■y., vv-v ■•;'--.:■ 



'^ 



142 



TENTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



Stopping Up the Bee- Escape. 



"Has any one had experience with 

 bees stopping up the bee-escape before 

 all have left the super?" 



Mr. Smith— I had; I don't think 

 there were 10 bees left in the super un- 

 til the bees clog-ged the bee-escape; 

 the bees above nearly all died. There 

 seemed to be as many bees in the 

 super when I found them; I supposed 

 they had all gone below; I found bees 

 in the bee-escape, all clogged up. 



iMr. Wilcox — ^Very likely it got 

 clogged up with dead bees more than 

 anything else. 



Clipping Queens. 



"How many clip queens?" 



Twice as many clip as do not. 



"How many, living in cities, clip 

 CLueens and how many do not? How 

 many in the country or suburbs clip 

 queens, and how many do not?" 



Mr. Brooks — I would like to ask 

 Mr, I>uff why he does not believe in 

 clipping his queen's wings? 



Mr. DufE — I simply do not practice 

 it; I prefer to look at them with their 

 wings; that is about the only reason. 



Mr. Fuller — 'There are reasons for 3 

 city man clipping the wings of queens 

 that may not exist in the country or 

 suburbs, especially a man not at home. 

 I know some men in the suburbs who 

 are rearing queens for a pastime, for 

 recreation. Should a queen issue, un- 

 dipped, and swarm, the chances are 

 there would be a vacancy in the home 

 apiary. In the country, or suburbs, 

 where the people, are around to give 

 the alarm and take care of them, it 

 may not be so necessary. I believe it 

 is the custom, as a rule, for many bSe- 

 keepers living in cities to clip the 

 wings, and that is forced by necessity. 



Mr. iSaxe — 'The last queen I got I 

 put in the hive; I was busy and did 

 not take the cage out for about 3 or 

 4 weeks. I am pretty busy in town, 

 and did not get home until late; she 

 was in there 3 weeks; I opened the 

 hive and expected to take the cage 

 out empty, and the end was solid with 

 dead bees, and the queen was in an- 

 other end and alive; is it possible the 

 bees fed that queen and kept her 

 alive? I took her out, and she buzzed 

 around in front of the hive, and all the 

 bees buzzing around piled in after her. 



Pres. York — ^Perhaps the other bees 

 fed her through the wire-cloth. 



Grading Comb- Honey. 



"When selling white comb-honey it 

 is advisable to put the following sizes 

 in one grade: All combs weighing 13% 

 ounces and up?" 



Mr. Wilcox — I have purchased large 

 quantities of comb-honey during my 

 lifetime. I make it a rule to crate it, 

 of course, according to the distance 

 I ship it; that to go to a long distance 

 must be well crated on all four sides; 

 that which is to go nearer, I sort out; 

 that to go near home, I crate it differ- 

 ently. 



'Mr. Fuller — I don't know about this 

 subject, but I am going to talk on it. 

 Does it not make a difference whether 

 that honey is sold to the commission 

 man, or sold to the consumer? Is 

 honey re-cased after it reaches the 

 hands of the commission man ? Does 

 he use tlie same casing that comes 

 from the producer when he turns it 

 over to the consumer or retailer? 



Pres. York — I would say they do not 

 re-case it. 



Mr. Niver — I have had considerable 

 experience in the casing of honey years 

 ago when I was a comb-honey fiend, 

 but I have reformed since. I insisted 

 that as the grocer sold by count, the 

 producer s'hould pack it especially for 

 that idea, and that comb-hon«y should 

 be very nearly alike in one case and 

 another; there should be no packing 

 of fancy honey and No. 2, all in the 

 same case, because it bothers the mer- 

 chant. Merchants sell by weight, ex- 

 cept a few. I insisted that the way 

 to do it was to seTl by count,- and so 

 case. They formed a kind of company 

 in New York City and put honey in 

 my hands to sell down in the Pennsyl- 

 vania coal regions; they all brought it 

 in to our warehouse, and I cased it 

 on that system, and that system has 

 stayed there ever since. The merchants 

 insist upon it; when they buy fancy 

 honey, they want it all fancy. I see 

 the same thing is done in Denver; they 

 quote honey that way, by the count 

 and not by weight. It is much handier 

 for the grocer. 



Mr. Wilcox — I really feel, and have 

 felt very strongly, that the bee-keepers 

 who sold by count, the only object they 

 have in selling by count is to prepare 

 the way for somebody to cheat. If a 

 retailer buys by count, he will have 

 something he can buy by* count, and 

 sell it for a pound. A section should 



