74 



EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



consider it an advantage. I believe 

 that the hybrids are better than the 

 -pure blood. Is it possible that these 

 men think that it is a good thing for 

 the bee-keeper to have foreign blood 

 in the stock? 



Mr. Baxter: The characteristics of 

 the Italian bee are prolificness, docility, 

 activity and capability of carrying 

 honey if there is anything within a 

 radius of five miles. That has been 

 my experience of the last thirty years. 

 As soon as I open a hive and see the 

 bees I can tell pretty near, in a very 

 poor season, in the fall, say the first 

 of September, whether that hive has 

 enough stores or not, by the docility 

 of the bee, their quietness and their 

 color. Now, hybrids, as a rule, the 

 nearer they approach the less they 

 will have and the more scattered it 

 will be. With the Italians, the more 

 they will have and the more compact 

 it will be. J have had enough experi- 

 ence with the blacks, the Italians and 

 the Cyprians to know prety well. I 

 have raised honey by twenty or thirty 

 thousand pounds a year many years, 

 and I think I can speak from experi- 

 ence, and I think there is no race of 

 bees on the earth that will come near 

 to the Italian for producing a good 

 crop year after year. I know that for 

 a positive fact. 



Mr. Wheeler: I keep pretty near as 

 many bees as Mr. Baxter, and I would 

 say that I am positively certain that 

 the hybrid will produce just as much 

 honey as the pure Italian. 



Mr. Baxter: I started an apiary five 

 miles from my place in 1888, and I 

 now have a certain stand where I put 

 a certain stand of pure Italians, and 

 you will go there today and find that 

 colony in the same condition. It has 

 never been Italianized, and I have 

 never requeened it. There is a queen 

 that has reduplicated herself. She is 

 an Italian queen today, only home- 

 bred. She was an Italian queen when 

 I put her there in 1888 — twenty-one 

 years ago — and I have got the proof 

 of that; people who have been work- 

 ing for me who will verify my state- 

 ment. 



Dr. Bohrer: That is a valuable 

 queen, and you ought to continue her 

 progeny. 



Bee- Keepers Non-Smokers. 



"Why is the average bee-keeper a 

 non-smoker?" 



Dr. Miller: Because in a time that 

 has gone by A. I. Root sent out smok- 

 ers to some of them and stocked them, 

 and they never got started since. 



Mr. Kimmey: For the reason that 

 a fish out of water weighs more than 

 it does in — which isn't true! 



Dr. Miller: Do you mean to say 

 that it isn't true that bee-keepers as 

 a class do not use tobacco so much 

 as others? 



Mr. Kimmey: My impression is 

 that there isn't a great deal of dif- 

 ference. I remember an advertisement, 

 "This is an excellent bee -veil because 

 I can smoke while using it." 



Mr. Todd: Just for fun I stuck that 

 question in. It came in my experi- 

 ence a few years ago. I came up here 

 an amateur bee-keeper. I had a pock- 

 et full of cigars, and I tried Dr. Miller, 

 Mr. Hutchinson and others, and I 

 couldn't give a single cigar away in a 

 bee-keepers' convention, and I said, 

 "What is the matter; what am I up 

 against?" I am not a Prohibitionist; 

 I am Scotch; but I am going to make 

 a break in the bee papers, and I am 

 going to work off Socialism when I 

 get a chance. 



Dr. Bohrer: The Scotch make the 

 best whisky. 



Dr. Miller: That is, the Prohibi- 

 tionist makes the best whisky. I 

 found that out when I was practicing 

 medicine. 



Mr. Todd: I looked around for the 

 economic reason. I said, "What pre- 

 vents these men smoking?" I found 

 that the reason was that they couldn't 

 smoke on account of the bee-veil. 



Dr. Bohrer: What has been your 

 experience about chewing tobacco with 

 a veil on? 



Mr. Todd: I don't chew tobacco. No 

 one excepting Americans chew to- 

 bacco and spit all over the shop. 



Dr. Miller: A mere boy like Mr. 

 Todd doesn't understand these things! 

 If a man were full grown and com- 

 menced long ago, he would know that : 

 bee-veils in general have a hole at the 

 entrance, and if you will look at Ger- 

 man bee-supply lists you will see that 

 veils of that kind are made now. They ' 

 have a hole for a cigar or a pipe, and 

 use the bee-veil in that way. When 

 Mr. Todd grows up to a little larger ; 

 size he will know that! 



Mr. Todd: Thank you, Dr. Miller. 



