THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



185 



The Rev. E. L. Brings gave an ad- 

 dress on the different varieties of 

 bees. .Vfter dest'iiliing the large bees 

 of .lava, tlie little stmgless bees of 

 South .\nieriea, the native black and 

 brown bees of Xnrth .Vinerica, ttie 

 Carniolan, Egyptian, Italian, ('vi>riaii, 

 and Syrian bees, he said that he pre- 

 ferred the pure Italians, which were 

 both prolilic and hardy. 



The liev. (). (Mute described his 

 method of wintering bees, and said : 

 I am carefnl to see that they have 

 honey enough in the fall ; as a rule, 25 

 lbs. is a large amount. Keep the bees 

 strong in the fall, but it is better for 

 them not to have any brood when you 

 move them into the cellar, for all the 

 young bees ought to have a fly before 

 puttiugtheni into the cellar. I give no 

 upward ventilation. I have shallow 

 trays made that lit over the hive ; tlie 

 bottoms of the hives are covered witli 

 muslin, and the trays are tilled with 

 sawdust. They are wintering very 

 good ; better than usual. I carry them 

 into the cellar after cold weather has 

 set in, but not too early in the season. 

 I then pile them from 8 to i feet high, 

 and put the lower row some distance 

 from the bottom of the cellar. The 

 chimney goes to the bottom of my cel- 

 lar, and the draught carries off all the 

 foul air. Iti my cellar the ground is 

 dry — the windows are covered to make 

 it dark ; but I have them so I can open 

 them, if I want to. 1 have a stove in 

 the cellar to keep the temperature be- 

 tween 40^ and 45°; they do not eat as 

 much honey at that temperature as 

 they would in a liigher one. 



Mr. Mead asked if there was any ob- 

 jection to putting the bees in a cellar 

 where there are vegetables V 



Mr. Clute said if the vegetables are 

 not decayed it will make no difference. 

 I leave the button open when I put 

 them into tlie cellar. 



Mr. T. G. Newman being called 

 on to give his views concerning the 

 best bees, said that the Italians no 

 doubt possessed many of the most val- 

 uable traits of character. What we 

 need is to "breed up," all the time 

 keeping our eye upon the characteris- 

 tics of " our ideal bee." To obtain 

 the best results, we must possess the 

 highest grade of bees that it is possi- 

 ble to obtain. Our object being to el- 

 evate the race, no deterioration should 

 be countenanced, and the most thor- 

 ough and rigid treatment must be em- 

 ployed, all looking to the building-up 

 of a strain of bees that will give the 

 test of results. 



The queen must be prolific to be able 

 to keep the hive full of bees, to gather 

 the honey harvest when it comes ; the 

 bees must be industrious to let nothing 

 escape their vigorous search while 



fathering tl;e sweet nectar ; they must 

 e docile to allow tlie apiarist to man- 

 ipulate them with ease and pleasure ; 

 they must be strong and hardy, to 

 withstand the rapid changes in cli- 

 mate ; and must be of singular beauty, 

 to attiract the admiration of the fan- 

 cier of fine stock. 



"The bee of the future" will be 

 present at the very moment when the 

 slumbering fiower, under the pene- 

 trating dew, awakes to consciousness, 

 and unfolds its buds to take in tlie 



first rays of the morning sun. The 

 ideal bee will dip into that tiny foun- 

 tain, which distills the honey drop by 

 drop, and bear otf its honcy<'d treas- 

 ure to its cells of virgin comb. 



In developing the highest strain of 

 horses, not all tlieir offspring are 

 equal to the best ; careful selection of 

 those coming tlie nearest to the ideal 

 animal must always be chosen, from 

 wliich to breed, and the closest scruti- 

 ny is necessary wliile making that se- 

 lection. The same is true of cattle, 

 sheep, hogs, poultry and bees. 

 " Sports " and " variations " continu- 

 ally occur, producing inferior progeny; 

 but all careful breeders who have an 

 eye to the improvement of the race, 

 will reject those that do not come up 

 to the " standard of excellence," send- 

 ing such animals and poultry to the 

 shambles — so let us carefully select 

 the best queens and drones to breed 

 from, and remorselessly sacrifice all 

 others. 



Rev, O. Clute spoke of the effort 

 being made to get a good exhibit at 

 the State Fair and suitable premiums 

 for honey exhibits. The present prem- 

 iums offered amount to about $175, 

 obtained largely through his efforts, 

 and he had strong hopes of succeed- 

 ing in obtaining a still larger amount 

 as an inducement to bee men to im- 

 prove the quantity and quality of the 

 exhibits. He also thought that the 

 bee-keeping industry could be made 

 of sufficient importance at the State 

 Fair to cause the Fair managers to 

 put up a separate building for that 

 department, when the Fair is made a 

 permanent institution. 



Adjourned to Saturday, at 10 a. m. 



On Saturday morning President 

 McCagg called the meeting to order 

 at 9:30 o'clock. Several communica- 

 tions were read, and among them was 

 one from Mr. .Jerome Twitchell, of 

 Kansas City, giving advice on ship- 

 ping honey. 



A model of a straw hive, made by a 

 Hollander, was presented to the So- 

 ciety by the Apiarian Supply Company 

 of Wilton, Iowa. 



Those who had articles on exhibi- 

 tion were eacli given five minutes to 

 describe them. 



Mr. Nagle then asked if bees are 

 short of stores at this time of the 

 year, what is best to feed them ? 



Mr. Wadsworth said he always kept 

 a few full frames of honey for that 

 purpose, and when a warm day came, 

 he took out an empty frame and put 

 in the full one. 



Mr. Nagle thinks it is best not to 

 disturb bees in the winter. 



Mr. Gast thinks that feeding rock 

 candy is good. 



Mr. Younkin says he feeds taffy 

 made of honey stired in with pow- 

 dered sugar pretty stiff, and put it on 

 the top of the frames. 



The members then went in a- body 

 to the Academy of Sciences, as per 

 invitation, when the little straw hive 

 before memtioned, was presented to 

 the Academy of Sciences by the asso- 

 ciation ; Mr. E. L. Briggs making the 

 presentation address. Mr. H. C. Ful- 

 ton, President of the Academy, re- 

 plied in a few well-selected words of 

 welcome and thanks. Mr. T. G. 



Newman, being called on, made a few 

 appropriate remarks. Mr. K. L. 

 Briggs said that he would present to 

 the Academy a model hive, with all 

 the modern imjirovenients, topiit with 

 the more-ancient straw hive, and 

 show by contrast the advancement 

 made in' apiculture. 

 Adjourned to 2 p. m. 



The afternoon session was called to 

 order at 2 p. m. by President Mc("agg. 

 The minutes of the former meetings 

 were read and approved. 



Mr. Kimball said he thought some 

 of the most important things have 

 been overlooked, such as introducing 

 queens, fertile workers and foul 

 IJrood. One of the members has foul 

 brood in his apiary. I would like to 

 know the cure and preventive. 



Mr. Goos said, burn the hive. 



Mr. Briggs said, it was probably 

 brought about by introducing a queen 

 or buying a nucleus, and unless some- 

 thing is done it will spread ; the only 

 way to cure it is to burn the hives and 

 contents. It can be cured, but only 

 with the greatest of care. 



Mr. Kimball said that some one had 

 shipped bees here that had it. 



Mr. Carpenter : Some persons told 

 me not to say that we had foul brood. 

 We have our bees in a clamp, and they 

 cannot get out ; if they have it, I shall 

 burn every one. 



Pres. McCagg: Has your neighbor 

 the same opinion of foul brood that 

 you have ? 



Mr. Carpenter : Yes, sir ; he says he 

 will burn every one. Some bees were 

 sent here from" Illinois, four years ago, 

 that had foul brood, but they were 

 cured . 



Mr. Briggs thought it was handed 

 down from them. 



Mr. Gast : I was in Clinton 16 years 

 ago, and saw foul brood there, and it 

 was spreading about Lyon, and even 

 across the river, to Fulton. The cell 

 is somewhat sunken with a small hole 

 in the centre ; you can tell it by the 

 smell. 



Mr. Nagle : I would like to say that 

 our committee have been invited to 

 hold their meeting at the Academy of 

 Sciences, and if we send flowers or 

 birds they can be identified there. 



It was "decided to hold all meetings 

 between now and the next annual 

 meeting at the Academy. 



According to the programme, Mr. 

 T. G. Newman then gave alecturefor 

 an hour, on the necessity for provid- 

 ing bee pasturage. He described the 

 advancement of the art of bee-keep- 

 ing from its earliest date, and said 

 that the unfolding of each invention 

 was the result of the necessity for its 

 existence. The woodman's axe had 

 felled the trees, and the march of civ- 

 ilization had destroyed the wild flow- 

 ers, from which the bees formerly 

 gathered their stores— now it became 

 a necessity that bee-keepi^-s must sup- 

 ply the want, and provide pasturage 

 for the bees, if they would have the 

 best results. This subject was of im- 

 mense importunce, because if we 

 failed to provide the bloom, the bees 

 could not gather the honey, and the 

 golden dollars would not glide into 

 the pockets of bee-keepers, by the sale 

 of that sweet article of commerce. 



