j;- '-r'-^fHi. T>Mi?K:T-.' 



78 



SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



comes almost worthless, for the pur- 

 pose of securing a surplus. 



The size and condition of the brood 

 nest is one thing we should ever watch 

 as the engineer does the amount of 

 steam he has on his boilers. For with- 

 out a large quantity of continually ma- 

 turing brood during the summer sea- 

 son, we cannot expect the best re- 

 sults from our bees. Another subject 

 I wish to touch upon is the value of 

 extracting with gasoline power. I wish 

 I could impress upon the mind of 

 every producer of extracted honey the 

 real saving of both honey and labor in 

 using this cheap power to do the most 

 laborious part of our work. The sub- 

 ject of keeping a large apiary at home 

 instead of several small out yards is 

 fast attracting the attention of many 

 honey producers. A short time ago I 

 stood almost alone on this subject. But 

 now judging from a large correspond- 

 ence I find there are almost hundreds 

 of our most extensive honey producers 

 that are fast changing their former 

 ideas on the subject of over stocking 

 an ordinary location. With us the 

 summer of 1907 has been the poorest 

 season for the secreting of nectar of 

 any year during my memory. Our 

 August harvest is the only harvest we 

 have that we expect to secure any 

 surplus from, and it proved almost a 

 failure this year. 



We had only four days during the 

 'month that our bees worked well on 

 golden rod and buckwheat. During 

 June, July and August, we had only 

 an occasional day that the flowers se- 

 creted nectar. Still during this very 

 poor season our apiary of about 600 

 colonies gave us a surplus of nearly 

 46,000 pounds, this is doing as well per. 

 colony as any small apiary I know of 

 in this part of the state. These results 

 of the past summer have convinced 

 me more than anything heretofore that 

 when the flowers are secreting nectar 

 there is enough Mnthin their reach for 

 all the colonies we are likely to keep, 

 providing it is within the bonds of 

 reason. 



If all the honey producing flowers 

 within a circle of 7 miles in diameter 

 could be visited several times a day 

 by our ibees we surely would secure far 

 more honey than we do. 



I wish I could be with you to discuss 

 the merits of this, to me, very import- 

 ant part of our ibusiness. 



In the above I have briefly called 

 your attention to a ifew of the many 



important parts of bee-keeping, with 

 the hope that they will be discussed 

 in a manner so the inexperienced will 

 become interested and derive some 

 benefit along these lines. I am sorry 

 my health is such that I cannot attend 

 these useful meetings with you but as 

 that is impossible I gladly offer you 

 my mite as the poor widow of old. 

 Hoping it will help some less fortu- 

 nate Brother in removing the obstruc- 

 tions from his path to success. 



E. W. ALEXANDER. 



Mr. Maynard: With your permis- 

 sion, Mr. President, I would like to 

 reopen the subject of spraying. I 

 would like to ask Prof. Surface if in 

 the solution that is used for spraying 

 apple trees the bees work on the bark. 



Prof. Surface: There is no doubt 

 bees are often found on the bark of 

 trees in orchards sucking the sap that 

 exudes through the bark. I suppose 

 the gentleman refers to that in his 

 question. It is rather important and 

 should go upon the records. The bees 

 do suck such saps, but they are only 

 taking away the saps that exude 

 through the bark from other causes 

 such as fungus diseases and insect 

 borers. That is not any indication that 

 they are doing any injury or damage. 

 It is like a mass of gum which ap- 

 pears upon the peach tree, if you take 

 that away more will come unless you 

 remove the cause. So that the mere 

 presence of the bees, where trees are 

 injured and sap is running out, does 

 not indicate the bees are responsible 

 for that injury. 



I have a question to ask upon a sub- 

 ject touched upon in this valuable let- 

 ter which has just been read; it is con- 

 cerning golden rod as a honey produc- 

 er. I wish to know especially from 

 bee-keepers south of the central part 

 of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsyl- 

 vania if they regard golden rod as a 

 honey producing plant; and bee-keep- 

 ers north of that line, if they regard it 

 as such; and those who do not, why 

 do they not think it so. I believe I 

 have in mind something that may work 

 out from the answers that may be 

 given. 



Rev. N. E. Cleaver: I understand 

 there are some sixty varieties of gold- 

 en rod, and I am myself about on the 

 division line spoken of. For imany 

 years I thought golden rod did not 

 yield any honey. For thirty years I 

 never saw a bit of golden rod honey. 



