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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Topics o! Interest. 



Iowa State Bee-Keepers' Conyentlon. 



J. W. BITTENBENDEE. 



The Ninth Annual Convention of the 

 iowa bee-keepers met in their tent on 

 the State Fair Ground, at Des Moines, 

 on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 1891. 



Meeting called to order at 1:30 p.m., 

 with the following officers present : 

 President, Vice-President and Treasurer. 



The Secretary being absent, Mr. E. 

 Calvert was chosen Secretary j>ro tern. 



Reception of new members. Mr. C. 

 D. Levering read an essay on Spring 

 Dwindling, in which he brought out 

 several good points. He prevented 

 dwindling by having his colonies rear 

 brood ; inserting empty combs in the 

 center of brood-chamber, and feeding to 

 stimulate brood-rearing late in the Fall, 

 and have his bees go into Winter 

 quarters with plenty of young bees, 

 claiming that young bees were not sub- 

 ject to Spring dwindling. 



Mr. Kretchmer said he could prevent 

 dwindling better by using sectional 

 brood-chambers, keeping them on one 

 section until strong enough, and as the 

 season advanced, add another section. 



Mr. Bittenbender stated that he could 

 not get enough honey in one section of a 

 brood-chamber to rear enough brood. 



Mr. Kretchmer then said to add 

 another section. 



Mr. Bittenbender then stated his ex- 

 perience with the sectional brood-cham- 

 ber. It could not be added to early in 

 the Spring to advantage, his idea being 

 that sectional brood-chamber hives 

 would give too much room by adding a 

 full section at a time, and his objection 

 also was that it took too much space in 

 the center of the hive, where the brood- 

 nest generally is located. He would 

 much perfer a single story hive in the 

 management of Spring dwindling. He 

 could then contract his hive to one or 

 more combs by using dummies, and add 

 combs as he found the temperature and 

 queen demanded. 



J. W. Bittenbender then read an 

 essay entitled 



Best Bee for this Country. 



This is a very interesting subject, and 

 one we are all more or less interested 

 in. I speak from personal experience. 

 I have handled Italians, German blacks, 

 Cyprians, Syrians, Albino, and the Car- 



nlolans — all so-called different races of 

 bees. 



I do not know that I know more about 

 bees than common folks, and if I was to 

 say the best bee for myself, I would say 

 a stingless bee, but the subject calls for 

 the best bee for this country. 



If I say the German black bee, you 

 will call me a crank, and Kit Clover 

 would never write on bee-culture again. 



In some respects I say the Italians 

 are best. 



If I say the Cyprians, you may say, 

 Dunder und blitzen ! What bees for this 

 country ! If I say Syrians — what kind 

 of bees are they ? If I say the Albinos, 

 you know It is not so. If I say the 

 Carniolans, you will invest your money 

 foolishly, and may call me a fool also. 



I believe my subject calls for the best 

 bee for the country. My experience is 

 decidedly in favor of the Italian and 

 German black bee. While every race of 

 bees has more or less good qualities, we 

 find more combined in these two races. 



Italians are gentle, prolific, good 

 honey gatherers, slow to rob, good comb 

 builders, fair cappers, and excellent 

 home protectors ; while the German 

 black bee is prolific, gentle, good honey 

 gatherers, excellent cappers, less in- 

 clined to swarm, and easy to shake off 

 the comb. While the Italians have 

 found favor with bee-keepers, they have 

 bred and petted them to about eight 

 different colors, and perhaps if bee- 

 keepers had taken the same care of the 

 German bee that they do of the Ital- 

 ians, they would, perhaps, have a bee 

 far superior to any. 



Oh, what does common folks know 

 about bees, anyhow ? 



Knoxville, Iowa. 



The reading of the essay was followed 

 by a lively discussion. 



Mr. Kimble stated that he was sur- 

 prised at Mr. B. saying the black bee 

 was the best. 



Mr. Secor said that Mr. B. did not ex- 

 actly say that the black bee was the best. 



Mr. Kimble then gave his experience 

 with black bees, stating that he had 

 kept black bees for eleven years, and 

 could not make it pay. For eleven years 

 he had kept Italians, and now always 

 had plenty of honey to sell, and to make 

 fine exhibits at fairs, and that his 

 neighbors who had black bees were 

 going out of the business, saying that 

 bee-keeping did not pay. 



Mr. Adams stated that he preferred 

 the Italians. 



Mr. Bittenbender said that he much 

 preferred the black bee to cap honey, as 



