676 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



udge of foreign 

 races of bees ; it certainly was very 

 difficult to determine. 



Dr. Slade would like for Mr. 

 Thompson to state the difference in 

 marks, if he could, and to describe the 

 pure Svrian and Cyprian bees. 



Geo.Thompson said that Mr. Iled- 

 don was quite changeable; he once 

 said as much against the Italian bees 

 as he now does against the Syrians. 



L. II. Scudder suggested that per- 

 sonalities should be omitted. 



E. J. Oatman : The cross between 

 the Italian and Syrian bees is not the 

 bee of the future. Syrian bees are 

 good workers, but there were serious 

 objections to tliem. He had 4 colonies 

 of Syrians which gave 1,100 pounds of 

 comb honey— they were the lirst cross 

 with Italians. The second cross were 

 not over the average as workers. He 

 did not want them and would give 

 them all to Mr. Thompson, if he 

 wanted them. 



T. G. Newman asked if the cross 

 was made by having Italian drones 

 fertilize Syrian queens, or vice versa f 



E. J. Oatman: They were Syrian 

 queens fertilized by Italian drones. 



Dr. Slade said his Syrian-Italians 

 were very cross, and he did not like 

 them. Early breeding was important 

 to get ready "for the white clover har- 

 vest, where they have one. 



VV. II. Balch : The best queens I 

 liave are those that were reared late 

 in the fall. Their bees are the best 

 for honey-gathering during the follow- 

 ing summer. 



James Ileddon : Late breeding is 

 not the cause of spring dwindling, but 

 is an aggravation of the disease. I 

 own up to the charge that I am 

 changeable ; if I were not, I should 

 know but little. I believe that the 

 brown German bees, crossed with the 

 leather-colored Italians, are the best 

 lionev-gatherers. 



E.J. Oatman : We have found the 

 half-bloods (Syrians fertilized by Ital- 

 ian drones) gave us the most honey. 

 The quarter-bloods are no better than 

 others ; but these crosses are vicious. 

 One colony of them, at the close of 

 the white clover season drove me out 

 of the apiary, in spite of smoker, etc. 

 I took them to an outside apiary and 

 shall let them remain there until next 

 spring, when 1 shall destroy them. 

 They do not cap the honey so that it 

 will'look as white and nice as I want. 

 When I put it on the market, it is 

 worth from 2 to 5 cents per pound 

 under price. The bees do not stay on 

 the combs as well as Italians, either. 



Mr. Gray said that his neighbor, 

 Mr. Miller, had 1,000 lbs. of honey in 

 the comb on Water St., and he could 

 take any one and point out all the 

 honey gathered and capped by the 

 Syrians. He agreed with Mr. Oatman. 



President Miller : As they gather 

 so fast, do you not obtain enough 

 honey to more than counter-balance 

 the loss in price V 



E. J. Oatman: No; it will not 

 make up the loss in price when we 

 market our honey. They are so cross, 

 that I don't want thein at all. 



Geo. Thompson : Some are cross, 

 but I breed from the less irritable 

 colonies. I have not noticed the dif- 



ference in the marketability of the 

 honey. 



H. W. Funk: I have tried them, 

 and don't want the Syrian bees. 



Dr. Stevenson : I had a lot of sec- 

 tions prepared for an exhibit at the 

 Fair, but when I was ready to crate 

 them for the fair, I found that, in 

 about one-third of the sections, the 

 cappings were so imperfect that the 

 honey was exuding through them, but 

 in this case the colony that gathered 

 and capped the honey was a black one. 

 Why was this so in one-third, and not 

 so in all V 



Geo. Thompson: What was the 

 temperature of the room V 



Dr. Stevenson : It is the same place 

 that I keep all my honey. I don't 

 know what the temperature was. 



Mr. Gray : The honey gathered by 

 the Syrians looks dark as soon as 

 taken off the hive. 



J. K. Snyder: Some of the honey 

 gathered by the Italians also has this 

 watery appearance. 



James Ileddon : If the honey is 

 kept in a room where the atmosphere 

 is cooler than it is outside, it will draw 

 water like an ice pitcher does— we 

 call it "sweating." The blacks 

 make the best combs, thinner and 

 whiter than any other bees, but wlien 

 any race is shown to have honey of an 

 inferior quality it is proof that they 

 are not as good. 



Geo. Thompson : Does it not de- 

 pend on the season? When the honey 

 comes in with a rush, do they not lill 

 the cells too full ? 



E. J. Oatman : I think the rush 

 has no effect on the bees ; last year 

 the honey flow was slow, but we had 

 the same result with the honey. 



Adjourned to 2 p.m. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Met at 2 p. m., and the election of 

 officers was then proceeded with, the 

 result being as follows: 



President— T>i: C. C. Miller. 

 Vice-President— James Ileddon. 

 Secretary — Thomas G. Newman. 

 Treasurer— O. O. Poppleton. 



The subject of over-stocking a lo- 

 cality was then discussed. 



Pies. Miller: One year my bees in- 

 creased from 1.50 to 2.50 by July 1st, 

 and then the honey flow stopped ; 

 why, I do not know. I would give 

 considerable to know how many colon- 

 ies I can keep in one locality. 



E. J. Oatman: I have no fears of 

 overstocking a locality during a yield 

 of honey, but in the fall 100 colonies 

 is sutlicient for any locality. 



James Marvin once had 650 colonies 

 in one location, four feet apart, and 

 obtained a good yield, but they had 

 never done so well since, because the 

 basswood and other trees were felled 

 and cut up by saw mills, that had been 

 established in his locality, and conse- 

 quently the honey yield had been cut 

 off, to a very great extent. He had 

 seen the time when the clover, after 

 the thirteenth day of its bloom, had 

 yielded honey 'so profusely that the 

 locality could not be overstocked, but 

 now the same locality would be over- 



stocked by .50 colonies. One of his 

 apiaries, containing 140 colonies, had 

 increased to 2.50, and given 7,.500 lbs. 

 of honey — some of it being comb. 



Pres. Miller said that D. D. Palmer 

 once said he could keep 400 colonies in 

 one locality and not overstock it. 



L. II. Scudder: Mr. Palmer had 

 200 colonies in one apiary, and ob- 

 tained an average of 400 lbs. to the 

 colony, spring count, but he after- 

 wards lost all of them by neglect. I 

 lived five miles from liim, and had 

 only 100 colonies, but fell some short 

 of his average. 



George Thompson : Much depends- 

 on tlie man, the season and location. 

 In my location 35 colonies is usually 

 sufficient, but this year 1,000 colonies 

 could have done well there. 



P. Dahl took some of his colonies to 

 his neighbors' buckwheat, but he 

 could see no difference between them 

 and those he left at home. Where .50 

 colonies starved one season. 1,000 could 

 not have overstocked the same loca- 

 tion this year. It all depends on the 

 season. 



Planting Pasturage for Bees. 



Pres. Miller : This leads us to a 

 very interesting subject, that of plant- 

 ing for honey, and one that I want to 

 know much about. I am willing to 

 spend money and the labor of plant- 

 ing, if I can know just what to sow to 

 make it pay, and return me money for 

 my outlay. 



James Marvin advised all to plant 

 for honey, and especially recom- 

 mended the planting of alsike and 

 buckwheat for bees. 



Pres. Miller said that there was one 

 drawback to the planting of alsike— it 

 did not re-seed itself ; it often died 

 out. He had tried to propagate it and 

 failed. 



G. L. Gast had planted a small patch 

 with alsike, and it yielded hay as 

 well as honey— better "hay than timo- 

 thy and clover— and last year it has 

 re-seeded Itself. 



O. O. Poppleton had been told that 

 alsike was considered by some to be a 

 pest— that it would not permit any- 

 thing else to grow, but he did not be- 

 lieve it. He had tried cutting it when 

 it commenced to bloom, in order to 

 have tlie second growth yield honey 

 just after white clover ceased to be 

 visited by the bees. This year, he in- 

 tended.to plant 20 acres or more of his 

 farm to plants yielding honey alone. 



Dr. Slade had some experience with 

 melilot or sweet clover. The bees 

 were working on it now. It had been 

 browsed down by cattle and the sec- 

 ond growth was yielding honey to-day. 



T. G. Newman said that many of 

 those present would remember, only a 

 few years ago, when the question was 

 aske"d at conventions and in bee pa- 

 pers : " Will it pay to plant for honey 

 alone V " and the" universal answer 

 was, " No ; plant only such as will be 

 of value for honey and other things, 

 such as fruit trees, berry shrubs, clov- 

 ers, etc.'" But some three years ago, 

 the Bee Journal, of which he was 

 editor, as all were aware- took a de- 

 parture and advised the planting of 

 melilotus alba or sweet clover for honey 

 alone. Though it was, up to that 



