136 



EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



always advised to breed from pure 

 stock, but we should always select the 

 best specimens of that stofck, of that 

 race and strain. The individual se- 

 lection is quite as important as the 

 race or strain, and the older countries 

 are going back more and more to the 

 old-fashioned plan of individual selec- 

 tion, and in our bee-keeping the same 

 rule will apply. Those toees which 

 have given the best results are the 

 best to breed from. But, you under- 

 stand, only pure-blooded stock can re- 

 produce Itself. If It Is not pure- 

 blooded stock of some kind, you don't 

 know what you will get from the 

 breed. 



Mr. Whitney: I should like to ask 

 how majiy there are here who have 

 attempted to ibreed up any race of 

 bees to make them what we term 

 thoroughbreds. If there are any, or if 

 they have done It sort of haphazard. 



President York: Raise your 'hands. 

 If you have tried it. (Four.) 



' (RECESS.) 



Record of Hive-Manipulation. 



"How can one keep a convenient 

 record of hive-manipulation?" 



President York: Dr. Miller has a 

 book In which he keeps a record of 

 practically everything, but I don't 

 think he puts down all the manipula- 

 tions of the hive. 



Mr. Whitney: I have always kept 

 a record in a little book. At the top 

 of each page Is a number correspond- 

 ing with the number of the ihive that 

 I have a record of, and everything 

 that happens that I think is important 

 with that colony, I note down. That 

 is, in short, all I have to say about It. 



Mr. Hiorstmann: I keep a record of 

 my queens In a little book. I have the 

 hives all numbered, and the number 

 of the hive corresponds with' the num- 

 ber of the page In the book, and I have 

 slips keeping count of the amount and 

 kind of honey that I take off. If I 

 take off a super of honey, I fill out 

 one of these slips with the number of 

 the hive and the date. When I get 

 ready to extract, I weigh that super 

 before I extract. I extract the honey, 

 and put down the amount of honey I 

 get from that super, and put that slip 

 on file. At the end of the season, 

 I have a slip for every bit that I have 

 taken ofC. One eight-frame colony 

 gave me two hundred and twenty- 



seven pounds of extracted honey. The 

 only way I knew that was by this 

 record. I have had other bee-keep- 

 ers tell me their colonies dio so well, 

 but they had no record to s-h.ow me. 

 I have all these slips from this year 

 on file now, and one advantage of that 

 Is that I will know just what queen 

 to breed from next year. In this one 

 particular -hive the bees were very 

 generous, good workers, and I don't 

 know of any colony better to produce 

 from than that one, and that Is the 

 one I win produce from next year If 

 I am successful in carrying the queen 

 through the winter. 



Mr. Moore: Some of the members 

 would like to know how many colonies 

 you keep. Do you keep bees for 

 pleasure or fior revenue? 



Mr. Horstmann: Both. I have to 

 attend to my family, and so I have to 

 work for the shillings some. times. I 

 have about forty colonies. I scmie 

 times have eighty-four. Some times 

 I sell some In the spring, but I did not 

 produce very much this year. I keep 

 them for both pleasure and revenue. 

 There Is nothing suits me ibetter than 

 keeping bees, and going out and work- 

 ing with the bees after I get through 

 my work, or at the noon Onour. When 

 I am working regularly, I have from 

 12:30 to 3:25 in the middle of the- day 

 to myself. When I get home and 

 with the bees. It Is as good as going 

 to the theater for me. I don't know of 

 anything that suits me better than 

 bees. Even In my neighborhood, peo- 

 ple ask me, what would you do If the 

 people would say ybu must quit keep- 

 ing bees here? I said I would have 

 to go out of the neighborhood. I 

 could not do without my ibees. 



Best Bees to Keep. 



"Which are considered the best bees 

 to keep, everything considered?" 



President York: How many think 

 the Italian? Raise your hands. 

 (Thirteen.) How many think any 

 other kind, and what? 



Mr. Stanley: My experience has 

 ibeen that I have been in favor of the 

 Italians, until this last year or so, I 

 "have tried others, and I think I have 

 had better results from others. I like 

 the Caucasians for extracted honey. 

 They go into sections more readily 

 and stick to work, and I am not both- 

 ered with so much swarming. I pre- 

 fer the Caucasians. 



