THE AMERICAJS BEE JOURNAL. 



327 



J. II. Jones : Weak colonies mnst 

 be cured for. I am .stronjrly in favor 

 of blanketing anil closing' down to 

 four or live frames early in the spring. 

 A. A. Baldwin: I think all that is 

 needed in the spring is to see that the 

 bees h.tve i)lenty of stores within reach 

 of the cluster at all times ; and then 

 leave them alone, and they will pre- 

 pare themselves for summer work. 

 The bees that I moved from New 

 Vork last fall were wintered in the 

 cellar. When spring came I tucked 

 all but 4 with blankets. Those which 

 I left alone are as far advanced as the 

 others. 1 have bad 4 of those first 

 mentioned swarm out and desert the 

 hive. I would repeat that plenty of 

 stores close to the cluster and brood, 

 is about all the spring management 

 bees require. 



L. W. Baldwin : I think a weak col- 

 ony is better off closed down to two 

 or three frames. Do not be in a hurry 

 to spread them out. Wait till they are 

 crowded before giving more room. 



P. Baldwin : I believe that a colony 

 which has been wintered on the sum- 

 mer stand will be more gritty, and will 

 build up quicker and get strong, and 

 ready for the honey harvest sooner 

 than one wintered in the cellar. I ad- 

 vocate uniting all weak colonies. 



Mr. J. F.Myers, of Wyandotte. Kas.: 

 I believe in putting "on quilts and 

 keeping the bees shut down close. Do 

 not give them any more space than 

 they can occupy. I think it better to 

 build up all the weak colonies. I often 

 find them as profitable for honey as 

 some that are strong in early spring. 



A. A. Baldwin : I do not double 

 them up till later in the spring. Wait 

 till they are gaining fast in numbers 

 then select the best queen, kill the 

 other, put two together. and then they 

 will go ahead and make a strong colo- 

 ny that will pay better than the two 

 which are weak. 



J. D. ileador: My experience is 

 that it pays better at the end of the 

 season to build up all weak colonies. 

 I think I make more in that way than 

 I would by uniting them. I am satis- 

 fied that a large amount of the fussing 

 and fooling done with bees in the 

 spring is unnecessary. The main 

 thing is a close hive and plenty of 

 stores that the bees can get at in all 

 weather. 



The next subject was, " What is the 

 best management to prevent too much 

 swarming."' 



A. A. Baldwin : My plan is : wait 

 until the colony is nearly ready to 

 swarm, then take away the old queen 

 and either kill her, or give her about 

 a quart of bees, and frames of founda- 

 tion. If you desire increase, that 

 would be the best way to get it. Then 

 give the colony a cell and let them 

 rear a young queen. They seldom 

 swarm with a young queen. 



J. F. Myers : Plenty of room will 

 prevent swarming, in a great measure. 

 It cannot entirely be prevented. 



P. Baldwin : I have tried Doolittle's 

 plan and it failed. Bees in Xew York 

 are not like western bees ; ours have 

 broader views ; are more like the in- 

 habitants; have more enterprise and 

 go-aheaditiveness. My method to pre- 

 vent too much increase is, to let the 



olonies all swarm once ; put two or 

 three swarms into one hive, and 

 put on all the sections they can occu- 

 py. I cannot prevent swarming, but I 

 can prevent too much increase. 



The next question was. " Which is 

 the better method of increase, divid- 

 ing or swarming V 



L. W. Baldwin : I am strongly op- 

 posed to dividing. It is strictly opposed 

 to nature. A colony of bees knows 

 better than we when it is ready to 

 swarm. A colony left to swarm "nat- 

 urally will begin" to build comb 3 or 4 

 days sooner than one which is made 

 by dividing. Then another strong 

 argument against it is: A man will 

 double up his bees and if from any 

 cause tlie flow of honey should cease, 

 he would be left with all his bees, or a 

 great many of them, in a starving con- 

 dition. 



J. W. Hart: I do not believe that 

 one can become well enough skilled so 

 as to know just when to divide a col- 

 ony, and have it go ahead like one that 

 chooses its own time and gets ready in 

 its own way. I have tried both meth- 

 ods and have come to the conclusion 

 that the best way is to let nature take 

 its course. 



P. Baldwin : I have tried all the 

 new theories that have been advanced. 

 I am strongly in favor of natural 

 swarming. 



J. F. Myers : I am an advocate of 

 dividing. It is the only safe way of 

 guarding against swarms going to the 

 woods. I start nuclei early in the sea- 

 son and rear queens to give the old 

 colony; for it will swarm and become 

 so light in bees, that, at times, I would 

 hive to strengthen it. 



A vote was taken on the question 

 which resulted in a majority of 4 to 1 

 in favor of natural swarming. 



" Which is the best plan of rearing 

 queens V" 



Jas. A. Nelson : 1 think queens 

 reared in good nuclei, are in every 

 respect equal to those reared in 

 full colonies. Those queens reared 

 early in the season, or late in the fall, 

 may not be so good. 



J. C. Batch : I am satisfied that 

 queens reared in nuclei are superior, 

 or at least ought to be, to others; for 

 you have a chance to rear from the 

 best colonies. 



A. A. Baldwin : I am satisHed that 

 a queen is far better reared in a full 

 colony with the natural impulse of 

 swarming, than one reared in a small 

 nucleus. I have bought a great many 

 forced queens, or queens not reared 

 under the swarming impulse, and 

 never had one to live more than 6 

 months. I would rather pay S3 for a 

 queen reared naturally than $1 for a 

 forced queen. 



P. Baldwin : I think a queen reared 

 in a capped cell taken from a full col- 

 ony is as good as any, no matter where 

 reared or hatched. 



J. W. Hart : I know that a queen 

 reared from a cell that was capped in 

 a full colony, is just as good, if 

 reared in a small nucleus, as if it had 

 been left to hatch in the parent colony. 



J. II. .lones made a strong argument 

 in favor of queens reared naturally. 



A. A. Baldwin : I have always no- 

 ticed that a cell produced in a full col- 



ony has plenty of food left in the base 

 of it; while a cell produced in a nucleus 

 IS generally left without any. 



Adjourned till 7:80 p. m. 



At 7:80 the meeting was called to 

 order by Vice-President Young. The 

 Secretary was ordered to have 500 cop- 

 ies of the constitution and by-laws 

 printed and distributed. A motion 

 was carried that the President appoint 

 two committees on the fall meeting of 

 the association. 



The convention then took up the 

 question of the relative proHt of pro- 

 ducing comb and extracted honey. 



Mr. P. Baldwin said that he had al- 

 ways produced comb honey, and of 

 course he knew but little oif the rela- 

 tive profits of the two. 



L. W. Baldwin : I extracted 2,000 to 

 4,000 lbs. each year and am strongly in 

 favor of comb honey for profit and 

 quick sales. When my comb honey is 

 all sold I have the most of the extracted 

 on hand. That has been my experi- 

 ence, and I am bothered to sell the 

 extracted. I think more bees die from 

 the use of the extractor than from any 

 other cause. Bee-keepers will extract 

 late and the consequence is, bees go 

 into winter ciuarters with unsealed 

 honey, it sours and causes disease, 

 when if sealed stores had been left 

 them to winter on, they would have 

 done well. 



J. H. Jones : I am of the same 

 opinion as Mr. Baldwin. I think of 

 giving away my extractor. I think it 

 would be money in my pocket to never 

 use one again. 



Dr. J. G. Meador: I produce ex- 

 tracted honey exclusively; have no 

 trouble to sell it. I can dispose of the 

 extracted as soon as I could the same 

 amount of comb honey. The most of 

 my customers would rather have it, at 

 the same price. I believe I can get 3 

 pounds of extracted to one of comb. 



W. B. Thome : I have found it 

 more profitable to produce extracted 

 honey. It is easier handled, less 

 trouble to store it, and quick sales. I 

 could always sell my extracted honey 

 as fast as the comb. The most of my 

 customers take the extracted in pref- 

 erence to comb honey if put up in 

 glass. I think that is the only way to 

 put up honey to sell direct to the con- 

 sumer. 



E. J. ]5axter, of Xauvoo, 111., said 

 that lie had handled a large amount of 

 both comb and extracted honey, and 

 that there was more money in the ex- 

 tracted. A good colony will produce 

 three times as much extracted as comb 

 honey, in 2- lb. sections. Last year he 

 prodiiced 2.100 lbs. and had no trouble 

 to sell it. 



J. W. Hart : I think that the best 

 results can not be obtained from either 

 one by itself, but recommend that a 

 bee-keeper must produce both in order 

 to make a success of the business. 



Adjourned till Friday morning 9:30 

 a. m. 



The convention was called to order 

 at 9::i0 a. m. by the Vice-President. 



The first question : "Is the traffic 

 in the dollar-(|ueeus any benefit to the 

 bee-business V" 



P. ]5aldwin : I do not use dollar- 

 queens, and I am not in favor of the 

 traflic. 



