THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



285 



be replied, that his bees bec.ime good- 

 mannered in proportion to tlieir Ital- 

 ian blood, and ^ice versa. 



It was askf d, " Can we, by the co- 

 rn ingling of races and careful selec- 

 tion, reach the ' coming bee ?' " Judge 

 Andrews said he would try to give 

 his " say " on that subject in his essay 

 on the coming bee, that aint coming. 



Convention adjourned till '2 p. m. 



FIKST DAY— AFTERNOON SESSION. 



An essay of B. F. Carroll, of Dres- 

 den, Navarro county, was read by the 

 secretary. 



[I will send it as soon as transcript 

 is obtained. — Sec] 



Judge Andrews was asked if he 

 could approve Mr. Carroll on the bee 

 moth V To which he replied that he 

 could not ; that the so-called bee moth, 

 more properly the comb woi-m, is not 

 an enemy to the bee ; that no colony 

 of bees was ever destroyed by the bee- 

 moth larvse ; they never infest combs 

 used by the bees ; that abandoned 

 combs only became a prey to those 

 worms. He was then asked why the 

 books taught this fallacy V To which 

 he replied that our books do not all 

 teach it ; that they had been read 

 through the " glasses " of a barbarian 

 tradition; he then opened Quinby's 

 New Bee-Keeping, page 228, and read 

 as follows : " Let it be distinctly un- 

 derstood by all beginners that the 

 moth is not the cause of the decline of 

 a once healthy stock. It simply takes 

 advantage of the weakness induced by 

 other causes." 



Dr. Howard said that the so-called 

 bee moth subsisted wholly upon the 

 comb as constructed by the bees; that 

 foundation made from pure wax was 

 not attacked ; that comb constructed 

 upon it was infested only for the sake 

 ot the additional natural comb. He 

 said that Judge Andrews called his 

 attention to this a year ago, in a re- 

 mark that the moth larvai could not 

 subsist upon pure beeswax. 



M. H. Davis, of Grayson county, 

 asked if these worms could subsist 

 upon bee- bread ? 



Judge Andrews said bethought not, 

 but could not speak from a satisfac- 

 tory trial. 



Dr. Howard said, that they could 

 not ; that they must have comb. 



J. H. Manlove, of Fannin county, 

 asked, " How long do fertile workers 

 liveY" Dr. Marshall said, that he 

 thought they partook of the nature 

 and longevity of the queen ; that in 

 their development they, perhaps, ob- 

 tained a portion of royal jelly, the 

 food intended for the queen larvae, 

 which caused a greater development 

 of the reproduction organs. Judge 

 Andrews thought that laying workers 

 live just as long as other worker-bees. 



Is there more than one fertile 

 worker in a hive at one time, was 

 asked ? 



Dr. Marshall said, that the number 

 of eggs were not more than would be 

 laid by one queen, but the manner in 

 which they were deposited indicated 

 the work of a plurality of fertile 

 workers. 



Judge Andrews said, that he had 

 seen six workers laying eggs in one 

 comb, at the same time. 



Can we know when a hive is in- 

 fested with fertile workers without 

 opening it, was asked 'f 



Dr. Howard said, that the appear- 

 ance of dwarfed drones was evidence. 

 Judge Andrews said, that unfertilized 

 laying queens would produce dwarfed 

 drones the same as fertile workers 

 winild. 



It was asked, " Is there any differ- 

 ence in the appearance of the eggs of 

 a fertile workers and those of fertile 

 queens V" 



Dr. Howard said, there was no dif- 

 ference, except that the workers de- 

 posited a multitiide of eggs in one 

 cell, and that often without changing 

 her position ; and again, they are at- 

 tached carelessly along the cell-walls 

 from extremity to base. 



What is the best method to get rid 

 of fertile workers, was asked by Judge 

 Goodner 'f 



Dr. Marshall said, give the colony 

 a fertile queen. Judge Andrews ap- 

 proved the Doctor's plan, but pre- 

 ferred to give small quantities of 

 young worker brood, at short inter- 

 vals, and a young queen will soon suc- 

 ceed the worker pests. 



Horace Welch, of Marion county, 

 asked how long .worker-bees live y 

 Judge Andrews said they live 75 days 

 in this latitude, the average life. 



Will it pay to plant here, for honey, 

 asked by Dr. Marshall ? This was 

 considered, by the convention, an 

 important subject, and deserved our 

 best attention ; but as the secretary 

 announced that an essay upon this 

 subject was soon to be read, the mat- 

 ter was dropped. 



Then came the question, by E. P. 

 Massey, of Waco, will bees do as well 

 in dense shade as they will where the 

 sun reaches them most of the day ¥ 



Judge Andrews said, that the ques- 

 tion embodied the extremes, that in 

 the sun would be preferable in the 

 early part of the season, and shade 

 during July, August and September; 

 that he preferred the sun to shine 

 upon the hive till 9 o'clock a. m. and 

 after 4 o'clock p. m. 



What one fact, if generally known, 

 would advance the cause of bee-cul- 

 ture more than any other, not now so 

 known, was asked by Judge An- 

 drews ¥ 



Dr. Howard said, that one of the 

 greatest stumbling stones was the 

 common idea that " bees work for 

 nothing and board themselves." 



Dr. Marshall thought that if the 

 masses could be taught that honey is 

 purely a wholesome and health-giving 

 diet, while the fine, extravagantly 

 high-priced syrups of to-day are a 

 chemical compound, contaminated 

 with glucose, which is daily under- 

 mining the health of the people ; that 

 the demand for pure honey would so 

 exceed the supply, that many more 

 persons capable of cultivating bees, 

 would be induced to fall into our 

 ranks. 



Judge Andrews thought that the 

 greatest drawback to the growth of 

 this great source of wealth, health 

 and pleasure, is the fear of the sting; 

 tliat if the people could be taught that 

 by the judicious use of the " smoker " 

 the caiise for this palsying horror can 



be banished forever, that thousands of 

 the brightest sons and daughters of 

 Adam, that are now out in the cold 

 world, would be brought happily into 

 our fold. 



Mr. W. T. Pryor, of Farmersville, 

 wished to know the proper time to 

 transfer bees from box hives. Mr. 

 W. R. Graham, of Greenville, an- 

 swered, " Whenever you find them in 

 box hives." 



Dr. Howard said, " Bro. Graham, 

 you handle that subject most admir- 

 ably." 



Dr. Marshall said that during fruit- 

 bloom was the time usually chosen, 

 and he thought there were many good 

 reasons for it. 



The president appointed W. K. 

 Marshall, G. K. Cooper and T. C. 

 Goodner committee on resolutions, 

 and W. R. Howard, H. Pearce and E. 

 M. Wise committee on apiarian sup- 

 plies and exhibits. 



Adjourned till 9 o'clock, second day. 



MORNING SESSION— SECOND DAY. 



Dr. Marshall read an essay on " Ex- 

 tracted honey." 



[Will send essay on when I get a 

 transcript. — Sec] 



H. VVelch asked, " When bees 

 gather pollen are they likely gather- 

 ing honey ?" 



Dr. Howard responded that many 

 plants yield pollen when there is no 

 lionev to be gathered ; not being se- 

 creted by the flowers, at such times 

 the bees gather pollen alone. 



H. Pearceasked, " Is a superabund- 

 ance of pollen in a hive, in the spring, 

 detrimental to bees i"' 



Judge Andrews replied, that there 

 is no such thing as superabundance of 

 pollen, in the South. 



Judge Goodner asked, " Do any 

 benefits accrue from natural swarm- 

 ing that cannot be secured by artifi- 

 cial swarming or dividing y" 



Dr. Marshall said, that he had in- 

 creased successfully by dividing, but 

 that when the production of lioney is 

 the object, natural swarming is pref- 

 erable ; division is often attended 

 with losses that ordinary foresight 

 would not anticipate. 



Judge Andrews said, that there 

 were thrift and vigor attending nat- 

 ural swarming that could not be had 

 in dividing; a new swarm does a land- 

 office business ; artificial swarms never 

 get ready for our harvest, the horse- 

 mint ; they do not have just such a 

 point in the North. 



Mr. A. R. White, of Dallas county, 

 inquired, " Can horsemint be culti- 

 vated here with profit V 



Dr. Howard said, that it could be 

 cultivated with the greatest ease, but, 

 thought it would hardly pay in this 

 country to do more than scatter the 

 seed on waste land. 



W. R. Graham gave some interest- 

 ing experiments in planting horse- 

 mint for honey. 



Judge Goodner asked, whether set- 

 tlement and cultivation of our prai- 

 ries tend to decrease our honey re- 

 sources V 



The discussion here took a wide 

 range with some difference of opin- 

 ion, but the prevailing opinion was, 

 that our volunteer resources are de- 



