

 on the ground, excepting the award of 

 the prize of $25 for the best looking 

 colored baby ! 



In 1878. 180 tons of comb honey were 

 sent to England ; and at the Royal 

 Agricultural Show it was arranged in 

 a magnificent pyramid with a large 

 sign, "American Honey,'" over it, and 

 the stars and stripes" hanging in 

 graceful folds around it. This not 

 only took the first prize, but created 

 such a furore that the Prince and Prin- 

 cess of Wales and the Royal family 

 came to the apiarian department in 

 carriages to see it; alighting, they 

 came in to examine it, and sought in- 

 formation regarding its production on 

 so large a scale and in such tempting 

 packages. A dozen crates of it were 

 ordered for the Royal table, and, from 

 the Queen to the peasant, all caught 

 the enthusiasm. I was amused at 

 some of the effects of this display that 

 I noticed in London. While walking 

 down several of the busy streets I 

 noticed here and there a crowd had 

 gathered and blocked up the sidewalk. 

 Coming closer, I found the cause of 

 the excitement; show windows had 

 been filled with comb honey, and a 

 card announced that it was American 

 honey and for sale at 2s. (id. per lb. 

 (60 cents). There they stood and gazed 

 upon it, their very eyes seemed riveted 

 to the spot— but no word was heard — 



"It seemed as though they saw a miracle. 

 And for very rapture ne'er would speak again," 



while their eyes feasted on the mag- 

 nificent display of concentrated sweet- 

 ness from 



"The land of the free 

 And home of the brave !" 



Not until sturdy policemen came to 

 the relief of pedestrians could the 

 crowd be dispersed. The order to 

 "Move on; move on!" was obeyed, 

 but only to let another crowd form a 

 few moments afterward. I witnessed 

 this scene over and over again. 



This "word-picture" gives us a stri- 

 king lesson — to exhibit and display 

 ourlioney, and thus educate the masses 

 who by thousands carry home the 

 small quantity to delight their fami- 

 lies, and give them health and strength 

 both of body and mind, by the use of 



