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V6 



TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF TIHE 



Mr. Niver — I think that is quite a 

 proiTiinent practice in Wisconsin, to 

 shake the young bees in front of the 

 weak colony. 



Mr. Cavanagh — That would take 

 oare of the hrood and make a good 

 colony, but make an increase at the 

 expense of other colonies. The time 

 to make an increase is at the time of 

 the ciover season. 



Mr. Wilcox — Have any of the mem- 

 bers here tried taking a very weak 

 colony and placing it in a warm room 

 or chamber that would be kept at a 

 uniform temperature, to see if it will 

 cause them to build comb? 



Mr. Smith — I intend to try it next 

 spring; I have an incubator with out- 

 door entrance, and am going to put 

 in a thermostat and test the temper- 

 ature and see what those bees will 

 do; after the winter is over I will test 

 it again in the soring, and see if they 

 will build up earlier by giving them 

 artificial heat; keep the temperature 

 even. I am going to try that. 



Mr. Taylor — My position on that 

 question is this: That we are in the 

 business not for fun but for a living, 

 and if we can't have enough good col- 

 onies to satisfy ourselves and produce 

 a crop that is satisfactory, we better 

 go into some other business; if they 

 are very weak, let them go. 



Dr. Miller — Unite them with another 

 colony that is stronger. If you have 

 two or three of those little weaklings 

 in the spring unite them 3 or 4 of 

 them — and after they have united 

 they will die out; but if you have 

 one say with perhaps a rather weak 

 colony, but strong enough so it will 

 live of itself, unite with one of these 

 little weaklings, that will be a help, 

 and it will do better than one alone 

 would have done. 



Moisture in a Bee-Cellar. 



"Is it advisable to have moisture 

 in a bee-cellar for bees to winter 

 well?" 



Dr. Miller — What do you mean? 

 How much moisture? 



Mr. Wilcox — It is generally con- 

 sidered hurtful to have moisture in 

 the cellar, but I have several times 

 in my life wintered bees through the 

 whole or a portion of the winter with 

 a foot of water in the bottom of the 

 cellar, and my opinion is that if the 

 water is colder than the atmosphere 



above it, it is beneficial rather than 

 hurtful, but if the water is warm it 

 would give out steam and be decid- 

 edly bad; a running stream through 

 the bottom of the cellar is rather ben- 

 eficial; I am not opposed to moisture 

 because it is moisture, provided the 

 temperature is right. 



What is a "Breeder" Queen? 



"What should be the characteristics 

 of a queen denominated 'a breeder?'" 



Mr. Taylor — Dr. Miller would say a 

 long-lived one. 



Pres. York — That would be one of 

 the characteristics anyw^ajy. 



Dr. Miller — Possibly the meaning 

 of that question is, what is meant 

 when a man, in advertising, says a 

 "queen-breeder" or a "breeder" at so 

 much; what he means by that word 

 "breeder" I think, as a rule, Is that it 

 is especially selected; because it is 

 better than the average, or is super- 

 ior in some way and I think that the 

 word is used In a very mixed-up 

 sense and that sometimes it doesn't 

 mean anything and sometimes it 

 does. It depends on who the man is 

 that says it. If a man wants to sell 

 me a queen, and he says, "There is a 

 breeder," I would understand him to 

 say, MThat is one of the very best 

 queens I have," but what the word 

 would mean in one case and not in 

 another, I don't know. 



Mr. Whitney— I asked that ques- 

 tion because I didn't know what the 

 queen-breeders meant when thej'- ad- 

 vertised a breeder for $10.00. 



Dr. Miller — You will never find out. 

 Mr. Whitney— I don't know but 

 what Dr. Miller or Mr. Taylor, or 

 some of the men here, might tell me 

 what it meant. I have often bought 

 queens at $1.25 that I think were as 

 fine as any queen bred, as fine as a 

 queen that was called a "breeder" in 

 any apiary. It occurs to me that un- ; 

 less there is some peculiar character- 

 istic of these queens called "breed- 

 ers" .1 don't want any of them. They ; 

 ought to be long-lived and prolific 

 breeders, and produce good, strong, 

 bees; it seems to me there should be ' 

 something— I don't know what It is— ' 

 that recommends them. ' 



Mr. Taylor— What I think they mean ' 

 is, that they mean to sell you a queen ! 

 at a good, big, round price. ' 



