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84 



TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



where under ordinary circumstances 

 it will work as nurse-bee in 16 days. 



Mr. Wilcox — ^I want to call atten- 

 tion to the importance of this, or the 

 reasons for it. Almost every season 

 we know about when the honey harvest 

 will end, if we have been keeping bees 

 in that locality any length of time. 

 We don't want to stimulate queens to 

 lay during the last few days before 

 the honey harvest ends. We want to 

 keep the queens laying up to within 

 one month previous to the close of the 

 honey harvest. 



Now, after the bees come in and 

 commence to work, it takes 21 days to 

 hatch (I know that) ; if I add 16 days 

 more, that makes 37 — don't yoiu see I 

 have to have eggs laid more than one 

 month previous to the close of the 

 honey harvest to get anything from 

 them? 



Mr. Smith — I would like to make a 

 few remarks in the hope that if any 

 of you see anything very seriously wrong 

 with my trend of thought you will cor- 

 rect me before this convention ad- 

 journs. I have spent considerable 

 time on the lines that Dr. Miller has 

 laid down here, and it seems to me 

 that he is entirely right. I have con- 

 sulted with some of the best breeders 

 of other livestock, and men connected 

 with our educational institutions con- 

 cerning this matter. Our scientists 

 tell me that the same lines of descent 

 in the bee family will hold that hold 

 all through nature. It is true of the 

 vegetable kingdom and the animal 

 kingdom. I believe with our breeders 

 of horsesi — all of improved breeds of 

 hogs and cattle and every class of 

 livestock, where it is so much harder 

 to see what we are doing than it is 

 with the bees — they always select the 

 very best — the longest lived. It al- 

 most follows as a matter of course 

 that the insect or animal that has the 

 vigor to live for a great many years, 

 perhaps 25 per cent longer than the 

 average, is more vigorous during all 

 that life. 



The horse that can make a mile in 

 2:10 or 2:20 on the track is a much 

 more vigorous yearling; a much more 

 vigorous tyo-year-old, and usually 

 lives to a greater age. 



There is one point that was raised I 

 would like to give you my idea of, that 

 is. with regard to the wing of the. bee. 



I don't think the wing has anything to 

 do with the bee, but I do believe the 

 bee makes the wing, and 1 believe a' 

 vigorous bee will have a stronger 

 wing than a bee that id not. I believe 

 power comes out of the bee into the 

 wing; it is the food that the bee eats 

 soon after it hatches. The food from 

 that time on goes into its digestive ap- 

 paratus, and is assimilated and makes 

 other organs strong. 



A member— Would not the wing be 

 a point for judging? 



Mr. Smith — ^It would be one of the 

 best points, but I think the wing is 

 produced by the bee. I believe if we 

 can add one, 2 or 5 or 10 days' — and I 

 believe we could add 20 days^ — it would 

 be a great thing. 



Look at the short time it has taken 

 to cut the speed of trotting horses 

 from 3 minutes to 2, and there was no 

 special breed to start from. They se- 

 lected the speedy horses. 



We must select the bees that are 

 the best breed; we must give just as 

 much attention to the drones as we 

 do to the queen-bee. 



I discovered last year a queen-bee 

 that was selected by President York 

 something like 5 or 6 years ago. This 

 queen had a colony more than twice 

 the sfrength of any other colony of 

 115 in the apiary. I would rather pay 

 $50.00 for that queen than to get the 

 ordinary average queen at 50 cents a 

 dozen for my use. 



I have bought queens by the dozen. 

 I have gotten perhaps one out of a 

 dozen that would lay up a surplus; 

 from the other 11 I would not get any 

 surplus. They were a loss to me. 



Now it seems to me that we must 

 put in the time and the money neces- 

 sary into breeding our queens if we 

 are going to improve the strain. 



We improve our strains of live- 

 stock by paying 2, 3 and 5, and as high 

 as 8 thousand dollars for one animal, 

 when the average js worth $1,000.00. 

 For the best breeders I don't know 

 but more than $8,000.00 is paid. We 

 must do the same thing with our bees. 



I don't believe any man could pay 

 very much attention to his bees and 

 rear queens at 60 cents a piece. 



Alexander Foul Brood Treatment. 



"Is the Alexander treatment for foul 

 brood reliable?" 



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