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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 21, 



our drones as well as our queens, that 

 time seems to be nearly, if not quite 

 here. Italian blood is widely dissem- 

 inated through the country, and many 

 of the so-called wild bees are now in 

 part, or wholly of this race. Says Mr. 

 A. I Root, in speaking of the charac- 

 ter of the bees which he is buyingpro- 

 miscuously through the country : " I 

 have frequently purchased colonies 

 during the last few weeks as nicely 

 marked as any in our apiary. These, 

 too, came from those who have never 

 taken any notice of Italians at all." — 

 Gleanings for Aug., 1881, page 401.) I 

 have quoted Mr. Root here, as his ex- 

 perience is so large, that his testimony 

 is valuable. 



It is thought by many that in-breed- 

 ing is injurious, and that it is neces- 

 sary to go frequently to the original 

 source for fresh blood. As to just 

 what in-breeding is, I can find no ex- 

 act deffinition ; it is generally agreed 

 that by it is meant the breeding to- 

 gether of relations, but just how close 

 the relationship must be to deserve 

 the term, our practical breeders have 

 not determined. Sometimes when de- 

 generacy or disease follows close breed- 

 ing, they are believed to have been 

 caused by it, whereas they might have 

 existed otherwise. In-breeding has 

 been an indispensable aid in establish- 

 ing our best breeds of domestic ani- 

 mals. Their pedigrees show it to have 

 been carried to a very great extent, 

 yet they are the most valuable ani- 

 mals we have. Even if fresh blood 

 were desirable, it seems doubtful if 

 we could get it from Italy, as the stock 

 which we have now was originally 

 from that source. 



I know of no better way to improve our 

 bees than that followed by the breeders 

 of larger stock. During the last 20 

 years that apiarists have been import- 

 ing their bees, the other breeders have 

 been diligently improving their ani- 

 mals by selection, importing compara- 

 tively but little. The improvement 

 that they have made, we all know is 

 very great. The stream has risen 

 above its source, and shipments of 

 breeding cattle from this country to 

 their original homes are actually tak- 

 ing place. I think that it is not too 

 much to say that America leads the 

 world in live stock. Some Americans 

 who have acted with care and intelli- 

 gence, together with good judgment 

 in breeding their bees, have obtained 

 valuable strains, but I do not think 

 that improvement has been general. 

 The stock of those who have depended 

 upon importation, has not been im- 

 proved in this way, but necessarily 

 represents that of the country from 

 which it came. 



I can find no evidence that Italy has 

 improved her stock during this time. 

 I think if we had kept pace with the 

 breeders of larger animals, that it is 

 safe to say that we would be inestima- 

 bly in advance of where we are now. 

 If this view of the subject is right, 

 importation is carried on not only at 

 the cost of money, but also of all pos- 

 sibility of improvement. 



Mr. A. I. Root thought that if bees 

 were bred carefully that they would 

 be so valuable as to command almost 

 any price. 



J. H. Townley thought that almost 

 anything could be done with them by 

 selection. 



Mr. Walker had found Southern 

 bees larger than those reared in the 

 North. 



Mr. Jones had obtained very large 

 bees by having them bred in extra 

 large cells. 



Sweet and alsike clovers were re- 

 commended, especially on sandy soils. 



Mr. Root had Italians on red clover 

 and blacks on buckwheat at the same 

 time. 



The President believed that impor- 

 tations should be continued. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



On assembling, Mr. H. D. Cutting 

 gave the following address on 



Bees and Grapes. 

 I am well aware that much prejudice 

 exists in the minds of some horticul- 



turists in regard to bees doing damage 

 to their grapes and other fruits. 



I have talked with many fruit men 

 who say : " The bees swarm on my 

 grapes and destroy large quantities of 

 them." Others say : " The bees 

 swarmed on my fruit, but I found 

 they were after damaged fruit, and 

 did not touch any fruit that was 

 sound." 



About five years ago I commenced 

 a series of experiments to ascertain 

 whether bees did damage grapes and 

 other fruits. I found that the bees 

 would work on grapes, if in a damaged 

 condition. I found that the wasps 

 and birds did the damage in many 

 cases, and then the bees would finish 

 up their work. Great changes in the 

 weather at times of ripening, would 

 cause grapes to crack open ever so lit- 

 tle, and the bees would clean them 

 out. In the whole five years 1 failed 

 to find a single case where bees did 

 actually bite open the skin of fruit 

 and destroy it; but if there is the 

 least opening in the skin from any 

 cause, and the flow of honey is scarce, 

 they will clean out all damaged grapes, 

 but will not visit fruit of any kind if 

 honey is plenty. 



But I ask, is it not a benefit, in place 

 of a damage ? None of us want to 

 pack fruit in a damaged condition, 

 grapes especially ; for, if on a cluster 

 of grapes are only a few cracked 

 ones, it will spoil the whole cluster 

 and all others they come in contact 

 with, if they are kept long. 



I have seen thirty varieties of 

 grapes ; some very early and some 

 very thin-skinned, and I cannot get 

 my bees (and I have had 4 varieties), 

 to touch them. I have cut fine clus- 

 ters of very ripe fruit and placed on 

 the platforms of the hives, and the 

 bees would go over and around them. 

 I then cut small openings in a few ber- 

 ries, and in a few moments they were 

 covered with bees, cleaning them out. 

 After finishing all those cut, they 

 went all over the sound ones, but did 

 not cut one of them. I made pin 

 holes in a few of them with the same 

 results; all so treated were cleaned 

 out. I had some very thin-skined 

 grapes sent me for trial, but with the 

 same results as before — none were 

 touched unless first punctured. 



I suspended a cluster of grapes un- 

 der a tree and poured sugar syrup on 

 it; they took all of the syrup, but did 

 not damage the cluster, until a wasp 

 managed to bite three berries before 

 I could kill it; those three the bees 

 finished. 



In conclusion, I must say that with 

 the many differentexperimentscover- 

 ing a space of 5 years, being surroun- 

 ded by bees and affording them every 

 opportunity of doing damage, and 

 failing to find them doing any, I think 

 those who condemn the bees had bet- 

 ter experiment for themselves and as- 

 certain whether the bees do them any 

 damage or not ; they may come to the 

 same conclusion, as' the good people 

 of Massachusetts, who years ago 

 thought the bees were a damage 

 to their fruit, and had them ban- 

 ished, but finding their fruit began to 

 decrease, and of a poor quality, were 

 only too glad to have the law repealed, 

 and get the bees back again, when 

 their fruit began to improve. 



The field is broad ; let all those who 

 have their doubts carefully experi- 

 ment for themselves. Do not jump 

 at conclusions, and what is done, let 

 the work be careful and thorough. 



Dr. Southard grows a great many 

 thin-skinned grapes, and had never 

 known sound fruit to be injured, and 

 damaged fruit he does not value. 



Mr. Jones said he would give $15 if 

 any one will show him a queen whose 

 bees will puncture grape skins. 



Mr. Balch said that no one can tell 

 to whom trespassing bees belong, and 

 if bees were banished from the State, 

 the loss to horticulturists would be 

 greater than the damage done by them. 



Dr. Ashley recommended for bee- 

 stings a solution of iodide or bromide 

 of calcium. 



Dr. Southwick then addressed the 

 Convention, as follows : 



A Few Mistakes of a Few Bee-Keepers. 



It is a mistake to hold all rules in 

 bee-keeping invariably correct ; for 

 rules in bee-keeping, like rules in 

 spelling, have more exceptions than 

 cases under the rule. 



It is a mistake to take any man's 

 opinion without experimental knowl- 

 edge and his reasons for the same ; 

 for one good reason founded on expe- 

 rience is worth more than all the 

 opinions in the universe. 



It is a mistake to follow the ways, 

 or adopt the hive of a successful bee- 

 keeper without practical reasons for 

 the same ; for good locality, or some 

 unknown cause, may produce the suc- 

 cess in spite of his bad management 

 and bad hive. 



It is a mistake that bee-keepers 

 ought not to take the benefit of the 

 patent laws, as well as others, and 

 thereby be enabled to get a royalty 

 sufficient to pay them for their time 

 and expense of getting up the im- 

 provement ; if we could get up special 

 donations, through special Providence, 

 we might then dispense with the ben- 

 efit of patent laws, but we are not all 

 thus favored. 



Concerning dysentery or the cause, 

 one may say it is confinement, another 

 bacteria or bee-bread, while I am sat- 

 isfied, and by the postals I have re- 

 ceived, I think some others are, too, 

 that starvation will sometimes pro- 

 duce it. But it is a mistake to say 

 that any one thing is the sole cause, 

 for it is evident there are many causes, 

 and frequently a variety of causes, for 

 it is quite probable that with the bee, 

 as with the human, anything that will 

 change the action of the system so that 

 instead of taking from the alimentary 

 canal and furnishing the system nour- 

 ishment, it takes from the system and 

 throws into the canal, will produce 

 dysentery. 



Concerning frames and hives, Mr. 

 A. I. Root would not use any but the 

 Langstroth frame and hives to fit, 

 while I would not use a frame that I 

 had to hang in the hive, or a hive that 

 I could not move the end-board to- 

 gether or apart, or take them out at 

 pleasure, and thus increase or lessen 

 the size as I saw fit; but it is a mistake 

 for either of us to claim that ours is 

 the ne plus ultra of all hives, for there 

 may be many as good, and some far 

 superior to ours. 



It is a mistake to follow instinct in- 

 stead of reason ; instinct is the same 

 old way— reason invents, compares 

 and selects the best; instinct was as 

 perfect a thousand years ago as to- 

 day—reason will continue to improve, 

 but will never perfect; instinct indi- 

 cates straw and box hives, also fire 

 and brimstone — reason indicates com- 

 fortable hives and handy frames, also 

 justice and mercy. 



It is a mistake that because a colony 

 winters well in a hive that has a crack 

 wide open from top to bottom, that all 

 hives need that ventilation ; for a 

 strong young colony will winter, not- 

 withstanding this unreasonable ex- 

 posure. 



It is a mistake to have a two-inch 

 space above the frames for the heat 

 and bees to get up into, when the heat 

 and bees are required among the 

 combs to keep them warm, so that the 

 bees can get over them and feed when 

 the weather is cold, and not freeze in 

 the operation. 



It is a mistake to get up a hobby of 

 any kind, and then drive everything 

 else off the track that it cannot load. 



It is a mistake to accept all the the- 

 ories of bee logic as infallible, such as 

 fertilization of queens, and the like ; 

 for I had a queen when hatched lacked 

 about half of one wing, yet in due 

 time she became fertilized and filled 

 the hive with bees. 



It is a mistake to write long, windy 

 articles for our bee-papers, that are 

 noted only for their big words, fine 

 turned sentences, and extreme length, 

 and if they contain an idea, it is lost 

 in a wilderness of words, and the 

 reader takes the length of the article 

 for the weight of argument, and con- 

 cludes the writer haj^made a point. 



It is a mistake that we meet here in 

 convention only to see old friends and 



make new ones, to hear the different 

 addresses and essays, make comments 

 on them, ask and answer a few ques- 

 tions, and have a good time, when in 

 addition we should have the expe- 

 rience of all the members on the dif- 

 ferent subjects of bee-keeping writ- 

 ten out in a short, comprehensive 

 style, without comment, and these, 

 with the essays and lectures, and full 

 proceedings of the Con vention,priuted 

 in pamphlet form and distributed to 

 the members, or sold to outsiders for 

 enough to cover the cost of printing, 

 then we would have a record that 

 would be valuable to refer to after- 

 wards. 



It is a mistake to offer, and a much 

 greater mistake to accept, a reward 

 for breaking off the filthy use of to- 

 bacco ; for a man that will not get up 

 out of that miserable, soul-debasing, 

 health-destroying, clothes-besmear- 

 ing, breath-poluting, sense-benumb- 

 ing, brain-befuddling, nerve-poison- 

 ing habit without a reward, but will 

 for ever sink himself too low for any 

 human society, and the whole looks to 

 me like the proceedings of a protrac- 

 ted meeting I once heard of, where 

 they offered a ten cent chromo to all 

 that would come forward and get 

 religion. 



The Srecretay read the following 

 from Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, on 



Rearing and Selling Queens. 



Some apiarists have asserted that 

 the so-called " dollar queens " could 

 not be reared at a profit. I have been 

 engaged in the business during the 

 past four years, and have never 

 cleared less than $15 per colony, the 

 average profit for the four years being 

 about $18 per colony. As 1 have been 

 so successful, perhaps the members of 

 the conventions would like to know 

 how I have conducted the business. 



I have learned that nothing is 

 gained by commencing operations too 

 early in the season. Colonies are 

 weakened, brood is chilled, queens are 

 two or three weeks old before they be- 

 gin to lay, in fact, there are nothing 

 but unpleasant features connected 

 with commencing before the warm 

 weather has really come to stay. 



I think a small frame best for queen 

 rearing. If it were not that I might 

 sometime wish to give up the queen 

 business, and go to raising extracted 

 honey, I should adopt a frame not 

 more than 10 inches square. I use the 

 American frame. 



For nucleus hives, I use full-sized 

 hives, putting in division boards, and 

 having a nucleus in each end of a hive. 

 Usually about the 10th or 15th of May, 

 I put a nice, clean, light-colored work- 

 er-comb in the center of the colony, 

 having the queen from which I wish 

 to breed. In 3 or 4 days I generally 

 find this comb filled with eggs, and 

 the first-laid eggs beginning to hatch 

 into larva?. I now remove the queen 

 and all of the brood from some strong 

 colony, shaking the bees from the 

 brood combs back into the hive, and 

 giving the brood to the weakest colo- 

 nies. The queen is either sold, or 

 given to a nucleus prepared expressly 

 for that purpose. The comb of eggs 

 and larval' from the choice queen is 

 now placed in the center of the queen- 

 less and "bloodless" colony. I usually 

 cut a few small holes in the comb, just 

 where the eggs are beginning to hatch, 

 as it gives the bees better opportuni- 

 ties for building queen cells. After 

 removing the comb of eggs from the 

 colony having the choice queen, its 

 place is filled with another nice comb, 

 or else a sheet of foundation. In 3 or 

 4 days this comb will be filled with 

 eggs, and can be removed and given 

 to another queeuless colony, and its 

 place again filled with a sheet of foun- 

 dation. By the time that the sheet of 

 foundation, last inserted, is drawn 

 out and filled with eggs, the first lot 

 of queen cells will be ready for the 

 lamp nursery. I seldom allow a col- 

 ony to build more than two lots of 

 cells without giving it young bees. 

 Two or three days before I expect the 

 first lot of queens to hatch, I start as 

 many nuclei as there are cells. Early 

 in the season I seldom start more than 



