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30 



SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



queen is missing? They certainly do 

 know it very soon. My opinion is that 

 they know i't by the absence of the 

 odor of the queen. She has her own 

 peculiar odor, which all the bees recog- 

 nize. Bees have a stronger sense of 

 smell than we have, and each queen 

 has her own smell. If you remove 

 her and give them another, however, 

 in good condition, they will accept her. 

 These are points necessary to know, I 

 believe, in successfully dealing with 

 bees. 



Mr. Hyde: I have been practicing 

 introducing queens. We bought about 

 50 or 60 this summer. When we could 

 we moved the old hives away and put 

 the new queen in with the swarm. 



Mr. Dadant: I believe there is as 

 great a difference in the temper of bees 

 as in men. When you come to a man 

 with a smile he will meet you in a much 

 better humor than if you came sneak- 

 ing like a thief. Let the bees make 

 plenty of honey and all things going 

 well in the hive and you introduce to 

 them a queen in good healthy condition, 

 they are much more ready to accept 

 that queen than if you try to introduce 

 to them a queen that is in bad shape 

 when they are hungry. There are a 

 great many things to be considered 

 in the treatment of bees. 



Presideijit Smith: When they are 

 disturbed^ and you thoroughly alarm 

 them as you do when you drop them 

 on the ground they smell strongly and 

 impart their own smell to the queen 

 dropped into their midst. 



Mr. Dadant: I believe that is cor- 

 rect. As I have said before, bees are 

 very much like people. You take the 

 case of a disaster like that of San 

 Francisco. People become much more 

 fraternal, thrown together in the com- 

 mon distress attending such conditions. 

 It seems to me that is just the condition 

 of the bees when you throw them out of 

 their hive; and under such conditions 

 they will be much more apt to accept 

 a strange queen. 



The question box was called for. 



Mr. Becker: Before going on with 

 the question box I would like to bring 

 up a matter. W^^ould i't pay for the 

 secretary to again issue report cards 

 say two or three times during the year 

 something similar to the National re- 

 ports? Nothing interestsi me so much 

 as to know if my neighbors are getting 

 honey. When I get the "Journal" the 

 first thing I look at is to see if others 

 are getting honey or if I am the only 



one that is getting any. I think it 

 would be nice to publish, monthly, a 

 sheet showing the man who warns to 

 buy honey where there is some for sale 

 and the man who wants to sell honey 

 where he can buy it. I am willing to 

 pay fifty cents for this information. I 

 would like to find out and keep posted 

 as to what other bee-keepers are doing 

 besides myself. 



Mr. Kluck: That would do all right 

 for Mr. Becker and for me if I sold to 

 the home market; but I don't believe 

 it would be of any benefit except for 

 those who sell to the home market. 

 Where we have a home market. We 

 never had a better flow of honey than 

 we had this year. It paid to ship to 

 Chicago; that was something unusual. 

 , Mr. Dadant: I am very glad that 

 question has been raised. Though you 

 are nearer the Chicago market, still 

 it is a fact that the San Francisco and 

 New York markets affect the price of 

 your honey. We must take the condi- 

 tion of things throughout the whole 

 country into consideration. Illinois is 

 a big state, but a small territory in 

 comparison with all the states in the 

 Union. It is necessary that someone 

 should secure reports from all over the 

 United States. I do hope that Mr. York 

 will think over the matter and find it 

 practicable in some way to give us the 

 conditions all over the country through 

 the American Bee Journal. At the same 

 time, I believe it is a good thing for our 

 secretary to gather the information as 

 suggested. 



There are other bee journals, but 

 their scope is not quite the same. We 

 could depend upon the American Bee 

 Journal to give us reliable reports from 

 representative men All over the coun- 

 try. I would like to hear from Mr. York 

 on ithis subject. 



Mr. Becker: There are so many per- 

 sons that do not keep themselves in- 

 formed as to honey prices. They are , 

 selling two or three cents under the 

 regular price. I know at one time John 

 W. Bunn said to me: "I know where 

 you can buy comb honey at 8 cents," 

 and he told me the man's ;name, at 

 Edinburg. I told him to buy it for me 

 and I would pay him a cent a pound 

 for his trouble. Honey was 15 cents a 

 pound. In many places you can some- 

 times buy honey at 10 cents a pound 

 when it is worth 14 and 15 cents. 



Mr. York: Mr. Dadant has spoken to 

 me before about this matter of secur- 

 ing information and the plan I have to 



