ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION 



149 



to a colony which buiU the queen- 

 cells, and then have taken them out and 

 distributed them among nuclei, when 

 they were finished and sealed over. I 

 think those conditions are similar to 

 the swarming impulse, because they will 

 respond to tha same method, give the 

 same kind of care until the egg is ma- 

 tured, as they would under the ordi- 

 nary swarming impulse. Now as to 

 the best of queens, aside from that, 

 we might differ as to the differem 

 varieties of bees, that is, different races. 

 I have always found the highest grade 

 of Itahan bee was the most satisfac- 

 tory. 



Best Results in Comb Honey. 



"How should ID-frame hives be ma- 

 nipulated for best results in comb 

 honey?" 



Dr. Bohrer — There are two ways of 

 doing it. One is to cut it in sections, and 

 the other — some one will take exception 

 to the position if I should say to use 

 another body on top, and raise the combs 

 up and put the bees to work above. I 

 think you would get a litle more honey 

 that way than you would to use sections, 

 by using a two-story hive. 



Management of Golden Italians. 



"Should golden ItaHans be managed 

 differently from the darker varieties?" 



Mr. Taylor— Yes. Kill them. 



Pres. York — Who would rather man- 

 age them alive? 



Dr. Miller — I think Mr. Taylor's an- 

 swer is right for some of them, and 

 it is very wrong for some of them, 

 too. I think there is a great deal of 

 difference. I believe there are golden 

 Italians that are good bees, and I think 

 there are some not worth the powder 

 to blow them up. I do not know any 

 difference, so I am not answering the 

 question. I was rather wanting to limii 

 Mr. Taylor's very sweeping statement. 

 At the time of the World's Fair Mr. 

 Doolittle had some of the golden bees 

 here, and two of the best queens were 

 left with me over winter to be taken 

 care of before being returned to New 

 York State, and from those I reared 

 some queens, and those were good bees. 

 I would not say that they were not up 

 to the other, and I am not so sure at 

 all that they were very much better. 

 The main thing, I think, about the gold- 

 en bees is the looks. They are beauti- 

 ful bees, and there is a great pleasure 



in looking at them. As to the real 

 value, as I said before, there are gold- 

 en queens and golden queens. Some 

 are good and some are very poor. 



Dr. Bohrer — I want to corroborate 

 what Dr. Miller has said, having a 

 queen now that is one of the most pro- 

 lific queens I ever owned, and her bees 

 produced more honey last j^ear than any 

 other in my apiary. I do not think they 

 are corrupted any by Cj'prian blood, but 

 I have had some corrupted, and to say 

 they were cross is not expressing it. 



Pres. York — Another question, right 

 along in conection with that: "How 

 do the golden Italians compare with the 

 leather-colored varieties?" 



Mr. Kimmey — I would like to hear 

 from Mr. Taylor, the reasons for his 

 remark that he would kill the golden 

 Italians. 



Mr. Taylor — I never saw any of them 

 that were good for anything. Of course, 

 I have no doubt but what sometimes 

 you will get a queen that will produce 

 bees that may be passably good, but, 

 take them together, 1 think they are very 

 gentle and very good to look at, but 

 they are not very good for gathering 

 honey. Now, to get right down to it, 

 I would not have an Italian bee. I 

 would rather have a h\brid. It is very 

 much more difficult to get the Italians 

 into the section-boxes than it is hj-brids, 

 and when you want to get them out, it 

 is very much more difficult to get them 

 out; and I don't know that they are 

 any better for gathering honey than 

 good hybrids in the matter of temper. 

 It is true that you can go to a colony 

 of bees and by being careful, handle 

 them without veil or smoke. But it is 

 not because their temper is better ; it 

 is because they are less disposed to take 

 wing. You get out in a swarm of Ital- 

 ian bees when they are flying, and I 

 think they are a good deal more likely 

 to sting than the black bees are. I 

 think that accounts for the difference 

 in apparent irascibility of black bees. 

 Several of my hybrids — they are all hy- 

 brids — I do not call irascible at all. 

 There is very little stinging. I very 

 seldom get stung. Get a stranger in 

 there, sometimes, who is a little nervous, 

 and he gets stung sometimes ; but I do 

 not call my bees any more liable to sting 

 than the Italians I have had, when 

 handling them. 



Dr. Miller — Before Mr. Taylor sits 

 down, may I ask him whether he thinks 



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