156 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



no-bee-way sections. Noticing that fact 

 myself, I began to inquire of exhibitors 

 as to the conditions in the market, and 

 so far as I can learn nine-tenths of them 

 prefer the no-bee-way sections; that is, 

 that they sell better on the market — 

 the plain sections; that they look bet- 

 ter and sell better, and I am sure that, 

 for some reason which I do not un- 

 derstand, they looked better to me on 

 exhibition, and I gave them the premium. 

 They were better filled out. 



Mr. Kimmey — Will Mr. York give us 

 his opinion, founded on his experience? 



Pres. York — I have not used very 

 many, but I like the plain section bet- 

 ter for cleaning. I have had the same 

 experience as Mr. Wilcox in judging 

 at fairs. 



Mr. Kimmey — How about the sale? 



Pres. York — I do not think it makes 

 any difference in the sale, not from my 

 experience in the groceries in Chicago, 

 when I was in the honey-business. 



Mr. Kimmey — I would like to hear 

 from Mr. Pease, too, both as to the 

 requirements of the trade, as to bee- 

 ways and no bee-ways, and as to the 

 quantity of honey. 



Mr. Pease — I find that the groceries, 

 as a rule, make very little distinction 

 as to a matter of preference between 

 the bee-way or no-bee-way section. The 

 grocer in Chicago buys his honey by 

 weight, and sells it at so much per sec- 

 tion. They do not want a honey full 

 weight, but the consumer who goes to 

 the grocery store to buy honey — you put 

 a plain section and a bee-way section 

 side by side, and 9 times out of 10 he 

 will take the plain section, even if it 

 weighs less than the bee-way. 



Mr. Moore — The grocery trade wants 

 a section weighing 12 or 13 ounces, and 

 12 or 13 ounces looks vastly better in a 

 plain section than in a bee-way sec- 

 tion. 



Mr. Whitney — I have two styles of 

 bee-way sections. I have a big super 

 that belongs to the old Gallup hive, and 

 it takes a section 4%x5%, and I think 

 if you place a section of that kind by 

 the side of a plain section they will take 

 mine every time. It will look larger 

 although it is not quite as wide, but it 

 is a little taller, I believe, judging from 

 the appearance, of course. You take a 

 4%:X4% bee-way section and it looks 

 lower, and they decide in favor of the 

 plain section because it is tall, but you 

 take the bee-way section that is as tall 



as the plain section, and I think they 

 will take the bee-way section, every 

 time. 



Introducing Queens. 



"How do you introduce queens?" 



Mr. Taylor — I seldom introduce a 

 queen except in the spring. If I want 

 to change a queen, or the colony is 

 queenless, I open the hive and observe 

 the conduct of the bees, and you can 

 tell, if they have a peculiar way of act- 

 ing, running together, perhaps running 

 towards your hand a little, with their 

 wings lifted and a slight shaking mo- 

 tion, you can turn your queen right in. 

 They are all right. Sometimes, if I 

 am in doubt, I will put a queen-ex- 

 cluder on the top, let a few bees come 

 up, let the queen loose and decide then. 

 I hardly ever cage a queen in the spring, 

 because the bees are so anxious to get 

 to work that they will almost invariably 

 accept the queen ; in fact, I do not know 

 that I remember when a colony that was 

 queenless refused to take a queen early 

 in the spring. 



Mr. Abbott — Suppose }'ou had a black 

 queen and you wanted to give them an 

 Itahan. 



Mr. Taylor — Take her out and wait a 

 day or two to let them find out they 

 had lost a queen. They are terribly 

 anxious to get a queen in the spring, 

 and that running together a little and 

 a slight shaking of the wings shows 

 that they are looking for one. 



Mr. Abbott — I supposed that among 

 all the progressive bee-keepers the one 

 most in advance and at the forefront 

 was R. L. Taylor, of Michigan. 



Mr. Taylor — No; I am a fogy, sir. 



Mr. Abbott — But I see he says that 

 the hive should be left for a day or 

 two for the bees to find out that they 

 are queenless. Now in the name of com- 

 mon-sense, I want to ask why. I asked 

 that question, and I asked it that I 

 might bring out just that one idea. Why 

 make a colony know it is queenless? 

 There is something to this. You are 

 wasting a great deal of time when you 

 wait 2 days for the colony to find out 

 that they are queenless. Now if Mr. 

 Taylor will tell zvhy, perhaps I will say 

 something more. 



Mr. Taylor — Two days early in the 

 spring do not count very much, and 

 you do not have to wait to see whether 

 they are ready to receive her or not. 

 It is the easiest "^y. Of course, I 

 remember at one time that I was hand- 



