1898^ 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



133 



in bee-keeping. His yard was filled with " bee-gums," as 

 they were then called. 



Very soon I was installed as chief assistant in the bee- 

 yard, taught how to find the queen and to clip the wing to 

 keep the bees from leaving ; that I must not clip the wing of a 

 virgin queen, etc. When I was perhaps seven years old I was 

 running a threshing machine — I was riding one horse and 

 leading two more, treading out oats, the fastest we had of 

 threshing grain ! A swarm of bees past, and I left my 

 "threshing " and followed the bees till they settled. I got a 

 "gum " and hived them, and I have owned bees from that day 

 till this, and possibly I have their descendants now. 



I had never seen a moth. They had not made their ap- 

 pearance yet, and how horror-stricken I was when I fouud 

 my pet "gum " that had swarmed four times, one solid mass 

 of worms ! I thought if the moth could kill one " gum " they 

 could kill all ; but my teacher told me the bees were doubtless 

 queenless, and if I kept the bees strong and lookt after them 

 a little there was not much danger. 



I took care of ray father's and my own bees till 1855, 

 when I found my "queen-bee" in Miss Sallie E. Crippen. 

 Following the custom, I " swarmed," and set up a new apiary. 

 The old way to get honey was to kill the bees as soon as the 

 frost killed the flowers, but I never killed any bees. I had the 

 tops of the " gums " so they could be taken ofiF, and the honey 

 taken out, often cutting out the top several times In a season, 

 and I dare not tell how much honey I have taken in one sea- 

 son from one colony, spring count — and I am ashamed to tell 

 how little some seasons ! 



I think it was about 1857, while' working with the bees, 

 a man drove np with a movable-comb hive, and as I did not 

 buy at once, he made me a present of a " right," if I would 

 buy or make a hive. I used King's for awhile, theu adopted 

 the Langstroth 9-frame. Like many others, I " Invented " (?) 

 hives of my own, and very nearly struck a good thing in mak- 

 ing the hive taller and using two small frames in the top for 

 surplus honey, getting near the section of later days. 



The seasons here have been very irregular — some extra 

 good, others equally poor, with the poor seasons In the ma- 

 jority. Three good seasons left me with over 100 colonies of 

 bees, and enough money in pocket to Induce me to give the 

 bees more attention ; but the extra-poor seasons came on — 

 one, two, three, four and five, all together — and I about de- 

 cided that this was a good place to " not keep bees," so I gave 

 away bees, and some died, till last spring I had 8 weak colo- 

 nies. Late in the spring came warm showers, and such breed- 

 ing of bees I never saw — every comb was full of young bees, 

 even to the outside, and last fall I had 30 strong colonies and 

 400 pounds of honey. 



Twenty-five years ago nearly every farmer had bees ; to- 

 day I know of four or five persons with bees within four miles 

 of me. The moth is very scarce now. I think they must fly 

 quite a distance, for when bees were plenty within one and 

 two miles, any comb left exposed was soon filled with worms ; 

 but comb left out last summer was not molested. 



In the many years' experience I think I have gathered a 

 great deal of wisdom, especially in the line of what I don't 

 know — in fact, I think I surpass Dr. Miller in not knowing. 



S. N. Black. 



Success is the title of the finest monthly magazine of 

 inspiration, encouragement, progress and self-help for young 

 people that is publlsht to-day. The price is §1.00 a year. 

 We can club it with the Bee Journal, both together for .$1.80. 

 If you wish to see a sample copy of Success before subscribing, 

 send 10 cents to The Success Co., Cooper Union, New York, 

 'N. Y., asking that a late copy be mailed you. We hope to 

 receive a large number of subscriptions for Success. You 

 can't do a better thing than to order it for a year as a gift to 

 some young person of your acquaintance. We have examined 

 the magazine carefully, and know whereof we speak. 



A New Binder for holding a year's numbers of the 

 American Bee Journal, we propose to mail, postpaid, to every 

 subscriber who sends us iiO cents. It is called "The Wood 

 Binder," is patented, and is an entirely new and very simple 

 arrangement. Full printed directions accompany each Binder. 

 Every reader should get it, and preserve the copies of the Bee 

 Journal as fast as they are received. They are invaluable for 

 reference, and at the low price of the Binder you can afford to 

 get It yearly. 



'*~*~^ 



Every Present Subscriber of the Bee Journal 

 should be an agent for it, and get all others possible to sub- 

 scribe for it. See offers on page 91. 



Report of the Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Cou- 



ventioH, Held in Chicago, Nov. 10 and 



11, 1897. 



KEPOETED BY A SPECIAL BEE JOURNAL KEPOKTEK. 



(Continued from page 118.) 



SECOND DAY— Forenoon Session. 



The convention was called to order by Pres. Miller at 9:30 

 o'clock, and the first question taken up read as follows : 



best bees for honet and premiums. 



"What class of bees are the best honey-gatherers, or 

 premium-takers at our fairs?" 



Mr. Whitcomb — Having been in charge of the apiarian de- 

 partment of Nebraska the past 14 years, I have taken pains 

 to follow this matter up pretty thoroughly. We offer in that 

 State a premium for the largest amount of honey stored by a 

 colony during a year, .§25, $15, $10, and $5, making four 

 premiums. This is verified under oath, showing how the colony 

 was wintered, what kind of a colony it was, how it was built 

 up, what the bees were, etc., and then a detailed account of 

 the amount of honey taken. These, together with the pre- 

 miums awarded on comb honey, etc., I have followed up, and 

 I find that in 99 cases out of 100 they have been taken by the 

 hyt;rid bees. We talk Italians in our apiaries and at home all 

 the year round, and then when we go to our State fairs we find 

 that the mixt blood has taken off the premium, producing the 

 better honey, storing more of it, etc. These matters are really 

 significant. While the Italian bee is nicer to handle, is less 

 easily alarmed, etc., and less pugnacious, at the same time we 

 find that something else is doing toe work everywhere. At 

 every turn we run across the hybrid bee. 



Pres. Miller — Would you advise, then, Mr. Whitcomb, that 

 we should try to keep none but hybrids ? 



Mr. Whitcomb — No, sir. I think that we must have Ital- 

 ians in order to get the good hybrids, that we must keep mix- 

 ing. If you let them run into hybrids, they will run out, and 

 get to be a small bee. I find no more trouble in handling the 

 hybrid bee than I do the Italian, only I find I need to take a 

 little more time for it. 



Pres. Miller — Don't you think that the man who tries to 

 keep up Italian blood will have all the hybrids he wants ? 



Mr. Whitcomb — Yes, sir. 



Pres. Miller — Isn't this true, too — you say that 99 out of 

 every 100 of the colonies are hybrids — 



Mr. Whitcomb — 99 per cent, of the premiums are taken 

 by hybrid colonies. 



Pres. Miller — Isn't it true that the hybrids so far outnum- 

 ber the pure steck, that we ought to expect them to take a 

 larger number of premiums? 



Mr. Whitcomb — With me they don't. In the 30 I have, 

 but two colonies are hybrids. 



Pres. Miller — I am not talking about you, but about bee- 

 keepers in general. 



Mr. Whitcomb — Among farmers and small bee-keepers 

 you find more hybrids than anything else. In Pennsylvania 

 this fall I found no pure Italians — what might be called pure 

 Italians — and I found them so cross that they would come out 

 in the road, before I got to the apiary, and meet me. 



Mr. Thompson — From your experience, do you get more 

 honey from your hybritis than from your Italians? 



Mr. Whitcomb — Yes, sir ; I get more honey, and a more 

 salable quality. 



Mr. Green — I wouldn't agree entirely with Mr. Whitcomb. 

 While I would admit that the hybrids are generally very good 

 workers, indeed, the largest yields I have ever had were from 

 pure Italians. 



Mr. Baxter — It depends on what you mean by quality. If 

 you are talking of comb honey, why, there might be the possi- 

 bility that the comb honey produced by the bright black bee 

 looks a little nicer than the honey produced by the Italian, but 

 when you come to the quality of the honey, I beg to differ 

 there. The quality of the honey produced by the Italian, if 

 anything. Is better than that produced by the black bee. That 

 is, the honey itself. The reason it looks better is, that the 



