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162 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



down there, and frequently we would 

 have rain, and there would be one 

 comer of that yard we would not get 

 over, and we noticed that it was worse 

 for swaiTning, and at the same time 

 the bees did not go to work; there 

 would be more bees lying out in that 

 corner of the yard than anywhere else, 

 and less honey, although they had 

 room enough in the uppers. We had 

 to change our system and make a plan, 

 and keep a record of what we had 

 gone over, and commence at that 

 point in the yard the next time we 

 went over it, and go as far as we 

 could the next trip; and while it was 

 not entirely the shaking that caused 

 the increase. It had the effect, as the 

 paper stated, of causing them to build 

 up, and causing them to spread and 

 keep the brood nest in good shape for 

 the brood, and that kept the colony 

 active. A new swarm would always 

 go to work with more energy than an 

 old one. This manipulation of the 

 frames I think brings about the same 

 advantage that swarming does. 



Mr. Poppleton — I dissent from the 

 paper on three or four points, and 

 especially the one that extracting ex- 

 cites the bees to greater activity and 

 causes a greater yield. I tested that 

 matter very thoroughly in Cuba. 

 Some of those things we can test much 

 better there than in the United States, 

 I find for two or three days after ex- 

 tracting that those bees will gather 

 less honey than the other bees, or 

 than that same colony without extract- 

 ing. When I came back to Florida 

 I kept a hive on the scale, and kept 

 a thorough record for two or three 

 years, and my experience is that for 

 two or three days after extracting, 

 the bees gather less ihoney than be- 

 iPore. The extracting seems to dis- 

 courage, instead of encourage. I ex- 

 tract part of my 'hives once in two 

 weeks, and I have come lo the con- 

 clusion — I have watched it very close- 

 ly — that so long as the bees have 

 plenty of room in the hive, with not 

 too large a ihive, they will gather just 

 as mxich honey whether you extract or 

 do not. Tou can go on and allow a 

 large part of the colony to become 

 sealed; so long as they have got room 

 to store 'honey, they will store just as 

 much as if you take out part of it. I 

 have watched this point very closely. 



Mr. Bernschein — Mr. V'lce-President, 

 it seems to me that frequent extract- 



ing is very im.uch against us in regard V 

 to getting ripe honey; I know it would i 

 be with me. I can't extract every ' 

 ten days and get my honey as ripe as i 

 I would like it, and as ripe as we read } 

 about in our journals; tSierefore, I am i 

 against frequent extracting. I 



Mr. Dibble — Isn't it a fact, from j 

 Mr. Poppleton's statement there, that < 

 in extracting, if he placed the comb 

 in the hives, that for those two or . 

 three days he is speaking about, the ' 

 bees are preparing the com'b, and, 

 therefore, he would get less honey than. [ 

 he would if he had not extracted? Be- , 

 cause we all know when we put combs ' 

 back in t!he hive 'there is certainly a ■ 

 lot of work that has got to be done 

 by the bees 'before they will go to | 

 work gathering honey; they will all 

 go to work and clean those combs lup. 



Mr. Poppleton — I would suggest that 

 'the bees do that work in a couple of 

 hours. 



Mr. Kretchmer — Mr. Vice-President, ' 

 although I voted on the question, yet 

 my deductions 'are not according to 

 the version that has been given of I 

 the question at issue. My deductions 

 have been something like this: We aH 

 have noticed that a new swarm of 

 bees works with more energy after 

 swarming than any other time. I en- 

 deavor to prevent swarming by chip- 

 ing out the queen cells. I have shaken 

 the bees from the comb. In fact, I 

 make a natural swarm in an arti- 

 flcal way, hiving them back into the 

 hive, and tftie bees have acted simi- 

 larly to a natural swarm just hived, 

 working with energy. My inference is, [ 

 it was not the shaking that brought 

 the enery, it was simply by produc- 

 ing an effect similar to a natural 

 swarm that gave me the result. We 

 may have our own ded'uctions in the 

 matter, but my idea is, it was not the 

 shaking at any time, but simply by 

 producing something siimdlar to natural 

 swarming, and hiving them the same 

 as a natural swarm. 



Mr. Dadant — I see my name is men- 

 tioned twice in the paper, and I de- 

 sire to explain what my views are on 

 the subject. I don't want you to 

 think that that is exactly it, but I 

 just want to explain how I understand 

 the matter. Now, I have not seen 

 anything at all in the way cf improve- 

 ment while the bees were making 

 honey. The improvement I have seen 

 is in the way the bees were handled 



