

82 



TEN'TH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



raised, that is going to help you, even 

 though you have an entirely inde- 

 pendent market, because some of your 

 customers would catch on to it some- 

 time, that there is a lower price else- 

 where, so that the general good will 

 help every one. 



Mr. Hatch — I accept the amendment. 



Pres. York — Dr. Miller will not be 

 able to stay with us longer than this 

 afternoon, so that . we had better use 

 him as much as we can while he is 

 here. He has been asked to speak on 

 the topic of the "Value of Longevity in 

 Bees," and we will hear from him 

 this afternoon. We now are ad- 

 journed until 1:30 p. m. 



FIRST DAY— AFTERNOON SESSION 



Dr. Miller — I don't know enough 

 about the subject of the longevity of 

 the bees to talk intelligently, but you 

 can get started. I would be glad to 

 learn something on this subject. 



Value of Longevity in Bees. 



I think we don't realize how much 

 might be gained if we could gain just 

 a little in the matter of longevity; if 

 we could have a bee, for instance, that 

 would spend one day more than an- 

 other in its gathering, that would add 

 how much to the crop? I wonder if 

 some of you can tell nie what percent 

 of honey it would add to the crop. 

 How many days does a bee spend in 

 the field — can any of you tell me that? 



Mr. Hatch — About 30' days; mine do. 



Dr. Miller — Hardly that. 



Mr. Anderson — I don't think mine do 

 more than from 10 to 15 days, taking 

 bad weather and everything all to- 

 gether. 



Dr. Miller— I will give you a question 

 I think I will get several to answer. 

 What is supposed to be the life of a 

 worker-bee in the busy season? 



Mr, Wilcox — 45 days. 



Mr. Hatch — I would cut that right 

 through in the middle. 



Mr. Wilcox — I mean the extreme 

 length, not the average. 



Mr. Hatch — I think in the clover 

 season a bee will not live more than 

 two weeks. 



Dr. Miller — Now you are taking an- 

 other point. Just now we are at the 

 whole life of the bee. There is a time 

 while it is a nurse-bee, and then it is a 

 field-bee. Mr. Wilcox gives us 45 days. 



Mr. Wilcox — That is the extreme 

 length of the life. 



Dr. Miller — The general answer I 

 think to that is 6 weeks. How many 

 days does it spend as a nurse-bee? You 

 all ought to agree on that, and several 

 ought to answer. 



Mr. Taylor — I know wihat the repu- 

 tation is; it has been 16 days, 



l^r. Miller — Take 16 from 42, what 

 will you have left? 



Mr. Wilcox — 26, 



Dr. Miller — 26 days, then, is the 

 working length of the life of the bee; 

 I think I would agree with Mr. Hatch. 



Mr. Anderson — ^How old will it be 

 when it commences to nurse? 



Dr. Miller — ^We can't stop for that. 



Mr. Hatch — ^About 2 minutes. 



Dr. Miller — ^If we take 26 days — and 

 I am pretty sure that is all that we 

 ought to allow, if not a good deal more 

 than we ought to — if we take 26, then 

 if we gain one day, we gain l-26th, or 

 about 4 per cent of the working life of 

 that bee, and ofi the amount of honey 

 it ought to gather. 



So much for a starter. 



Now another thing: You know there 

 are some colonies that will gather 

 more than others; two colonies stand 

 side by side; one gathers a great deal 

 more t^ian the other — and the one that 

 gathers the most will not seem to be 

 as strong in bees as the other — why 

 is it? It is because one colony has 

 bees that are longer lived and spend 

 more time in the field. 



Mr. Taylor — Why not say the weak 

 colony dies off faster? 



Mr. Anderson — Does not the dis- 

 position to gather have something to 

 do with it? Are not some of them 

 lazy? 



Dr. Miller — Yes, there may be more 

 than one reason. If you can have a bee 

 live, longer, you will get a larger pro- 

 portion of honey. 



Now another point I want to make: 

 There are some queens that live 

 longer than others. I think there are 

 strains of queens that will live a great 

 deal longer than others. There are 

 some men that say they want to . 

 change their queens once a jear, be- 

 cause after the first year the queen 

 is played out, and there are others 

 that will tell you that they don't care 

 to change more than once in three | 

 j-ears for a queen will live 2 or S -j 

 years. Now I don't know about it;- 1 





