■Stv'^r:' 



130 



SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



our American hives. Their hives are 

 an upright cupboard shaped affair and 

 they remove the combs from the rear 

 only. That leaves the top covered dur- 

 ing the time of manipulation. That 

 hive has been largely adopted in Italy 

 also; and one of their main argu- 

 ments against our hive was that the 

 opening of the top permitted the es- 

 cape of the heat — in a great part of 

 Germany it is quite cool in the sum- 

 mer — and they said the brood got 

 chilled with the result that foul brood 

 got in from this chilled brood. "While 

 I was in Germany I combated that 

 idea. I will also add that some bees 

 are far more energetic in clearing out 

 dead brood in hives than others. Cyp- 

 rian bees excel in that particular. 

 Black bees are less inclined in that 

 respect, and that is one reason that 

 they sooner get diseased — they are not 

 so disease proof. 



Question — Do Golden Italian bees 

 winter well or as well as other varie- 

 ties? And how do Golden Italians 

 compare with other varieties in the 

 production either of comb or extracted 

 honey ? 



Prof. Frank Benton: There are var- 

 ious strains of Golden Italians and it 

 depends on how the strain is obtained,- 

 whether it has been simply by select- 

 ing from a weak strain of Italians. If 

 it is then they will not winter so well, 

 and will not produce honey so well. 

 But if they have been selected from 

 good strains of Italians they will win- 

 ter just as well as any bees. If they 

 have been produced by an admixture 

 of the yellower blood still they are 

 good, and are bees that will store hon- 

 ey better than many of the Golden 

 Italians and will winter as well as any. 



I never heard but Golden bees were 

 good winterers until GLEANINGS 

 sprung the question the present sea- 

 son. 



Yes, the Golden Italians are fine hon- 

 ey gatherers. In fact, I think they 

 put more workers into the fields in 

 proportion to their strength than any 

 other race or strain. The chief ob- 

 jection to them is that the queens are 

 poorer layers than other strains of 

 Italians, the colony consequently be- 

 coming weak and not maintaining the 

 proper field force. 



Mr. France: The next two questions 

 are by Dr. Perry of Kansas in the sub- 

 ject of plurality of queens. They have 

 been answered. 



Question is pertaining to the advisa- 



bility of two bee-keepers going into 

 partnership. Is it desirable? It was 

 suggested by our President, Mr. Aspin- 

 wall, who, owing to his rheumatic con- 

 dition, was unable to take care of his 

 bees part of the time and he wished 

 he had a partner that could further 

 the work. "Would it be advisable? 



Mr. Klinger: I think it depends 

 entirely on the partner. 



Mr. Moe: If you want things done 

 to suit yourself, do them yourself. If 

 you have got to depend on some one 

 else, it all depends on who you get. 



Mr. Moe: If there is nothing else, in. 

 order to enable us to take advantage 

 of Prof. Surface's offer to take us 

 through the remaining part of the 

 building, I move that we do now ad- 

 journ. 



The "Vice President (Mr. Hilton) put 

 the motion that this Convention do 

 now adjourn permanently, or until the 

 next regular meeting, which, on a vote 

 having been taken, was declared car- 

 ried, and the Convention adjourned at 

 3:20 p. m. 



WHAT DOES THE CONSUMER DE- 

 MAND OF THE DEALER? 



Answered by S. A. Niver of Wis. 



"My first guess was good honey at 

 reasonable price; but that answer 

 seems to lack something. Who is the 

 consumer that is demanding? Is it the 

 baker, the manufacturer or the house- 

 wife? So the latter is the only one I 

 am "drumming" at present, it may be 

 well to confine my remarks to that 

 class. Does she demand "comb," "ex- 

 tracted," or "chunk" honey? That will 

 depend on locality. In the north "chunk 

 honey" won't do. Honey will granulate 

 so quickly that it isn't practical to 

 handle chunk honey. As to comb hon- 

 ey, the housewife demands so much for 

 so little that in connection with high 

 price of our supplies and labor, it 

 makes the outlook for comb honey not 

 encouraging. Advancing price cuts 

 down consumption. For remember, hon- 

 ey is considered a luxury and not a 

 necessity. The old advice to rise an 

 hour earlier and scrape, sandpaper and 

 polish sections to get a higher price, 

 but the net result is to cheapen the 

 price of his neighbor's honey who has, 

 not taken the extra time to get his 

 honey up to the mark instead of ad- 

 vancing his own. If the price goes up 

 to paying basis it is above the purse 

 of wage earner, who is the main stay 



