April 6, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



213 



Report of the Chicag-o Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



BY A SHORTHAND KEPORTEK. 



[Continued from pagre 1*^8.] 



WHY BETTER QUEEN REARED IN STRONG COLONY ? 



OuES. — Why is a queen better when reared in a strong- 

 colony than in a very small one ? 



Dr. Miller — When I first commenced keeping bees I 

 learned that you could rear queens in a small nucleus, and I 

 took all the advantage of that I could, and reared queens in 

 a nucleus of one frame, sometimes, and only a few bees. I 

 would not give you a cent a bushel for the kind of queens I 

 reared then. I'll tell you of one I reared, a queen that laid 

 one egg and then died ; that one egg was reared in a queen- 

 cell ; either the bees or she knew that she was not of mucli 

 account. I am not sure whether I can fully answer the 

 question. I suppose one of the reasons that a queen is bet- 

 ter when reared in a strong colony than in a small one. is 

 that in a strong colony the young- larva has all the food it 

 needs, all the heat and care it needs, and in a weak nucleus 

 it may be chilled and fall short of provision. I think the 

 feeding perhaps is the greater part of it. 



Mr. Moore — Why is the queen b(^tter fed in a strong 

 colony ? Do you mean that a little nucleus of three or four 

 thousand bees won't feed one queen ? * 



Dr. Miller — That is not so very little, you know. It 

 does seem that if there are three or four thousand bees, 

 there ought to be enough — the fact is, they don't feed tlie 

 royal larva as profuselj' as a strong colony does. 



HONEY-DEW IN COOK COUNTY. 



QuES. — How many Cook County bee-keepers g-ot honey- 

 dew this season? [4.] 



Dues. — How many Cook County bee-keepers here got 

 no honey-dew this season ? [10.] 



Oues. — How many Cook County bee-keepers got no 

 honey at all. [1.] 



Mr. Crego — I had quite a good many sections this year 

 very well filled, in which the honey was a kind of brown 

 color ; it was stored about the time that intervened between 

 the storing of the honey-dew and the first of the sweet 

 clover, and I have never been able to settle definitely in my 

 mind what that was ; some of it had a few cells of black 

 honey-dew, but more of the sections were all filled by a 

 brownish-colored honey ; I would like to know if possible 

 ■what it is. 



Dr. Miller — It is just possible it might have been even 

 then a mixture of honey-dew, with white honey. 



Mr. Crego — It was of fairly good flavor — had none of 

 the strong, disagreeable taste of honey-dew. 



Dr. Miller — There is a great difference between the 

 taste of honey-dew, and honey which has more or less 

 honey-dew in it. I had some honey this year that had only 

 a little honey-dew in it, and it was really of good flavor — I 

 am not sure but what some would like it better than the 

 pure white honey. Suppose you should put some meat on 

 your plate, and there is no salt on it, and you empty the 

 salt-cellar on 3'our meat, you don't like it, but you do like a 

 little salt. Sometimes you may have a certain kind of 

 honey with a very strong flavor, and it may be honey-dew. 

 and you don't like it. but you like the flavor when there is 

 little of it. I had that kind and I thought it was quite good. 

 Honey-dew varies decidedly ; I have had some not fit to eat 

 at all. but what I had this year was of rather good flavor ; 

 some of it tastes as much like brown sugar as anj-thing ; I 

 am using it now in coffee in preference to sugar. 



QuES. — What can honey-dew be used for that is quite 

 strong ? 



Dr. Miller — I suppose honey-dew, even if it is quite 

 strong, will rear good bees for one thing ; and I want to say 

 that you don't use enough honey for rearing- bees. In the 

 spring of the year, if you have some honey-dew, you can 

 feed it to the bees ; j'ou might just as well have that amount 

 of white honej- given back to you; if you don't, there are 

 vacant cells and combs in the hives, and before they put a 

 bit in the supers they are going to fill up their brood-combs, 

 and they will fill up with that white honey. 



Cues. — Will they use mucli of it in the spring ? 



Dr. Miller — A fair amount. Then this will also make 

 pretty good vinegar. I would count it as profitable as anj'- 

 thing, if you have room for it, to have it turned into the 

 bees. 



APIS DORS.4.TA AND OTHER BEES. 



Cues. — Which is the best bee, the Italian or the Apis 

 dorsata, for the United States ? 



Dr. Miller — I dare not say. The Apis dorsata is the 

 larger bee, next to the largest ; I believe they have a larger 

 size. A good deal has been said about this bee, and a great 

 many bee-keepers are quite anxious that the Government 

 should introduce it into this country. 



QuES. — How large is the bee ? 



Dr. Miller — I think it is something like the size of a 

 small-size bumble-bee. I have heard that it is half as large 

 again as our regular Italian ; my impression is that that is 

 not far out of the way. A peculiarity is that the drones and 

 workers are reared in the same size cells, the drones being 

 as small as the workers. Apis dorsata are very large bees, 

 and the thought is if we can g-et them into this country 

 they will work on red clover ; red clover j'ieldslots of honey, 

 but our bees don't get much of it. Get the Apis dorsata 

 here with its long tongue, and it is thoug-ht it will work on 

 the red clover. The trouble is Apis dorsata has never 

 been domesticated in its own country. Only a few days 

 ago I saw a letter from a man in the Philippine Islands, 

 and he said owhere he was they only staid six months in 

 the northern part, and then migrated and staid six months 

 in the southern part. They build a single large comb on a 

 tree. Another man said he had seven large colonies, and 

 the bees left one after another until the queen was left 

 almost alone, and then deserted. A man who wrote about 

 them down in Louisana, says it is too cold for them there. 

 I am anxious that they should be brought here, but if they 

 should get in this country and be acclimated, I don't see 

 that there would be any g-ain if they cannot be domesti- 

 cated ; they would simply use some of the nectar that our 

 bees get, and we would be so much worse off. 



PROSPECTS IN ILLINOIS POR 1899. 



QuES. — What are the prospects in Illinois for the next 

 summer ? 



Dr. Miller — In bee-keeping the prospects for next sea- 

 son are always good. I never knew a time yet when bee- 

 keepers, no matter how dire the failure was, did not look 

 forward with the hope that they would have a good season 

 next year. I will say this, that in my locality I never saw 

 white clover more plentiful than it is now, and last year 

 white clover was very plenty. There is this dift'erence be- 

 tween this year and last year : in the fall the clover was 

 burned down to the ground. You would have to get down 

 almost on your hands and knees to find where it was. The 

 roots were "there. This year it is green and bright all over 

 the ground, so that if there is any difference there is better 

 prospect this time than last year. 



SIZE OF ENTRANCE FOR STRONG COLONY. 



QuES. — Are there any objections to allowing strong 

 colonies with plenty of stores a full one-inch opening at the 

 entrance ? 



Dr. Miller — A strong colony in the honey season will 

 bear more than an inch entrance. I would like if I could 

 have a two-inch entrance to my hives in the honey-season, 

 only that you cannot have too much space under the bottom- 

 bars or they will build down : there is no objection to a 

 strong colony having a one-inch entrance. 



LONGEVITY AND PROLIFICNESS. 



A Member — The general discussions in the Bee Journal 

 seem to have a tendencj' to speak of the length of the 

 tongue as being the gauge of capacity, and that with a 

 long tongue bees can get honey from red clover. Would it 

 not be a better idea for the queen-breeders to run on the 

 strength of the bees' wings rather than on the length of 

 the tongue — to rear a bee with stronger wing, so that they 

 won't wear out so easily ? If the bee lives twice as long 

 j'ou can cut down your force one-half. 



Dr. Miller— "Your idea is longevity of the bee ; that has 

 been advocated, and with good reason. For instance, here 

 is one colony that will always be full of bees, and will have 

 a big lot of brood ; here is another that never has a very 

 large amount of brood, but a good force of workers. The 

 first uses a large portion of its honey in rearing young bees. 

 If you can have longer-lived bees there is a very decided 

 advantage. 



