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THE UNIVERSITY
OF ILLINOIS

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EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT

-OF THE-

iidis State h-luwi Assodati

Organized Feb. 26, 1891.

-AT-

SPRINGFIELD, ILL.

COMPILED BY

JAMES A. STONE, Secretary,
R. R. 4, Springfield, 111.

^ ■ 1^

Springfield. 111.

Illinois State Register Print,

1909.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

Office of the Secretary, ■■ \

R. R. 4, Springfiei^d, Ii,!,., March 1, 1905. f

7i? his Excellency, Charles S. Deneen, Governor of the State
of Illinois: -

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith the Eighth
Annual Report of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Association.
Respectfully submitted,

James a. Stone, Secretary.

OFFICERS AND MEMBERS

-OF THE-

ILLINOIS STATE BEMEEPERS' ASSOCUTION

FOR 1909.

3?

OFFICERS

J. Q. SMITH ; . . . . ...... . . President

And State Foul Brood Inspector, Lincoln.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

1st— A. L. KILDOW, .
2d— W. B. MOORE, .
3d— DR. C. C. MILLER,
4th— W. H. HYDE, . .
5th— L. WERNER, . .
JAMES A. STONE, . .

;

Putnam

. . Aitona

Marengo

New Canton

. Edvvardsville

. Secretary

CHAS. BECKER, . . . . Treasurer

Pleasant Plains

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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION

LIST OF MEMBERS

. - -■ OF THE—

Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Jlssociation

FOR 1909

(Where no State is given "Illinois" is understood.)

NAME AND ADDRESS.

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Almond Bros. — Libertyville 10

Anderson, J. L. — Harvard 115

Andrews, T. P. — Farina 94

Augenstein, A. A., — R. 1, Dakota 19

Bartrum, Mrs. H. W. — Piano No report

Baxter, E. J. — Nauvoo 180

Becker, Chas. — Pleasant Plains 82

Benjamin, W. "W. Metropolis 12

Bercaw, Geo. W. — Eltoro, Cal - 250

Bevier, M. — Bradford 52

Bishop, W. W. — Virginia, 111 10

Black, S. H. — Good Hope No report

Black, S. N.— Clayton 18

Bolt, R.— Fulton 40

Bowen, J. W. — Jacksonville No report

Brokaw, Lionel — Summerhill 35

Bronell, L. F.— Piano 6

Brown, E. W. — Norton Park. . . •■j^-'*- • 25

Caldwell, C. S.— P. M. Elvaston.f. 60

Carrico, John G. — Barnett 25

Cave, Geo. W. — Kirkwood 160

Cherry, Thos. M. — Quincy

Clawson, "W. A. — Assumption

Coffman, D. H. — Hamilton 70

Conover, W. F. — Lima . .'

Coppin, Aaron — Wenona No report

Cremers, L. H. — East Dubuque 148

Grim, S. T. — Dawson 53

Crosley, E. G. — ^Farina 55

Crotzer, S. A. — Lena 56

Deem, B. L. — Colona 30

Dubold, A. J. — Seneca 25

Dollinger, Henry — Lockport 50

Donges, G. F. — Durand 40

Dowdy, Jno. S. — ^Atlanta No report

Drorak, John, Jr — Algonquin 50

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600

5875

350

• • • •

4700

600

400

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20000

1200

3000

150

100

3000

100

350

600

'.'.'..

4100

200

100

100

500

• • • ■

100

2000

1400

6400

500

• • • •

7000

5000

6600

225

9600

3400

60

3200

1600

■ • • •

500

1500

490

1360

4200

1200

300

5300

1060

900

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OP THE

NAME AND ADDRESS.

Earle, Mrs. C. A. — DesPlaines..
Earnest, David P. — East Alton.
Eidmann, E. C. — Belleville

Enigenberg, J. — Oakglen

Entsminger, A. — Taylorville

Eve, George — Minonk

Falbe, Christ — Belleville

Finger, C. A. — Marissa

Flanagan, E. T. — Belleville

Frank, J. C. — Davis

Gandy, W. C. — Ritchey

Geissag, Alfred — Greenville

Glasser, "Wm. — Dakota

Grant, W. W. — Marion

Gray, W. H.— Chillicothe

Group, Jno F. — Franklin Grove

Haines, C. A. — East St. Louis

Hall, B. D. — Royal

Hamilton, Ray A. — Donovan

Hansel, Charlie — Minooka

Hartonan, Fred E. — Troy No report

Hartman, Rev. T. F. — Rochester

Hassler, J. H. — Princeton

Haych, Barnard — Quincy

Hazelwood, F. — Belvidere

Heinze, Herman — Edwardsvllle

Heise, Paul — Warsaw

Hettel, Mathias — Marine

Hill, H. D.— Lima

Hinderer, Frank — Frederick

Hitch, Rev. H. F.— Pineville, La

Hix, Chas. M. — Hampshire

Holdewer, J. D. — Carlyle

Holekamp, R. A. — St. Louis, Mo

Homan, W. A. — Quincy

Honack, Chas. — Streator

Hutt, Joseph G. — Peoria

Hyde, "W. H. — New Canton

Johnson, J. P. — Elburn

Jones, M. A. — Atwater '.

Joyce, Michael — Reddick

Kendall, Frank R. — Byron

Kennedy, Miss L. C. — Curran

Kildow, A. L. — Putnam

Kuczynski, John F, — Oglesby

Kurr. J. T. — Louisville, 111

Lange, J. W. — Thawville

Laxton, J. G. — Lyndon

Lind, M. H. — Baders

Longwell, B. R. — Rochelle ,

Mahler, Peter — Utica

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Extracted
a 1908

14

40

60

14
70
13
26
10
35
20

25

30

30

104

140

46

36

2

95

200

55

3

18

35
24

400

68

2500

580

1000
2100
1400

30 3410

2500

1800

900
1000

600

50 1200

From 25

From 25

50

1700

4140

98

4000

2000

19

1300

• ■ • ■

82

• • • •

8200

24

« • . •

1080

100

200

5500

237

500

15000

10500

. 150
1200

800

1000

400

800 100

2100 2100

4500 200

5300

450

24

3768 900

200 15000

300

250

29 2500

8 300

37 120jO 720

72 3700

223 14500 1000

250

130 1600 1800
68 4500 150
90 8000

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

NAME AND ADDRESS.

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May, Fred H. — Meredosia 105

Maynard, W. H. — Decatur

Meise, F. A. — Coatsburg 90

Menkhausen, Louis T. — Belleville 40

Michael, S. P. — Spring Valley

Miller, Dr. C. C. — Marengo 160

Moore, W. B. — Altona 40

Mottaz, A.^ — Utica 75

Muchleip, H. — Apple River 90

Mullin, O. S. — Rock Island

Mundoff, C. H. — Kirkwood

McCullough, Jno. T. — Centralia

McElf resh, Wm.— P. O., Springfield 12

McKown, C. W.— Gilson 107

McLeod, D. C, — Pana 78

Ness, L. L. — Morris 175

Newcomer, Sam M. — Polo 70

Norberg, Peter J. — Spring Valley 175

Null, Wm. D. — Prairieville, Ala 62

. Nydegger, John — Danville 110

Oakes, Lannes P. — Joppa 19

Ostermeier, John — Cornland

Paul, W. H. — Edwardsville

Payne, John W. — Georgetown 16

Pepinger, W. A. — Lincoln

Peterson, F. E. — Edelstein

Picaman, Gus. — Litchfield

Pickels, M. A. — Lomax 60

Plunkett, J. M. — Palestine 20

Poindexter, James — Bloomington

Pyles. I. E — Putnam

Raftery, J. T.— Hadley Station

Hesser, N. W. — Geneseo 141

Ricker, T. R. — Cortland

Higg, R. T. — Auburn 40

Hiley, W. — Breeds

Roat, Austin — Kankakee 9

Robbins, Danl. E. — Payson 45

Sauer, Geo. L. — Polo 108

Sauer, John — Springfield

Seastream, George — Pawnee 55

Secor, W. G. — Greenfield 57

Seibold, Jacob— ^Homer 16

Shawver, Oscar — Casey 20

-Shroutz, Mack — Momence 25

Shupe, Frank — Mazon 80

Simpson, "Wm — Meyer

Slack, Geo. B. — Mapleton 45

Smith, J, O. — Lincoln

Snell, F. A. — Milledgeville 100

Snyder, Thos M. — Lima

Southwick, Dr. Geo. E. — Glenarm 110

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750 3000

100 2000
500 500

17857 i

3500 •' 500
3600 8000
3200 1500

300

■ • • •

1950

5200

2200

300

13000

1800

1000

1500

2000

1600

• • • •

5000

• • • ■

6.000

400

600

600
140

400

550

7300

1300

2000

. . . .

2000

400

2000

500

1500

384

1500

700

. • . .

600

• • ■ •

800

• > ■ •

7000

300

3408

200

250

5000

6000

10

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

NAME AND ADDRESS.

Spacklen, A. W. — Cowden

Stone, Jas. A. — Springfield . . ! . .
Turner, "W. P. — Peoria Heights.

Tyler, Fred — San Jose

Ulrich, G. E. — Campus

Vogrel, Henry — Galena

Wag-ner, F. M. — Quincy

Walker, Albert — Petersburg . . .

Walsh, James — Woodstock

Werner, Louis — Edwardsville . .
Whitmore, Dr. N. P. — Gardner.

Widicus, Daniel — St. Jacob

Toos, Geo. F. — Central City

York, Geo. W. — Chicago

Young, A. O. K. — Girard

Zachgo, Hugo — Danforth

Zelier, Mrs. Caroline — Peoria .
Zoll, C. — Vermont

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39

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48

4286

530

20

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10

700

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70

3000

200

60

500

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31

656

800

25

1500

....

.50

1200

400

11

527

666

28

250

750

.00

2500

500

50

925

800

70

3500

400

35

500

550

36

500

• . • •

LIST OF MEMBERS COMING IN A BODY PER THE CHICAGO
NORTHWESTERN ASSOCIATION.

Arnd, H. M. — Chicago

Ahlers, H. C. — West Bend, Wis

Baldridge, M. M. — St. Charles

Baldwin, E. W. — DeKalb

Beardsley, E. H. — Chicago

Earkemeyer, B. D. — Oak Park

Benson, Ada — Chicago

Bodenschatz, Adam — Lemont

Bohrer, Dr. G. — Lyons, Kans

Blume, W. B. — Chicago

Bull, John C. — Valparaiso, Ind. .......

Candler, Miss M. — Cassville, Wis....

Chapman, W. B. — Arlington Heights

Dadant, C. P. — Hamilton

Duff, Peter N. — Chicago

Falconer, W. W. — Chicago

Furgeson, L. R. — Harvey

Furgeson, Mrs. L. R. — Harvey

Fluegg, Theodore — Bensenville

Frank, Jno. C. — Dodge City, Kans....

Glassner, Mrs. J. J. — Chicago

Grabbe, F. — Libertyville

Hanson, Julius — Aurora

Hintz, Aug. J.^-Lemont

Holbrook, R. B. — Chicago

Horstman, Wm. H. — Chicago

Jones, Geo. W. — "West Bend, Wis . . . .

Kanneberg, C. F. — Oak Park

Kennicot, E. E. — Glerrview

260 5920 22500

14

600

30

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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

11

NAME AND ADDRESS.

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Kimmez, F. L. — Morgan Park

Kluck, N. A. — McConnell

Kneser, John — Barrington

Longsdon, W. D. — Stillman Valley

Lyman, W. C. — Downers Grove

Macklin, Chas. G. — Morrison

McAllister, G. H. — Chicago

Moore, Herman F. — Park Ridge

Mears, W. H. — Chicago

Offner, Fred — Monee

Owen, Chas — Austin Station, Chicago ,

Reynolds, W. G. — Chicago (Ogden Avenue) ,

Ruel, J. G. — Monroe Avenue, Chicago ,

Russen, Gottlieb — N. Leavitt, Chicago

Saxe, A. J. — Qhicago

Stanley, Arthur — Dixon ,

Stewart, W. H. H. — Emerson

Switzer, Saml. — St Charles

Taylor, R. L. — LaPier, Mich

Taylor, C. E. — Custer Park ,

Todd, F. D. — Victoria, B. C

Watts, W. H. — Ross, Ind

Walker, Byron — Clyde

Weckerle, Anna — West Pullman ,

Wheeler, J. C. — Oak Park

Whitney, W. M. — Evanston ,

Weigand, Adam — Chicago

Wilcox, F. — Manston, Wis ,

Wilson, Miss Emma — Marengo

Winter, I. V. — North Aurora

56 1000 2000

48
100

500
3600

55

15

39

500
550

2000
500

2000

4000 1500

LIST OF, MEMBERS COMING IN A BODY PER THE NORTHERN

ILLINOIS ASSOCIATION.

Anderson, J. L. — Harvard

Beidler, W. H. — Freeport

Hitt, Samuel — Elizabeth

Jackson, Jno A. — Winnebago

Kennedy, B. — Cherry Valley

Kluck, N. A. — Lena

Lee, Arthur — Rockton ,

Lee, H. W. — Pecatonica

Martin, M. M. — Caledonia

Mason, Joseph — Fairdale

McBarnes, W. H. — Rockford

McCartney, Geo. R. — Rockford . . .

Piercfleld, Wm. — Byron

Prentice, W. L. — Stillman Valley.

Taylor, O. — Rockford

Thompson, A. L. — ^Rockford

Whitney, Byron — Byron

Woolsey, Geo. A. — Rockford

10

25

300

600

600

12 EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

Through the one hundred and twenty-eight members who reported to the
Secretary when they sent in their fees, we get the following:

No. of Colonies of Bees 7,903

No. of pounds of Comb Honey in 1908 235,328

No. of pounds of Extracted Honey in 1908 236,101

Average No. of Colonies per member 61.74

Average No. pounds Comb Honey per member ; . . . . 1,838

■ Average No. pounds of Extracted Honey per member 1,844

Value of Comb Honey for 1908 at 15c $35,298.20

Value of Extracted Honey for 1908 at 12c 28,332.12

Total value of Honey reported $63,630.32

If the same ratio vvould hold good with the 34,932 bee-keepers in the state,
the result would be as follows:

No. of Colonies of Bees 2,130,852

No. pounds Comb Honey 68,245,016

No. pounds Extracted Honey 68,414,608

Value of Comb Honey at 15c per pound $10,236,752 . 40

Value of Extracted Honey at 12c per pound 8,209,752.96

Total value Comb and Extracted Honey $18,446,505.36

ILLINOIS STATE BEK-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

13

Formation oJ the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Association.

Springfield III., Feb. 26, 1891.

The Capitol Bee-Keepers' Associa-
tion was called to order by President
P. J. England.

irevious notice having been given
that an effort would be made to form
a State Association, and there being
present bee-keepers from different
parts of the state, by motion, a recess
was taken in order to form such an
Association.

P. J. England was chosen temporary
chairman, and C. E. Tocum temporary
secretary. On motion, the Chair ap-
pointed Thos. G. Newman, C. P. Da-
dant and Hon. J. M. Hambaugh a com-
mittee on constitution.

Col. Chas. F. Mills addressed the
meeting on the needs of a State As-
sociation, and stated that it was his
opinion that the bee-keepers should
have a liberal appropriation for a State
Apiarian Exhibit at the World's Col-
umbian Exposition.

A motion to adjourn till 1:30 P. M.
prevailed.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

The Committee on Constitution re-
ported a form for same, which, on
motion, was read by the Secretary, by
sections serially.

Geo. F. Robbins moved to substitute
the word "shall" for "may" in the last
clause of Section 1, Article III. This
led to a very animated discussion, and
the motion was lost.

J. A. Stone moved to amend the
above-named section by striking out
the word "ladies" and all that followed
of the same section, which motion led
to further discussion and motion final-
ly prevailed.

Section 2, Article II., relating to a
quorum, was, on motion, entirely strick-
en out.

Mr. Robbins moved to arhend Article
V. by adding the words "Thirty days'
notice havig been given to each mem-
ber." Prevailed.

Thos. G. Newman moved to adopt
the Constitution, so amended, as a
whole. Which motion prevailed.

See Constitution, page 8.

J. A, Stone moved that the Chair
appoint a nominating committee of
three on permanent organization. Pre-
vailed.

Chair appointed as such committee^
Col. Chas. F, Mills, Hon. J. M. Ham-
baugh, and C. P. Dadant.

Committee retired and in a few min-
utes returned, submitting the follow-
ing named persons as candidates for
their respective offices:

For President — P. J. England, Fancy
Prairie.

For Vice Presidents — Mrs. L. Harri-
son, Peoria; C. P. Dadant, Hamilton;
W. T. F. Petty, Pittsfield; Hon. J. M.
Hambaugh, Spring; Dr. C. G. Miller,
Marengo.

Secretary — ^Jas. A. Stone, Bradford-
ton.

Treasurer — ^A. N. Draper, Upper Al-
ton.

Mr. Black moved the adoption of the
report of the committee on nomina-
tions. The motion prevailed, and the
officers as named by the committee
were declared elected for the ensuing
year.

Hon. J. M. Hambaugh moved that
Mr. Thos. G. Newman, Editor Ameri-
can Bee Journal, of Chicago, be made
the first honorary member of the As-
sociation. Prevailed.

At this point Col. Chas. F. Mills
said, "Mr. Chairman, I want to be the
first one to pay my dollar for member-
ship," at the same time suiting his
action to his words, and others fol-
lowed his example, as follows:

CHARTER MEMBERS.

Col. Chas. F. Mills, Springfield.
Hon. J. M. Hambaugh, Spring,
Hon. J. S. Lyman, Farmingdale,
C. P. Dadant, Hamilton.
Chas, Dadant, Hamilton.
A, N. Draper, Upper Alton.
S, N. Black, Clayton.
Aaron Coppin, Wenona.
Geo. F. Robbins, Mechanicsburg.
J. W, Tocum, Williamsville.
Thos. S. Wallace, Clayton.
A. J. England, Fancy Prairie.
P. J. England, Fancy Prairie.
C. E. Tocom, Sherman.
Jas. A. Stone, Bradfordton.

FIRST HONORARY MEMBER.

Thos. G. Newman, Editor American
Bee Journal, Chicago.

14

EIGHTH ANNLTAL REPORT OF THE

State of Illinois— Department of State

ISAAC N. PEARSON, Secretary of Stale

To all to whom these Prese^its shall co77ie — Greeting:

Whereas, A certificate duly signed
and acknowledged having been filed in
the office of the Secretary of State on
the 27th day of February, A. D. 1891,
for the organization of the Illinois State
Bee-keepers' Association, under and in
accordance with the provisions of "An
Act Concerning Corporations," ap-
proved April 18, 1872, and in force
July 1, 1872, and all acts amendatory
thereof, a copy of which certificate is
hereunto attached.

Now, Therefore, I, Isaac N. Pearson,
Secretary of State, of the State of Illi-
nois, by virtue of the powers and du-
ties vested in me by law, do hereby
certify that the said. The Illinois State
Bee-Keepers' Association, is a legally
organized corporation under the laws
of the State.

In Testimony Whereof, I hereunto
set my hand and cause to be affixed
the great seal of State.

Done at the City of Springfield, this
27th day of February in the
[Seal] year of our Lord one thou-
sand eight hundred and nine-
1 ty-one, and the Independence
of the United States the one
hundred and fifteenth.
• I. N. PEARSON,

Secretary of State.

;.}

ss.

STATE OP ILLINOIS
County of Sangamon,

To Isaac N. Pearson, Secretary of

State:

We, the undersigned, Perry J. Eng-
land, Jas. A. Stone and Albert N. Dra-
per, citizens of the United States, pro-
pose to form a corporation under an
act of the General Assembly of the
State of Illinois, entitled, "An Act Con-
cerning Corporations," approved April

18, 1872, and all acts amendatory there-
of; and for the purposes of such or-
ganizations, ,we hereby state as fol-
lows, to- wit:

1. The name of such corporation Is,
The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Asso-
ciation.

2. The object for which it is formed
is, to promote the general interests of
the pursuit of bee -culture.

3. The management of the afore-
said Association shall be vested in a
board of three Directors who are to
be elected annually.

4. The following persons are hereby
selected as the Directors, to control
and manage said corporation for the
first year of its corporate existence,
viz.: Perry J. England, Jas. A. Stone
and Albert N. Draper.

5. The location is in Springfield, in
the County of Sangamon, State of Illi-
nois. [Signed,]

Perry J. England,
Jas. A. Stone,
Albert N. Draper.

ss.

STATE OF ILLINOIS,

Sangamon County,'

I, S. Mendenhall, ^ notary public in
and for the County and State afore-
said, do hereby certify that on this
26th day of February, A. D. 1891, per-
sonally appeared before me. Perry J,
England, James A. Stone and Albert
N. Draper, to me personally known to
be the same persons who executed the
foregoing certificate and severally ac-
knowledged that they had executed the
same for the purposes therein set forth.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto
set my hand and seal the day and yeaf
above written.

S. Mendenhall,

[Seal] Notary Public.

.■..li.:l;

■"WiT-

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

15

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS

OF THE

Illinois State Bee-Keepers* ilssociation

CONSTITUTION

Adopted Feb. 26. 1901.

ARTICLE I.— Name.

This organization shall be known as
The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Asso-
ciation, and its principal place of busi-
ness shall be at Springfield, 111

ARTICLE n.— Object.

Its object shall be to promote the
general interests of the pursuit of bee-
culture.

ARTICLE in. — Membership.

Section 1. Any person interested in
Apiculture may become a member up-
on the payment to the Secretary of an
annual fee of one dollar ($1.00).
(Amendment adopted at annual meet-
ing, November, 1905): And any affili-
ating Association, as a body, may be-
come members on the payment of an
aggregate fee of twenty-five cents
(25c) per member.

Sec. 2. Any persons may become hon-

orary members by receiving a ma-
jority vote at any regular meeting.

ARTICLE rv.— Officers.

Section 1. The officers of this Asso-
ciation shall be President, Vice-Presi-
dent, Secretary and Treasurer. Their
terms of office shall be for one year,
or until their successors are elected
and qualified. ;

Sec. 2. The President, Secretary and
Treasurer shall constitute the Execu-
tive Committee.

Sec. 3. Vacancies in office — by
death, resignation and otherwise —
shall be filled by the Executive Com-
mittee until the next annual meeting.

ARTICLE v.— Amendments.

This Constitution shall be amended
at any annual meeting by a two-thirds
vote of all the members present —
thirty days' notice having been given
to each member of the Association.

BY-IiAWT^S

ARTICLE L

The officers of the Association shall
be elected by ballot and by a majority
vote.

ARTICLE n.

It shall be the duty of the President
to call and preserve order at all meet-
ings of this Association; to call for all
reports of officers and committees; to

put to vote all motions regularly sec-
onded, to count the vote at all elec-
tions, and declare the results; to de-
cide upon all questions of order; and
to deliver an address at each annual
meeting.

ARTICLE ni.

The Vice-Presidents shall be num-
bered respectively, First, Second, Third,
Fourth and Fifth, and it shall be the

16

EIGHTH ANNQAL. REPORT OF THE

duty of one of them in his respective
order to preside in the absence of
the President.

ARTICLE IV.

Section 1. It shall be the duty of the
Secretary to report all proceedings of
the Association, and to record the
same, when approved, in the Secre-
tary's book; to conduct all correspond-
ence of the Association, and to file
and preserve all papers belonging to
the same; to receive the annual dues
and pay them over to the Treasurer,
taking his receipt for the same; to
take and record the name and address
of every member of the Association;
to cause the Constitution and By-Laws
to be printed in appropriate form, and
in such quantities as may be directed
by the Executive Committee from time
to time, and see that each member is
provided with a copy thereof; to make
out and publish annually, as far as
practicable, statistical table showing
the number of colonies owned in the
spring and fall, and the amount of
honey and wax produced by each mem-
ber, together with such other informa-
tion as may be deemed important, or
be directed by the Executive Commit-
tee; and to give notice of all meetings
of the Association in the leading pa-
pers of the State and in the bee jour-
nals at least four weeks prior to the
time of such meeting.

Sec. 2. The Secretary shall be al-
lowed a reasonable compensation for
his services, and to appoint an assist-
ant Secretary if deemed necessary.

ARTICLE V.

It shall be the duty of the Treasurer
to take charge of all funds of the As-

sociation, and to pay them out upon
the order of the Executive Committee,
taking a receipt for the same; and to
render a report of all receipts and
expenditures at each annual meeting.

ARTICLE VI.

It shall be the duty of the Executive
Committee to select subjects for dis-
cussion and appoint members to de-
liver addresses or read essays, and to
transact all interim business.

ARTICLE VII.

The meeting of the Association
shall be, as far as practicable, gov-
erned by the following order of busi-
ness:

Call to order.

Reading minutes of last meeting.

President's address.

Secretary's report.

Treasurer's report.

Reports of committees.

Unfinished business.

Reception of members and collection.

Miscellaneous business.

Election and installation of officers.

Discussion.

.lN rejournment.

ARTICLE VIII.

These By-Laws may be amended
by a two-thirds vote of all the mem-
bers present at any annual meeting.
C. E. Yocom,
Aaron Coppin,
Geo. F. Robbins.

|pjg5^i5jg9^;jra»;t?«s=r-jBM-5S5K'f-?.».>;'^^^^

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

17

(Bills offered in the 46 th General Assembly.)

Bee-Keepers^ Association

1. For expenses of annual meetings,
per annum, $1,000; officers to re-
ceive no salary.

§ 2. How drawn. ^
§ 3. Duty of Treasurer of Associa-
tion.

A BIIilLi

For an act making an appropriation for the Illinois State Bee -Keepers' Ass'n.

Whereas, The members of the Illi-
nois State Bee-Keepers' Association
have for years given much time and
labor without compensation in the en-
deavor to promote the interests of the
bee-keepers of the State; and.

Whereas, The importance of the in-
dustry to the farmers and fruit-grow-
ers of the State warrants the expendi-
ture of a reasonable sum for the hold-
ing of annual meetings, the publica-
tion of reports and papers containing
practical Information concerning bee-
keeping, therefore to sustain the same
and enable this organization to defray
the expenses of annual meetings, pub-
lishing reports, suppressing foul brood
among bees in the State, and promote
the industry in Illinois:

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Peo-
ple of the State of Illinois represented
in the General Assembly: That there
be and is hereby appropriated for the
use of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers'
Association the sum of one thousand
dollars ($1,000) per annum for the
years 1909 and 1910. For the purpose
of advancing the growth and develop-
ing the interests of the bee-keepers of
Illinois, said sum to be expended un-
der the direction of the Illinois State

Bee -Keepers' Association for the pur-
pose of paying the expenses of holding
annual meetings, publishing the pro-
ceedings of said meetings, suppressing
foul brood among bees in Illinois, etc.

Provided, however. That no officer
or officers of the Illinois State Bee-
Keepers' Association shall be entitled
to receive any money compensation
whatever for any services rendered for
the same, out of this fund.

Sec. 2. That on the order of the
President, countersigned by the Secre-
tary of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers'
Association, and approved by the Gov-
ernor, the Auditor of Public Accounts
shall draw his warrant on the Treas-
urer of the State of Illinois in favor
of the treasurer of the Illinois State
Bee-Keepers' Association for the sum
herein appropriated.

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the
treasurer of the Illinois State Bee-
Keepers' Association to pay out of said
appropriation on itemized and receipt-
ed vouchers such sums as may be
authorized by vote of said organiza-
tion on the order of the president,
countersigned by the secretary, and
make annual report to the Governor of
all such expenditures, as provided by
law.

—2

18

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

A Bllili

For an act providing for the appointment of a State Inspector of Apiaries,
and prescribing his powers and duties.

Whereas,. The disease known as foul
brood exists to a very considerable
extent in various portions of this
State, which if left to itself wall soon
exterminate the honey bees; and.

Whereas, The work done by an in-
dividual bee-keeper or by a State In-
spector is useless so long as the of-
ficial is not given authority to inspect
and if need be destroy the disease
when found; and

Whereas, There is a great loss to the
bee-keepers and fruit-growers of tlie
State each year by the devastating
ravages of foul brood:

Section 1. Be it enacted by the
People of the State of Illinois, repre-
sented in the General Assembly: That
the Governor shall appoint a State
Inspector of Apiaries, who shall hold
his office for the term of two years
and until his successor is appointed
and qualified.

Sec. 2. Said Inspector shall, when
notified of the existence of the disease
known as foul brood among apiaries,
examine all such as are so reported
and all others in the same locality and
ascertain whether or not such disease
exists, and if satisfied of its existence,
shall give the owner or the person who
has the care of such apiaries full in-
structions as to the manner of treat-
ing them. In case the owner of a dis-
eased apiary shall refuse to treat his
bees or allow them to be treated as
directed by the said Inspector, then
the said Inspector may burn all the

colonies and all the combs necessary
to prevent the spread of the disease,
provided, said Inspector shall, before
burning, give one day's notice to the
owner or other person who has the
care of the colonies of bees and comb,
that in his judgment should be burned.

Sec. 3. The Inspector shall, on or
before the second Monday of December
in each calendar year, make a report
to the Governor and also to the Illinois
State Bee-Keepers' Association, stat-
ing the number of apiaries visited, the
number of those diseased and treated,
the number of colonies of bees de-
stroyed, and the expense incurred in
the performance of his duties. Said
Inspector shall receive four dollars
for each day actually and necessarily
spent in the performance of his duties
and be reimbursed for the money ex-
pended by him in defraying his ex-
penses, out of the appropriation
inade to the Illinois State Bee-Keep-
ers' Association, provided, that the
total expenditure for such purposes
shall not exceed six hundred dollars
per year.

Sec. 4. Any owner of a diseased
apiary or appliances taken therefrom,
who shall sell, barter or give away any
such apiary, appliance, or bees from
such apiary, expose other bees to the
danger of contracting such disease, or
refuse to allow the Inspector of Api-
aries to inspect such apiary, or appli-
ances, shall be fined not less than fifty
dollars nor more than one hundred
dollars.

#*'■■

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 19

No... :.... ':";■' ■'■ -:.:■--••■■■

■ ■■-■--/

CERTIFICATE OF

ILLINOIS STATE INSPECTOR OF APIARIES.

Date 190.

I have this day inspected the apiary of: —
Mr.

P. o.. ...'.... .; . .

No. of colonies in apiary

Sin cellar Loss.
-
Outside Loss

f Lbs. Comb .....
190 Honey .-j

( Lbs. Extracted.

No. colonies apparently healthy.

No. colonies diseased

Name of disease

Date bees to be treated

No. colonies or hives to be burned !

Subscriber for.
Remarks

Foul Brood Inspector of Illinois.

20

EIGHTH ANNUAL. KEPORT OF THE

Code of Rules and Standards for Grading Apiarian Exhibits at Fairs, as
Adopted by Illinois State Bee-Keepers Association.

COMB HONEY.

Rule 1. Comb honey shall be marked
on a scale of l6o, as follows:

Quantity 40

Quality 40

Style of display 20

Rule 2. Points of quality should be:

Variety 5

Clearness of capping 10

Completeness of capping 5

Completeness of filling 5

Straightness of comb 5

Uniformity 5

Style of section 5

Remarks, 1. By variety is meant dif-
ferent kinds, with regard to the sources
from which the honey is gathered,
which adds much interest to an ex-
hibit.

2. By clearness of capping is meant
freedom from travel stain and a wa-
ter soaked appearance. This point is
marked a little high because it is a
most important one. There is no bet-
ter test of the quality of comb honey
than the appearance of the cappings.
If honey is taken off at the proper
time and cared for as it should be, so
a® to preserve its original clear color,
body and flavor will take care of them-
selves, for excellence in the last two
points always accompanies excellence
in the first. Clover and basswood
honey should be white; heartsease, a
dull white tinged with yellow; and
Spanish needle, a bright yellow.

3. By uniformity is meant closeness
of resemblance in the sections compos-
ing the exhibit.

4. By style is meant neatness of the
sections, freedom from propolis, etc.
Under this head may also be consid-
ered the size of the section. The
4^x4% being the standard, should take
the preference over all others, and 1%
to 2 inches in width over narrow ones.

5. Honey so arranged as to show
every section should score the highest
in style of display, and everything that
may add to the tastiness and attract-
iveness of an exhibit should be consid-
ered.

EXTRACTED HONEY.

Rule 1. Extracted honey should be
marked on a scale of 100, as follows:

Quantity 40

Quality 45

Style of display 15

Rule 2. The points of quality should
be:

Variety 10

Clearness of color 5

Body 5

Flavor 5

Style of package 10

Variety of package 5

Finish 5

Remarks, 1. Light clover honey
pouring out of a vessel is a very light
straw color; Spanish needle, a golden
hue; and dark clover honey a dull
amber.

2. Style of package is rated a little
high, not only because in that consists
the principal beauty of an exhibit of
extracted honey, but also because it
involves the best package for market-
ing. We want to show honey in the
best shape for the retail trade, and
that in this case means the most at-
tractive style for exhibition. Glass
packages should be given the prefer-
ence over tin; flint glass over green;
and smaller vessels over larger, pro-
vided the latter run over one or two
pounds.

3. By variety of package is meant
chiefly different sizes; but small pails
for retailing, and in addition, cans or
kegs (not too large) for wholesaling,
may be considered. In the former case,
pails painted in assorted colors and
lettered "Pure Honey," should be giv-
en the preference.

4. By finish is meant capping, label-
ing, etc.

5. Less depends upon the ipanner of
arranging an exhibit of extracted than
of comb honey, and for that reason,
as well as to give a higher number of
points to style of package, a smaller
scale is allowed for style of display.

"x':\

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

21

SAMPLES OF COMB AND EX-
TRACTED HONEY.

Rule 1. Single cases of comb honey,
entered as such for separate pre-
miums, should be judged by substan-
tially the same rules as those given
for a display of comb honey, and sam-
ples of extracted by those governing
displays of extracted honey.

Rule 2. Samples of comb or extract-
ed honey, as above, may be considered
as part of the general display in their
j-espective dejpartments.

GRANULATED HONEY.

Rule 1. Candided or granulated hon-
ey should be judged by the rules for
extracted honey, except as below.

Rule 2. The points of quality should
be:

Variety 10

Fineness of grain 5

Color 5

Flavor 5

Style of package 10

Variety of package 5

Finish 5

Rule 3. An exhibit of granulated
honey may be entered or considered
as part of a display of extracted
honey.

NUCLEI OF BEES.

Rule. Bees in observation hives should
be maxked on a scale of 100, as follows:

Color and markings 30

Size of bees 30

Brood 10

Queen 10

Quietness 5

Style of comb 5

Style of hive 10

Remarks, 1. Bees should be exhib-
ited only in the form of single frame
nuclei, in hives or cages with glass
sides.

2. Italian bees should show three
or more bands ranging from leather
color to golden or light yellow,

3. The markings of other races
should be those claimed for those races
in their purity,

4. A nucleus from which the
queen, is omitted should score zero on
that point.

5. The largest quantity of brood in
all stages or nearest to that should
score the highest in that respect.

6. The straightest, smoothest and
most complete comb, with the most
honey consistent with the most brood,
should score the highest in that re-
spect.

7. That hive which is neatest and
best made and shows the bees, etc., to
the best advantage should score the
highest.

QUEEN BEES.

Rule. Queen bees in cages should
be marked on a scale of 100, as fol-
lows:

Quantity 40

Quality and variety 40 "

Style of caging and display 20

Remarks, 1. The best in quality
consistent with variety should score
the highest, A preponderance of Ital-
ian queens should overweigh a pre-
ponderance of black ones, or perhaps
of any other race or strain; but sample
queens of any or all varieties should
be duly considered. Under the head
of quality should also be considered
the attendant bees. There should be
about a dozen with each queen.

2. Neatness and finish of cages
should receive due consideration, but
the principal points in style are to
make and arrange the cages so as to
show the inmates to the best advan-
tage.

BEESWAX.

Rule. Beeswax should be marked
on a scale of 100, as follows:

Quantity 40

Quality 40

Style of display. , 20

Remarks, 1. Pale clear yellow speci-
mens should score the highest, and
the darker grades should come next in
order.

2. By style is meant chiefly the forms
in which the wax is molded and put
up for exhibition. Thin cakes or small
pieces are more desirable in the retail
trade than larger ones. Some atten-
tion may be given to novelty and
variety.

"^'l-SSWtMfll.v-,.-

-^^J^?''

I

22

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

?oul Brood and Other Diseases of Bees

(Republished by permission of N. E. France, Foul Brood Inspector of

Wisconsin.)

Foul brood— bacillus alvei — is a fatal
and contagious disease among bees,
dreaded most of all by bee-keepers.
The germs of disease are either given
to the young larval bee in its food
when it hatches from the egg of the
queen-bee, or it may be contagion
from a diseased colony, or if the queen
deposits eggs, or the worker-bees store
honey or pollen in such combs. If in
any one of the above cases, the dis-
ease will soon appear, and the germs
increase with great rapidity, going
from one little cell to another, colony
to colony of bees, and then to all the
neighboring apiaries, thus soon leav-
ing whole apiaries with only diseased
combs to inoculate others. The Island
of Syria in three years lost all of its
great apiaries from foul brood. Dzier-
zon, in 1868, lost his entire apiary of
500 colonies. Cowan, the editor of the
British Bee Journal, recently wrote:
"The only visible hindrance to the rap-
id expansion of the bee industry is the
prevalence of foul brood, which is so
rapidly spreading over the country as
to make bee-keeping a hazardous occu-
pation."

Canada's foul brood inspector, in
1890 to 1892, reported 2,395 cases, and
in a later report for 1893 to 1898, that
4Q per cent of the colonies inspected
were diseased. Cuba is one of the
greatest honey-producing countries,
and was lately reported to me by a
Wisconisn bee-keeper who has been
there, and will soon return to Wiscon-
sin: "So plentiful is foul brood in
Cuba that I have known whole api-
aries to dwindle out of existence from
its ravages, and hundreds more are on
the same road to sure and certain
death. I, myself, took in 90 days in
Cuba, 24,000 pounds of fine honey from
100 colonies, but where is that apiary
and my other 150-colony apiary? Dead
from foul brood." Cuba, in 1901, ex-
ported 4,795,600 pounds of honey, and
1,022,897 pounds of bees-wax.

Cuba at present has laws to sup-
press foul brood, and her inspector is
doing all possible to stamp the same
from the Island.

Even in Wisconsin I know of several
quite large piles of empty hives, where
also many other apiaries where said
disease had gotten a strong foothold.
By the kindness of the Wisconsin bee-
keepers, and in most cases by their
willing assistance, I have, during the
last five years, gotten several counties
free of the disease, and at the present
writing, March 12, 1902, have what
there is in Wisconsin under control .
and quarantined. This dreadful dis-
ease is often imported into our State
from other States and countries, so we
may expect some new cases to de-
velop until all the States shall enact
such laws as will prevent further
spread of the same. Arizona, New
York (1899), California (1891), Nebras-
ka (1895), Utah (1892), Colorado (1897),
have county inspectors, and Wisconsin
(1897), and Michigan (1901), have State
inspectors. The present Wisconsin law,
after five years of testing and rapid
decrease of the disease, is considered
the best, and many other States are
now making efforts to secure a like
law.

There are several experimental api-
aries in Canada under control of the
Ontario Agricultural College, also a
few in the United States, especially in
Colorado, that have done great work
for the bee-keeping Industry, and their
various published bulletins on the
same are very valuable. The Wiscon-
sin State Bee -Keepers' Association has
asked that an experimental apiary
might be had on the Wisconsin Ex-
perimental farm, but at present there
a re so many departments asking for
aid that I fear it may be some time be-
fore bee -culture will be taken up.

Causes of Foul Brood.

1. Many writers claim foul brood

"^■T'-

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPKRS' ASSOCIATION

23

originates from chilled or dead brood.
Dr. Howard, of Texas, one of the best
practical modern scientific experiment-
ers, a man of authority, has proven be-
yond a doubt that chilled or common
dead' brood does not produce foul brood.
I have, in the last five years, also
proven his statements to be true in
Wisconsin, but I do believe such con-
ditions of dead brood are the most
favorable places for lodgment and
rapid growth of diseases. Also, I do
not believe foul brood germs are float-
ing in the air, for, if they were, why
would not every brood-comb cell of
an infected hive become diseased? I
believe that this disease spreads only
as the adult bees come in contact with
it, which is often through robber-bees.
Brood- combs should not be removed
from any colony on cold or windy
days, nor should they be left for a
moment in the direct rays of sun-
shine on hot days.

2. The foul brood may be caused by
the need of proper food and tempera-
ture. Generally this disease does not
appear to be serious during a honey-
flow, but at the close of the honey sea-
son, or at time of scarcity, it is quite
serious, and as the bees at such times
will rob anywhere they can find stores,
whether from healthy or diseased
combs, it is the duty of every bee-
keeper to keep everything carefully
protected. Hive-entrances contracted,
no old combs or any article with a drop
of honey in where the bees can get to
it. . While honey is coming in from
the various flowers, quite a portion is
used direct as food for the larval bee,
and with such no disease would be
fed to the bees. Such fed bees, even
in a diseased hive, will hatch, as is
often the case. I never knew a case
where a bee hatched from a brood cell
that had ever had foul brood in. If
the germs of disease are there in the
dried scale attached to the lower side
walls, bees will store honey therein, the
queen will deposit eggs, or the cell may
be filled with pollen, or bee-bread, as
some call it. Said honey or pollen,
when it comes in contact with those
germs of disease, or the food given to
the young bee, if in the proper temper-
ature, said germs of disease will grow
and develop rapidly.

Causes of Contagion.

I fully believe that if the history of
foul brood in Wisconsin were known,
nearly every case could be traced to

contagion from diseased combs, honey
or from some diseased queen-breed-
ers' cages. Here are some instances
where I have traced the history of con-
tagion in Wisconsin: ^

1. Diseased apiaries, also single col-
onies, sold either at auction or private
sale. Several law-suits have result-
ed in the settlement of some of the
cases.

2. Brood-combs and various imple-
ments from diseased hives, used by
other bee-keepers, and borrowed ar-
ticles.

3. All the bees in an apiary dead
from foul brood, and the hives having
an abundance of honey in the brood-
combs, said combs placed out by the
side of hives so that neighbor's bees
might get the honey. From those
combs I lined robber bees to seven oth-
er apiaries, and each time became dis-
eased and were treated.

4. Robber bees working on empty
honey- packages in the back-yards of
grocery stores and baking factories.
Said honey came from diseased api-
aries, some located in far-distant
States, even Cuba.

5. Loaning of hives, combs, extrac-
tors, and even empty honey-packages.

6. Buying honey from strangers, or
not knowing where it was produced,
and feeding it to bees without boiling
the honey.

7. Too common a practice of using
old brood-combs from some apiary
where the owner's bees have died from
"bad luck," as he callsi it.

8. Queen-bee — by buying queen-
bees from strangers and introducing
her in the cages they came in. I have
traced several new outbreaks of the
disease to the hives where such queens
were introduced, and the queens came
from distant States. To be safe, on ar-
rival of queen, put her carefully alone
in a new and clean cage with good
food in it. Keep her in there, warm
and comfortable, for a few hours be-
fore introducing. The shipping cage
and every bee that came with the
queen should be put in the stove and
burned. I do not think there is any
danger from the queen so treated,
even from diseased hives, but I do
know of many cases where disease
soon appeared in the hives where the
shipping cage and bees were put in
with the colony. The great danger is
in the food in said cage being made
from diseased honey. I was called to
attend a State bee-keepers' meeting

■-:l- '■

Bi^Hf!*^^'^'*^°^''''r^*^«w<S'!fflff!* ''p' ; .

S<4?J

24

EIGHTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE

in another State and I asked itc:^my
there had had experience with foul
brood. There was a goodly number
of raised hands. Then I asked, "Do
any of you think you got the disease
by buying queen-bees?" Again sev-
eral hands were raised. Even bee-keep-
ers there had traced the disease in
their apiaries to the buying of queens,
and all from the same breeder. If you
get queens from abroad, I hope you
will do with them as I have described
above. Better be on the safe side.

Experiments.

1. A prominent Wisconsin bee-
keeper some years ago had foul brood
among his bees so bad that he- lost
200 colonies before the disease was
checked. Having a honey-extractor
and comb-foundation machine, he first
boiled the hives in a large sorghum
pan, then in a kettle all combs were
melted after the honey was extracted,
the honey was boiled and also the
extractor and implements used. The
bees were returned to their hives on
comb-foundation he made from the
wax made from the melted combs, then
fed the boiled honey. Several years
have passed and there has been no
sign of disease in his apiary since.

2. Foul-brood germs are not always
killed when exposed to a temperature
of 212 deg. F. (boiling point) for 45
minutes. But in every case where the
combs are boiled in boiling water, and
same were well stirred while boiling,
no germs were alive.

3. Foul brood in brood-combs is not
.destroyed when exposed to the temper-
ature of Wisconsin winters of 20 deg.
below zero, and in one case I developed
foul brood from combs that had been
exposed to 28 deg. below zero.

4. Honey, if stored in diseased
combs, acts as a preserving mediujn,
and in such cases the germs of disease
will remain so long as the comb is un-
disturbed. Four years at least.

5. Honey or beeswax, or the refuse
from a solar or sunheat extractor, is
not heated enough to kill foul-brood
germs. Several cases of contagion
where robber-bees worked on solar ex-
tractor refuse or honey.

6. Comb-foundation, made by sup-
ply manufacturers is free from live
germs of disease and perfectly safe to
use. To prove this experiment be-
yond a doubt I took a quantity of
badly-diseased brood-combs from sev-
eral apiaries and rendered each batch

of combs into wax myself on the farm
where found. Then on my own foun-
dation mill I made some brood-foun-
dation. I also took quite a quantity
more of said wax, went to two whole-
sale comb-foundation manufacturers,
and both parties willingly made my ex-
perimental wax into comb-foundation
just the same as they do every batch
of wax. I then divided the various
makes of foundation and selected 20
of the best bee -yards in Wisconsin,
where no disease has ever been known
had the same placed in 62 of their best
colonies, and in every case no signs
of disease have appeared. Those same
colonies continue to be the best in the -
various apiaries.

Symptoms of Foul Brood.

1. The infected colony is not liable
to be as industrious. Hive entrance
with few guard bees to protect their
home. Sometimes fine dirt or little bits
of old comb and dead bees in and
around the hive-entrance, and often
robber-bees seeking entrance.

2. Upon opening the hive, the brood
in the combs is irregular, badly scat-
tered, with many empty cells which
need inspection.

3. The cappings over healthy brood
are oval, smooth and of a healthy color
peculiar to honey-bee brood, but if
diseased the cappings are sunken, a
little darker in color, and have ragged
pin-holes. The dead larval bee is of
a light color, and, as it is termed,
ropy, so that if a toothpick is inserted
and slowly withdrawn, this dead larva
will draw out much like spittle or glue.

5. In this ropy stage there is more
or less odor peculiar to the disease ;
it smells something like an old, stale
gluepot. A colony may be quite badly
affected and not emit much odor, only
upon opening of the hive or close ex-
amination of the brood. I have treated
a few cases where the foul brood odor
was plainly notic.ed several rods from
the apiary.

6. Dried Scales. — If the disease has
reached the advanced stages, all the
above- described conditions will be eas-
ily seen and the dried scales as well.
This foul matter is so tenacious that
the bees cannot remove it so it dries
down on the lower side-wall of the
cell, midway from the bottom to front
end of the cell, seldom on the bottom
of the cell. According to its stage of
development there will be either the

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

25

shapeless mass of dark-brown matter,
on the lower side of the cell, often
with a wrinkled skin covering as if
a fine thread had been inserted in
the skin lengthwise and drawn enough
to form rib-like streaks on either side.
Later on it becomes hardened, nearly
black In color, and in time dries down
to be 'as thin as the side-walls of the
cell. Often there will be a small dried
bunch at the front end of the cell
not larger than a part of common pin-
head. To see it plainly, take the comb
by the top-bar and hold it so that a
good light falls into the cell at an an-
gle . of 75 degrees from the top
of the comb, while your sight
falls upon the cell at an an-
gle of about 45 degrees. The scales,
if present, will easily be seen as above
described. This stage of disease in
combs is easily seen and is always a
sure guide or proof of foul brood.
Such combs can never be used safely
by the bees and must be either burned
or- carefully melted. Be sure not to
mistake such marked combs in the
spring for those soiled with bee-dysen-
tery. The latter have a somewhat sim-
ilar appearance but are more or less
surface soiled, and will also be spotted
or have streaked appearance by the
dark-brown sticky excrements from
the adult bees.

Treatment.

"A bee-keeper who does not discover
foul brood, before his nostrils remind
him that there is something wrong
with his bees, is not the proper person
to treat the case." Dr. Howard, in
his valuable book on foul brood, states,
"I regard the use of all drugs in the
treatment of foul brood as a useless
waste of time and material, wholly
ineffectual, inviting ruin and total loss
of bees. Any method which has not
for its object the entire removal of all
infectious material beyond the reach of
both bees and brood will prove detri-
mental and destructive, and surely en-
courage the recurrence of the disease."
In Wisconsin I have tried many meth-
ods of treatment, and cured some cases
with each method, but the one that
never fails, if carefully followed, and
that commends itself is the McEvoy
treatment. Canada's foul brood in-
spector has cured foul brood by the
wholesale — thousands of cases.

McEvoy Treatment.

"In the honey season when the bees
are gathering honey freely, remove
the combs in the evening and shake
the bees into their own hives; give
them frames with comb-foundation
starters and let them build comb for
four days. The bees will make the
starters into comb during the four
days and store the diseased honey in
them, which they took with them from
the old comb. Then in the evening of
the fourth day take out the new combs
and give them comb-foundation (full
sheets) to work out, and then the cure
will be complete. By this method of
treatment all the diseased honey is
removed from the bees before the full
sheets of foundation are worked out.
All the old foul-brood combs must be
burned or carefully made into wax,
after they are removed from the hives,
and all the new combs made out of the
starters during the four days must be
burned or made into wax, on account
of the diseased honey that would be
stored in them. All the curing or
treating of diseased colonies should
be done in the evening, so as not to
have any robbing done, or cause any
of the bees from the diseased colonies
to mix and go with the bees of healthy
colonies. By doing all the work in the
evening it gives the bees a chance to
settle down nicely before morning, and
then there is no confusion or trouble.
This same method of curing colonies
of foul brood can be carried on at
any time from May to October, when
the bees are not getting any honey, by
feeding plenty of sugar syrup in the
evenings to take the place of the
honey-flow. It will start the bees rob-
bing and spread the disease to work
with foul brood colonies in warm days
when the bees are not gathering honey,
and for that reason all work must be
done in the evenings when no bees
are flying.

"When the diseased colonies are
weak in bees, put the bees, two, three,
or four colonies together, so as to get
a good -sized colony to start the cure
with as it does not pay to spend time
fussing with little, weak colonies.
When the bees are not gathering hon-
ey any apiary can be cured of foul
brood by removing the diseased combs
in the evening and giving the bees
frames with comb -foundation starters
on. Then also in the evening feed
the bees plenty of sugar syrup and

26

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REI»ORT OF THE

they will draw out the foundation and
store the diseased honey which they
took with them from the old combs;
on the fourth evening remove the new
combs made out of the starters and
give the bees full sheets of comb foun-
dation and feed plenty of sugar syrup
each evening until every colony is in
first-class order. Make the syrup out
of granulated sugar, putting one pound
of water to every pound of sugar, and
bring it to a boil. As previously stated,
all the old comb must be burned or
made into wax and so must all new
combs made during the four days. No
colony is cured of foul brood by the
use of any drug."

A. I. Root, of Medina, Ohio, says:
"The starvation plan in connection
with burning the combs and frames
and boiling the hives has worked the
best in treating foul brood. It never
appeared after such treatment, though
it did- in some cases where the hives
were honey-stained and not boiled,
thus confirming the theory or fact
of spores."

All the difference from the McEvoy
treatment that I practice is this: I
dig a deep pit on level ground near
the diseased apiary, and after getting
a fi^e in the pit such diseased combs,
frames, etc., as are to be burned are
burned in this pit in the evening, and
then the fresh earth from the pit re-
turned to cover all from sight. Often I
use some kerosene oil, a little at a time
being poured on old brood-combs or
those having much honey in, as they
are hard to burn. If diseased combs
with honey in are burned on the sur-
face of the soil there is great danger;
the honey when heated a little will
run like water on the soil, and in the
morning the robber-bees will be busy
taking home the diseased honey that
was not heated enough to kill germs
of foul brood.

I also cage the queen while the bees
are on the five or six strips of founda-
tion. It helps to keep the colony from
deserting the hive and going to other
colonies.

R. L. Taylor, Michigan University
experimental apiary, reports: "The
plan that the colony be shaken out
into another hive after being allowed
to build comb for four days, I have
proven in 100 cases to be unnecessary."

In Wisconsin, I, too, have cured sev-
eral cases by the one transferring,
when honey was not coming in very
freely, but it is better, and a great

saving of time to both bees and owner,
to exchange in three or four days
those foundation starters, for full
sheets of foundation. Diseased brood-
combs, and thosie with honey in, if
melted in a sun or solar extractor, the
wax, honey or residue is not hot
enough to kill germs of foul brood.
This I have proven by several experi-
ments. It must be boiled and well
stirred while boiling to be safe.

I do not believe in, or practice, burn-
ing any property, such as hives, bees,
beeswax or honey that can be safely
treated and saved. Many times it is
poor economy to save all, and so many
bee-keepers are not so situated as to
keep all diseased material from rob-
ber-bees while taking care of it, the
best and only safe way is to burn the
diseased combs and frames.

Utah.

Utah has county inspectors, and
from one who has remarkable success
I copy the report of his method of
treatment:

"Wherever found, it should be dealt
with earnestly and with dispatch. If
the colony is weak, I recommend
smothering the bees, and in order to
do this without -letting a bee escape
take a tablespoonful of sulphur and
place it in the hive entrance of the
hives; if there is any breeze, turn the
hive so it will blow in the entrance.
Then fire the sulphur and it will soon
kill the bees. This should be done
early in the morning before any of the
bees are flying, as one bee escaping
from the hive might carry the disease
to any colony with which it may take
up its abode. If the colony is a strong
one, I would keep the entrance partly
closed so as to prevent any other bees
from getting in. Then as soon as fruit
blossoms come out so the bees can
obtain honey I treat them. I procure
an empty box of any kind so it is
clean, -then find the queen, put her in
a' screen wire cage which is easily
made. Take a small piece of screen,
roll it up and tie a string around either
end, cork up one end, then place the
queen and a few workers for company
in the cage and place in the other end
cork. Put same in this box and shake
all the bees out of their hive into this
box. This must be done in the even-
ing when no bees are fiying. Keep the
queen in- this box for 24 to 48 hours, al-
lowing the bees to fly in and out as
they please. Next take a clean hive

a-^jTO*-

^^tv^^' ^ ^^y^

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

27

with good healthy combs or foundation
and shake bees into it, letting the
queen go and they will be free from
disease. The old combs are melted
into wax, bringing same to a good boil.
Often washing with boiling water any
hives or implements that might con-
tain disease. Wherever strictly fol-
lowed, this has effected a cure." — C.
Wilcox, Emery Co., Utah.

Pickled Broo^.

Some seasons pickled brood is quite
bad among bees, and in a few cases
I have known it to reduce large colo-
nies, even large apiaries to doubtful
hopes but those same colonies, after
I gave them treatment, were in a
month free from all disease. Some-
times it takes as careful handling as if
foul brood. I do not believe it is con-
tagious, for all I have seen 60 colonies
in one apiary badly reduced by it. As
an experiment one of my out-apiaries
had 50 colonies at one time with pic-
kled brood. I treated them and all
were soon free from dead brood. At
the same time I took ten of the worst
brood-combs, where at least two-thirds
of the brood were dead, and placed
these combs in other strong, healthy
colonies. They at once cleaned out
the dead brood and reared as nice
brood as one could ask for.

Symptoms.

The larval bees (in last of May and
through June) show light-brown spots;
a little later the cappings have small
holes in — the cappings are not shrunk-
en or dark-colored as in foul brood.
The dead bee will be first swollen,
with a black" head, dried to a hard
bunch and oft^n turned up — China-
man-shoe-like. The skin of the dead
bee is quite tough, and, if punctured,
the thin, watery fluid of the body will
flow as freely as water, often a little
yellow or brownish-colored from the
dissolved pollen from the abdomen of
the bee. It has very little or no smell,
does not at any time stick to the walls
of the comb, is easily pulled out of the
cell, is never ropy or sticky, and if
the colony is properly cared for, the
bees will take care of themselves.
Plenty of liquid, unsealed honey and
pollen near the brood, and hives so
protected as to keep the bees and
brood comfortable on cold days and
nights.

Never put bees on old black brood-

combs, or those with dead brood in;
better make wax of the combs and
give the bees full sheets of brood-
comb foundation.

Treatment.

Keep all colonies strong, with plenty
of unsealed honey near the brood, and
if hives are properly sheltered so as to
be warm on cold days and nights there
will be little or no pickled brood. If
the queen is old, shows signs of weak-
ness by putting several eggs in one
brood-cell and nursing several others,
so that the brood is patchy, I would
kill such a queen, feed the bees a lit-
tle, and when queen-cells are started,
remove them all and give them a
queen and bees, between two of her
own brood-combs from a hive where
she has lived. I do not think pickled
brood is often the fault of the queen,
but rather a lack of proper food and
heat in the hive. In most cases a
shortage of liquid honey, or moldy
pollen, even in hives with plenty of
sealed honey iri the outer combs. There
is a .time in spring in Wisconsin be-
tween dandelions and white clover
bloom when there is no honey coming
in from flowers and often cold days
and nights so that the live bees con-
sume the liquid, unsealed honey flrst,
and cluster in a compact body to keep
warm, the result often is the larval
bee, just changed from the egg to a
tender little grub, is either starved,
half-fed or chilled so that it grows
slowly and too often it dies, and then
it is we first notice this about the time
white clover honey begins to come in.
In o"ther parts ef the State, where
pickled brood appeared it was from the
same cause, and at other dates, which
was due to a difference of time of
honey bloom.

Wherever I fed daily some honey or
evei. <5Ugar syrup, and kept the hive
warm, all dead brood soon disap-
peared, while in the same apiaries oth-
er colonies affected and not so treated
continued for some time, but got rid
of it as soon as treated.

Strong colonies of bees in the fall
with a young laying queen, and an
abundance of good honey sealed or
capped by the bees, if properly cared
for during winter whether in the cel-
lar or in chaff hives, wintered out of
do6rs in sheltered location, seldom
have pickled brood, chilled or other
dead brood, or dysentery, and are the
colonies that give their owner profit.

'- i'rs^v^'T^^pr^.f^'':: -

28

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

Black Brood.

Black brood is another fatal and
contagious disease among bees affect-
ing the old bees as well as the brood.
In 1898, 1899 and 1900, it destroyed
several apiaries in New Tork. Last
year I found one case of it in Wiscon-
sin, which was quickly disposed of.
Dr. Howard made more than a thou-
sand microscopic examinations and
found it to be a distinct form of bac-
teria. It is most active in sealed brood.
The bees affected continue to grow
until they reach the pupa stage, then
turn black and die. At this stage there
is a sour smell. No decomposition
from putrefactive germs in pickled
brood. In black brood the dark and
rotten mass in time breaks down and
settles to lower side-walls of the cell,
is of a watery, granulated, syrupy
fluid, jelly-like, is not ropy or sticky
as in foul brood, and has a peculiar
smell, resembling sour, rotten apples.
Not even a house-fly will set a foot
upon it.

Treatment.

Best time is during a honey-flow,
and the modified McEvoy plan, much
as I have treated foul brood, by
caging the queen five days, remove the
foundation starters and giving full
sheets, keeping queen caged five days
longer. As great care should be taken
of diseased hives, combs, honey, etc.,
as in foul brood.

Dysentery.

Dysentery among bees in Wisconsin
in the spring of the year is often quite
serious. Many colonies die with it.
Dysentery is the excrements of the old
bees; it is of brownish color, quite
sticky, and very disagreeable-smelling
and is sometimes mistaken for foul
brood.

Causes.

1. Bees confined too long in the
hives, so that they can no longer with-
hold their excrements, and are com-
pelled to void the same on the other
bees and combs.

2. Poor winter stores gathered in
the fall from honey-dow, cider-mills,
sorghum-mills, rotten fruit, also some
kinds of fall flowers.

3. Old and especially moldy pollen
or bee-bread.

4. Hives too cold or damp. If mois-
ture from the breath of the bees is
not carried out of the hive by some
means, such as through a deep cushion
of some kind over the bee^ that will
absorb moisture and at the same time
retain the heat, or by some means of
ventilation so that all is dry and com-
fortable. If mold forms on the combs
or cellar so damp as to form mold,
there is great danger the bees will
have dysentery and die.

Treatment.

1. First of all, have an abundance
of combs of sealed clover or basswood
honey in brood-frames carefully saved,
and see that each colony is wintered
on such food. Three or four such combs
will winter a fair colony safely if con-
fined on those combs late in the fall
and the hive contracted to fit the same.
This is one of the most important con-
ditions for success in wintering.

2. If in the fall the bees have gath-
ered this unwholesome honey from the
above-named sources, it should all be
extracted and either exchanged for
those honey-combs, or feed the bees
good honey or sugar syrup until win-
ter stores are secured. This should
be done before cold weather in the
fall.

3. Hives contracted and made com-
fortable, whether in cellar or outdoors.

4. If wintered in chaff hives out-
doors with feed as above directed, and
there come one or two warm spells
during winter so that the bees can
have a cleansing fiight, they will not
have dysentery or dead brood, and will
be much stronger when clover opens.

If wintered in the cellar the bees will
not need as much honey, and if the
winters are generally long with doubt-
ful warm spells, the cellar will be best.
But to keep the bees from dysentery
so often fatal to cellar -wintered bees,
they should have such winter stores as
above spoken of, then the cellar kept
at a uniform temperature, about 42
deg. F., ventilated so the air is fresh,
and no mold w^ill form in the cellar.
Fresh air-slaked lime on the bottom
of the cellar may help if it is damp
or has poor air.

5. Dysentery will not appear if beea
are kept on sugar syrup, or best-grade
white clover or basswood honey, and
are in a dry place, either sheltered by
cellar or chaff-hive.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

29

J. Q.^MITH, President.

PROCEEDINOS

OF THE

EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL SESSION

OF THE

Illinois State Bee-Keepers' /Issociation

November 19 and 20. 1908.

Morning Session, Nov. 19, 1908. Nov. 20. By amt. paid out by

The meeting was called to order at Treasurer during the

10 A. M. The financial report of the year 75.00

Secretary, and the report of the Treas- ;

urer were read and both were ac- Nov. 20. To balance $129.94

cepted. 1907. V

The compendium of the Secretary's Nov. 20. To balance' in Treas-

and Treasurer's reports (which agreed) urer's hands belong-

shows as follows: ing to State Appro-

1908, priation Fund 11,110.60

Nov. 20. To amt. in Treasur- 1908.

er's hands belong- July. To amt. received on
ing to State Bee- State Auditor's war-
Keepers' Assn $204.94 rant ., 1,000.00

30

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

1907.

Nov. 20. By expense of dele-
gates for programme

for meeting 28.20

1908.

Nov. 18. By J. Q. Smith and
assistants for inspec-
tion 461.89

Nov. 18. By expense connect-
ed with publishing
report ..::,;.. 210.57

Nov. 18. By expense of con- . '
ducting handling live
bees at fair 58.50

Nov. 18. To balance $1,351 . 44-

President Smith appointed the Aud-
iting Committee as follows: Dr. C.^ C.
Miller, A. L. Kildow and Geo. W. York.

Mr. President: Any unfinished busi-
ness?

Secretary Stone: Mr. President, you
haven't called on the Secretary for
his report.

Mr. President: Tou may read your
report.

: Secretary's Report.

After our last meeting we sent out
blanks soliciting members to one thou-
sand bee-keepers. Some of them were
laid aside and have come straggling
in at times all through the year — some
of them too late to be named in the re-
port.

We wish to urge the necessity of
bee-keepers looking after this matter.

Last year a party who had let his
dues lapse in the National had a law-
suit caused by his bees stinging his
neighbor's horses to death, and when
he sought help from the National found
his dues had lapsed several months —
so he got no assistance.

Many bee-keepers do not understand
that a membership in the National pro-
tects them against a spiteful neighbor
to one-half the expense of the law-
suit that is sometimes brought against
them.

Send in your fees as soon as you can
after the receipt of the blanks, and
further neglect ends.

Something ought to be done further
to encourage the affiliation of other
societies, as was voted in our conven-
tion Nov. 15, 1904, to change Section 1,
Article HI. of the Constitution so as
to allow them to come in as a whole"
on pajmient of an aggregate fee of 25c
per member.

We would recommend as the Chi-
cago Northwestern is so scattered in

the different States and refuses to
come into our Association (and for
good reasons, as some of the members
from- other States say, "Why not
affiliate in our State?") that this State
Association offer to receive the mem-
bers of the Chicago Northwestern so
far as they belong in this State, and
that we send a delegate to the conven-
tion in December to secure their mem-
bership thus far.

We had 500 copies of our sixth an-
nual report printed, 400 in cloth, so as
to have extra copies to place in the
hands of each of the legislators, and
for that reason we solicited the letters
regarding the needs of a foul brood
law. These letters will go into the
hands of all the members of the next
. General Assembly.

We had these letters in the last re-
port for the reason that our reports are
delayed so long waiting for the mem-
bers to come into the Association that
they are hardly in print till the legis-
lature is ready to adjourn.

We asked the State Board of Agri-
culture to give us a premium for hand-
ling bees at the fair, which they did,
and we had Mr. Douis Werner at it
every day of the fair when it was
not too cold.

Mr. President: Tou have heard the
Secretary's report.

Mr. Geo. W. York: I move the re-
port be accepted and placed on file.

Mr. President: Motion carried and
report of Secretary placed on file.

Mr. A. L. Kildow: The Legislature
wants this report out so they can see
it. We ought to get this foul brood law '
through if we can. We ought not to
leave anything undone. If they want
this report out we ought to get it out,
let the members come when they will,
we need this law and ought to do all
we can to get it.

Mr, Stone: These letters are in this
last year's report.

Mr. A. L. Kildow: That is a year
behind.

Mr. Stone: What I said in regard
to the foul brood letters was, they
were sent out last year after our con-
vention, and we have four hundred
reports in cloth binding so the legis-
lators could have them. We got the
appropriation but we haven't the law.

Mr. Lee: We would like to have
this law this year if we can.

Mr. York: Mr. President, I make
a motion that a delegate be elected to

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

31

go to the next meeting of the Chicago
Northwestern at Chicago, which meets
Dec, 2 and 3. I think it is a good
thing to do that now than later; it
might be overlooked.

Mr. Plye: Mr. President, I move the
chair appoint a delegate to that con-
vention.

Mr. President: I don't like to take
that responsibility on myself. Per-
haps I might appoint someone that
would be favorable to all, and he might
not. We want someone with the abil-
ity. I would like the Association to
do that.

Mr. York: Mr. Chairman, , I don't
want to talk too much or make too
many motions, but I think it would be
nice for this Association to elect its
President. I make a motion that Mr.
Smith be sent to this Chicago North-
western Convention.

Mr. Stone: I second the motion.

Mr. Kildow: The motion is that Mr.
Smith be elected the delegate to the
Chicago Northwestern Convention.

Motion carried.

Mr. President: I thank you for the
honor and I will endeavor to be there
and do all I can.

Mr. York: Mr. Chairman, as Presi-
dent of the Chicago Northwestern Bee-
Keepers' Association, I extend a cor-
dial invitation for all members who
■can to be there.

Mr. President: I hope all who can
will be there.

Mr. Stone: I want to make a mo-
tion. It will be remembered that we
changed our constitution four years
ago so as to take in all the societies
as a whole on the payment of twenty-
five cents per member.

Now, I wish to make a motion, that
we extend this invitation to the Chi-
cago Northwestern as includes just
the members that are in this State;
they can't come in as a whole and
they don't want to come in that way.
As I said in my report, I have been
told that members of the Chicago
Northwestern who live in other States
ask, Why not affiliate with other as-
sociations in our State? That ques-
tion will come up again. I move our
delegate be instructed to offer them
that privilege just as to those living
in this State that want to come in as
a whole, that they will be permitted to
come in. It will be a step aside from the
constitution but we take in other socie-
ties that have had as low as six mem-
bers; I don't see anything wrong in

this. I hope my motion will be sec-
onded.

Mr. Pyle: It looks to me that there
ought to have been a motion to amend
that amendment of the constitution to
take in all the members of this State.
I will make the motion that way.

Mr. President: Mr. Pyle, that
amendment was put and carried four
years ago that all members of other
associations that wanted to could come
in by paying twenty-five cents.

Mr. Pyle: All the members of any
society residing in the State of Illi-
nois?

Mr. President: I wouldn't object if
they were out of the State; the more
strength we get is by uniting the so-
cieties.

Mr. Pyle: If the people of the Chi-
cago Northwestern that reside in the
State or any association or part of
one that reside in or out of the State
be allowed to come in, that would be
all right.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President and Mr.
Pyle, I don't think that we need any
further amendment than we already
have.

Here amendment was read.

Mr. Lee: Can't States generally
have an own State Association?

Mr. York: Mr. President, The Chi-
cago Northwestern is not an Illinois
association. It is made up of a num-
ber of States, so you wouldn't have
anything to do with any association not
distinctly an Illinois association. I
don't think you could amend your con-
stitution to take in the Chicago North-
western. It is not an Illinois associa-
tion. I don't think you can amend it
so as to take in the Chicago North-
western because it is an outside asso-
ciation. It is not an Illinois associa-
tion.

Dr. Miller: Mr. President, as I un-
derstand this, the whole idea in the
first place was having a society ..com-
ing in as a whole, and now the only
thing we have in view to interpret is
this matter to apply to the Illinois
members of any society and consider
that the whole. The idea is that if a
society, any society comes in, and imys
twenty-five cents for each member of
the society, it comes in, there is
a little change in the interpretation to
apply to the Illinois residents.

Mr. York: You don't want to divide
any association in Illinois. You don't
want to take a part of any association.

Dr. Miller: That is it, exactly. You

32

EIGHTH ANNT3AL, REPORT OF THE

can take the Illinois members of the
Chicago Northwestern Association as
a body.

Mr. York: Suppose there is a Bee-
Keepers' Association in Illinois, you
want to take in all the members?
Suppose you had a Sangamon County
Association, only want to take in
part ?

Dr. Miller: Yes, sir; if there are part
living in Michigan, take them in.

Mr. President: I think there would
be no objection to receiving any Illi-
nois bee-keepers that want to come in.

Mr. York: No, sir.

Mr. Pyle: Would our constitution
allow it? That is the reason I made
the motion to amend the constitution.

Mr. President: Can we amend the
constitution by a motion? I think it
requires a resolution.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, I don't
think it needs it. You can't amend it
unless you announce it at a previous
meeting and then vote on it the next
year,

Mr. President: We will fix that at
the Chicago meeting. If they want to
come in we will take them.

Mr. York: Mr. President, there are
so few people outside of the State
that belong to the Chicago Northwest-
ern Association. It seems to me if the '
thing is properly done, if President
Smith can be present we can arrange
it so we will have a larger member-
ship than any other year.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, there is
one thing I want to say and impress
it on our delegate to the Northwestern.
Dr. Miller said this morning that there
was some complaint on account of the
invitation of our society to the Chi-
cago Northwestern. That we didn't di-
vide up with them any of the State ap-
propriation. The State appropriation is
given to publish this report and run our
Bee-Keepers' State Convention, etc.,
etc. Other societies of the State, hor-
ticulturists, etc., go to other affiliated
societies and ask if they will allow
them to have their report published
with the State report. If they will
bear the expense of the proceedings,
then they are all published together.
Now this State law will allow us to
do that same thing, and go to the Chi-
cago Northwestern and say to them,
if Mr. York or some one else isn't
going to pay for the proceedings, the
stenographer, we will go there and
pay that stenographer and give them

the report of their meeting in our an-
nual report. They get just as much
benefit if that is done as the State
Association does. Mr. York paid for
the shorthand report of the Chicago
Northwestern several times because he
wanted to publish it, then we go to
Mr. York and he charges what he can
afford for publishing our report. He
gets his pay that way for the short-
hand report. Last year we had our
report published in Springfield. Then
we send to Chicago and buy it of Mr.
York, Isn't that the same thing? They
receive the benefit of our report.

Mr. President: You want to impress
that on them, that they are sharing
in it as much as our Association is.
We aren't allowed to stick our hands
in that treasury. Our Secretary and
Treasurer get their pay out of the
dues to the Association. We are not
allowed a cent out of that appropria-
tion, that is a thing they must un-
derstand.

Mr. York: Mr. President, that thing
wasn't touched on before. I thought
this year we wouldn't have a reporter,
and I don't see why that wouldn't
be legitimate and proper for you to
pay for the stenographer, and I think
our Association will go in as a body.
You will get every vote out of the
Chicago Northwestern.

I don't have room in the American
Bee Journal to publish it, but in your
report you have. In that Association
we have leading bee-keepers from sev-
eral States. We have a great meet-
ing.

Dr. Miller: You are getting at it. In
that meeting some of us tried to get
it under the wing of the State Asso-
ciation. Some members said what in-
terest have we, we have not an Illi-
nois Association, what's in it for us?
we are not going to help this associa-
tion. Now, if we can say, you are
going to get something out of it,
they will.

Mr. President: They will get their
own report with our annual report.

Mr. Stone: Dr. Miller, you can
thank yourself for this.

Dr. Miller: I want to say to you,
friends of this society, I think Mr..
Smith knows personally more than
anyone else, that the death of the old
Northwestern was due to me. That
Northwestern Society was killed. Now
they have another society there and:

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

33

DR. C. C. MILLER,

it doesn't interfere with this one, and
we have worked and tried to have
them interested together, but when
these outsiders take hold in this way
there is nothing for us to do, what
can we say? Now when you take that
measure you can do that.

Mr. Stone : Mr. President, I make a
motion that Mr. York be authorized
to employ a stenographer to take down
the proceedings of the Chicago North-
western Convention for the Illinois
State Bee-Keepers' Association.

Motion carried.

Mr. President: We are under the
head of receiving new members. Any-
body present that wants to join or pay
his dues?

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, I want
to say in connection with this motion
that they ought to be reminded that
they are entitled to elect a delegate

and have their railroad fare paid, both
ways, from all the affiliating societies,
and that member they will have to
elect at that meeting because omi
meeting comes before their next meet-
ing.

Mr. President: We will have inter-
mission five minutes.

Mr. President: We are now under
the head of miscellaneous business.

Mr. Becker: Mr. President, the
restaurants and hotels are very much
filled up. Why wouldn't it be a good
idea to adjourn till one-thirty (1:30)
o'clock? I don't like to go into them
so late. I move we adjoui-n until one-
thirty (1:30).

Dr. Miller: I second the motion,

Mr, President: I move we allow Mr.
Becker to go early. We will adjourn
at eleven-thirty (11:30).

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, we have

—3

34

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

, a member here from Chillicothe. His
bees have some disease, and it weak-
ens the colonies down one-half, but it
will yield to treatment similar to foul
brood.

Mr. W. H. Gray: Mr. President, it
has been with us three years. We got
somewhat scared. It is something like
foul brood. We have bees that couldn't
get into the hives or get out.

I wrote to Dr. Miller but before I got
his letter I got a jacking up from him
through the Bee Journal for not -read-
ing up on bees and foul brood.

Bees would die when three days old
and even coming out of the cell. Well,
we doctored it the same as we would
have foul brood. Some got well, most
of them did.

We thought we got clear of it. Of
course we were not fixed in good shape
for it during the next year. First year
thirty (30) colonies, maybe there were
thirty-five (35) or fifty (50).

I sent some of the brood to Mr.
France, and he said it was neither foul
brood nor black brood.

In May there wasn't thirty (30)
pounds of honey. We had pretty much
cold weather; it was very cold. They
didn't gather much. Last winter and
last spring it was worse than ever. It
was all through the yard. I changed
everything but twelve (12) colonies.
Wherever a colony was strong enough
they would clean it all out clean. Some
that I didn't change, three or four,
along in June. Some got rid of it, but
it is still there, and what it is I don't
know. They clean the comb out clean.
It doesn't draw down on the side walls
and doesn't draw out when you draw
out the brood, but what disease it is I
don't know.

We had some at the fair. The gen-
tleman there pronounced it foul brood.

I have some that was in the foul
brood but it doesn't show up lilce any-
thing we have. The young bees don't
seem to turn color. They just stay
watery.

^ Dr. Miller: It seems to me, Mr.
President, that a vote of censure will
be proper when we have more dis-
eases than we know of.

Mr. President, if Mr. France said
it is different from the other diseases
I would have greater faith in his word
than anything.

Letters that were sent to me or in-
quired of me, if they were sent to him

you would do better. I know nothing
of bee diseases.

If any of you have anything you are
suspicious of as being foul brood, or
anything of that kind, better send it
to Mr. France at once, as he is a
member of this Association.

Always send it so it can't do any
harm. Put it in tin or something, so
it is thoroughly provided against
breaking out.

Mr. Gray: I put it in a tin box and
sent it.

Mr. Hyde: Mr. President, I didn't
understand what you said about the
bees and their honey.

Mr. Grey: That was May last year.
It was there most of the time, and
up to the last of May or the first of
June, when I would go through, they
had a little new honey, but they
wouldn't have one hundred pounds in
one hundred colonies. They have it
when there is plenty of honey.

Mr. Hyde: I have an idea it is what
is called starve brood.

Mr. Holekamp said it was starve
brood. I was down to St. Louis and
he told me that. He told me it was
starve brood. When they don't raise '
much honey they don't have much
brood.

A Member: Is this disease in all
of your colonies?

Mr. Grey: In most. I changed them
around.

Mr. Hartmann: Did you find them
in the new swarms as well as the
eld?

Mr. Grey: Remains with the old
swarm, and sometimes after we change
them find them in the new ones. We
got a tank last year and cleaned them
all up but still they might have got
something from one place or other.

Mr. Lee: Dr. Miller, is it possible

to have any starve brood? They suck

• all the moisture from the brood. I

claim it is impossible to have starve

brood.

Dr. Miller: Mr. President, McEvoy,
the starve brood expert, says it is
very often the case that it will be a
case of starve brood where it is sup-
posed to be foul brood. It is simply
because there is a shortage of stor-
age.

Mr. Lee is correct in one respect.
When bees actually get short of stores,
when they have nothing to feed their

/

ILLIivOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

35

brood, the brood will be destroyed.
The juice is sucked out.

If I understand rightly, Mr. McEvoy
distinguishes the starvation of the
whole colony. He distinguishes it by
saying this starve brood is a case,
where there is enough to keep them
going, so as not to destroy the brood,
but still so small an amount that it is
stunting the brood, and some more or
less die in that way. It appears as a
disease when it is then only a starving
of the brood. It is barely possible the
case here may be what Mr. McEvoy
calls starve brood.

Mr. President: He said if there was
plenty of honey flowing the disease
was still there.

Mr. Gray: I should say it has hung
on for three years.

Last fall we had a good fall flow.
They had plenty of honey. Had a fair
crop this year, ^xtra good, it keeps
right up.

Mr. President: I don't think it is
starve brood.

Mr. Pyle: I would say it was poison
in some form. It appears to be coming
out even after the bees are sealed up
for eight or nine days, like at the
capping period. If it was the unsealed
brood it would be some manner of pois-
oning.

Mr. President: Wouldn't that af-
fect the old bees?

Dr. Miller: Some cases, yes, sir.
Some, no, sir.

Mr. Insmere: I live down in Chris-
tian county. I had over fifty hives
affected like my friend; only way I
would find was to shake them off on a
full fed foundation. I transferred some
and the queen would come up from
the foundation, and where the body
was affected top was affected also.
Only way I could find was to shake
them off on a full fed foundation.
That is the only remedy I could find.

It struck me two years ago. I have
practically gotten over it. My bees
are in good shape now. I was affected
for two years and I expect fifty or
seventy stands.

Mr. Spracklen: Mr. President, this
foul brood and sour brood and such
diseases as that I have had no ex-
perience with. I have once in a while
a stand that will lose out, and come
out on the ground and lay down and
die, which I attribute to poison, be-

cause of foul brood and sour brood I
am perfectly ignorant.

Dr. Miller: I do not think we can
get any more light on this subject. I
would suggest that a sample of this be
sent to Dr. Phillips at Washington. I
think in that way light may be thrown
upon it. It looks like a new disease. I
would send a sample to Dr. Phillips
at Washington. I think you can find
out there if anywhere what it is.

The President: Any further discus-
sions?

Dr. Miller: I v/ould suggest, Mr.
President, that slips be passed, that
members may write questions for the
question box.

The President: The Secretary will
pass them.

Dr. Miller: I think in that way we
can get the good of it through the
question box.

Mr. Kildow: Have we any rates
with regard to the shipment of honey
in glass and in the comb?

The President: I don't know wheth-
er there is a special freight rate, but
there is by express.

Mr. JCildow: We are in a tangle in
our neighborhood, and I would like to
know if anybody knows anything about
it? It was in my mind that a year
or two ago there was a rate on honey.
Since that time I sent some and they
class honey in cases as honey in glass,
and the honey in glass is listed honey
in glass.

I had a case this fall to be shipped
to Peoria in our State. It is classed
honey in boxes eight by four (8x4), by
car, and ten by four (10x4), by local.
When we shipped it to Peoria most of
the honey was packed in the car in
cases and filled up with straw behind
and in front, and a few crates of honey
were just crated in the crate.

When the car was opened at Peoria
the inspector got sight of the honey in
the glass, and he charged us the same
for honey in cases with a little strip of
glass, as for honey in glass. It looks to
ine like that is wrong. He classes hon-
ey in wood cases with a little strip
of glass as honey in glass.

I thought I would bring it up to see if
we could throw any light on it so we
could remedy it.

The President: I think that is a good
question and it ought to be talked on.
I know the rate is too high.

Mr. Kildow: Wouldn't be so high if

1..

"t ■

36

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

it was classed right. He makes no
distinction between liquid honey in
glass and comb honey in case. I would
like to hear about it.

Dr. Miller: Mr. President, I make
a motion to adjourn for dinner and
allow Mr. Becker to go with the rest
of us.

At the close of this discussion the
convention adjourned to meet again
at one-thirty (1:30) P. M.

Afternoon Session, Nov. 19.
The President: The meeting will
please come to order. I will just state
this, this afternoon any member ad-
dressing the chair will give your names
so the reporter can get your name.
Speak loud and not too fast so we can
get it all in our report.

The first thing on the programme
will be a reading by Mrs. Snyder.

The President: We will take up the
question box, Mr, York, will you read
the questions?

Mr. York: Yes, sir.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, here is
the report of the Auditing Committee.

The President: Read it, please.

Report of Auditing Committee was
read and on motion received.

Springfield, 111., Nov. 19, 1908.
We, the undersigned. Auditing Com-
mittee, having examined the accounts
of Treas. Becker and Secretary Stone,
of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' As-
sociation, find same correct.

Rob't Holekamp, ,
A. Li. Kildow,
George W. York,
' Committee.

Read and approved and ordered filed.

The question box having been called
for, the questions having been hand-
ed to Mr. York, he read them.

Question No. 1.

Does smart weed produce much
honey, and what is the quality?

Mr. Kildow: Smart weed doesn't
produce any honey that ever I saw.

Dr. Miller: Smart weed is a great
honey plant. Very likely the person
that asked the question didn't have
smart weed in view but heartsease.

What is properly called smart weed
is that which has a very pungent taste;
if you bite a leaf you wish you hadn't.
It doesn't grow as high as the other.
What is called smart weed and yet

what is not, is heartsease. It has a
taste which is very mild. That is a
great honey plant. I don't know
whether the real smart weed is.

Brother Kildow, have you plenty?
Mr. Kildow: I think so.

Dr. Miller: The heartsease which
is often called smart weed is a great
honey plant.

Mr. Kildow: I answered the ques-
tion as given.

Smart weed in our country is just
about that high (indicating the height).
And men of my experience never saw
a bee on it, but heartsease is a good
honey plant in our neighborhood.

Dr. Miller: What color is it?

Mr. Kildow: Light amber.

Mr. Stone: Heartsease is one of the
finest honeys we have. I have great
difiiculty in telling the heartsease from
the real smart weed till I see the
mark.

A man told me how to distinguish it.
He said, "It is the lady finger;" you
can rub it in your eye. While he was
saying it he rubbed some of the hearts-
ease in his eye. I did, too, and you
taste the leaf and it is good. Animals
like to eat it. It is something in its
nature like slippery elm bark. He
said, "Whenever you see this mark of
a kind of heart-shape in the leaf and
a blood color, you could be sure it
was not smart weed."

He then said when Adam and Eve
were in the Garden of Eden she cut
her finger and wrapped it in one of
these leaves. That is the only way I
can tell them apart. I often see smart
weed that you can't tell very well. I
have seen heartsease so high I could
hardly get through it.

Mr. Spracklen: I think the brother
is right with regard to the real smart
weed not producing any. honey. I think
I thoroughly investigated that and I
don't think I ever saw a bee working
on smart weed, but the plant called
smart weed by a number of people is
what we denominate heartsease and is
a great honey-producing plant in our
country.

It is as Brother Stone says, you will
always find that dark shade represent-
ing a heart on each side of the stem of
the leaf showing the shape of a heart.

Question No. 2.

About the quality of the honey?

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

37

A Member: The quality is fine.
About as fine as I have procured for
our market. I have customers that
prefer it to any other Icind of honey
that I can get. And the heartsease,
they call it spring honey when it is
fall honey.

Question No. 3.

Is it safe to feed bees sour honey in
the spring for a stimulating brooder?

Dr. Miller: In the spring when bees
can fly daily it is safe to feed them
anything they take. It is very different
than feeding for winter use.

Question No. 4.

What is the best way to cut sec-
tion foundation?

Mr. Lee: I think the best way is
to have the pieces cut at the same
time they are placed in the section.

Mr. York: "What machine is it?

Mr. Lee: I made it myself. I got
the idea from that machine that Mc-
Carthy made. Instead of that founda-
tion being carried outwards and cut-
ting holes in the foundation pieces be-
tween two runners I make the founda-
tion myself eight or ten feet long.

The Chairman: Dr. Miller, will you
please tell us how you do?

Dr. Miller: I take the strips, I think,
fifteen and one -half inches long, and
I use both top and bottom starters,
and the same strip will be cut into
part top and part bottom an
equal number of each. And
I have a frame to lay over. I put
two bars seven inches deep of those
strips of foundation, that is, of the
fourteen feet. You can take a differ-
ent number but that is a convenient
number, and put them side by side,
seven feet, for this form rises over it
with little strips against it. I use my
knife, as that is very much easier.

It is a little after the style of a
miter box. I could very quickly show
you.

It is simply a number of strips at
the proper distance apart and two
strips crosswise, and that is laid on
top of the foundation, and that gives
the right size.

In cutting it I use a common knife, a
pocket knife part of the time or a
casing knife. A casing knife is good
for cutting across so as to have a sharp
angle. Some cuts we cut clear through
the whole thing.

Mr. York: Perhaps some would like
to know the depth of the starters at
the top and bottom. What is the
width of each?

Dr. Miller: I don't know.

Mr. York: Well, the lower ones?

Dr. Miller: The foundation inside
is about four inches deep, and not
quite four inches wide, a space
of about one-eighth (%) of an inch
at the bottom starter and five-eighths
(%) of an inch at the top.

Mr. Pyle: I was the person who
wrote that question. I thought some-
body would gain information from that.

Some men say, I take a strip and
cut a strip at a time.

I just take a pound of foundation.
Take a sharp casing knife that has a
rough edge and put the knife in water
and they will never stick together,
and you can pack them up and let
them lay several years with paper be-
tween and they will never stick. Take
a sharp casing knife, put it in water
and it will cut nice and clean.

Dr. Miller: Cut with the paper be-
tween the parts?

Mr. Pyle: Yes, sir.

Dr. Miller: When using the little
sections ?

Mr. Pyle: It does not stick if cut
with the cold, rough knife.

Question No. 5.

How would you advise a beginner to
start in the bee business?

Dr. Miller: Not very long ago I
was asked the question whether it
would do to start just with buying a
queen. I said it would not.

Mr. Moore: I would suggest that the
best way would be to get a few good
bees and a good bee journal and a ,
good number of good bee papers. Take |
one colony of bees and by steady work- '
ing with them and by natural increase
he would have all he would want.

Mr. Pyle: I received an answer of '
Dr. Miller years ago stating, get two
or three bee books and a bee journal
and read them two or three years
and then a smoker, and then start the
bee business.

Mr. Moore: I think he needs a little
actual experience along with the jour-
nal.

Question No. 6.

What kind of bees are the best to
start with?

38

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

Mr. York: I should think honey bees
would be a good thing.

Mr. Becker: I wrote the question
that was asked. A minister was pres-
ent and had a talk just before dinner.
He would like to have a little more
light on this question.

He is located below Springfield by-
Rochester, in a good country for white
clover and also fall clover. He is quite
a poultry man but he is unfamiliar
with bees.

He is thinking of investing some
money and starting in with bees. He
is the one that asked me. These an-
swers given are very good but they
wouldn't be to my satisfaction.

When I started in the bee business I
bought about twenty colonies from a
man in Christian County by the name
of G. G. Lamp. He is dead now. It
happened to be a good year that year.
The first year in connection with the
bees I got an A. B. C. culture and I
don't think anything is equal to it
to a new beginner. If he has any dif-
ficulty with his bees he can turn to
the index and look for it; everything
explains itself. Of course, you know
how bee-keeping is, it has its ups
and downs, generally more downs than
ups.

My ambition always has been to
have one hundred (100) colonies. Three
years ago last spring I had them. Two
years ago I had less. I now have
eighty-two (82).

This has been one of the best years
we have had in my locality. For ten
(10) years, at least, there has been
no better.

I would advise new beginners if
they are in a good locality to start with
four or five (4 or 5) colonies with good
hives, and have the hives alike, and
have all the hives the same kind. I
have four (4) different hives and I
know the difficulty I have to contend
with during sw'arming season and honey
season to get the frames fitted. Many
times when I want to get tw^o or three
(2 or 3) colonies together I have to
run around and look for a frame that
will fit in that hive. Therefore, I
would advise a bee-keeper to have all
the hives alike. They are all good
that I have now. And not invest too
much money the first year. At the end
of the year, if it is a good honey sea-
son, if he likes it or his profit safe,
the bees will increase very rapidly.

And in a bad season the decrease will
be in proportion to the increase.

Dr. Miller: I think the advice given
is good, and one thing further, I think
it will be best to begin with pure
Italian bees. He is not likely to con-
tinue with them, but I think these are
the best bees for them to start with.

Mr. York: When a beginner is ad-
vised to get several of the bee books
and bee papers and also talk wath
some practical bee-keeper a man
might as well come in and say. How
would you start farming? That would
be impossible. But it seems to me
when the advice is given to get bee
books and papers from Fall to Spring
and then get some bees, and if he
can talk with some practical bee-keep-
er he will be all right. But it is im-
possible to tell all the points about
starting with bees.

Dr. Miller: I would like to suggest
a little addition to the answer as
given. In the first place, I wouldn't
advise the average beginner to get
several, I would advise him to get one
before the bee paper. He must have
the book, anyhow, and there are some,
perhaps, who want to get more, but
generally speaking, one book is enough.
I would say begin and get your bees in
the spring. When to start with the
bees depends on the time of the year.

If a young man should come to me
in the spring and ask when to begin
with bees, I would say, get the bees
and a bee book. And if he would come
now I would say, get a bee book and
bee papers and read till next spring
your books, but for the sake of sup-
porting these bee papers and editors
I wouldn't advise him to get the books
before the bees.

Mr. Stone:
he started.

I expect he forgot how

I find anything I read up on before
I start to practice it I don't know any-
thing about it.

You may think you know all about
farming by reading, but you don't
remember anything you read unless
you have had a little practice. And I
wlli take the practice before the bee
books, and I would advise the getting-
of a bee journal the first thing, and
you see the ads and know what you
want to start with. When I first got
the bee journal I w^ould look at the ads
and they always advertise what you
want, and you won't make a mistake

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

39

and start with the wrong hive, but
you can understand what hive to get
from your neighbor bee-keeper if he is
keeping them.

I don't believe in starting in by get-
ting hogs, sheep, cattle or anything
you start to raising and go in on a
large scale. I believe in going in on
a small scale and getting the practice,
and you are much surer not to make a
mistake than if you go in larger.

Dr. Miller: Supposing a man comes
and says, "I will get some bees next
spring," would you advise him to get
the bee books?

Mr. Stone: No, sir. How can any-
one understand what he reads till he
has some practice? I would have to go
right to the book again. I don't think
any person has a perfect memory of
what he reads.

I wouldn't advise anyone to go
into it very largely and depend on
making a specialty of it till they have
worked large enough to have out-api-
aries. I don't know a successful spe-
cialist that has just one apiary. He
has to have a good many and know
how to use them before I would advise
a specialty.

Mr. Spracklen: My experience in
bee culture comes from personal ex-
perience. When I started I got a
nucleus with a queen and from that
I have run to one hundred and seventy-
five (175). A year ago I had qHiite a
loss. In July and August they starved.
I was sick and they used all the honey
and I lost about sixty (60) stands of
bees.

My advice is to get a good hive, one
that you can rely on, and stay with it.
I am bothered myself with two-styled
hives. I first used the improved sim-
plicity top bar, it is only fourteen and
one-half (14%) inches long. I have
found out it is a mistake and quite a
job to change from that to a longer
one, although I use both I shall discard
the top bar. I got too much experi-
ence, but I think the journal and bee
book of the standard would be what he
would need and some Italian bees.

Mr. Hartmann: I was the one who
asked the question and a great many
different opinions have been given to
me. I have been recommended to the
A, B, C Book. We have heard a great
deal about good hives. What is best
to one man is not best to another.
This brother on my right says he has
all kinds. Some say mixed bees do

better than just one kind. If mixed
bees do better, why not have them?
This brother said he would not keep
the Italian bees long before they would
be mixed.

Mr. Moore: The A, B, C Book is the
best book for a man to study. There
are other good bee books, but I would
advise all men to get the A, B, C Book.

Dr. Miller's Forty Years Among the
Bees is a good book. A man needs
considerable experience. And use the
Langstroth hive with the Hoffman
brood frame made the L size and
eight (8) for comb honey and ten (10)
for extracted.

Dr. Miller: Of the different frames
I have tried the Hoifman staple spaced
and the Dancenbaker, I like the Hoff-
man spaced frame better. I have had
several sets of frames. I bought bees
in from others.

I would advise a beginner to get a
Hoffman frame and a Langstroth hive.
You can get them from any firm. I
expect there are dozens of factories
that make them. Far as the bee pa-
pers are concerned, I take the three
papers today, and I wouldn't miss any
of them.

I think Mr. York's paper for a be-
ginner is the best and it contains more
for a beginner than a paper published
for those more advanced. The other
papers are good, though.

Mr. York: I would like to ask Mr.
Moore regarding the staple spaced
frame, would it separate?

Mr. Holekamp: Where a person is
working for extracted honey, any frame
that has a high edge is all right, for
often he wants to use the same frame
in the super as in the chamber.

Now, I am using the Hoffman frame,
but I have got all kinds of frames. I
bought all kinds, and I am trying to
get them out of the way, and I am
getting them out.

For the body chamber I prefer the
Hoffman frame. When I want to take
them to the apiaries they do not fall
together in the hive and mix the comb.
For extracting I like a narrow frame,
otherwise a frame and bars of the
same size, because it is so- much easier
to uncap. The Hoffman frame is not
so hard, but when they ^re to a ten
(10) frame hive it is very difficult to
uncap them, but all around I would
advise the Hoffman frame. If it is
difficult, it can be uncapped without
spoiling the knife in doing the work.

40

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

Mr. Moore: In spacing a little far-
ther apart?

Dr. Miller: I would advise a begin-
ner to be a little careful about the
kind of frame he uses, because there
are some that are very strongly of
the opinion that there are none so
good as the HofEman, while others
think it is an impossibility. The differ-
ence is so great. We don't know
whether he is going to strongly favor
the one kind or another.

Mr. Holekamp looks like an honest
man. If he would die suddenly and
will me his Hoffman frames I wouldn't
have one of them. So long as there is
thai great difference he must decide
himself. I am trying to show you here,
there are two men, Brother Holekamp
and myself, on other subjects we are
friends, so be careful here. Among
one of the things I notice, when some
one speaks of the advantage of the
Hoffman frame, why he compares that
as if there were no other kind of good
frame. Is it for comb honey or for ex-
tracting honey? I wouldn't give a
blue button what kind of frames they
are as far as the uncapping is con-
cerned. There are more things you
must consider. There may be such a
thing as a self-spacing frame. There
are some say they will interfere with
the uncapping. There may be one
thd.t will not interfere. For instance,
the ones that I have. There are four
spacers on each frame, one on each
end, but on the opposite side. The
spacers don't need to conflict with the
knife at all. When you start away
from those two spacers there is no
touching at the other end. But there
are those who have used this kind
and say the spacers don't interfere.

The beginner should decide himself
what kind of frames he wants. You
find out if you have brains enough.

A Member: I started with the Hoff-
man frames. There may be better
onis, but I have not used any other
than Hoffman frames. It is what a
man starts out with, and if he uses
something else probably he would like
that. I have not used anything else
but the Hoffman, and I don't want
any other. And I sell thousands and
thousands every year.

Mr. Stone: I use a good many of
the Hoffman frames in my upper
chamber for extracting. I use nine
frames for q. ten-frame hive. They
are always heavy, so I don't get the

benefit of the spacers. But I don"t
object to the spacers being there. I
can't push them together any further
than just so far.

I like the Hoffman frame, but I am
not prejudiced in favor of it. The
doctor objects to the cutting up and
down. I believe when I go up the
side of the frame from me I can make
more time cutting towards me from
the opposite side, especially if the comb
is a little cold you can get the curve
of the knife and they won't stick to
the honey.

Mr. Becker: I wouldn't have a Hoff-
man frame for extracting honey. I
have some few but I don't extract out
of them.

Mr. -Stone says he puts nine in a
surplus chamber. Well, I use ten (10).
We use the same hive. We both
had them shipped together.

I only use an eight-frame in a ten-
frame hive. I want a good wide comb.
If I use an eight (8) frame I have
nothing to do but just to go ahead,
and I cut up. A good many cut down.

I learned the shoemaker trade when
I was young. I learned to cut toward
me. If you cut you mustn't cut in the
boot and shoe but in your finger. I
wouldn't have a Hoffman frame for
extracting.

Dr. Miller: How many prefer the
Hoffman? And count the number.

Mr. Gray: I have had some experi-
ence and it is very good, but I would
advise them to get Iwo colonies of the\
best . bees and all the good papers
published. And as far as the Hoffman
frame is concerned, it would depend on
the locality. We have a good deal of
wax, and I consider them the poorest.
There is so much wax you break them
all to pieces getting them out.

The President: The question seems
to be pretty well discussed on both
sides. We will have a rising vote on
the preference either of the Hoffman
or others.

Those in favor of the Hoffman rise.

Those in favor of the Hoffman num-
bered seven and two halves.

Those that prefer other frames rise.

Those in favor of other frames num-
bered seven- and two halves.

The President: It is equally divided.

Mr. Kildow: How many of the bee-
keepers have the frames they started
with and thought they were right first."

«wgj^j:% -.-zs-^ ,

,'*»?es!- ~

IT-.L.INOIS t?TATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

41

How many in the room have the
same frames they started with the
first time and think they are right?

Mr. Moore: I can say I do, and I
have used them five years.

Mr. Becker: I have the same frames
I used thirty (30) years ago.

Mr. Moore: Only experience I had
Tsefore that was when my father kept
hives in the American frame, but since
I have been keeping bees myself, since
1903, the last five years. I started with
the HofEman frame. I have thirty (30)
or forty (40) of the Danzenbaker, but
I prefer the HofEman.

Mr. Lee: I started in 1862 and I
have the same frames.

Dr. Miller: I started a year sooner
and I have had seven different frames,

Mr. Spracklen: I started in 1882
and I have had five different frames
since that time but I prefer the HofE-
man. I have had the American and
New Ideal and other patents, also the
Improved Simplicity, but I prefer the
HofEman.

Mr. Werner: I started in 1887. I
used the Simplicity but it was so weak.
Since I started the HofEman I have al-
ways used it. Don't have to keep the
frames apart to keep them from jolt-
ing together. ^

Mr. Poindexter: I have used one
size frame, that is, since 1870. I pre-
fer that. I like a large frame. One of
the main reasons why I like a large
frame it is much easier to keep. I
have had some other frames in use
and they require sometimes two or
three (2 or 3) times as long to find the
■queen as in a large frame. That is
the reason why I like a large frame.
I use about a twenty-inch hive. Twen-
ty inches long. Sometimes near
eighteen or twenty inches long and
nine inches deep or ten inches deep.

Question No. 7.

What are the prospects for white
clover next season?

Mr. Kildow: Putnam County is
very slim.

Mr. Holekamp: That is a question
of locality. Probably in some localities
it is dried out.

Mr. Hyde: I put that question in
myself. Some might have honey we
wouldn't sell we might hold it over,
especially our extracted honey.

Brother Dadant does that and he
gets good prices for his honey. I would
like to know.

Mr. Hutchinson, of Michigan, thinks
there won't be any white clover.

Mr. Holekamp i I would answer that
there is considerable honey left from
last year. I know of a party that has
one thousand pounds and there prob-
ably will be a good deal this year.

Dr. Miller: That is an important
question, and getting the view of each
one.

I think a vote — how many think the
clover is badly hurt a^d how many
not — would be a good thing. I should
place a great deal of confidence in
that.

In my locality, while the drought is
very severe, there will be plenty of
clover next year. Plenty of roots left
for plenty of clover next year.

I wish you would ask how many
men in the locality think the clover is
injured and how many not.

A Member: Christian County has
ten thousand acres of clover, and if
half was killed there would still be
plenty. On the light soil it is injured
but on the dark soil it is not injured.
But even if half of it was killed we
would have enough to have a big
honey-flow next year.

Mr. Stone: We have a member of
our Association that I saw at the
Farmers' Institute at the Arsenal. He
lives a few miles south. It is Dr.
Southwick. He told me he had twenty
or thirty acres of Alsike clover, and I
insisted on his being here at this meet-
ing and he was going to bring samples,
and I still hope he will be here. He
encourages the bringing in of the seed
by paying the freight and giving his
neighbors the seed at the original cost,
and he gets a good many to sow that
way. He said his bees had all the
range they wanted of Alsike. He only
had about one hundred colonies.

Dr. Miller: I would like very much
a vote on this question.

How many think clover is hurt for
next year?

Mr. Spracklen: "The south part of
Shelby County is very slim, but on
investigation over fields you will see
there are little sprays, but it looks
very sickly.

In regard to the Alsike I would say
it is very much trouble to get it to
propagate. Quite a good deal was

42

EIGHTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE

sown but it doesn't take hold on the
soil,

Mr. Stone: Takes hold more readily
than the red clover. This same Dr.
Southwick said the red clover didn't
do well but the Alsike did.

I think the white clover is just like
the blue grass. The tops are dead
and the roots are all right. I think
we will have just as big a clover crop
next year as this year.

And that is the way blue grass
spreads. It will spread if you don't
let it seed; and the Avhite clover
spreads by running on the top of the
ground and has a knack of lying dor-
mant during dry seasons.

Mr. President: All members who
think there will be an average crop
of white clover may rise.

Those thinking there would be an
average crop of white clover num-
bered ten.

Mr. President: Those who think dif-
ferent will rise.

Those who thought there would not
be a good crop of white clover num-
bered seven.

Mr. Pyle: There seems to be an im-
pression that a sprig that is sprotted
that that will grow. A common farmer
will tell you when clover comes up and
dries it exhausts the stock. The seed
must come up one spring and you get
the good, of it the next spring. But if
your plant got fully matured it will
stand drought.

Red clover or Alsike or sweet clover
when it goes to seed the next year it
will die.

■ Mr. Stone: Are you sure white
clover is biennial?

Mr. Pyle: Yes, sir.

Dr. Miller: It is a creeping plant
like a strawberry. Those are new
plants then. If there never was a seed
allowed to grow I would be sure my
white clover would go on.

The red clover is a biennial. There
are a whole lot of roots every year.
Where it strikes there is a new root.

Mr. Moore: I think there are two
varieties of white clover. In my lo-
cality there is a single-root white
clover. I have been very much both-
ered by this running white clover. It
spreads out a yard from one root. But
the white clover ' we get our honey
from is a biennial.

We had a good season and they
grew well. We didn't have any dry

weather till July. And I think they
got thoroughly rooted. We had some
rain in August that started the old
white clover and also these new plants,
so I think the next season we will
have an average yield of white clover.

Mr. Stone : I want to differ with him
and agree with Dr. Miller. I don't be-
lieve there is but one species of white
clover. If you allow the crab grass
plenty of room it will spread from one
root. If it is crowded it grows straight
up, and I think white clover is the
same way. It is not so bad in the
field to run as in the garden where
you have every weed out.

During our Chautauqua I have a
terrible fight after I get home. If a
plant has plenty of room it will send
out ten thousand shoots. It takes root
at every point and you couldn't cut
around a space as big as a foot and
get it out, for here are the runners
rooted and you can hardly pull it out.
You will never have a single runner,
I think, if white clover is allowed to
run; it will run all over the ground.
I think white clover is never killed
unless in May. I have seen it when it
was abundant in the fall, and would
be up half a finger length the next
May, and come a cold spell in May
and it would be killed. If it comes
from seed the year before and goes
through the winter all right, in the
spring when it begins to grow it is
a verj'- tender plant. I believe all the
clovers are a little that way.

We always thought we had to sow
alfalfa in the spring, now they sow
it in September. They don't have the
grass to contend with as if they would
sow it in the spring. If they cultivated
it and kept the grass down till in Au-
gust the grass is not apt to bother. '

The year after the Columbian Ex-
position at Chicago we- sowed a patch
of alfalfa in early May. The weather
was fine and it was soon up two or
'three inches ^igh. At the same time
white clover was coming thick every-
where (red clover, too) and there came
a freeze and killed them all, so that
there was no white clover that year.
Our alfalfa we sowed again and got a
good stand.

I have seen it occur the same way
three successive years.

Mr, Holekamp: I think it is with
white clover as with alfalfa, it is as
to the soil. I have sowed bushels and
bushels with my own hands. I have

- -"s^-zr:.

- '»'~'5'-3HW^

IIXINOIc? STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

43

never succeeded in keeping any alfalfa
till the next spring. And I think it is
a good season in this locality for it and
clover, too. The soil is rich but loose.

Mr. Stone: Is your soil loose?

Mr. Holekamp: Yes, sir.

Mr. Poindexter: Did you ever see
bees working on alfalfa?

Mr. Stone: Yes, sir. But only two
or three. But some insects do work
on it so it produces seed.

Mr. Kildow: I want to disagree a
little with Dr. Miller. In my experience
the clover doesn't come up and propa-
gate like a strawberry plant, but it
will root and keep going. But late in
the fall you can take that same seed
plant and pull it all out; strawberry
plants you can't do it. But this white
clover in our neighborhood it will
come up and draw out, it has blos-
soms, but when the season is over you
can pull it out.

You have to have this spring's clover
to make next year's honey. It is so
dry I am afraid all our clover is gone.
"We have a little place but it will hard-
ly give the bees a taste.

Mr.. Becker: In 1883 I was living in
Christian County. There was an old
man, and me and him worked together
with the bees. "We had a very large
crop of honey that year from white
clover. I said, "Uncle, I don't think
there will be any trouble, but we will
have white clover all along." He said,
"Billy, I have lived longer than j^ou,
we will not have any white clover at
all." It comes and disappears and
about the only thing that kills it is a
dry fall, and then it freezes up; you
won't see any next spring. That is
my experience with the white clover
in my locality. I have a lot in the
hog pasture the hogs run in. It was
solidly covered- with clover this spring,
three head of hogs in there, and if we
get a rain now before it freezes up
it will be all right, but if it closes up
without any rain we won't see any
white clover.

Mr. Spracklen: In regard to the two
different kinds of white clover, if any
of the brothers will call I will show
them in my apiary two kinds of white
clover. One kind runs along and comes
up, which is our real white clover.
Then I have another kind in my apiary.
It is about that high (indicating the
height), and spreads out.

Mr. Stone: You take the white

clover and it has a little white streak,
heart-shaped, on the leaf, and the
Alsike leaf is plain green.

The white clover has a single stem
from the ground for each blossom,
while the Alsike branches out like
red clover, and has a purplish white
blossom, similar to white clover. I
think these are your two kinds of
white clover.

Mr. Moore: I have had them grow
in my strawberry patch and in culti-
vated soil where it had every oppor-
tunity. This one variety has a creeping
habit. The leaves and blossoms are
small, and not far from it is the other
variety. It had plenty of room. That
would grow up and stand up a foot
high.

Mr. Stone: Single stem?

Mr. Moore: Yes, sir. It would come
up and would have big roots and a
big bunch of" leaves a foot across. This
other variety wouldn't stand up but
two or three inches. This is the reg-
ular field white clover. "Where it is
crowded in a blue grass stand it
wouldn't grow so.

Mr. Stone: I suggest that we go
back to the programme and have Dr.
C. C. Miller give us a little talk.

Dr. C. C. Miller: I don't know that
I want to make a speech, but if I did
I would say a few words about the
space in raising bees and see whether
we are not making a mistake.

"We know there are some advantages
of having considerable space during
the swarming season. If we can have
good ventilation below we can keep
down the swarming, if there is a good
amount of space below where they are.
But in the cellar for the winter it is
easier to keep the interiors clean, and
if they are out doors the dead bees
accumulate there and we have trouble.
If we go to having too much space
under the bottom bars, then we meet
with the trouble that they will build
down comb. The question is to get
all the advantages and keep clear of
the disadvantages. I think it is an en-
tire mistake to suppose that bees will
build down in a -space that is only a
little larger than % of an inch.

Lately I read an article in the Irish
Bee Journal where the space under-
neath was three inches. For three
years he had that bed and there never
has been any comb bed bars.

So to begin with, we begin in the

44

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

first place with having too small a
space under. I have % or one-half
inch.

In the next place, if we can have a
large space in the winter time and a
smaller space in the summer time.
We can get that by a reversed bottom.
But I wouldn't have one now because
I can do better. If I couldn't do any
better I would want the advantage of
that deep space.

There is a man in Ireland that has
three or four inches space. He may
have a reason for that depth. But I
think two inches space in the cellar
in the winter time is enough. I have
good results and I don't want to re-
verse them. It is a heavy business,
so I have that two inches depth in
the winter time. In the summer time
I put something under to partly fill
it. In the first place, I put a little
bo:sfin there, a common box made of
light thin boards, turn it upside down,
I think edge down, you turn the front,
then they each now have just a little
raise.

Suppose you take a piece of wood
half an inch thick running across,
it has one at the front end and one
at the back end, and it would have
strips about % of an inch thick to
nail on the upper side. Then on
the under side the same thing, only
laying the joints so that the bees will
have plenty of chance for air to go
up through there. There will be two
runners down under it to support the
whole thing. The upper part of the
surface will be within an inch of the
bottom bars.

There is scarcely anything in there
and yet the bees will never
build down. That surplus of thin
wood you can pull out in the winter
time very much quicker than revers-
ing them in the summer time, and I
have the advantage of the same space
without the disadvantage of the build-
ing. Now, if I can have all that space
and the advantage of it aren't you
making a mistake by having a board
within an inch or half an inch of the
bottom boards?

Maybe some one would like to ask a
question.

Mr. Pt-esident: Maybe, as Dr. Mil-
ler suggested, they want to ask some
questions.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, we have
a paper from Mr. N. E. France, of

Plantville, Wisconsin, subject, "Better
days."

Paper read before the convention by
the Secretary.

Better Days.

Bee-keepers have long ago become
accustomed to live largely on hopes.
Next season to be better, next win-
ter to have less loss of colonies, bet-
ter methods, better sales and all kinds
of hopeful dreams. But we are now
living in much better days than but
a few years ago. Compare present
methods with our youthful days, and
what advancements in everything ex-
cept the market price of honey. We
must compete with standard foods on
the market, while but a few years
ago honey was considered a luxury,
to be used as such, and price accord-
ing. Today honey is recognized as
one of the standard and cheapest daily
foods on the every-day table. Meth-
ods of handling bees with le^s cost
of production is demanding our at-
tention. Let me give you what I saw
lately in one of Wisconsin's apiaries.
Owing to overwork in factory this man
has to resort to methods of bee-keep-
ing with easy methods. He uses a
wheelbarrow to move all his supers
from apiary to bee house. Uses queen
excluders between brood chamber and
supers above. No brood in sections or
extracting combs. Also uses the bee
escape boards to remove the bees from
supers, saving hard labor and keeping
the bees free from disturbance, which
means good-natured bees.

This is proven, for he lives adjoin-
ing a large school yard where over
150 students are at play near the bees,
and no one yet stung. By his own
make he has the best lifting device I
have seen, for by its use he, with left
hand, lifts one or more sup-
ers, to place under the excluders
or will swing raised supers around
over wheelbarrow and easily let same
down on to a non-drip box; wheels
same into bee-house without once lift-
ing except handles of wheelbarrow.
In bee-house he has another equally
easy method of hoisting all supers
upstairs and so placed that the same
oil stove heats air under the supers
until extracted. This oil stove also
melts all cappings as fast as taken
off, leaving nice wax cakes in the pan
below. It also keeps hot water for
uncapping knives to be in when not

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

45

in use. The extractor runs by gasoline
engine, the honey as fast as extracted
runs at once from machine below into
storage tank, all strained. All these
modern improvements cost him but
little, and makes it possible for him
to handle twice the number of colonies
with half cost of production. He can
thus produce honey much cheaper as
well as easier. At Detroit was several
new appliances, some valuable. The
new five-gallon jacketed can for Na-
tional members for 1909 I hp-ve im-
proved so with three -inch screw top off
every drop of honey will drain out.
Easy to melt honey in also by removing
outside jacket. I am also planning in
near future to supply a good section
box for less cost to producer not made
of wood or tin. Uncapping machines
are already in their infancy, only wait-
ing for little improvements before in
general use. Surely, you ^ill say bet-
ter days are at hand and we must be
up to date, as these things demand.
Another thing we have sadly neglect-
ed is proper selection of drones for
mating queens. I wonder some who
sell queens can hope to sell good
queens with common stock in same
apiary or near adjoining. We well
know the importance of selection of
sire in farm stock, yet we have plant-
ed same small potatoes for years, and
used any kind of mated queens for
generations with bad results. One
more thing of valuable importance is
the getting rid of the dreaded bee dis-
eases. Methods have proven how to
safely treat each disease, and almost
every up-to-date bee-keeper is care-
fully getting rid of diseased bees. We
yet have in the several States, includ-
ing Illinois, many bee-keepers who let
their bees take care of themselves,
and if disease gets among them and
several colonies die and are robbed
out by neighbor bees whose family
support comes from the bees. In Wis-
consin we have a good law that em-
powers the Bee Inspector to inspect any
apiary and ascertain whether or not
such disease exists and give the owner
instructions how to treat them. Illi-
nois law lacks the most important part,
that of legal right to inspect, and if
apiary is diseased to compel its treat-
ment. Think of having a Sheriff with-
out authority. I in Wisconsin have
had several times disease imported
from Illinois where Illinois Inspector
could not lawfully inspect or treat
said apiary. If nothing else of import-

ance is done at your annual meeting,
I do hope you, every member, become
one of committee to personally see
or write your member of Illinois Legis-
lature the need of amending Illinois
law giving him authority. Tour state
recognized in appropriation all the
funds asked for — to eradicate bee dis-
eases, and then left out the most im-
portant part of authority of Inspector.
We must have healthy bees and then
the modern methods will make bee-
keeping one of the greatest of agricul-
tural industries. Many States have
laws on bee diseases and every Statfe
except Illinois gives its In-
spectors legal authority. Surely
Illinois, with 34,932 farms with
179,953 colonies of bees, producing an-
nually 2,961,080 pounds of honey, worth
$350,000, is worth protecting. United-
ly you can get this needed change in
Illinois law. Will you do your part?
Tours truly,

N. E. FRANCE,
Bee Inspector 12 Tears of Wis.

Mr. Moore: There is one thing I
want to bring before the meeting in
regard to our foul brood law. We have
a good law as far as it goes.

The general run of our legislators
have very little idea what bee-keeping
is to this State.

I was talking to the Honorable E. G.
King. We were speaking of my crop
of honey. I told him I was going to
the State Association. He said, "They
appropriated one thousand ($1,000)
dollars;" he said, "What is that for?"
I told him of our foul brood law; I
told him it was good as far as it went.
If the foul brood law was brought up
with this man sitting there he would
know what it was. If I could go be-
fore every member and tell them about
the foul brood we would have a better
law.

I am going to see Honorable E. G.
King again and also Senator Hereford
for a compulsory foul brood law, and
we could have one that an Inspector
could go ahead and clean up a foul
brood apiary as well as a Sheriff.

Mr. Becker: Last fall I was down
in Southern Illinois. I visited in Ed-
wardsville. We went to see Repre-
sentative McGrath, from Madison
County. He had the year before five
colonies of foul brood. He was a jolly
good fellow and a farmer. Mr. Werner
was well acquainted with them, and
he was along. He said, "Go look at

46

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

them." He said, "Werner, I ought to
have done what you said and there
would be some more left." There was
only two colonies left. He said, "What
did you fellows come after?" I told
him we understood he was again run-
ning for legislator and we wanted his
assistance if he was elected. He said,
"I am a candidate and I will he elect-
ed." He said, "If you come up, if you
want a law" (I explained it), he said,
"I will help you, I will do all I can,
and more than that, I know the bene-
fit of it. I know what it is. Last year
I didn't know." But he promised us
if our committee comes before the Leg-
islature, "Come up and see me and I
will work among my Democratic
friends."

They say he got more bills through
than any other Representative of Illi-
nois. And he promised us faithfully
that he would try to have a compul-
sory foul brood law passed.

Mr. Holekamp: How will you get
any till passed that will benefit the
f arme r ?

First our Governor vetoed it and the
second time he signed the bill.

Our Association gave me the power
to do what I wanted to do.

I sent a circular calling the atten-
tion of every bee-keeper for having
such a law passed. About the 26th of
December I mailed to each member of
the Legislature and the Governor a
circular that a bill would be intro-
duced, and describing the nature of it,
and stating how necessary it was to
have this bill passed. That the bee-
keepers wanted it and it was needed.
Calling attention to the fact that we
have in Missouri forty-five thousand
bee-keepers in charge, I think, of
two hundred and sixty thousand colo-
nies.

One of the first bills introduced in
the Legi-slature was our bee-keepers'
bill.

I sent a letter to a Senator who was
a Democrat, and a Representative who
was a Republican. Then I asked all
these bee-keepers to write to their
Senator in the House to support this
bill.

I went to Jefferson City and button-
holed every member of our Legislature
I could get hold of.

I took five boxes of foul brood, the
worst I could find. I went before the
house and they recommended my bill.

The Senate Committee I did not see

bo.cause I spoke to the Senators at the
hotel and showed them the foul brood
combs. My bill passed without any
change.

It was a bill which was not of any
1 ersonal interest to me, and therefore
I did not have to be examined to speak
for it.

They asked if I would be Inspector.
I told them if instead of two thousand
dollars a y( f.r they would give fifty
thousand dollars, then I would have
a deputy in every county, otherwise
I would not Jiave the job.

After the bill passed the second time
I we. t to r^ee the Governor.

I had written a good many letters,
always making them personal, so I
think he w.as familiar with what we
wanted. Our bill was passed and
signed.

Then I looked around for an In-
spector. I found the man I thought we
needed. I asked the State Board of
Agriculture to appoint him. ^e was
appointed and is doing good work to-
claj'.

The thing is not to make this bill
political, not to have anj^ politics in it
■\vhatever. It is simply a law that the
fanners and bee-keepers need.

When I spoke to a legislator they
didn't knew whether I was a Demo-
crat or a Republican, and they said,
"I have heard from home, too." Every-
body was glad because I went to all
of them.

' I think there will be no trouble if
you will show the legislators there is
no politics in it, but that the farmers
need it.

Mr. Smith: In that line I have had
some experience. At the last four
meeting;s of our Legislature I was
chairman of a committee to pass that
IdIII and we have never succeeded in
getting it out of the committee. No
doubt if it had been recommended by
.the committee it would have passed.
Put the stumbling block with this leg-
islature is they will not pass any more
bills that will give the Governor any
more political advantages in the mat-
ter of an appointment.

If our bill was so changed that the
Bee-Keepers' Association should ap-
point some one to act as Inspector there
would be no trouble, but when it comes
that on the recommendation of the
Governor, they are opposed to any
more power of the Executive.

Mr. Holekamp: We asked the State

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

47

Board of Agriculture to appoint one.
I didn't want to ask him to appoint
any one political man. Democrat or
Republican.

Mr. Smith: When we go before the
Legislature this winter again we want
to ask for the appropriation in a sep-
arate bill, so we separated them and
they have never refused it, but when it
comes to making a new political office
they oppose it. ,

Mr. Moore: I suppose it could; be
worded so the State Association could
appoint him. We have to have a man
that knows all about foul brood. I
should think he wbuld rather appoint
some one the State Association se-
lected. In framing our bill we must
be careful so it will be accepted and
at the same time to have the effect to
do the work. I mean that all politi-
cal influence is out of it. That is what
they oppose, the political part. Mr.
Stone, would you say it is so framed
it ought to be changed?

Mr. Smith: Yes, sir.

Mr. Stone: The Attorney General
framed it.

Mr. Smith: They said, "We will
not vote for a bill that will give the
Governor any more political power.
The Chairman of the Senate told me
so. "I will not , pass it as it is at
present."

Mr. Stone: When I put it in Heinl's
hands he said, "If it ain't in the hands
of the Governor to appoint we Avon't
pass it."

The Attorney General framed it him-
self. He said, "You will have to have
the Governor appoint this man or he
will veto it every time. That other is
news to me."

Mr. Smith: This I was told in the
committee room.

Mr. Stone: Our bill passed the Sen-
ate and in the House was killed on
third reading, and only one majority
against it. I haven't the least doubt
of getting it through without a bit of
trouble. But we can't work too much.
If we will just go to our members, and
inform them as to the nature and dan-
ger of foul brood contagion they will
vote all right, but they want to know
that the law is wanted. And I don't
think they will vote us out another
time. We don't bring politics into it.

Mr. Becker: I think both Mr. Stone
and Mr. Smith are right. I was one
of the committee. There is an ele-

ment in our Legislature that is op-
posed to giving the Governor any more
power than at the present time, and
that element this time is stronger
than ever. The politics made so much
fight on the Governor they won't give
him any more power than he has, and
there is an element in the Legislature
that will cut down all they can. Of
course, there is another element; they
say, go ahead. I see in this morning's
paper one concern's busted.

Mr. Pyle: If everybody will do as I
did, not holding myself as an example,
but wrote to the lower house and Sen-
ate and asked them for the passage.
The two men of the lower house. Car-
rick and Ireland, and they both wrote
back. Mr. Carrick wrote back and said,
"I am a bee-keeper myself and a far-
mer," and Mr. Ireland wrote and said he
would do all he could. And I ask that
every person is a committee of one
and write to each one of his repre-
sentatives, and it will pass without a
word.

Mr. Kildow: For a while I lived in
the same district with a Representa-
tive. I wrote to the man in the dis-
trict of your county. I was personally
acquainted with the Representative
and the man in the Senate.

This fall I met one of the representa-
tives and I talked to him, and he as-
sured me this; he said, "I don't know
a thing about it, but I know what you
know is a fact, and I will have better
grounds to talk on, and I will do all I
can," and I think if everybody will go
ahead and do as Brother Pyle and I
did we will be only this winter getting
our foul brood law.

Holekamp: There . is nothing better
than to do that, and then send five
thousand letters the day this bill is
brought up.

When I got to Jefferson Citj^ there
was a whole stack of letters.

Mr. Becker: Last session, you re-
member, a certain bee-keeper in the
north part of Illinois wrote to Senator
Dunlap, but when we told him what
a kicker the man was, and that he
had yarned, he didn't pay any atten-
tion to the letter.

What is necessary is that the Bee-
Keepers work together and see their
Representative and tell what it is.

This man Inslee spent this last spring
fifty (50) dollars stamping out foul
brood out of his bees. He said, "I
am clear of it now."

48

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

His bees are close to a timber. He
don't know but that he will have it
again next spring. There is the trou-
ble, men that have a, great number of
bees are fighting this disease, but the
fellows that only have a few, they
don't care and we can't do anything
with them.

Mr. Spracklen: If there can be any
good accomplished by going to the
Representatives I will see our Repre-
sentative in my district. He is a neigh-
bor of mine and I am glad I understand
it as I do today, and I can go to him,
being posted and understanding what
it is, and also, if it would be any ben-
efit, I can write to our other man in
our district, Mr. McKinley. He is a
personal friend of mine. And if it
would do any good I can write, but I
don't know whether it would have any
effect. He is a broad-minded man.
I don't do much talking or writing
about bees, but I would rather be heard
than write.

Mr. President: Has any one else
anything to offer on this subject?

Mr. Pyle: There has been some talk
among the members that they wanted
to see Lincoln Monument. This meet-
ing has been on since 1:30. I move
that this meeting adjourn till 9 o'clock
tomorrow morning.

Mr. Lee: I second the motion.

Mr. President: It has been regular-
ly moved and seconded that we ad-
journ till 9 o'clock tomorrow morning,
in order that we go and visit the
Lincoln Monument.

Meeting adjourned till 9 o'clock
Friday morning, Nov. 20, 1908,

Morning Session, Nov. 20.

President Smith called the conven-
tion to order as per adjournment of
the previous day, and said that the
first matter to be taken up would be
the reading by Mr. Holekamp.

Mr. York: Owing to the fact that
there are so few here this morning
hadn't we better take up a question
or two till more come in, and discuss
the questions?

I>r. Miller: The discussion upon
the question box you hear and you
catch the meaning better, and the pa-
per that they read, that will be print-
ed in full. I don't know which is bet-
ter. It is very important that they
should be here for the paper and also
for the question box.

The President: We have yet to
hear from four or five subjects and pa-
pers. Will we take this paper or the
question box?

Dr. Miller: The paper.

Mr. Holekamp: What advancement
has been made in the discovery of
the causes and treatment of diseases
amongst honey bees?

The subject on which I have pre-
pared a paper is of the greatest im-
portance to the bee industry, since the
profit in bee-keeping depends largely
on the healthy condition of the col-
onies.

Our Department of Agricultude in
Washington employs quite a corps of
workers in charge of apiculture and
we have depended to a great extent
on the investigations of the department
to enlighten us on the causes which
bring about the diseased conditions of
the apiaries.

It seems, however, as if the experts
at Washington are not making much
progress in the work of discovering
the causes of disease and in finding
remedies of successful treatment, there-
fore the practical bee-keepers must not
relax in experimenting in this line
and in comparing notes on what they
have observed.

The most common disease in the
middle and western parts of our coun-
try is foul brood, or, as it is now
named by the Department of Agricul-
ture, American foul brood.

This disease is well known to bee-
keepers and thanks to the discoveries
of that veteran foul brood Inpsector
from Ontario, Mr. Wm. McEvoy, is
easily cured, if the treatment is un-
dertaken by a careful bee-keeper, and
in States where proper laws have been
enacted, and the eradication of this
disease is under the supervision of
efficient apiary inspectors, we may en-
tertain the hope that this disease will
be brought under control.

As to the disease of European foul
brood, a disease which has been prev-
alent in the Eastern States and which
, seems to be spreading rapidly over
other parts of the country, different
treatments have been advised.

At our San Antonio convention Dr.
White, of Washington, informed us
that American foul brood was caused
by a bacillus which he named "bac-
illus larvae," while European foul
brood, commonly called "black brood,'"
was caused by "bacillus alvae."

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

49

At our National convention last Oc-
tober, at Detroit, it seemed as if Dr.
White was not so certain about these
two bacilli any more, and he stated
that no new remedies had been discov-
ered for any disease amongst bees and
that all diseases ought to be treated
same as American foul brood.

This would leave us the only rem-
edy we have, the McEvoy treatment,
or the modification therefrom, the
Baldridge treatment. These treatments
are based on the theory that the bees
must either be compelled to empty
their honey-sacks before feeding any
larvae or storing any honey in the hive
into which they have been transferred,
or to be caused to leave the diseased
hive with an empty honey-sack and to
enter the hive to which they are being
transferred either empty or the honey-
sack containing only nectar gathered
after they left the diseased hive.

The first condition is brought about
in the McEvoy treatment, while the
second conditions exist in the Baldridge
treatment.

There has appeared in some locali-
ties in the western part of Missouri a
diseased condition in the apiaries which
our Inspector described as follows:

The disease found suits the descrip-
tion of European foul brood almost per-
fectly, and if it is not black brood it
is a very close relation. The combs in
this disease have very much the gen-
eral appearance of the American type
but there is generally a much smaller
per cent of the dead larvae sealed over
and it lacks the ropy consistency of
the other. Sometimes there will be a
very slight tendency to ropiness, but
not very pronounced.

The odor is very different from
American foul brood, being that of
soured dead brood. It seems to be
more contagious, and sometimes does
its work very quickly.

In some cases the bees seem to suc-
ceed in cleaning it out, and all that
will be left in a few cases to show its
trail will be a few sealed queen-cells
with dead larvae in them. It seems to
affect the queen and drone larvae
much more than any other disease, the
dried down scales do not adhere so
tightly as in American foul brood. On
sample sent to Dr. Phillips, of the De-
partment of Agriculture, in charge of
apiculture, the following is the answer:
"It is certain the samples sent are not
American foul brood. There is a pos-
sibility that the trouble is European

foul brood. That disease is extremely
difficult to diagnose at times, but cer-
tain things about your sample suggests
it. The matter will be investigated
next spring."

Investigation must show whether
European foul brood has taken a jump
to this western country, or whether
the disease will disappear as it came,
suddenly and unexpectedly. I will now
give my personal experience with a
diseased condition found in my own
apiary and in other apiaries in the
vicinity of St. Louis and which our
Inspector has also found in other lo-
calities.

Last spring and early part of sum-
mer I discovered in a number of hives
dead larvae, in some hives more, in
others less. The dead larvae were en-
tirely different from the way they ap-
pear in foul brood.

They were generally white or gray-
ish and watery, not ropy, and had no
odor, neither were there any dry scales.

I showed an infected colony to our
Apiary Inspector and we then went to-
gether through my home apiary of
about seventy-five colonies and I noted
the condition on each hive as we went
along. Later I accompanied our In-
spector on his visits at apiaries in the
surrounding country, and the same
conditions were found, here and there
a hive with dead larvae as described
before in otherwise healthy apiaries.

I concluded to make some experi-
ments. One colony which I had no-
ticed the year before as not making
any headway and had marked "sus-
picious," but which last year showed
only a few dead larvae and no symp-
toms of foul brood, I treated on the
Baldridge plan. When, after three
weeks, I opened the old hive, I found
every brood cell empty. There was
nothing but capped honey and pollen
left in the hive and I will mention
here that I intend to put a swarm of
bees on these combs next spring to
verify the conclusion that there was
no contagious disease in this hive.
When I looked at the combs in the new
hive I found most the foundation build
out and all brood healthy. A few weeks
later, when I had a lot of young queens
ready, I went to this hive to remove
the old o.ueen and found in the hive
the old clipped queen and also a young
queen, showing that the bees were
superseding.

Another colony which was about the
worst affected in the yard I made

—4

50

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

queenless and gave it a queen-cell,
which hatched and gave a young queen
to this colony. I sent a sample of comb
from this hive to Washington, but
Avhen it Avas seen by Dr. Phillips in
California, to where it had been for-
warded, it was reported as being
mouldy.

I will give the condition of all these
affected colonies a month later when
a big flow was on. Not a dead larva
to be found, all colonies working nicely.
Several colonies which had shown
considerable dead brood gave me two
hundred pounds of extracted honey
each. At the end of the season I had
extracted from this apiary ten thou-
sand pounds of honey and made arti-
ficially a large increase.

Two years ago a bee-keeper on the
Mississippi River, about thirty miles
from me, who had about a hundred
colonies of bees, requested me to come
and look at his bees, that they were
badly diseased. This bee-keeper be-
ing located off the railroad, probably
a month or six weeks expired before
I was able to see him. When I came
there, 'he told me that he had treated
his bees to a drenching with a disin-
fectant which he used at his poultry
houses, and that his bees seemed to be
better now, but that there were two
hives which had not been treated,
which were the worst in the yard, and
he hardly considered it worth while
to bother with them, as they were so
far gone, especially as those bees were
awful cross. When I opened these
hives there was not a trace of disease
to be found, and all other colonies
which I opened were perfectly healthy.
I wish to mention here that at the time
I inade this visit there was an im-
mense flow from Spanish needle, there
being a slough several miles long close
to this apiaiy which was just yellow
with flowers. Our Inspector has been
at this apiary this summer and has
found it in a. healthy condition. When.
I went last month to the convention of
the National! Bee-Keepers' Association
at Detroit, Mich., I went there with
the hope of obtaining some light on
this subject. The first man I met when
arriving at the hotel was Mr. Wm.
McEvoy, just the man I wished to see.
I described the disease I found to him
and he exclaimed: "Starved brood,
nothing but starved brood." I men-
tioned there had been plenty of honey
in the hives where the dead brood was
found, and Mr. McEvoy's explanation

was that often bees will not uncap
honey fast enough to feed the larvae
sufficiently, consequently the dead
brood.

He described just what I had often
noticed, very small young bees hatch-
ing from the cells and crawling slowly
over the combs, seemingly too weak to
move. Mr. McEvoy suggests as the
remedy to uncap honey in the combs.
To this I would add that feeding of
syrup, if practical, might be resorted
to, but that probably the re-
queening from stock which will feed
its larvae abundantly would be the
proper way of remedying this condi-
tion. If next year the trouble as de-
scribed should recur, which, how-
ever, I do not expect, as I requeened
this year most of this apiary, I will
be particular to raise queens from a
colony which feeds its larvae plenti-
fully and expect to overcome the dif-
ficulty in this way, and I would sug-
gest that bee-keepers who have no-
ticed the same conditions in their api-
aries would experiment on the same
lines. I hope that the disease found
by our Inspector and suspicioned as
European foul brood may turn out to
be what my bee-keeping friend on the
Mississippi River found in his apiary
two years ago, but as the disease de-
scribed by our Inspector was prevalent
during the later part of the season,
careful investigation will be necessary.

The dry season may have stopped
the flow of nectar and caused the bees
to feed the larvae scantily and this
may have caused the brood to die in
the combs.

There is another disease amongst
bees of which there seems to be very
little known and for which different
remedies have been suggested. This
is bee paralysis.

I have had, off and on, a few cases of
paralysis in my yards, but never tried
any cure till the season of 1907, when
I had about six cases in my home
yard which seemed to be rather bad.
I looked over all literature at hand
and wrote to the apiary experts at
Washington, D. C, but could not get
any information. The only suggestion
given me from some source was to
requeen.

I went to a hive with Italian bees
which seemed to be the most afflicted
and removed the queen, intending to
kill her, but she being such a fine large
queen I hesitated, and then it just
occurred to me that there was a good

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

51

chance to experiment. I therefore took
from this hive a comb with a little
brood and honey and a handful of bees,
and put it in a hive with the queen,
and carried this hive in the lower part
of my yard, about two hundred feet
away from my other bees. The colony
from which I had taken the queen
was supplied with a young queen.

During the honey-flow paralysis dis-
appeared and the afflicted colonies
gradually recuperated.

Now,' in regard to the queen which
I removed from the most affected col-
ony: The little nucleus built up
during the summer strong enough that
I could winter on its stand on three
combs, which were packed in well all
around w^ith carpet and cushions
filled with leaves. This spring I as-
sisted it with a frame filled with
capped brood and honey. The colony
built up very fast during the summer
and produced one hundred and fifty
pounds of extracted honey, and goes
into the winter in a ten-frame hive
extremely heavy with honey.

What does this teach? That the
queen is not the cause of paralysis,
and therefore requeening is unnecessary
if the queen is otherwise perfect.

It seems that the cause of paralysis
is to be found in the food contained in
the hive, as the disease disappears
when a good flow comes on.

The remedy might be to remove the
honey contained in the hive and to
feed syrup in its place ; where the
brood is in the same comb with the
honey this is rfot always practical,
but ^vhere the honey is contained in
the side combs and brood in the center
combs the removal of the honey might
be resorted to, at least, it is advisable
to make experiments on this line.
Rob't A. Holekamp,
Secretary Missouri State Bee-Keepers'

Association, St. Louis, Mo.

Mr. York: We have a couple of ques-
tions on foul brood.

Question No, 7.

Does foul brood show the same pe-
culiarities in the different States?

Dr. Miller: I should say in the
main, yes, sir. There is very little
difference. The reports from all over
are very much the same.

Question No. 8.

Is it possible for foul brood to orig-

inate from brood drawn from a late
brood, after the worker is gone, leav-
ing the brood to decay?

Dr. Miller: Foul brood originates
only from the bacilli, but some one or
another is the cause. In other words,
the disease is caused by the growth of
a microscopic plant, and unless the
seed is there the plant won't grow.

Tears ago it was claimed that brood
dying wouM be the cause of the dis-
ease, without there being any disease
anywhere around. But you must have
the seed before the plant will grow.
And unless there is the infection from
some other place, no matter how much
brood you have, you can't have foul
brood.

Mr. Stone: Is it a seed and not a
living germ?

Dr. Miller: There is a seed from
which the living germ grows.

Mr. Stone: Is it a plant and not an
animal?

Dr. Miller: Yes, sir, it is a vege-
table. It is a living germ, and I think
your error is a common one, and I
will confess that for a long while I
had the same idea, that the bacilli was
animal life. It is not, it is vegetable
life. It is a little plant that grows.

Mr. Stone: It is not animal life?

Dr. Miller: No, sir, but vegetable
life, something like mold.

Mr. Stone: It never flies in the at-
mosphere, only carried in the honey?

Dr. Miller: I don't know. If it were
to fly in the atmosphere, because it
takes very little to kill. The spore
will live. That is the seed. Take the
spore and the bacilli, it is very much like
the grain of corn and the corn stock.
The spore is very hard to kill; it will
stand boiling water for a while, but
the plant is not hard to kill.

Mr. Lee: Do you think it the same
under all conditions?

Dr. Miller: Certain conditions make
this. You may have a colony that has
foul brood, and if conditions are favor-
able to it they will increase very rap-
idly, but if conditions are unfavorable,
if you have a good flow of honey in
the colony, your bee-keepers report the
disease disappears entirely.

Mr. Holekamp: Dr. Miller's remark
creates the idea that it is American
foul brood.

Dr. Miller: It is very important that
you have your colonies in the very

52

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

best condition and strong, and then
you have the better chance to battle
with the disease.

Question No. 9.

Which is the better for producing
extracted honey, a full story or a half-
story?

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, nobody
seems to want to answer that question,
so I will say what I think.

I don't think it is wise to put on
a full story to extract honey till the
hive needs a full chamber. It is bet-
ter to let the brood get full enough
till the bees demand a full story. If
I want to get comb honey I go to the
hive not strong enough for a full story.

Dr. Miller: While that is true, the
nature of this question, the mind of
the one who gave it, is it better for me
to have shallow or deep frames? Un-
less it is strong enough to require
room, as much room as a full story.
That leaves still the question, had I
better have the two shallow stories or
the one deep one? There are argu-
ments on both sides.

In the first place, I would rather
not have two kinds of frames. It is a
great deal more convenient to have
one kind of frame. On the other hand,
if I have the shallow frames for ex-
tracting, and go to the expense of hav-
ing a set of extracting frames, I have
this advantage, if you have a deep
frame, when you take that off when it
is partly filled, the other portion will
be sealed up and that is the lower part
of the frame. If you could cut that in
two and could have the sealed part
and leave the unsealed part there.

The shallow frame gives you the ad-
vantage of having it sealed all at the
same time better than the larger frame.

If I would think of beginning as an
extracted honey man I would And ou,t
what good extracted honey men were
doing, and I would go by what C. P.
Ded&nt does, and he uses the shallow
frame for extracting.

Mr. Stone: I would like to add a
word. It would be different if anyone
is going into extracted honey especially
and not any comb honey. It would, of
course, be all right to have the shal-
low frame and deep frame, too. The
bees would fill up the shallow frames
and you would have to extract your
honey or put more cases under each,
and I think it would be a great deal of
trouble, whereby you could facilitate

that by using both size frames. It
might be all right for them to have
both sizes.

Mr. Stone: For explanation to our
members I will say, they see our
Treasurer going around and seeing
him paying some money. The Execu-
tive Committee have been authorized
to select parties for papers or speeches
and pay their railroad fare here and
back, but they pay their own hotel
bill. And when an association is af-
filiated with the Illinois State Asso-
ciation we pay their delegates their
railroaa fare.

Mr. Moore: This subject of shallow
vs. deep frames for extracting supers.
The bees are rather slow to go into
the deep frame, it gives them so much
room to swarm; they will go into the
shallow frames and work quicker than
the deep frames.

I would rather handle two supers of
shallow frames than one super of deep
frames. You can handle two supers
of shallow frames easier than the deep
ones. I never monkey taking one
frame at a time. I want to take the
super off and put another under.

Mr. Stone: I go with my wheelbar-
row and a box I make to handle the
brood frame size; they are emptied
and put back into the hive for the
bees to empty or clean up as they see
fit.

I take out two or three of the frames
on the stand and I keep placing others
in. I take a brush and brush the bees
off.

Mr. Moore : In .a very short time you
will have your entire yard in uproar
(except during honey-flow you don't
notice it). It is a considerable job to
brush the bees off; you carry more or
less into your honey-house, anyway.
I like the escape board. I simply go
up and pry up the supers and slip the
escape board under, then the bees get
out.

Dr. Miller: I would give this same
reply to a beginner. I think to a be-
ginner I would say use deep frames
mostly to start with and a few of the
shallow frames. That will give you a
chance to try the two side by side.
And I will tell you why you had better
take mostly deep frames. Tou will
need time and possibty will need those
frames for brood chambers afterwards,
and if you decide to use the shallow
ones you can, or if you decide to use
the deep ones you will only have to

-f,.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

53

throw aside a few of the shallow ones.
So mainly commence with the deep
ones. The probability is you will want
to use the shallow ones afterwards.

Mr. Moore: Please consider an ar-
g-ument on the divisible brood cham-
ber.

I expect next season to try it. I
don't know whether it will work in
my locality. Some of our leading bee-
keepers keep it and they think it is
very good.

Mr. Stone: In advising a new begin-
ner I would say just how I did, be-
cause that is the only way I know. I
wouldn't advise a beginner to begin
with extracted honey. Take hold of
extracted honey when they are
educated in it.

When I began I began with comb
honey, and not any more than we
used in our own family. When I saw
the advantage of extracted honey I
gave my customers some extracted
honey, and now they don't want any
other kind. Sometimes I get a cus-
tomer that wants some comb honey
and I start them with that and extract-
ed honey, too.

Mr. Holekamp: We always get a
number of combs which have drone
cells in them, especially where a per-
son buys bees and in that way get a
good many cells with drone frames.
Thoss frames can be removed and used
in the extracting super, and in that
way we get our brood chambers in
much better condition than if we didn't
have those frames. All those not to
our liking we can set upstairs and it
makes our other frames in the brood
chamber much more even, and I con-
sider it much of an advantage.

Mr. Spracklen: That is my question.
And I have been reading the bee books
and journals, and I saw the records of
the two supers for extracted honey,
and as I work for both comb honey
and extracted honey it was a question
whether I would use deep and shallow
frames together, and I am fully satis-
fied at the present time from what I
have heard from the brothers here
that I will not change to the shallow
frames. I have more call for extracted
honey than for comb honey.

Mr. Becker: I believe I sell about
as much extracted honey here in
Springfield as anyone. As to the
frames, I prefer the shallow frames. I
don't ask anybody who w^ants to use

the deep frames to use the shallow,
but I like them.

Mr. Stone: Did you ever use the deep
frames?

Mr. Becker: Yes, sir. I have one
hundred right now. They are too much
hard work for me to extract. I take a
shallow one and my honey knife and
go clean through it and with the other
you have to take another cut and they
are never as evenly filled as the shal--
low. I had in the neighborhood of
twenty-five hundred of comb and thir-
ty-three hundred pounds of extracted
honey. I just got through day before
yesterday. Liast week I extracted about
fifteen gallons.

During these two warm days it
looked like the month of July, and the
bees were just swarming back and
forwards. Some acted like they were
swarming, ''and cleaned it all up. I
sell all my honey in Springfield. I
shipped a little by order. Shipped
eighteen gallons to St. Louis and twen-
ty gallons* to Chicago to friends of
mine.

I have a ready market for it in
Springfield. I put it up in jelly glasses,
ten cents retail, another fifteen cents
retail, another twenty cents retail, and
another at twenty-five cents retail.
One glass and three bottles.

I met three different dealers in
Springfield this fall, and I guess in at
least one -half of the stores in Spring-
field, grocery stores, you can find my
honey. One man came in from Jack-
sonville and sold a little. I found it
in three stores. That is the only ex-
tracted honey I saw with the excep-
tion of a little brought from Cleveland,
Ohio, and I sell it to parties that stock
up and take eighteen dozen at a time.

Mr. Poindexter: Can't you extract
just as quickly out of a large frame
and handle it just as quickly as a small
frame?

Mr. Gray: I work for both comb
and extracted honey. I use the shal-
low frames. I use both but the deep
frames are a little heavy to handle
for us old fellows. I have shallow ones
that go into a four and one-third super.
I use about a six- inch frame. If we
leave the honey on the hive till the
season is well over my experience has
been that the medium deep frame is bet-
ter for old people to handle. It is much
easier to handle. It is much easier
for me. And as to the divisible brood
chamber, I put some on those narrow

54

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

fratties. I think they will work all
right. They will build up much quick-
er in the shallow frames than in the
deep frames.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, that ques-
tion of beginning to work smaller
frames is fibred down to the strength
of his swarm. The deep frame is not
too big a space in a good honey flow
and when your swarm is good they
will find it in a week. If you leave it
till this time of the year you don't need
a bee escape. Take out some of the
frames; there will only be a few bees;
brush them off. If your colony is not
strong it had just as well put in its
time getting so, and not give it any
surplus room.

If I believed in the small frames I
would handle one-pound sections.

Mr. Moore: I think our depth to the
shallow frames is five and three-
eighths inches.

Dr. Miller: Or six-inch frames?

Mr. Moore: They are full five and
three-eighths inches. Dadant's are a
little deeper than that.

I think the bees will go to work
quicker and fill up quicker.

Mr. Becker: The way I do — it is
true I haven't got as many shallow
frames as I did have. I had three
years ago this fall I had enough for
three stories for one hundred colo-
nies, but now I have to run them up
in beeswax. The bees died and I
haven't as many in the spring of the
year.

My hives are ten-frame colonies. As
soon as they begin to work in the
spring I pick out the shallow frame
with one super on each hive and that
saves them from the moth getting
in, and they start gathering honey in
June. "When white clover comes in
these hives are all full of brood. My
hives in the lower chamber are full of
bees. That super is full. If I want to
run them for extracting I put in more
supers and a queen excluder. When
the bees are attached I put a queen
excluder in and keep the bees below,
and I think I get more young working
bees in the colonies than by putting
on your large frame.

I don't want the large frames for sur-
plus honey. I put on only an eight
frame. "When I want to use the large
frames the comb is too wide. That
is why I prefer the shallow frame.

Dr. Miller: I think this question

has gone far enough, but if we can get
the opinion of those who have tried it
and have decided a shallow frame is
better for me or a deep frame is bet-
ter for me, then we have the weight.
I think when we have gone so far it
is better to take a vote.

The President: I think we have dis-
cussed this question and got all the
substance out of it. Now we will
vote.

Those preferring the shallow frames
will rise to their feet.

Those preferring the shallow frames
numbered seven.

Those using the deep frame for ex-
tracting will rise to their feet.

Those preferring the deep frame
numbered three.

Others did not have a decided choice.

A Member: Now, Mr, President,
call those half way. Those that use
the shallow and deep or medium. I
use a ten-inch frame with a shorter
frame.

The vote on this proposition was
seven to three.

The President: More are in favor
of the shallow frame.
A Member: Yes, sir.

Question No. 10,

Will bees put out on a cold day
fly out immediately or wait till a fair
day?

Dr. Miller: It depends on what you
call a cold day. Suppose you put them
out when it is about forty-five degrees,
and the sun shining, and still those
bees very much in need of flight will
not fly if they are not badly in need of
flight; they will not fly unless very
much in need of it.

Question No. 11.

Is there not some way by more
united action of honey-producers to
receive a better rate on honey?

Mr. Bowen: I think mos^ bee-pro-
ducers asked for that in the National.

People will readily pay from thirty
to forty cents a pound for butter and
other matters of table use that isn't
any more serviceable than honey. I
think the reason why bee-keepers don't
get better prices is because they don't
ask it.

I am in Jacksonville and I never
sell a pound of extracted honey for

■VflrSi:::

IL,LlNOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

55

less than twelve and one-half (12%)
cents; here they sell it for eight cents.

There are some there that sell it
for ten cents. I know some people are
suspicious and still I have seen them
pass by those places and pay me two
and one-half (2%) cents more. And
I think it is worth it.

If we are going' to produce honey at
a price that will not pay, the people
generally will be on the wing. And
there is no use of any good extracted
honey being sold for less than twelve
and one-half (12%) cents. And comb
honey I never sell for less than fif-
teen (15) cents.

Mr. Stone: "Would you put a rate
pf twelve and one-half (12%) cents
on all packages?

Mr. Bowen: No, sir. In quantity to
the grocer. Then the comb honey, I
never sell any of the broken honey for
less than fifteen (15) cents, and if I
haven't any section honey that" won't
sell for fifteen (15) cents I put it in
broken honey. , .'

In some of the markets it runs down
to thirteen (13) cents and fourteen (14)
cents, because the bee-keepers don't
ask the price. They don't have enough
independence. Of course, we have a
few bee-keepers that have a good
many bees and have a good flow; they
actually sell their comb honey for ten
(10) cents.

It seems to me we ought to take
some steps toward getting better prices
for honey.

Mr. Holekamp: As long as bee-
keepers will ship to so-called commis-
sion merchants and sell it for such
prices as it will bring nothing can be
done in that line.

I know of bee-keepers that will ship
sixty thousand pounds of honey in Au-
gust from the South to St. Louis and
Avant to sell that honey. I know that
the honey could be bought for four
(4) cents a pound. I, myself, have sold
the vftry finest honey at five and one-
half (5%) cents a pound simply b«-
cause I didn't peddle it out and wished
to make room for the next year's crop.
As far as I understood, they are offer-
ing four and one-half (4%) cents a
pound now for extracted honey. That
is the biscuit trade.

When there is a large crop of honey
and everybody ships it, it is hard to
hold up the price. Parties that pay
bee-keepers good prices are looking

Out, because other parties get hold of
this shipped-in honey, and as long as
honey is handled as it is now, shipped
to commission merchants, the prices
will be under set. Unless it is a short
crop they will do that. That is
what we thought last year, when, in
fact, there was a large crop. There is
a good deal of that honey in the mar-
ket now. What is necessary is to
create a demand for honey in the
whole market and have honey con-
sumed in larger quantities.

In families in Germany they use it
all the time. When you go to a hotel
for breakfast there is honey on your
table. The families don't think they
can live without having so many gal-
lons of honey. In this country in the
cities they will pay ten (10) cents for
a tumbler of honey, and think they
ought to buy that only when they have
a bad cold.

Mr. York: Recently in my going
around and stopping at hotels I have
been calling for honey more than I
used to. Tou will find it in more ho-
tels. In the hotels in Detroit during
the National Convention they had some
of the finest of honey.

Yesterday morning at the Illinois I
called for buckwheat cakes and honey
and at another this morning. And I
think if bee-keepers would call for
honey, whether they get it or not,
it would induce the restaurant keepers
to keep it on hand.

Some one mentioned about bee-
keepers selling at a low price because
they have only a little, and that that
is like finding just so much money.
Some bee-keepers don't know the,
prices.

Mr. Bowen said that that honey is soon
out of the way and the little bee-keep-
ers have set the price by setting a low
price.

It is a great mistake to allow the
small bee-keepers to do that. I know
it was that way in Chicago. The deal-
er needs a good price. He can't sell
it unless he gets a fair price. He has
to pay hired help. And by shipping
to the commission merchants they sell
it for what they can get.

This fall in Chicago some bee-keep-
ers told the commission merchants to
sell good comb honey for ten (10)
cents a pound. That is wrong. They
sent it to one market instead of sell-
ing it around home, so there is noth-

56

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

ing in it for bee-keepers or commis-
sion men.

I think there ought to be more care
among the bee-keepers to see that it
is better distributed, and see that it
is better sold at home.

There are some people in town that
never see honey, when if they were
shown it they would buy it.

Now, like Dr. Miller, he would have
to ship to some distant market. But
there must be city markets where
there is not much honey, and they
could be found, and with proper effort,
and 4here would be no overloading on
city markets. Of course, Chicago uses
lots of honey, and even that can be
overloaded, when it comes in by the
carload. But I think bee-keepers
ought to do something to get the
united effort together and to be na-
tional. And I know hotels and restaur-
ants are handling it more, and I think
if bee-keepers would ask more for it,
it would be there.

Mr. Stone: Since the pure food law
has gone into effect the commission
men are more willing to handle comb
honey, but the people will not buy the
e.'ctracted honey if those men get it.

I had a commissioner come to me
one day; he had some honey; it was
fresh alfalfa honey. He said, "I can't
sell it. I will sell it to you for eight
(8) cents a pound." I had paid that
for some and paid the freight, too. He
said, "I can't sell it." I sold him honey
at ten cents. He bought our apples
and barreled them, and he and his
pickers would bring in lots of my
honey, and were not willing to use
his nice alfalfa honey "because it did
not have a taste of honey."

Mr. Becker has been in town selling it
all over. I don't see that he ever
struck any of my customers, and I
have sold thousands of pounds, and I
never sell except on order at fifteen
(15) cents a pound. And Mr. Becker's
honey is all laid out on that scale.

I weigh my honey and then see what
the price is, twenty-five (25) cents,
twenty (20) cents, fifteen (15) cents
and thirteen (13) cents. He sells in a
jelly glass I don't u6e.

This commissioner, after he held that
extracted honey a long while, offered
it to me, as I said, at eight (8) cents
■ a pound. I didn't take it. I had all
the honey I could use. I said, "If I
take it I will have to sell it as my

honey, and if they find I ship it in
they won't buy it." The reason why
they don't buy that, they don't think
a bee-keeper had anything to do with
it.

That commissioner said, "They
won't buy it because they think it ain't
pure. When they go to a bee-keeper
it is pure honey."

Mr. Becker is teaching his custom-
ers and I am teaching mine, and they
come and buy it and look at the bees
if they want to, and they see our bees
at the fair. We don't conflict with
rach other at all.

The President: If there are no ob-
jections we will pass the order and pro-
ceed to the election of officers for 1909.

Mr. Stone: I would like to ask
these gentlemen what hour they have
to go. I move we adjourn for the noon
hour at half past eleven, and have
our election before that hour.

The President: Mr. York, we will
hear your paper now.

Preparing Honey for Safe Shipment.

An editorial in the November, 1908, '
American Bee Journal is devoted to
answering the question as to how to
prepare comb honey for shipment. It
seems there are quite a good many
bee-keepers who don't know just how
to get their comb honey to the city
markets without breaking down the
combs. This is, indeed, a very import-
ant subject, and fortunately one in
which I have had a rather large ex-
perience. Previous to five years ago
I was an extensive dealer in honey in
Chicago, and of course received and
reshipped many consignments of comb
honey, and never, so far as I can
recollect, was there any loss whatever
when the comb honey was properly
packed for shipment, or packed ac-
cording to the directions which I was
always ready to furnish shippers.

• The illustration herewith shows the
correct method very clearly. A strong
crate should be made to hold either
six or eight cases of honey. There
should be from four to six inches of
straw, hay or excelsior put into the
bottom of the crate on which to rest
the cases. Such packing acts as a
cu.shion so that the honey will not be
broken out of the combs should the
crate be put down rather suddenly. ;
While it may not be entirely neces-
sary, I think it quite advisable to have

ILLINOIS STATE BME-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

57

the crate large enough so tha^ the
packing material can be put at the
ouside of the cases as well as at the
bottom. /

A very important matter is /that of
handles to the crate. These ai^e made
by nailing on narrow boards /at each
side of the crate within threite or four
inches of its top, and extending out
enough at each end so that! they can
be used as handles by two men to
carry the crate of honey. These pro-
jecting handles also help to prevent the
crate from being turned / over end-
wise, as might be done by^'' some care-
less or ignorant freight handlers. Of
course, each crate, after /the cases of
honey have been put intcf it, will have

tination in perfect condition. It pays
to pack comb honey properly, and not
run any risk of having it broken in
transit. It is a pity after having pro-
duced a nice crop of honey to have it
destroyed on account of careless or
inadequate preparation for shipment.
Shipping-crates may add a little more
to the expense, but when the net pro-
ceeds of the honey are counted it will
be found that this extra investment
has paid well. It is a great satisfac-
tion to the shipper to feel that his
comb honey will be delivered in good
condition on account of the cases hav-
ing been put into the right kind of
crates, so that they can be safely
moved by the freight-handlers.

SHIPPING CRATE FOR COMBHONEY,

narrow strips or boards nailed on top,
so that no single case of honey can
be taken out without first removing
the top of me crate.

On the /top should be put, either
printed on cardboard or painted in
large, blapk letters, these words:

COMB HONEY. ,

tANDLE WITH CARE.

I think the railroad companies re-
quire t^e glass sides of the cases to
be turned toward the center of the
crate s'o as not to be exposed.

I have invariably found that when
comb 'honey is prepared for shipment
as here directed it arrived at its des-

The question of preparing extracted
honey for safe shipment is a very
simple matter. It is usually run from
the honey extractor in five-gallon tin
cans or perhaps wooden kegs or bar-
rels. My own preference has been
for the five -gallon can, as there seems
to be less danger of losing any honey
by leakage. I have had rather un-
fortunate experience with honey in
barrels, for, if they are not properly
coopered, or not thoroughly dried when
the honey is put into them, there is
much danger of leakage, which is
very hard to stop,, once it is started.
Of course, if honey is granulated the
barrel is every whit as good as the
cans; and for large lots of honey, of

58

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

course the bairrels are easier to handle
than the cans, as the former can be
rolled, while the latter must be lifted
or slid around.

The barrel as a package for extract-
ed honey has been more generally used
in the States of "Wisconsin and New
York. It seems that for a dry climate,
such as Colorado, California and other
"Western States the can is the only
safe receptacle for holding and ship- j
ping liquid extracted honey. Cans also '
have another advantage, that they can I
be piled up one above another after |
being boxed. It is a rather difficult |
matter to pile up barrels of honey.

Undoubtedly both the barrel and '
can will always have their advocates.
It is a good deal in what one is accus- ;
tomed to using, especially in the;
climates of "Wisconsin and the Northern
and Eastern States. However, I be-
lieve the tin can is more generally
used today for extracted hpney than
ever before. If the honey-barrel ap-
pears in the market at all it usually
has come from apiaries of those who
began to put their honey in barrels
when they first started to produce ex-
tracted honey many years ago. Prac-
tically all the newer extracted honey
producers used cans at first and prob-
ably Avill continue to do so right along.
Of course, occasionally one who has
used barrels for a long time changes to
cans, especially after a few large losses
through leakage of the barrels through
the hoops loosening or coming off en-
tirely.

The school of experience in honey-
shipping is very similar to that of
many others, in that the tuition comes
high. Unfortunately, however, the in-
nocent are called upon to bear the
loss, while those who are really the
first cauFe of it do not suffer at all.
By this I mean the purchaser of ex-
tracted honey in barrels has to stand
the loss, not knowing until after he
has paid for the honey that there was
any danger of loss through leakage.

But, of course, the proper prepara-
tion of comb honey for shipment is
the main thing to be considered. There
is seldom very much risk in shipping
extracted honey, no matter in what
kind of receptacle, as often it is gran-
ulated before sending to the wholesale
market, and thus there is no danger of
loss whatever. It is very different with
comb honey. The delicate combs are
so easily broken, especially if shipped
in cool weather. This is one reason

•^hy comb honey should be sent to
riiarket bebore the temperature gets as
low as the freezing point. In fairly
Warm weather the comb is rather
tough, and seems to withstand consid-
jbrable jolting; but in cold weather It
ildoesn't take very much, of a jar to
'cause the combs to break out of the
sections. Unfortunately, also, a good
many bee-keepers don't use bottom-
starters in sections, so that the combs
are not fastened on all four sides.
Where the sections'" are plumb full of
honey, and the comb well attached on
all sides it would be almost impossible
to break any of them out of the sec-
tions, no matter how much the honey
was bumped around on its way to
market.

Of course, where comb honey is
shipped by the carload, and the cases
are properly fastened in the car, the
combs running parallel with the rail-
road track, it is very seldom that any
of the combs are broken. In loading a
car it is well to have straw or hay or
excelsior at the ends of the car, so
that the sudden stopping or starting
will not cause breakage. It is not
necessary to have any packing in the
bottom of the car, but it would be well
to lay down paper first so as to keep
the honey cases clean. Paper or can-
vas should also be put over the tops of
the cases after the car is loaded, so as
to keep dust and soot from soiling the
top row of cases. It pays to keep
everj'thing nice and clean in connec-
tion with comb honey. Appearance
goes a long way in getting the right
price for it. Do the best we may, still
the cases are bound to show the effects
of handling.

This paper is perhaps, long enough,
and if most of the important points
have not been covered in it there are
no doubt plenty of honey-producers
and experts here who will add anything
that I have omitted to mention.

George W. York.

Chicago, 111., Nov. 10. 1908.

Dr. MHpfr: Mr. President, Mr. York
is mistal^n if he thinks I am going to
make up a remark he forgot. You
can have six or eight.

Mr. Holekamp: I would like to re-
mark this, I would never advise a bee-
keeper to put less than eight cases
in a crate, rather more than less. A
crate will be handled by pulling it, or
two men getting hold of it. If there is
less in a crate they will roll it like a

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

59

barrel and break the honey. I have
seen this when I have bought honey,
and I instructed the shippers to put
more in, if they couldn't even it up,
rather make a crate with ten than
with six. If they put in less than six,
if it was shipped by express, it came
all broken and we have been getting
hundreds of crates of honey.

Mr. Becker: I have bought three
years' honey from "W. J. Manly in San-
dusky, Michigan, from five to eight
hundred pounds at a time. He crates
it for me and never have I had a crate
come that leaked. There were from
eight to twelve in a case of twenty
sections, in a case that came a long
ways, from Sandusky, Michigan, to
Cincinnati, Ohio, from that to Decatur,
from Decatur to Springfield and from
:='pringfield to Pleasant Plains.

Mr. Holekamp: In small towns they
unload honey probably with more care
than in a large city. In a large city
where these stations are the honey is
thrown from the cars on to the plat-
form under the sheds. They are han-
dled as carefully as an agenl^ will be
where he often knows the parties who
receive the honey. And shipping to
a small place it is not as risky as
shipping to a large city where the
hands are less careful in unloading.

Dr. Miller: We have had much in-
struction and it is an exceedingly
good paper. Just one point. I am a
little unsettled as to what the paper
advises when honey is packed in a
ear. One thing which you ex-
plain is how to place the shipping
crate in the cars. The question as to
having straw in the bottom of the car;
I have never used straw and yet there
is a question in my mind whether that
isn't the best.

Suppose you can't pack as perfectly.
You can't make as perfect a job of
making a packing of straw as on the
fioor. If I could have it on the side
of the car I know it may be good on
the bottom, but if it is irregular the
cases are more or less loose on the
bottom and that is objectionable. Be-
tween my own experience and what is
in the paper I am not sure just what is
right.

Mr. Lee: Do you ship in carriers?

Dr. Miller: Without carriers.

Mr. York: My paper says not to put
anything in the bottom of the car.

Dr. Miller: Didn't you advise straw
on each end?

Mr. York: Yes, sir.

Dr. Miller: There is that objection,
you can't make as square as a job.
When I have loaded a load of honey it
is butted up against the end and you
can't move a case the least bit. Wheth-
er I could make as good a job with
straw on the end is a question.

Mr. Holekamp: When I get honey
the ends are filled and stamped in
with straw; it must not be thrown
in, but the honey must be tight in
the car; that much straw must be
put in.

Dr. Miller: Straw at the end or
side?

Mr. Holekamp: The straw at the
sides must be stamped down.

Dr. Miller: I have given that up.
Instead of that, if there is a space,
as there often will be, half the size
of a case to fill up, instead of tramping
straw I like a board setting vertically
nailed on the floor so it can't budge, at
the top nailed with a little board across
it so it is straight and I haven't straw
there, but there isn't anything can
move. It is expected to be straight
and isn't much jar sideways, but I
want it so nothing will move. I think
that is better than straw.

Mr. Lee: Does any of your honey
break down in shipping?

Dr. Miller: I have had a little the
other day. On a shipment made in a
car probably five hundred miles the
report came in it was in perfect shape.

Mr. Holekamp: The cars that cama
to me have to come over the Rocky
Mountains, and that makes a difCer-
ence.

Here reading was given by Mrs.
Snyder.

Dr. Miller: I don't suppose there is
a book more beautifully written than
the book we have just heard read
from. And if you take that book to
learn something from you will be mis-
taken. And you bee-keepers that have
been listening have listened to some
printed facts.

Mr. Poindexter: I would like to ob-
ject to that last part of that reading
about bees having scouts sent out to
seek a new home.

Mr. Moore: I was the one that
spoke to Mrs. Snyder. It is a beauti-
ful reading, but we must take it with
a few grains of salt. It is something
we should all read but we can't follow

60

EIGHTH ANNUAL- REPOFwT OF THE

the j teachings; it is too much. It is
in ojitir business as in others, we need
som^ poetry. There is nothing I would
detect worse than a swarm coming
out. j

Mi|'. Stone: I make a motion that we
proceed with the election.

Mrs. Snyder: He writes so many
excellent books that are bound that
he didn't put this as a test book.

Dr. Miller: He wants to fortify
himself with facts. He had the queen
go light on a place and the swarm find
her. I have seen them light many
and many a time.

The President: They will sometimes
light on three or four places and then
finally go to one place.

Dr. Miller: If you read the book
you wouldn't know and I don't think
I would when I read the book, know
anything about bees.

Mr. Kildow: Do you say bees don't
go to her, to the queen?

Dr. Miller: It is exceptional. The
thing I object most strongly to in
that book is the moral tone. It is so
beautifully written you don't see the
rottenness.

Mr. Bowen: The writer of that has
caused a swarm of bees to ^warm in
the air too high. But it is a beautiful
composition.

The President: How about the work-
ers having all the royal jelly?

Dr. Miller: They have the same
food for the first three days, then they
are weaned and the worker is fed
different from what the royal laval is.

Mrs, Snyder: I think it means that
for generations and generations they
have had to give up so much.

The President: We will proceed to
the election of officers.

A Member: I second the motion.

The President: The Secretary will
read the offices to be voted for.

The Secretary: For President first.
The vote has to be by ballot.

Mr. Becker: Mr. President, it is
generally a rule to fix the salary of
the officers before election.

I move our Secretary be allowed
seventy-five ($75) dollars for this next
year.

The President: Mr. Becker, our of-
ficers are not allowed any salaries.

Mr. Stone: That is out of the Legis-
lature's fund.

Mr. York: I second Mr. Becker's
motion.

The President: It has been moved
and seconded that the Secretary be
allowed seventy-five (75) dollars for
next year.

Motion carried.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, I want to
say in regard to the Treasurer's salary
of fifteen (15) dollars. There is very
little work to do; it is really too much
when you consider what the Secretary
gets and what he has to do. But
when you consider the responsibility
of the Treasurer, he is getting less
than he ought to have. He has to give
a bond of two thousand (2,000) dollars
and ought to have some compensation
for it.

I move that it be continued at fif-
teen (15) dollars. I make a motion
that the Treasurer get fifteen dollars
again next year.

A Member: I second the motion.

The President: It has been reg-
ularly moved and seconded that the
Treasurer be allowed a salary of fif-
teen (15) dollars.

Motion carried.

The President: Now we are ready
for the election of officers.

Mr. Bowen: I understand the bal-
lots are taken informally.

Mr. Stone: We vote by ballot, nom-
ination or no nomination; that is ac-
cording to our constitution.

Dr. Miller: I make a motion to fa-
cilitate matters to vote for President,
Secretary and Treasurer at once, the
first name being counted for the Presi-
dent, second Secretary, and the third
for the Treasurer.

The President: All in favor of the
motion say aye.

All in favor of it say no.

The ayes have it.
■ Mr. Stone: Mr. President, we are
a litle ahead of the hounds. We want
to vote for six men; one for President
and five for vice-presidents.

The President: We will do that
later.

Ballots were passed around by the
Secretary and the following were elect-
ed:

J. Q. Smith, President.

Jas. A. Stone, Secretary.

Chas. Becker, Treasurer.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

61

Mr. Pyle: Mr. President, I believe
you go a little too fast. This was an
informal ballot, and then comes the
formal ballot.

Mr. York: Mr. Chairman, all that
is necessary now is to make this
formal.

I move that the Secretary- be in-
structed to cast the ballot for Mr.
Smith as President, and Mr. Stone as
Secretary, and Mr. Becker as Treas-
urer.

A Member: I make a motion to lay
it on the table.

A Member: I second it.

Dr. Miller: Nobody consi<Jers it any-
thing but an informal ballot.

Mr. York's motion was that it be
made formal. I don't see anything
wrong in making it a formal ballot
now.

Mr. Kildow: The motion now is to
lay Mr. York's motion on the table.

Dr. Miller: If this is to be laid
upon the table it is the sanae as voting
down Mr. York's motion.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, if this
motion to lay on the table prevails it
will leave it as though we hadn't done
anything.

Mr. York: I don't see the object of
laying this on the table. Do you all
want to write these names again? Be-
cause we get the same results. I am
perfectly willing if you want to do
that.

Mr. Bowen: The gentleman had the
right to lay it on the table.

The President: All in favor of lay-
ing this on the table raise their hands.

Those in favor of the motion num-
bered five (5).

Those on the contrary raise their
hands.

Those not in favor of the motion
numbered eight (8).

The President: Motion carried. It
is not tabled.

Mr. Becker: It seems to me strange
that j'^ou call this an informal ballot,
and thej first should be for President,
the second for Secretary, and the third
for Treasurer. And the ballot is so
declared, which I suppose is all there
-is to the election.

Mr. Stone: The motion was for an
informal ballot.

Mr. "Sork: My motion was that this
informal! ballot be made the formal

ballot, and that the Secretary be in-
structed to cast the ballot for Smith as
President, Stone as Secretary, and
Becker as Treasurer.

Mr. Stone: I see there is a move
on foot to defeat this election, else a
vote to table would not have been
made, and every member has an equal
right to vote as he may choose.

Dr. Miller: Mr. York's motion is
before the house, that the informal
ballot be made the formal ballot, and
that the Secretary be instructed to,
cast the ballot.

Mr. York: I withdraw my motion.

The President: Let the convention
vote for whom they want.

Mr. Bowen: Suppose you take an-
other ballot and elect somebody else,
instead of the ones elected. The law
says the officers shall be elected by
majority vote. I make the point that
the vote has already been taken and
vote carried.

Mr. Stone: Since Mr. York has
withdrawn his motion that the in-
formal ballot be made the formal bal-
lot, that settles the matter.

Mr. Bowen: I make a motion that
the President, Secretary and Treas-
urer be declared elected.

Mr. Kildow: I understand it was
an informal ballot.

The President: To satisfy every-
body I would like you all to cast an-
other ballot.

Mr. Becker: If the Association don't
want me for Treasurer I don't want
it.

I am like Brother Moore, the un-
derstanding was to me that the first
one was for President, second for Sec-
retary, and the third for Treasurer,
and the constitution says so. If there
is only one President, you can elect
him by acclamation.

Mr. Kildow: But that was just an
informal vote.

The President: The motion was
made to vote on the officers again. I
voted on a formal ballot and others
on an informal ballot. ' I want them
to vote again,

Mr. Stone: j I renew the motion that
the informal i ballot be declared the
formal ballot.

Mr. Moore: I second the motion.

The President: It is moved by the;
Secretary and seconded that the in-_

62

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

formal ballot just cast be made formal.
That the informal vote just cast be
made the formal vote.

Mr. Stone: I call for a rising vote.

The President: Members in favor
of that may stand.

Those in favor of the motion num-
bered nine.

Those opposed to the motion may
rise.

Those opposed to the motion num-
bered seven.

Mr. Kildow: I don't think that is
right.

Mr. Bowen: I want to say I voted for
these men and they ought to be taken
on a formal ballot.

The President: The Chair declares
that the ballot is carried by a majority
of two.

The President: The next is for five
Vice-Presidents.

Mr. Becker: I move that the mem-
bers that receive the most votes for
Vice-Presidents be announced as the
ones elected.

Motion carried.

The President: While the gentlemen
are counting the ballots Mrs. Snyder
will give a recitation.

Mr. Moore: I will say to the mem-
bers here that I am the President of
the Western Illinois Association of
Bee-Keepers. We have no date set,
but it will be advertised in the pa-
pers.

We make it a picnic affair, and take
our families and baskets and have a
good time. I invite you all.

The President: I will say I have
been over there and they have very
nice times.

The following were elected for the
five Vice-Presidents:

Fir.st Vice-President, Mr. A. L. Kil-
dow.

Second Vice-President, Mr. J. H.
Moore. — ~^^

Third Vice-President, Dr. C. C. Mil-
ler.

Fourth Vice-President, Mr. W. W.
Hyde.

Fifth Vice-President, Mr. Louis Wer-
ner.

Mr. Kildow: I make a motion to
adjourn till 1 o'clock.

At the close of the election the
meeting adjourned^to meet again at 1
p. m.

Afternoon Session, Nov. 20.
The President: Gentlemen, we will
come to order for a brief session.

Mr. Stone: What will we do about
badges next year?

The President: These badges will
do.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, I will
have to be absent to attend an insur-
ance meeting. I don't know how long.
If there is a quorum there I will be
right back, but if they haven't I will
have to stay. I have to go to the in-
surance meeting.

Mr. Becker: We will have to have
the election for Foul Brood Inspector,
and I make a motion to elect our
President, J. Q. Smith.

Mr. Moore: If there is no further
nomination for Foul Brood Inspector
I move to vote by acclamation.

Mr. Stone: I second it.
Motion carried.

Mr. Stone: I nominate our present
occupant, Mr. J. Q. Smith.

Mr. Pyle: I second his nomination,

Mr. Moore: All in favor of Mr. ,

Smith acting as Foul Brood Inspector

say aye.

Mr. Kildow: All in favor of J. Q.
Smith being our Inspector for the en-
suing year may rise.

Motion carried.

Mr. President: I am desirous, as is
also Mr. Holekamp, that we have a
discussion on his paper. And I think
it is important that we should draw
out all we can.

Mr. Holekamp: What I would like
to know is if other people have ex-
perienced the same diseases that we
have experienced on my side of the
river.

Mr. Kildow: Wouldn't it be better
to appoint our Legislative Committee,
and then discuss this?

.The President: We passed a law
before that the Executive Committee
be the Legislative Committee.

Mr.. Kildow: Do they understand
that they are to see that we get our
law through?

Mr. Pyle: You know that under any
corporation of this kind, unless it is
specified in the constitution, any mo-
tion made last year is only good for
that year. I make a motion that the
Executive Committee be the Legisla-
tive Committee.

ILLINOIS ST\TE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

63

A Member: I second the motion.

The President: It is moved and sec-
onded that the Executive Committee
be the Legislative Committee.

Motion , carried.

Mr. Becker: We talked a little on
this Legislative Committee yesterday
afternoon. Is this now appointed?
Those that have belonged to the com-
mittee know how much we have had
to contend with, and as I stated last
evening, the way the bill was drafted
before, in drawing the bill the Gov-
ernor had the appointing of the In-
spector.

There was a great deal of dissatis-
faction in the Legislature in that.
Some claimed the Governor had too
much power politically now, and that
Avou'id put another appointee under his
jurisdiction. They were opposed to it.
And some others contended the Gov-
ernor would have to have the power
under that bill. When the committee
meets later on we can decide by ask-
ing some of the legislators, and, by
the way, by that time the question
will be settled who will control the
Legislature. If the friends of the Gov-
ernor will control or his enemies.

The bee-keepers, we have now made
efforts for the last three times to have
it passed. I think we will get it, pro-
viding each bee-keeper will go to his
Representative and explain to him that
this disease is so destructive as it is
to the human family, and they have
laws against small pox and other dis-'
eases, and this disease spreads as much
and affects as much as small pox
among the human family.

The Representative from Edwards-
ville, he only had a few bees, but he
saw the effect of the disease. He told
rfiB^^^in the presence of Mr. Werner
that -we could count on him, and he
wanted our assistance to get it before
the committee and through the com-
mittee, because he knew what effect
the disease had upon the bees.

I think if the bee-keepers wilt work
we can get that bill through this win-
ter.

The President: Let us take up that
discussion on Mr. Holekamp's essay.

He wants to know if there are any
members present finding dead brood
which is not foul brood, and find more
than usual, the disease which we have
found in Missouri, have you found it
in Illinois?

Mr. Gray: I have had some ex-

perience this year, only my bees, don't
get over it.

I have had it for three years. ; It is
not foul brood nor black brood. It
holds right on. It is still there. It will
get it from feeding back honey. ; And
they die in all stages, from two or
three days old till they just com'e out
of the hive. I have had it for three
years right along.

The President: Are your bees in one
apiary?

Mr. Grey: Yes, sir. But a man up
town had it all through his apiary.

The President: Have your bees ac-
cess to any canning plant?

Mr. Grey: No, sir. They work on
the river. In the fall we have sweet
clover every year.

Mr. Holekamp: Did you find small
bees, usually small bees coming from
the cells which looked weak?

Mr. Grey: I can't say that I did.

Mr. Holekamp: That is starve brood,
Mr. McEvoy says.

Mr. Grey: They had it when they
had plenty. I don't see how that is
starve brood.

I sent a specimen to Washington.
He said the brood was raised in a
hive that had no sealed store. I fell
off consequently this spring. It was
worse than ever. r

This spring I changed eveits^hing in
the yard. Most of them when strong
enough to can build up, but there were
a few didn't. |,

Mr. Bow^^en: Do you ever change
your queen?

Mr. Gray: Yes, sir. I change them
often. I just started over a year ago.
It didn't seem_^ to make any difference.
It^ kept on just the same. I don't
think it could be starve brood. The
bees would clean out the comb per-
fectly clean.

Mr. Pyle: Didn't I understand you
to say, first it came only in a few
combs and then more and finally over
the whole frame?

Mr. Grey: Yes, sir. But just a few
cells at first. The next crop there
would be more, and the next crop
there would be probably three or four
of them dead.

A Member: I have had quite a good
deal of experience with it, whatever it
is, foul brood or whatever it may be.

A year ^go this last summer I sent
a sample to Mr. Miller. He didn't

64

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

know what it was. And this summer
I sent some to"' Mr. France and he
didn't know what it was. Whether it
was American foul brood or what. He
suggested changing queens.

I had it a number of years but didn't
notice it till last year; they would
dwindle down, but this season it was
bad.

I had quite a good many hives set-
ting and after each swarm there was a
hive died out.

Two or three years ago, when I
found them, I cleaned the hive out and
gave them a comb of honey and a hive,
and put in some comb-foundation,
filled frames about half full. They went
to work and built up strong. After
they began to breed I noticed this hive
was worse affected than any. Toward
the last of the season they built up
and grew strong. During the later
part of the season they diminished.
About the first or second week in Sep-
tember I sent to Mr. York for some
Italian bees, and for a few days they
seemed all right and seemed to do
very well. What it is I don't know.
I know it is very destructive. I know
it has been in my apiary for a number
of years.

The President: Any further discus-
sion on this? ,

A Member: Was your brood with
black heads?

A Member: Black head sometimes,
and part of the -bees black.

A Member: Were they watery?

A Member: No, sir. I don't know.
I cut down part of the frame and comb
and boxed it and sent it away.

A Member: Weren't they shy of
pollen?

A Member: I don't know.

A MenTb6iu^_ It is nothing but starve
brood. All bees in that stage get
watery and the heads turn black.

•If you will change queens and feed
powder sugar, by that treatment you
can clear them of it. If it doesn't ap-
pear next spring it is a total cure.

In some places I find two or three
colonies. I double them up till they
are strong, then I recall the queen and
that colony is as strong as any colony.
And a good deal of the cause is where
there is no pollen.

Mr. Kildow: I think it is impossible
for bfees along a river to be without
pollen.

A Member: Every now and then

you could see one come home with a
little pollen, and once in a while with
a little smart-weed pollen on it, but a
good many wouldn't have any pollen
at all.

Mr. Kildow: My idea was we have
more than we need. That is an ex-
ception then.

A^Ieiftber: Yes, sir; that is an ex-
ception.

Mr. Ernest: I had the same kind of
a ease. That is what I did. The
queens would lay and instead of
gaining they would lose. There would
be three dead and five alive, and then
another week there would be seven
dead and five alive, and then twelve
dead and five alive.

Destroy those queens after they have
worked out the foundation. One queen
will do.

I introduced a queen to a good
nucleus, then I put another good
healthy queen from a good colony and
put it in a foul brood colony and now
it is cleaned out.

This was all done this year, I had
forty colonies different ways. I had
foul brood in the first, second and third
stages. And this year we had some
foul brood too. •

If it reappears next spring, but we
can't tell, we live near a timber, we
can only check the thing.

Mr. Holekamp: What I have refer-
ence to is not foul brood.

Mr. Moore: Anything in the nature
of starve brood is easy to combat with.
Bees often will not uncap enough honey
to feed the brood. But if we look
after the bees in the spring of the year
and they uncap, and there is not
enough pollen, put out something in
the place of the pollen and they will
feed themselves.

The queen has nothing to do with it,
only to extent that some other queens
will breed bees that are a little better
in uncapping honey.

It cannot be from his description
anything but starve brood. But Mr.
Holekamp's, from his description, is foul
brood.

In the fall and summer we find a
good deal of dead brood, and if there
are no indications of foul brood it dis-
appears in a very short time.

Mr. Holekamp: In parts of the
county, not by me, but in other parts
of the county, it is very destructive.

The President: Probably in another
year we will know more' about it.

4

ILLlIsOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

65

Mr. Holekamp: I had plenty of pol-
len and honey Jeft after the bees had
forsaken the hive. __

The President: I think it will be
well for us to watch it next summer
and pass this.

Mr. Ernest: Lsist fall was the first
I saw of it. We examined it and
found what it was. It was foul brood.
The brood was dried up. "We took a
stick and pushed in and found they
were rotten. I tried to save them but
I couldn't.

I found eleven stands. Well, about
eight out of the eleven I saved. They
looked like they would wither up. Soon
after they would cap they would
dwindle with a hole right in the head.

I went to work and put three small
pieces on the frames. I left them four
days. Well, then I changed them out
again and they did well enough. One
of them I happened to neglect and it
appeared to get along, got along the
best of any of them. They made over
thirty (30) pounds of honey, and there
were two others that made twenty-four
(24) pounds. But they appear to be
getting along very well now. But I
shall be looking a little closer after
this.

Mr, Pyle: I would like a little dis-
cussion on the merits of the Baldridge
system. Perhaps everybody under-
stands it and perhaps, everybody
doesn't.

I think for a man that is a bee-
keeper there isn't anything as helpful
as the Baldridge plan of treating foul
brood. More for a beginner. But also
for a man that takes bees and can
make a success of it. But I think the
Baldridge plan is the best.

A Member: The Baldridge plan is
all right but it is slow. I made a
double escape and of course it will take
twenty-one to twenty-five days for the
bees to hatch out. Then you empty
them and you can make wax. But if
you have to imake two or three trips
you wouldn't be paid for your labor.
It is a good plan but you need extra
escape for it. If you have but one
escape fastened to the entrance, make
another. . After a few days you can
clean it out.

I have only got a few colonies but I
have so many that I imake as many as
I need. Make a hook and frame, when
the bees are done I make the wax and
they will go for the next ones.

Mr. Pyle: Two weeks^ time is
enough. -^

The President: Anybody else got kay^
^^urther discussjon on this? '

rfext^ on the p^grmn is W. W. Lee,
PontiacT^HU We canpas.a. that unless
he has left liis-pasper.

Mr. Stone : Mr. President, I doVt
think we want any more question box
now.

Hasn't anything been done, and if
nothing is done in regard to this
foul brood law, the committee will go
ahead and do as they please. Nobody
has been instructed to ask for that yet.

The President: It seems like this
committee has different ideas. One
says the Governor has to appoint,
others say he doesn't. • You say they
won't allow the Governor any more
power, and the other says they would
allow the Governor to appoint.

Mr. Stone: We had the bills drawn
up for this Association to appoint on
the approval of the (governor the foul
brood inspector, but when we went
there they forced us to change it. It
was Heinl, of Jacksonville, who told
me.

When it was before the appropriation
committee they kicked. Heinl came to
us, to Mr. Becker, Mr. Smith and me,
your bill, Mr. Heinl said, they won't '
allow because they won't allow any
appointment of any new officer but by
the Governor. He said you go to the
Governor, and he instructed us to go
to the Attorney General.

We went and he wasn't in. The other
members of the committee appointed
me to go and have the bill drawn up.
And it was drawn up that way. If the
Legislature is willing I will be the first
fellow to put it back where It was.

The President: Seems like there
were two different opinions.

We, as a society, don't care which
appoints him just so we get it.

Mr. Moore: This State Foul Brood
Inspector must have the same power
as a sheriff. And, therefore, onust be
appointed by the Governor. And he .
must have the authority from the
Governor, if he finds diseased bees and •
apiaries, to burn them.

This committee will have to find out
when this thing comes up. No use -j>.
working for a foul brood bill unless
we can get something that is compul-
sory. •

We want the appropriation, but we
can get that. We want a compulsory

—5

66

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

foul brood law through, too, and we
do want it. That can be done largely
by a personal talk to our Representa-
tives.

Mr. Stone: Now it is all right look-
ing at it that way, but if we get a
law giving this Association the power
to appoint the Foul Brood Inspector,
the Legislature passes the bill and the
Governor signs it, whether he names
the Inspector or not he stands for it
just as though he made the appoint-
ment.

Mr. Moore: This appointment will
have to be made by the Governor.
You want it that he is appointed on
recommendation of this Association.

Mr. Stone: The Attorney General
said for us to recommend — meant same
as our appointing — and there was no
way other than the appointing by the
Governor.

Mr. Becker: I think Mr. Moore is
correct. All police officers, constables,
and all those that receive their author-
ity from the Governor, under the Gov-
ernor's seal, must be appointed by him.

Mr. Holekamp: Unless the consti-
tution of Illinois is different from Mis-
souri Mr. Becker's statement does not
hold good.

We elected our Governor with the
understanding that our police officers
appointed by the Governor are not to
be appointed by him.

In the future our Foul Brood In-
spector and veterinary surgeon is ap-
pointed by the Board of Agriculture.
But I don't know how it is here.

Mr. Pyle: This Foul Brood In-
spector won't be a police officer, he
won't have to arrest a man. That is
the kind of an officer that is bound to
be appointed by the Governor.

We just need the authority to go on
and inspect and destroy the property.
For instance, the Board of Health,
wherever they get their election from,
they don't have to arrest a man.

Suppose a Board of Health in a
community quarantines a man and he
breaks that, a police officer would have
to arrest him. They just want to have
the authority to go ahead and do this;
if a man objects then he can take the
civil law into his hands.

Mr. Moore: The Mayor appoints the
Board of Health. They are appointed
by the highest authority in these
cities. They are under the highest au-

thority, and I think it will be the same
in the State authority.

Mr. Bowen: It seems to me that a
law that prohibits a nuisance, this law
would be under that.

Any man that keeps bees with dis-
eases and he does not destroy them,
if the Inspector doesn't know it, it is
all right, but if he is told he must
take some steps to destroy them and
if he does not you can go ahead as
with a nuisance, you can tell an officer
of the law and he will see that the law
is enforced.

If knowingly keeping foul brood,
which is not only a detriment to them-
selves but to his neighbors also, is
not a nuisance, what is it? Foul brood
is known, by most men, to be a nui-
sance.

Mn Smith: There are different
ways of getting at this. Tou can file
a complaint before a justice of the
peace and have a warrant issued, or
you can put that authority in the In-
spector. -•

I had an interview with the Gover-
nor. He said if the law w^ent through
after we had it he would appoint no
one unless it be through the recom-
mendation of the Bee-Keepers' Associ-
ation. He said, "I know nothing about
bees, I would want somebody known to
be competent. I wouldn't appoint him
without the recommendation of the
Bee-Keepers."

Mr. Stone: Was that resolved when
it was voted on? Was it resolved to
have that bill passed so we can ap-
point?

Mr. Pyle: It is always a good idea
when you have a committee; they
want to know more than me, way up
at Putnam.

I would like to get a compulsory
law that is good and binding. That
would suit me, and I suppose the oth-
ers want the same.

Mr. Bowen: If we haven't confi-
dence enough in the committee, better
appoint another committee. It is well
enough for the committee to have in-
structions, but as to dictating, we
ought not to do that.

Mr. Pyle: Wouldn't it be good to
have a vote so it will be absolutely
compulsory?

Mr. Kildow: It won't be ajiy law to
us unless it is compulsory.

Unless we get a foul brood law en-

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

67

acted with a compulsory clause it is
no good. We must have that.

A Member: I move it be the con-
sent of this convention that our Com-
mittee on Legislation be instructed to
have a la-w passed so it will be com-
pulsory on people that have foul brood
and know it, and compel them to have
it remedied.

Mr. Kildow: Why not have this com-
mittee go on and push it till - we get
this law we want, that they turned
down?

Here the law was read.

Mr. Bowen: The last part isn't
worded right and it will never go
through that way.

Mr. Moore: This bill provides for
the appointment of the Inspector by
the Governor.

Is there any second to that other
motion? If there is not I will make a
motion that our Executive Committee
be instructed to secure the pass"age
of this bill' as it stands or make the
changes they deem necessary.

Mr. Kildow: I second it.
Motion carried.

Mr. Holekamp: There might be
some change, might have to make some
additions. The old law might have
to have something added . to it. You
might want to change it a little. And
j'ou might have to change it a little.

The niotion was put and prevailed.

A Member: About what per cent
of colonies over the State have
this foul brood? Is it a small or large
per cent?

Mr. Smith: Per cent isn't nearly as
large as three years ago.

A Member: Find it mostly among
bee-keepers or farmers.

The President: Bee-keepers keep it
down but farmers don't.

A Member: They might have to
have ten inspectors and destroy thou-
sands and thousands of colonies of
bees.

Mr. Holekamp: No! No! Our In-
spector inspected ten thousand colo-
nies of bees and never destroyed one.

It must be necessary that the In-
spector has the right to destroy them
if the party is unwilling to assist in
this kind of work.

If he hasn't that authority the peo-
ple will just laugh at him.

Mr. Gray: That is for foul brood.

That provides for only foul brood; it
ought to include other diseases.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, our new
brother here, just for his information
and others in the same line, we will
tell just what we Jtold before the ap-
propriation committee in the House.

For those men who have two or
three colonies of bees and foul brood
kills them ofC, and they let the hives
stand there, full of the disease, while
the large holders or big bee-men ex-
terminate them every year.

What we want is the authority to go
and clean these hives up. If they don't
feel disposed to take any action the
Inspector ought to have the right to
defend the other parties from the con-
tagion of these worthless, emptyi hives,
whether foul brood or other contagion.

We want to work as members among
onr own men- and have them come
there informed.

We want the power to go and clean
up these two or three colonies where
the people won't clean them up them-
selves.

The President: I think that this
committee is fully competent to know
what the bee-keepers of this state
want. They have been instructed year
after year, and have been before the
Legislature for four different sessions.
We would not like to have our hands
tied. We don't know in what posi-
tion we have to present this. We may
have to make some amendments.

We are anxious to get this bill
through the best way we can. And
I think if it is left to the committee
they will do better than if their hands
are tied.

Mr. Kildow: The supposition is to
get a law as nearly that as we can.

Mr. Moore: I think this committee
has the sentiment of this session.
It is hard to make a motion to govern
the ground. It may be that they will
have to change it. It is better to leave
it go in that w^ay.

Mr. Becker: Once in a while you
will find a party where you are out in-
specting bees, and you report the dis-
ease of the bees, they will not let you
inspect their bees.

I struck a man like that in Edwards-
ville. He said: "I'd clean my foul
brood up, but my neighbor four or five
blocks away has it, and there are four
or Ave hives in the grass."

68

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

I asked him in a gentlemanly way
If we could look at his bees. He said:
"No, sir." I said: "You have no ob-
jections for us to walk around?" He
said: "No; but don't disturb them."
And I just got my nose to one hive,
and I could smell the disease, but he
wouldn't let me examine them.

Another man in East St. Louis had
five or six the fall before, and had
been cleaning up, and was pretty well
rid of it, only in a few cases. One
case, especially, had a number of cases
in the colonies, and he finally cleaned
them up and moved them in the coun-
try to get rid of them.

I saw our man there and we went
to the cemetery and he sold some to
Mr. Holekamp; he examined them to
be svire.

There was one colony the old man
had that was pretty near dead. He
said: "I don't want you to bother
them; they are nearly dead." I said:
"Can I look in the colony?" He said:
"I don't know." It looked like a hog
or a pig pen. I had to pry to get it
open. I told the man with me: "This
won't bother you very long. They will
be gone in a few weeks." Everything
in the colony was rotten. I asked him
to destroy them. He said: "They
will go like the rest."

The disease was there, and if some
other bees come and rob them, you
can't get rid of the disease. If they
don't want to destroy them, they don't
have to.

Mr. Stone: I don't want to assume
anything, but, being here on the
grounds, if I was put in as chairman
of this committee, I could often do
things without calling the other two,
when, if I am not the chairman, I
couldn't do anything.

'T'he President: You have as much
authority as I. We can settle that
• among ourselves.

Mr. Bowen: If the chair is now at
leisure, I would like to ask the
question that some of you people of
experience can answer:

How is the best and easiest way to
unite weak colonies with strong colo-
nies, or strong colonies with weak
colonies?

Mr. Holekamp: That depends on
the season of the year, and whether
the bees are gathering honey or not.

Mr. Bowen: Take this season of the
year.

Mr. Holekamp: You cannot unite.

A Member: I got three swarms out
of the timber and I united them. I
don't know how to do it, but I did
it right away.

Mr. Kildow: I moa-e that we ad-
journ.

Mr. Pyle: I second the motion.

Mr. Stone: Mr. President, we want
to get out our letter-heads pretty soon.
Shall we have it Thursday and Friday
next year ?

The President: No, sir; Wednesday
and Thursday.

Mr. Kildow: Why couldn't we get
it some other time, so we won't be
crowded for hotel room? Can't we have
it a week before or a week after?

A Member: My wife comes to the
Rebekahs' convention when the Odd
Fellows meet, and I come to the Bee-
Keepers' convention. If you change
the dates I can't come because she
won't come without me.

I move we have it the same dates
again next year.

It was so decided.

Mr. Stone: I will have it placed for
the 20th and 21st of November next
year again.

Adjourned sine die.

ILLKCOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

69

Beeswax, Comb, and Extracted Honey.
Exhibit of Aaron Coppin, at Illiuois State Fair.

Honey and Beeswax Exhibits at tiie
Last State Fair.

Mr. Geo. W. York, of the "American
Bee Journal," who was judge of th^
apiarian exhibit.^, .says; of them as fol-
lows:

From the American Bee Journal.
Illinois State Fair Apiarian Exhibit.

It was our privilege as well as honor
to be selected again as judge of the
bee and honey exhibits at the Illinois
State Fair, held at Springfield, Sept.
25 to Oct. 2, 1908. We have seen a
number of lapiarian exhibits at various
fairs, but witlx the exce])tion of those
at the World's Columbian Exposition-
here in 1893, we believe the exhibits
in the department of "Bee and Hon«'\"'
at the Illinois State Fair this year
were the best we ever saw.

There were only •> exhiljitors in all,
and only 4 rt'ally comiieled in i^vi-ry-
thing ii?'the apiarian lini'. Tln-y were
Aaron Coppin,. of ^^'enfllla : ('has. Bci-
ker, of Pleasant Plains; Jas. .\. Stone
& Son, R. R. 4, Springfield; Geo. Rum-
Icr, of Indiana; I..ouis Wirner, of Ed-
wardsville: and the sixth person, wii'j
had only nne cxhiljit. .md that A\'as a
disi)la\' <ir (lcsi.:ins in litcswax. Tiie

first 4 mentioned were very fine in-
deed.

One of the beeswax designs that at-
tracted the attention of visitors was
tha^ exhibited by Jas. A. Stone & Son.
It represented Uncle Sam chained to
the saloon, the whole thing — saloon
building, chain links and Uncle Sam —
being made of beeswax. It certainly
was an impressive temperance lesson.
But some of these good days Uncle
Sam will be" freed from his cursed con-
nection with the whole infernal liquor
business. And bee-keepers will help
break the chain that binds them to-
gether. May the coming of the glad
day be hastened!

We were indeed proud of the exhibits
made by bee-keepers at the Illinois
State Fair. Mr. H. J. Cater, the genial
an.d very capable sui)erintendent cif
that particular dcpartnient of the Fair,
feels greatly encouraged, lie al.-^o has
chai'.ge of the culinary deiiartment. and
is making a success, of his work in the
interest of bee-keeping and the
kitchen.

We are glad to be able to nceoni|ian\-
this report ■with sijiiil' jiieini-es of the
a|.ial"ian exhibits ^\ilieh \\. re sn difh-
cult to judge, on account oi ih'ir g(.'n-
eral superior e.xcr'llence.

EIGHTH ANNUAL EEPOKT OF THE

I'iccsw ax. '.'imili, and Extracu-d lloiicr.
ICxliibit of Charles 13ecker, at Illinois State Fair.

Beeswa.x and Extracted Ilone.v.
Exhibit of Jas. A. Stone ^: Sopf; at Illinois State Fair.

li.LIXdkS STATE I'.EE-KEEl'EItS' ASSOCIATION

Chicago- nortbiDCStern Bee-Keeper$' il$$ociation

Proceedings

OF TH E

Annual Convention Held December 2 and 3, 1908,

AT

Chicago. Illinois.

Tl'c Istli jiiiiu;il (■•i!i \'i'ii! i' 111 iif lii,'
I 'hicnii'i-Ni irtliw rst: I'll I'.i i - ]<> •■■iit-rs'

.VssiK-iutiou \\,(s iirlil .11 till- i'.ri.ux^
JI')USf, (Mlk-;i:-;ii. I )c(.-i'iiil kT ll'l aipl :',<],
i:mis. It was i-nllod tn nnU-r at 10::50
;i. III., l^oc-cmli'T 2il, Avitli the President,
l\li'. ('!(■( iri^i' w. Yiii'k, in tlie chair.

I'ri-siilcnt Yoiiv: The t-onventiiin
whl bo (i]u'iie(l wilii in-ayi'i' by the
]iastor cif the Ilaviiisw nnd (Chicagu)
.Ai-tiindist Cliuivh. lli.v. J)!-, n. J.
\\'.\ck(.ilT.

Dr. \\'\c-k(in: then cilTi'fi(i thi^ I'liUnxv-
iii.u' in'Mxcr: "« nir ilcax riily l-'alh.cr,
we rejoice tliat \\c ha\<- aunlhcr jirivi-

>'Av <if comin

tni4flhi r In

insult

I

about our mutual inlcrc.'^t.-;: ami as
we conic from i'm and near to .i;athcr
in lliis jiUu-c, we prax' that Tliou
wouhist )jc xvith us and be, in our
Counsels, foi- somehow" or other we
b. Iie\e the moiX: we kn(.iw about God,
the more we know abotit the creatures
he has made. He!]) us, we pray Thee,
to Kct in .s.ucli sympathetic relation
Willi all the affairs of our calling that
wiicre we cannot understand we shall
hiivo a strange intuition to help us
solve our perplexing problems. We
beg to thank Thee for the .great in-
terest thou hast put in Nature. AVe
come to rejoice that when otu' hearts
are right, when they are in tune with
the great manifold wtirkings of God
and Xaturo', we can see His footsteps,
we can trace His own Divine intellect
even in the intellect of a bee. Do
Thou bless us together today; bless
the chairman; bless all tlie reports

th.ii shall he aiade; li!.>>. w- |ra\".
ai! of tis as \\.' bring our prol.il.jms lo-
ge'thef t'l laik about the difhculli'S of"
our high ealiing: and so ina.\' \\e -A'i
liaelc to our iioiues fe(-]iiig tlial our
x'isit to this gr<:'at city has Tieen on,-
of great i"iro(it. And bless us ii; ,all
liiat \\f tr.\- to do. aiiil ull : iiiai'-l.".' bring
us to that jilace at List A\hei-,. \\c shall
l<iiow all trulli, wilei'e .ail |ii-oliienis
slial! See th:-ii- final solution in tin-
light of another worhl, Ihrougli .]esns
("hrist our Lord. Amen."

I'resideiit ^'orl<: We lia\e i-onie
to anotliei' session of Ihe ('lliea>;o-
XortliWestern r.ee-Ke,.|i( rs' .\ssocia-

tion. an<l I think, judging from the
number that are here, we have the
largest atteiKlauee of an.\- ojM.iung ses-
sion we ha\i; e\er had. I should not
be se,rj.ri.^i-d i|' \\ e' would liave tliis
room crowded before the ehising ses-
sion tomorrow afternoon. I Ihinlc ] er-
liaps most of \-ou undi'i'stand that we
do not have a set program in these
con\entions. We Ic-t the liei'-keejiers
make the program l)y asking uuestions.
I will ajipoint ]Mr. Arnd to ]iass the
slips for (luestions, and to usher and
wait on the people.

While we are doing that, it W'udd
be nice if we c-ould know" \vho is h.ere,
and I am sure >oii will be ghid at the'
outset to "know who is who.'" \Ve
have bee-kceiiers here from Kajisas.
frorui various jitirts of this State, from
AVisconsin. and one from X'ictoria,
Tiritish Columbia.

President York: Tlie Secretary will

72

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

read the report of the minutes of the
last rmeetingr.

The Secretary, Mr. Moore, then read
the minutes of the last meeting, and
also the Treasurer's report, both of
which was moved and seconded that
the minutes stand approved.

Presidertt York: I will appoint as
Auditing Committee Messrs. Dadant,
Wrilcox and Smith; and as a Com-
ittrlttee on Resolutions, Dr. Miller and
Messrs. Kimmey and Kluck.

President York: The Secretary has
a few letters which he will now read.

Mr. Moore then read letters of re-
gret from Mr. E. D. TownsenJ, Mr.
France, Mr. J. A. Stone and Mr.
George E. Hilton.

(Recess.) . >

n

Breeding Different Races of Queens
In Same Yard. '

"Is it honorable and good business
policy for a queen breeder to breed
two or more races of queen bees for
sale in the same yard, or in yards so
near together that there is danger of
the races mixing?"

Dr. Miller: I don't think that is a
thing for a queen breeder to answer.
If I were buying, I should want to
know that those conditions existed,
and I would want to know in some
way howTi could be assured that they
did exist. From the standpoint of a
queen breeder, I should say it was
very poor policy, because he could not
be certain of anything.

Mr. Kluck: I would simply say that
if I knew of a queen breeder that
would have two or three races of bees
in the same apiary, I would not buy
any bees of that man. I should not
want them at any price.

Mr. "Wilcox: If he advertised that
he would furnish all kinds and gave
his prices, would you not suppose he
was producing them in the same
apiary ?

, Mr. Kluck: No, I would not know.
He might have them five or six miles
apart.

Mr. Wilcox: This question suggests
to my mind a question I have been
thinking of a good imany years. In
buying queens, whether it is good
policy for a man to sell us queen^ of
so many kinds, select tested, tested,
warranted, and not tested. I have
made it a rule to buy from a man who
selects all of his kinds and at one and

the same price, if I buy untested
queens. If a man is buying tested
queens he will get good ones any-
way, or ought to.

Dr. Bohrer: I would not like to
say that it was strictly dishonorable,
because a man imight send out mon-
grel stock and not be aware of it.
Some breeders think they can rear a
lot of drones in an apiary of one kind
and give them their liberty, and have
everything else in the same yard con-
fined, and if they watch and have a
lot of queens of the same strain ferti-
lized they would hun^ up the other
drones and not let them Joose, except
the desired ones to have queens ferti-
lized by. But to my mind no man
would be so systematic and enforce
this rule so carefully and constantly
as to do anything of that kind. I
have even gone so far as to write to
men who breed queens of different
kinds and ask them how far apart
their apiaries are, and unless they are
from six to eight imiles apart I will
not buy of them, as you cannot tell
how far a queen will go frofh the
hive. I have timed them by my watch
and found them to be away three-
quarters of an hour, and there is no
telling how far they have been from
the hive, and no telling how far the
drones will go; and I would advise
men, and I think the different States
ought to enact a law requiring men
who breed queens or stock of any kind
to arrange matters so that amalgama-
tion will be utterly impossible. If you
have different queen-breeding apiar-
ies ten miles apart I think there would
be no danger, yet I am not sure of it.
Bees have been known to go five miles
from their hive in search of food, and
how far a queen will go from her hive
I don't know, and no one knows how
far a drone will go from a hive. One
man informed me that he knew of a
man who was breeding queens and
would rear two kinds of queens in
one hive and four kinds in one api-
ary. You will be sure to get a mongrel
stock if you patronize a farmer like
that — absolutely certain not to be a
pure queen.

Mr. Dadant: I used to rear queens
for sale, but have not for years. I
would like to say something for the
queen-breeder who rears queens of
different races in the same apiary.
When we began to import Italian
queens forty years ago and rear Italian
bees we had nothing but black bees.

J]^I,INOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

73

Would you have us kill all our black
t>ees ? We had to rear queens in the same
apiaries having different races of bees,
and there were as good queens reared
as there are today. It is a bad policy,
■when you can breed them apart, to breed
them in the same apiary, yet it can
be done. I think it is a mistake to
put more than two races in one apiary.
It is better with one race. The man
who succeeds will succeed better with
one race than with more than one,
but it is difficult to rear queens from
one race alone and be sure there is
no other race. If we put our apiaries
six, eight or ten miles apart, there
are probably bees belonging to other
people vithin a shorter distance. We
cannot be sure of that. Are we to
abstain from rearing bees if there are
others neair? We can breed from the
best and eliminate other races. I be-
lieve in trying new races, and not in
the same' apiary, but I don't believe in
condemning a man because he does
it, because he cannot usually help it.

Mr. Wilcox: There is one point in-
troduced here that needs modifying
a little. I don't want it on record that
there is danger of amalgamation from
eight to ten miles apart, as suggested
by Dr. Bohrer.

Dr. Bohrer: I don't think that there
is at ten.

Mr. Wilcox: At five, even. I think
there is practically no danger at a
distance of three miles. I know bees
have mated three miles apart — where
Italians and black bees are located
three miles apart; but I have never
known of any serious mixing at a
greater distance than that.

Dr. Miller: It is a very easy matter
to stand off and throw stones, and we
who are not professional queen-breed-
ers are very likely to get into that
list. Now, as I sat here thinking the
matter over, it looked to me an ex-
ceedingly difficult thing for any man to
rear queens and guarantee that they
should be pure, of any one kind. The
fact is, I don't know of any kind of
queens that L^ould guarantee as
pure unless I sh?mld guarantee that
they were puite hybri\^s, and I am sure
that the queenHDreeders who are trying
their best to get stock pure have done
a whole lot of good, and ,we ought
not to be too istrict in our requirements
of them. At the same time, if they
are honest, I am sure they ought to
try to give us what they represent
they are giving us; and when you get

right down to the bottom the thing we
mostly want is honest men to deal
with, whether they are queen-breeders
or somehing else.

Mr. Baxter: That is my question,
and I introduced it because I have
been very much provoked on this
score. I am not a queen-breeder, but
I am a producer of honey, and my
aim is to get the very best race of
bees that I can get for the work. That
race is the Italian; and when I send
to a queen-breeder and want an Ital-
ian bee I don't want him to send me
something else. I got some importa-
tions about twenty-five or thirty years
ago, and I am still breeding queens
from those importations, and I have
sent and got others to vary my stock
and possibly improve it, as I thought
tnine would degenerate, and I think
I have got Cyprians for Italians. I
know I have some from an importa-
tion of thirty years ago that have the
characteristics of the pure Italian more
definitely than those I have been get-
ting, and I know that some of our
reputable queen-breeders are breed-
ing two different races in the same
yard and in an adjacent yard. Some
of the queens I have got recently I
would rather have paid $5.00 to get
them out of my yard than to have
them in my yard. I can breed better
bees of my own stock.

Dr. Bohrer: I would ask if any one
ever bred Italian queens from any
one queen that would duplicate her-
self invariably and not show almost
positive evidences of foreign blood?
I have never had one, and I purchased
a queen some forty years ago, paid Mr.
•Langstroth- $20.00 for the queen, and
after rearing twenty queens, the black-
est insect I ever saw hatched out from
her- brood, showing there was foreign
blood. There is no way of knowing
that the Italians are in the highest
grade of purity, and you cannot get
them in any distinct race. Mr. Lang-
stroth said they were not, and I said
I doubted it; I know they are a dis-
tinct race. What is a distinct race?
Where do the Goldens come from ?
Are they not our best grade of Ital-
ians bred up?""

Mr. Wheeler: I was wondering if
these men did not have the good of
the bee-keepers at heart more than
we give them credit for. If a man
would send me a queen bee that pro-
duced a touch of hybrid stock I would

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.

ILUInOIS state BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

75

When I grow up I will be able to smoke
more than I have been doing.

Dr. Bohrer: I belonged to two or-
ganizations. They had two or three
bee-keepers' associations, and I be-
longed to the Kansas Agricultural So-
ciety, and I don't think that among all
of the horticulturists of that State a
dozen of them chewed or smoked, and
I found it to be so among bee-keepers
generally- ' ^

> Adulterated Honey.

"Any news of adulterated honey in
Michigan reported in 'Gleanings'?"

Mr. Reynolds: In "Gleanings" there
was a report that a large consignment
of honey had been found in Detroit
that had been shipped there by a firm
in Philadelphia. Does any one know
whether it has been confiscated?

Dr. Miller: "Was not the statement
in "Gleanings" that it was confiscated?

Mr. Reynolds: As I read it the gov-
ernment was taking hold of it. They
had been notified to appear on trial
and had not shown up, and, as I un-
derstood it, the government was about
to confiscate it.

President York: It is an interesting
case, showing that the government is
after adulterated food.

Wild Rose Honey.

"Does the wild rose produce honey
in quantities to be sold in the market
as such?"

President York: Here is a sample
labeled "Wild Rose Honey," Pacific
Coast Company, California, Los An-
geles, Seattle and Portland.

Mr. Todd: That is a label that you
will find all up and down Oregon and
over in British Columbia — "Wild Rose
Honey." I have not sampled it or
investigated the question at all.

President York: It is very pretty
honey.

Mr. Todd: I don't think that that is
pure wild rose honey. I don"'t think
that the bees gather nectar from the
wild rose, but they may gather pollen.

Dr. Miller: Where I live wild rose
is very common, but I very much doubt
whether an appreciable amount of
honey is gathered from it, for, as Mr.
Todd says, they gather pollen from it,
and they may gather honey in times
of very great scarcity, possibly. You
t'.on't know, but I have been most of

my life a "rose fiend," and in times of
very great scarcity my rose-buds would
be torn to pieces before they opened
up, by the bees, and I suspect there
must be some nectar there or they
would not .do it, but I very much doubt
whether anything has ever been gath-
ered in the history of the world that
was known to be either tame or wild
rose honey, and I suspect that that
v/liole business is a fraud.

President York: This is, perhaps,
simply a label.

Mr. Todd: They go — have you seen
them? — for the pollen in an extraordi-
nary way.

Mr. Dadant: Before you condemn
that as a fraud, although it is quite
possible that it may be, we must bear
in mind that there are countries where
the wild rose is very plentiful. Port-
land, Oregon, is called the wild rose
country, and the country is covered
with wild rose bushes. It is astonish-
ing to men from the East to see wild
rose bushes growing eight and ten
feet high all over the country, thicker
than any weed in this part of the
country, and the roses bloom for quite
a long while, and there might be some-
thing in it, although the syrup com-
pany's name makes me dubious.

Dr. Miller: What do you know
about the gathering?

Mr. Dadant: I simply stated that
roses are as plentiful there as clover
here.

Mr. Wheeler: I have watched a
great many times to see where the bees
got their honey, and I seriously doubt
their ever gathering honey from the
wild rose or the tame rose. They may
gather pollen, but they don't act to
me like a bee on any other blossom
getting nectar. I doubt their getting
this.

President York: This is sage honey
— California sage. It is just called
"wild rose." That is just a label or
brand.

Dr. Miller: You will remember see-
ing honey labeled "York's Honey," and
Mr. York himself never gathered any,
though his bees have done so.

Mr. Moore:,, I may add something
to this that will be a little interesting.
Of course, with the name "Syrup" on
that we are inclined to think it a fraud.
It 5»ught to be named "Corn Blossom
Honey" instead of "Wild Rose Honey."
From my own reading of thirty years

76-

EIGHTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE

I have never seen the words "Orange
Honey," and it is reserved to the syrup
company to be the first one to discover
"rose honey." There probably is not
any, only in their imagination. But I
want to say that it is strictly true if
you would call rose honey apple honey,
for the blossoms that come from pears,
apples or peaches is rosacea botanical-
ly they all belong to the rosacea or
rose family. Possibly, botanically,
there is such a thing as rose honey,
because botanically all these blossoms
are rosacea, although I don't believe
that sage, taking Mr. Tork's sugges-
tion, is of the rose family.

President York: It Is guaranteed to
comply with the pure food law of June
30, 1906.,

Dr. Miller: They may comply with
the pure food law and put a lot of
things in, so long as they tell what it
is.

Mr. Todd: Oregon has very large
orchards, such as we dream about but
don't often see, and one bee-keeper
told me that sometimes he got a super
of honey from the apple and pear tree
bloom. That is the only place where
I ever heard of apple or pear blossom
honey.

Mr. Wheeler: There is quite a lot of
bad honey being brought into Chicago
at the present time. You will flind it
in the department stores. It is being
shipped around here. It has a pretty
picture on it and an attractive label,
and I think the vicinity of Chicago is
affected quite a little. It is qiuite a
vital question whether this is sold as
pure honey and whether the label is
correct or not.

Dr. Bohrer: Does the label say it is
pure honey?

President York: The guarantee I
read you.

Dr. Miller: I don't want to appear
antagonistic, but I hardly like to allow
to pass unnoticed what Mr. Moore says.
The fact, I think, is that sometimes
apple honey, fairly pure apple honey,
has been gathered and stored, but there
is no sort of common sense that will
allow that to be called rose honey,
begging Mr. Moore's pardon, although
it belongs to the rosacea family. In
the common sense of the term an apple
is not a rose. The fact that you can
go back to the botanic name will not
do at all. You cannot class white clover
and blue bees together because —

Mr. Todd: Can you white bees?

Dr. Miller: Possibly. I won't be too
persistent. Because they both belong
to that class, you cannot name them
together the same. Rose honey should
be from the rose itself, not from some
near relative, not from sage or any-
thing else.

Mr. Kimmey: I am not quite clear
in my own mind. I don't know much
about bees nor much about honey, but
I can't tell when my bees are getting
honey or not getting honey from blos-
soms, and I have never been able to
determine clearly in my own mind
just where the honey I get comes
from. We have in our vicinity (Mor-
gan Park, 111.) and in the northern part
of this State, pretty much alike — ^we
have a lot of golden-rod in the fall.
Some two or three years ago when that
was in bloom, commencing the latter
part of August or. the first of Septem-
ber, or maybe the middle of August,
there was a great bloom of golden-
rod, and the blossoms of the plants
were literally covered, when I looked
them over, with swarms of bees, ap-
parently gathering honey, and I
thought they were gathering honey.
I got a lot of honey that year that was
a dark color, and not very good honey.
In conversation with Dr. Miller he said
the bees never got any honey from the
golden-rod. That is true, is it not?

Dr. Miller: Nothing to speak of.

Mr. Kimmey: This last year has
been the greatest honey year, and I
watched my bees closely. In the first
of the year the honey was a yellow
honey, a delicious honey. I thought it
was from the clover, but I couldn't
see them getting it. I suspect it was
from the great number of catalpa trees
in Morgan Park. When the white
clover came in; — and we have never
had such a white clover season — ^I did
not find any bees on the white clover;
and then there was sweet clover, and
I found the bees on the sweet clover.
I cannot tell when the white clover was
in the height of bloom, nor when the
sweet clover season came on. When
a 'man labels "honey^' and says this is
so and so he is taking a great many
risks. I had a discussion last fall as
to where Dr. Miller got his white
clover honey last, year, whether he got
it from Spanish needles or where he
got it. I should hate to say what it is.
I don't tag my bees. I have to go out
and guess at them. I have seen some
on wild roses, but from what I watched

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

77

I should not suspect they brought in
many wheelbarrows full of wild rose
honey. It might be in forty or fifty
miles, or eighty miles, where you are
from me, a wild rose that they gath-
ered honey from. I think that this is
a fraud; by judging from my own
experience, looking over the field as
I see it, it looks like a fraud, and yet
it may be all right. I would like to
know if some one can tell. If you
can put something in my intelligence
that will enable me to tell what my
bees are doing I would be glad to know
it.

Mr. Moore: Dr. Miller need not feel
apologetic about stepping on my toes.
My toes were nowhere near. I was
just simply using one way of saying
they were lying. There are several
kinds of lies, moral and commercial
lies. If a man had a gallon of apple-
blossom honey, and in each five gal-
lons of honey he put up he put a drop
of that I would not call him a com-
mercial liar. There would be some
foundation to the fact that it was rose
honey. I was simply looking for a
charitable manner of judging his case.

An adjournment was taken until
1:30 P. M.

SECOND SESSION.

After icalling to order, the Secretary
read the report of the Auditing Com-
mittee which, on motion, was approved
and placed on file, and the committee
discharged with thanks.

Taking Back Candied Honey.

"Should we take back candied
honey?"

Pres. York: I suppose he means af-
ter it is sold, should we take it Ijack
and exchange it.

Dr. Miller: It depends upon the cus-
tomer and the bee-keeper. It depends
upon your trade. If you can succeed in
educating your customers so that they
prefer the candied honey you would be
unwise to take it back. In many cases
it is a question of which will pay in the
long run. In many cases the objection
is so strong among consumers that it
will pay you well to take it back and
reliquefy it.

Mr. Dadant: I think that question
should be left open. If you have a cus-
tomer who wants liquid honey, and af-
ter you explain that granulated honey
is pure and tastes as good as the other,

he still insists on liquid honey, reliquefy-
it and give it back, if he wants the
liquid; but I don't believe in guaran-
teeing it not to liquefy. I believe you
can educate the people to use granu-
lated honey, to melt it themselves, and
if you do that you will save yourselves. .
a great deal of trouble and prevent the
sale of adulterated honey; for that
reason I don't believe you should an-
swer that question definitely. It de-
pends a great deal upon the customer,,
and some upon the bee-keeper.

Mr. Macklin: I send a good deal of
extracted honey to the grocery trade,
and in each case I guarantee to take
back the honey. I don't guarantee that
it will not granulate, but guarantee to
take it back and reliquefy it. The pub-
lic demands it. Where I sell it in gal-
lon cans to private customers, I ex-
plain to them what will happen, and
never had ajiy of them come back, and
I never make any offer to take it back,
but the grocery trade insists on it.

Mr. Dadant: I wish to say that per-
haps it will be necessary to explain
that WQ, have always, since 1869, put a
label on our cans explaining that honey
does granulate when it is below 70 de-
grees, and I have heard customers ex-
plain to one another, "Your honey is
granulated. You will have no trouble
in melting it. Put it on the stove in
hot water." They are trained and are
accustomed to it. It takes a long time,
but you can do it. I believe every bee-
keeper should try to educate the people,
but if he cannot, he should take it back
and reliquefy it. But our circular will
convince a great many people.

Mr, Wilcox: On that point, I will
say I have never had to take any back;
but if I lived near my customers and
was delivering them bottled honey di-
rect, I would take it back, but for the
common trade, where you ship at a dis-
tance, I would never think of taking
it back. I have a label printed ex-
plaining carefully how to reliquefy it,
and mall them a slip and attach it in-
the form of a label, but they should-
know that all, or nearly all, extracted-
honey, will granulate in cold weather.
I have never seen any that would not,
and I have talked with large buyers
of the American Biscuit Company, and-
they say they never have. For that
reason, it is to our interest to have the
public understand the fact that it does
granulate, and how to reliquefy it.

Mr. Kimmey: The discussion seemSi

78

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

to have drifted into extracted honey
alone. A short time ago a lady said
to me, "I have bought some comb
honey, in sections" — I won't give the
person's name, as she might be pres-
ent—"and I find the honey is 'sugared,' "
she called it. I don't know much about
comb honey "sugaring," but I mention
this to show that there may be gran-
ulated or "sugared' honey in comb
honey, and I would like to know if that
should be taken back.

Mr. Wilcox: I have handled a great
deal of comb honey that is granulated,
and I know it will granulate as readily
in the comb as it will out of it, if you
store it in a cold room, cold enough to
crack the cappings.

Pres. York: Would you take it
back?

Mr. Wilcox: If I told them it would
not granulate, I would take it back or
make a tag to correspond. It would
not be as good. It would not be worth
as much in the market.

Dr. Miller: Mr. Wilcox raises a
question right there, an interesting one,
and if it will not be switching off too
far, I would like to have the views of
the n-embers present. He says that
comb honey under the same conditions
will granulate as readily as extracted,
Mr. Wilcox: If frozen hard; if it
cracks the capping to admit the air.

Dr. Miller: That is another thing.
It is not comb honey then, if you open
into the cells with a crack.

Mr. Wilcox: It will if it is frozen.
Dr. Miller: There are several very
interesting questions right there, and I
wish we could get more light on them.
There are some things that I am sure
some of us don't know. Why does not
honey in the comb granulate as readily
as it does out of the comb?

Mr. Whitney: This is an interesting
question, and I discovered by mere ac-
cident that I could keep comb honey
right through zero weather out in a
honey-house all winter without granu-
lating, out at Lake Geneva, Wis. I
used to go out when the weather was
very cold, below zero, and take , a case
of comb honey out of my honey-house —
no heat whatever, had not been — open
it, and there was not a particle of gran-
ulation. I don't think there was a sin-
gle section in two or three hundred
pounds that I had there that I discov-
ered granulated at all, right through
the winter.

Mr. Wilcox: Mr. Whitney, you have
not touched the point yet.

Mr. Whitney: I will admit thai. I
am satisfied with your point, that if the
capping should break it would granu-
late.

Mr. Wilcox: If you had kept tliJ^t
honey a month after it thawed out you
would have found it granulated, but if
you take it while frozen and use it, it
is not granulated.

Mr. Whitney: I think that I took
some out in the spring 'after the winter
had broken up, and the honey was as
liquid as at any time in the fall. It
was very fine. I was surprised to find
it so.

Mr. Moore: This is certainly a very
interesting question. I have handled
honey over twenty- one years, and one
of the troubles I have h§id, first, last and
all the time has been ifhe granulation
of honey. A variety of things causes
honey to granulate. When a man saves
his comb over from the last year, my
experience is that all the honey in ih^it
comb becomes solid and useless lor
sale. Ordinarily, there is no trade
for granulated comb honey. You will
find that if you take a sample of huney
that is not mixed with any other it will
not granulate so readily. For instance.
you take honey from Iowa, from Wis-
consin and Colorado, and mix the three,
there is a stirring motion in handling
them, a motion which causes granula-
tion. The same thing is true of maple
syrup, if you take it and commence to
stir it, it granulates readily. If you
don't stir it, it "waxes."

The mixing causes it to granulate,
does something to the grain that
causes it to granulate readily. Honey
in the comb being agitated or moved
stays liquid longer. Bees cap honej'
with a porous cover for youijg brood,
and they cap it, as near as, I can tell,
with an air-tight cover for comb
honey, and the air-tightness keeps the
atmosphere away. It is a little bit
like canning up fruit hot and air-
tight, as the ladies do in canning time.
It seems to md those are some of the
principal reasons for the granulation
of the honey, exposure to the air and
agitating it in handling it, and admix-
ture with old candied honey of the
year before. I don't know if there is
any cure for it. Speaking about tak-
ing granulated honey back from the
customers, if the customer says he
doesn't want it, if it is against rea-
son, you take it back if you are a

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

79

sensible business man. I have been
on this Chicago market for twenty
years, and the Chicago people cannot
learn that granulated honey is good.
Out of thousands of customers I have
three or four that want granulated
honey. Yesterday a man told me
about the honey getting thick and
spoiling — some I had sold him. They
cannot learn. You have to do what
they want and charge them enough
for what they want.

Mr. Stuebing: I believe the handling
has nothing to do with it. I took
comb honey out, and in about thrfte
weeks the honey commenced candying,
and after four or five weeks it was
harder than a brick.

Dr. Miller: Mr. Whitney must go
a little farther with his statement. H3
said he had discovered that comb
honey could be kept, and then, as the
character of the man is, he sat down
and didn't explain to us! "We want to
know what that was he discovered,
whether he discavered there was somo
way by which he could have comb
honey continue without granulating
and without cracking.

Mr. Whitney: I discovered the fact,
but why it was "I didn't know."

Dr. Miller: If I understand it, he
discovered that we are all mistaken
in thinking that the freezing of comb
honey will hurt it; and I want to say
here and now that our young (?)
friend is mistaken in that, that it will
hurt it most emphatically, and your
exception in that case doesn't prove
anything at all.

Mr. Whitney: I didn't say the hon-
ey was frozen. I said it was not
granulated.

Mr. YsT'ilcox: But you said it was
kept in an out-building during win-
ter.

Mr. Whitney: I have taken a two-
quart jar of extracted honey, put it
in an Ice-box, and kept it there for
weeks trying to granulate it, and it
did not granulate at all. It was sim-
ply so cold that the particles of honey
did not move among themselves, re-
mained quiet, and it did not granu-
late, and I suppose that was the rea-
son this honey did not granulate,
perhaps, in the cold In the honey-
house — whether it is correct or not I
don't know. But in regard to extract-
ed honey, I had some extracted honey
that was frozen up quickly; I have
got isome of it now; it is two years old.
I wish I had brought a little jar of it

here. It is just as soft as ice cream;
it isn't hard at all. It was frozen
quickly. When honey is in that con-
dition, and treated in that way, when
it granulates it will granulate very
line grain, and if you once freeze it
that way I don't think you can gran-
ulate it any more.

President York: Mr. Whitney says
"as soft as ice cream." I have seen
it as hard as ice.

Mr. Whitney: It will pour. I have
some of it in my room and take a tea-
spoonful every night.

Mr. Baxter: I don't believe you
can granulate honey while under freez-
ing weather, but after it has been re-
moved from that freezing weather and
thaws out it will granulate very rap-
idly. As to whether you had better
take back comb honey — yes. Comb
honey sold in the granulated condi-
tion is not marketable. But as to gran-
ulated honey, I should like to see you
try to sell liquid honey where I live.
If they had some liquified honey from
Chicago they would gladly exchange
it for some of the granulated honey
there if they could get it. Down there
they want honey granulated, but not
comb honey.

Dr. Miller: I want to interrupt Mr.
Baxter to give him an answer, perhaps,
to another question. He has said that
the frozen comb honey will granulate
after it thaws out.

Mr. Baxter: After it thaws out.V,^
Dr. Miller: Now the cracking, will
that occur while it is frozen, or after-
ward ?

Mr. Baxter: I would not positively
• answer that. I think it cracks during
freezing. That is my recollection. I-
don't have much more to do with comb
honey. I have got out of that business
largely: but I produce some every year
in a small way, and I know it will not
granulate as long as it is frozen, and
I know the same of the extracted
honey. It will not granulate under
freezing temperature. The moving of
the honey will not granulate it, but the
moving of the honey while it is gran-
ulating will make large, coarse grains
in the honey; move it often while it is
granulating, and it will make large
grains. If it is in a barrel, move it
around, or if in a can, stir it.

Mr. Wilcox: A few years .ago I
produced comb honey exclusively and
largelj', and it would always freeze
in the winter if I did not take it into
a warm place, and where it did freeze

80

EIGHTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE

it expanded from the end that cracked,
and remained open just so much until
it thawed, and it did not granulate un-
til it thawed out and the crack closed
or began to close, and in a little time
after that it began to granulate; and
if it cracked from corner to corner, as
it often did, it would granulate along
that crack one or two rows of cells
and no more. It won't granulate any
more than where it is cracked to admit
the air through the capping.

Mr. Dadant: I see we have drifted
from whether we should exchange
granulated honey, to the causes of
granulation. I wish to say that I don't
believe that all honey granulates alike.
European bee-keepers would tell you,
if they were here, that it sometimes
granulates in the hives within three or
four weeks after it is harvested. That
is something that says we must not be
too sure of anything. "We wilL have
some honey that will granulate, and
some side by side that will not granu-
late. The quality of the honey, the
kind of blossom, all have something to
do with the granulation or lack of
granulation.

Dr. Bohrer: It occurs to me that
the terms of the contract would have
something to do with it. If I were
going to sell a large amount of honey
and it was' granulated, I would so in-
form my customer. If he was a shrewd
business man, he would ask me
whether it was granulated or not, and
if I told him the truth, whether it was
granulated or not, that should cover
the ground as to whether I should take
it back or not — the terms of the con-
tract.

Mr. Kluck: What little honey I
produce is alniost all in the extracted
form. In the winter time, all the
honey I sell is sold in the granulated
form. The customers I have, I edu-
cate, and teach them how to reliquefy
it. I have had a few customers that
wanted me to take it back, and those
few customers I would sooner lose
than keep, they are so few. All the
extracted honey I sell in the winter
time is in the granulated form, and if
they want it in the liquid form, they
reliquefy it themselves, because I tell
them how to do it, and I should prefer
to educate them rather than to do it
myself.

Mr. Baxter: I don't believe that is
a good business principle. You should
try to please your customers. If a
cu.stomer came to me, and I sold honey

to him in the liquid form and it granu-
lated, and ^enfound he could not sell
that honeyVeven though I had toM him
it would ^anulate, it would be to my
interest to take it back and reliquefy
it, so as to please him. You should
please your customers so as to make as
large sales as possible.

Mr. Moore: You are absolutely in
the hands of your customers if you
projKJse to hold them as customers, and
I have taken back thousands of bottles
from Chicago grocers. Where you; are
going over the ground time and time
again, it is not much trouble to take
it back, and you can reliquefy hun-
dreds of bottles more easily than the
grocer can reliquefy one or two. I
have seen grocers whose sales were
stopped by two or three bottles of can-
died honey. It is to your interest to
take them back and give them' liquid,
and it will sell.

How Bees Ripen Honey.

"How do the bees ripen their honey?"
Dr. Miller: I don't know.

Mr. Wilcox: I must say I don't
know, but I would like to learn. I want -
to know because I have read several
times that bees took their honey and
ripened it after it was stored in the
hive. I have heard statements that
they did it before they stored it in the
hive, but I don't believe that. I want
to know whether they re-take their
honey into their honey sacs, and by
that process they ripen it and re-de-
posit it; or whether it is simply a
matter of evaporation by some process
of the bees after it is deposited in the ,
cell. I have some theories on the sub-
ject, but they are only theories.

Mr. Kimmey: I am going to say
something, although others know more.
When I go through my bees in a sum-
mer evening, I shake the comb down,
and, cover the ground or whatever is
there with a thin liquid which I shake
out, which is not the honey I find there
two or three days after. I believe the
bees bring the nectar, throw it in the
hive and go out after another load. I
believe other bees take it into their
organization and the ripening goes on i
there. Then after they take it out of
their organization there is the natural ;
evaporation from the honey, which oc-
curs in everything I know of that gets
wet.

Dr. Miller: I think the answer to
that question will be a hybrid one! A. ,

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

81

I. Root %vrites about watching the bees
coming in from the field and discliarg-
ing what appears to be pretty nearly
pure water in large quantities. That
certainly would look as if they were
doing something toward maturing their
honey as they come in from the field.
As Mr. Kimmey says, if you shake a
frame in the evening when the bees are
busily gathering, it will shake out a
thin liquid you don't find afterward.
That proves there is something done in
the hive. Now comes the question as
to particulars, which is not so easily
handled, and I see a man here I would
like to have tell us something. He is
looking to find out from me. I want
to ask Mr. Dadant, do the bees —

Mr. Badant: Let me, in the first
place, give some different views. One
says the bee conies in froim the field,
goes up into the super and deposits the
honey there. Another says, as Mr.
Kimmey has suggested, that the bee
from the field dumps the honey into
the first cell it comes to, and then other
bees take that and carry it upstairs, or,
taking Mr. Doolittle's statement along
with it, they take it and throw it out
upon their tongues and back again,?
evaporating in that way. Then there
is still another view. What is that?

Mr. Moore: They hand it directly to
other bees, that take it and put it in
the hive.

Dr. Miller: The other view is that
those bees which come from the field
hand it directly to the other bees in-
stead of putting it in the cells. Now,
I don't know but all these different
things are true. I am pretty sure
— about as sure as I can be of any-
thing— that there is some dumping of
that more or less raw nectar in the
comb, from the fact that you shake out
that thin liquid, almost nectar; but
whether or not all the other things are
true I don't know. I suspect most of
them are true; but I very much doubt
whether a bee ever comes with a load
of honey and goes up into the super
and deposits it.

Mr. Kimmey: Have you not noticed
that a comb may be full of that loose
nectar at night, and in the morning it
has disappeared?

Dr. Miller: I have noticed this, that
I don't shake in the morning; I do
shake in the evening, which is pretty
nearly the same thing.

Mr. Kimmey: I have watched an*"
observation hive and found that condi-

tion existing at night, and in the
morning found that same comb with
most of tliat thin liquid honey gone.

Dr. Bohrer: Isn't it a fact that a
bee-hive will weigh lighter in the
morning than at night? "What does
that prove? The bees do not leave, the
hive at night to carry anything out ^to
lighten it. The process of evaporation
goes on there. This is unquestionably
what lightens the hive, in part at lea^t.

Dr. Miller: That still leaves open
the question, as all these different ways
of evaporation would lighten the hive,
whether it is evaporated one way or
another. It leaves the question, How
does that evaporation take place? Is
it honey in the cell that evaporates?
Does the evaporation take place by
passing the honey from one bee to an-
other, or by passing it over their
tongues, as Mr. Doolittle says? .

Mr. Dadant: I am not an observer
like imy father or Mr. Doolittle, or Mr.
Langstroth. One sits by a hive and
watches the bees for hours together. I
know Mr. Langstroth did, for I saw
him. Those men learned by actual
experience. Some men do observe a
little, spend day after day at it, and
then make a mistake and get it wrong.
I expect most of you have had an ob-
servation hive with the comb only, and
glass on both sides. I have, and oc-
casionally I would watch the hives,
and I don't believe that every bee
comes in and goes to a cell and emp-
ties its stomach, and I don't believe
every bee that comes in hands it to
a young bee to put it in the cell. It
may go up into the super if it does nor
find an extra cell sooner. I believe all
those different things take place.

Dr. Miller: May it not be handed
to a bee before it goes into the hive
at all, at the entrance?

Mr. Dadant: May be once in a while.
I know that the Europeans, who are
less practical in actual production,
have over and over again weighed
colonies of bees morning and evening,
and when there is fifteen or twenty
pounds during one day, there is a loss
of from three to five pounds during the
night. That is evaporation. It can-
not be anything else. How can they
evaporate it? Don't the bees put it in
every cell? and then it drips out. The
bees spread it in that way because it
is handj' and because it evaporates
more" readily. Don't you hear them
roar in the evening if there is a good

—6

82

EIGHTH ANNUAL RKPORT OF THE

crop? They are ventilating it; they
are passing a current of air over the
lioney, and the air is warm, and that
evaporates it. Tliere is more than one
way to evaporate it. I don't believe
you can lay down any single rule. Dr.
Bohrer raised the question, Is there a
difference between the weight of the
hive in the evening and in the morn-
ing? Our friends tell us that in the
morning you cannot shake the honey
out. It has evaporated during the
night. That strong current of air that
forces through has evaporated a great
deal of the moisture, and it will evap-
orate more during the day, and the
next day, until it is ripened.

Mr. Kimmey: As Mr. Dadant says,
there is honey all over the hive, but
there is a difference. Now, I don't
think I ever saw any of that thin
honey in the super or near the top of
the comb in any frame. I find that
/ the bees will commence sealing at the
' top and work down, and it seems to
. me, without knpwing about it, as if
they brought it from below soonewhere,
and brought it gradually up, and this
ripening or evaporating process is done
with system, as if there was an object
in what they were doing. I always
find that they commence to seal at the
top, perhaps at one corner, extending
across in a zigzag direction. But I
always find that the thin, watery hofiey
is near the botom of the hive, which
leads me to guess — I am sorry that I
didn't see before my eyes got so poor,
so that I could know what they do —
but I have an idea that one set of bees
takes the honey up there and seals it
over.

Mr. Baxter: I wish to take excep-
tion to one stateiTient. I am positive
that the bees in a big flow of honey
will distribute it all over" the hive.
You can't turn a single frame upside
down, but the honey will flow out.

Mr. Horstmann: I have several ob-
servation hives in my apiary, and I
notice that as soon as I put a super of
empty comb on the top, the bees im-
mediately commence to bring in honey.
That shows that they bring it direct
from the field and carry it up in the
super. You will notice at night after
a hard day's work, a big flow of honey,
there will be an awful roar in the
apiary. I have gone out many a time
to hear that, and you will not find
many bees at the entrance, but you
would hear the roar of the bees evap-
orating the honey. If you light a

match at the entrance of the hive, the
wind from the hive will blow it out,
and I have shown people that that is
a fact, and I believe it is altogether
for evaporation.

Mr. Moore: You say that proves
that the bee that brought the honey
took it up to the super. How do you
know it did not hand its load to an-
other bee that took it up to the super?

Mr. Horstmann: It is hard to tell
that. I cannot. I have a hive on
scales, and have had it on the scales
for three or four years, and weigh it
night and morning. If a colony of bees
brings in nine pounds of honey in one
day, it will weigh two and a half
pounds less the next morning. Out of
nine pounds, two and a half pounds of
water is pumped out during the night.

Mr. Dadant: I will explain why Mr.
Kimmey and Mr. Baxter do not agree
on this point. One produces comb
honey and the other extracted. One
has the bees build down and they seal
it up first at the top; but if you get
an empty comb, they will fill the comb
all over.

Dr. Bohrer: Who knows that one bee
ever handed honey to another on en-
tering the hive?

Dr. Miller: I have seen them do it.

Dr. Bohrer: I have seen one bee
feed another. I never saw one bee
turn honey over to another, and that
bee go and deposit it in the cell. The
tendency has been to make that im-
pression, that one bee entered the' hive
with a heavy load and handed it to
another bee, and it deposited it in the
cell. There \\^ould be no policy in "that.
The bee takes its load there <and de-
posits it itself.

Mr, Kimmey: My bees, as far as I
have had a chance to observe, invaria-
bly, not once in a while, commence
sealing the surplus honey at the top
of the frame or the top of the section.
Mr. Baxter maj^ have different bees
from mine.

Dr. Miller: One time there was a
horse lost and they tried to find it, and
there was a half-witted fellow that
found the horse. They asked him how
he did it. He said he went to the stump
where the horse was last seen, and he
said, "If I were a horse which way
would I go?" and he started and went
the way he thought the horse would go,
and he found the horse. If I were a bee
coming in from the field with a load,
what would I do with the load? The

ILI.INOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

83

thing I am after is to get back to the
field to get another load, and if there
is another bee within ready to receive
my load, that is the first thing, and I
would be willing to hand it to that oth-
er bee. If they are so busy and so
-many others coming in, then the next
thing would be to dump it into the first
cell I would come to. If I didn't find a
cell at the bottom of the frame I would
go a little higher up, and, if necessary,
I would go clear up in the hive, and if
there were extracting combs there, I
would very likely find a place clear
up at the top, but if it Avas comb honey
or section honey, there would not be
any place I could dump it there. That
is what I would do. You can do what
you like about it.

Mr. Kimmey: And I would be the
other bee, and when you said "Duiup
this honey," I would say, "Dump your
own honey; I am going into the field!"

Mr. Baxter: In opening hives, I
^ have seen them come into the open box
and deposit the honey in the eombs
there before my eyes. In other in-
stances, with chaff hives, about twelve
inches deep, the bottoms are immovable
and it gets pretty hot in summer time,
and although I have the three entrance
holes about half way up, I have two
deep boxes on top of the hive, and I
have been obliged to slide my boxes
back to give them ventilation, and the
bees stop going in below at once, the
bulk of them, and they go right in
there, the nearest place they can get,
into -the super. If they deposit their
honey ; in the bottom part first, why
don't they go and deposit it there?
That proves to me that it is not de-
posited in the bottom of the hive alone
and carried up.

Keeping Comb Honey Over Winter.

"How can comb honey be kept over
winter without cracking or granulat-
ing?"

Mr. Wilcox: I have done that re-
peatedly, and again and again. Set it
up on top of a high shelf in a warm
room where it will not freeze.

Pres. York: How many tons do you
keep on that shelf?

■ Mr. Wilcox: As many as I need for
my own eating. If I can keep one
case, I can keep a thousand cases the
same way. The temperature being the
same and ventilation the same, the
result will be the same. If you can

keep the moisture out and keep it
warm, it will not granulate, it will
not crack. I have some now I have
kept two years.

Mr. Moore: What temperature, Mr.
Wilcox?

. Mr. Wilcox: I said a warm room.
The temperature is about seventy or
eighty degrees. If it is eight feet to
the ceiling, within a foot of the ceiling
the temperature would be from five to
ten degrees higher.

Mr. Wheeler: What kind of honey?

Mr. Wilcox: It makes difference
about granulating. Everybody knows
that clover honey will not granulate as
quickly as basswood. Basswood will
granulate more readily than anything
else.

Dr. Bohrer: Do you think that bass-
wood honey will granulate more quickly
than alfalfa honey?

Dr. Miller: I think that honey will
keep as well in winter time as in sum-
mer if you have the same temperature.

Mr. Wilcox: There is the humidity.

Dr. Miller: Sometimes we are anx-
ious to keep comb honey over winter;
and I will say that I have seen comb
honey kept in excelent icondition, and
kept where it was submitted to the
most severe freezing, and all that there
is of it is to have enough heat before-
hand. I cannot say that the honey
stores up heat, but I do know that I
have seen comb honey that had been
subjected to the most severe freezing
and it remained all right. I saw it in
two places — in Johnstown, Pa., and in
Hockford, 111., and the conditions in
both cases were the same. The honey
had been kept^I am repeating what I
wrote a few days ago, and you will see
it in print in a day or two in "Glean-
ings," if you will pardon me for recall-
ing what I wrote, because I can write '
better than I can state it. I went to
Johnstown, Pa., on a visit to my moth-
er, and I spoke about sending her some
honey. She said, "Charles, you don't
need to send me any more. I have
plentj^ left of what you sent me last
year." "But," I said, "comb honey
doesn't keep, and what you had last
year won't be in nice shape." She said,
"It is all right, just as good as when I
got it." She got some of the honey,
and I found the sections were just as
good, as far as I could see, as when I
sent it to her the previous year, and I
said, "Where did you keep it, mother?"

84

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

"Up in the garret." Of course, you all
know what the temperature was up
there. It was freezing cold. Did you
ever go into a close atti3 on a hot sum-
mer day? You want to get out as
quickly as possible. Now, that honey
had been submitted to a roasting proc-
ess, if I might call it that, and after
that it seemed to be just a little bit
like jelly or something of that kind,
very thick and stringy, and it would
remain in that condition, and did re-
main in that condition. I don't know,
possibly the man is here now who
showed a sample of it in Rockford, at
a Rockford convention, that had been
kept the same way; and I believe if
you submit comb honey to sufficient
heat before the winter sets in, it will
stand the severest cold you can submit
it to.

Mr. Wilcox: Let me qualify the last
statement. The reason it keeps is be-
cause there isn't sufficient moisture in it
to expand from freezing. If you ripen
it until it reaches that jelly like con-
dition and then store it in a close,
moist room until it absorbs moisture
so as to restore it to its former condi-
tion, as it will do, then it will crack
from freezing; but if you dry it out
before freezing and it does not absorb
moisture again, it will not granulate.

Mr. Todd: This story we have just
had from Dr. Miller does that not seem
to agree with raising extracted honey
to 160 degrees to prevent after granu-
lation, and it Avill stand very cool
weather afterwards? I am very much
interested in this question, for extract-
ed honey out in Victoria, B. C, granu-
lates very readily. This experience is
the same as that of Mr. Selser, of
Piiiladelphia. This granulation in-
terests me greatly, because this honey is
very dense and it granulates very
readily, and after granulation it be-
comes of a very muddy color, and I
have to face that problem.

Mr. Macklin: I should like to ask
Dr. Miller whether honey that is kept
over through the winter from freezing,
or at an even temperature, won't be a
little darker the next year than the
year it was gathered, not the honey it-
self, but the capping?

Dr. Miller: The samples I saw I
don't think had changed any in color.
I can see why the honey itself should
change, but I don't see why the cap-
ping should. I don't think the cap-
ping was changed any in color. I

might say this as to changing in
color, although it is perhaps hardly
germain. I have some honey, white
clover honey, extracted, about thirty
years old, that became very dark, and
I don't know of anything except age
that will make it dark.

Mr. Moore: Though I have been
twenty-one years in this business I
feel awfully modest, and Mr. Todd
inade a remark that reminds me of
something I learned out of a bee pa-
per only a month or so ago that I
thought was worth more than a year's
subscription. It says in liquefying hon-
ey it becomes dark because we scorch
the honey in liquefying it. I under-
stood you to say that in liquefying it
it became of a dark, muddy color.

Mr. Todd: When it granulates in
Victoria it becomes a dark, muddy
color. It is of an amber color in the
first place. It becomes positively
horrid, and I don't want to sell it
when it is so dark.

President York (exhibiting samples):
That is a liquid honey, and here is the
same thing granulated.

Dr. Miller: Has that been relique-
fied?

Mr. Baxter: That is reliquefied, and
will granulate again and again. You
can hasten the granulation by putting
a little of that granulated honey in it,
and it will granulate more readily.

Mr. Moore: This article that I re-
ferred to went on to say that in order
to prevent the overheating of the hon-
ey you would have to stir it, because
on the edges where it comes nearest
the hot water it will overheat and
discolor. Another thing Dr. Miller
spoke of: He said some people were
anxious to keep comb honey over win-
ter. I want to impress upon you all
that the anxiety you ought to have
is to get your comb honey into some-
body's hands just as soon as possible
after it is produced. Some people have
been 'foolish enough to hold it until
after the first of January, and you
w'ill never "make good" on the prob-
able deterioration on the price you will
get. You want to be anxious to get
your comb honey on the market as
soon as possible.

Mr. Whitney: In regard to keeping
comb honey, I wish to say that I ate
some honey for lunch that I took off
the hive a year ago last August, and
have considerable of it stored away,
and it is liquid, as nice as anything I
ever saw — no granulation whatever. I
think you can keep it.

n.LINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

85

Dr. Bohrer: Wliat kind, of honey?

Mr. Whitney: I think it is white
clover, mostly, but a little mixture.
I think, if you use proper care, you
can keep comb honey indefinitely.

Mr. Kimmey: "What is "proper
care ?"

Mr. Whitnej^: Keep it in a warm,
dry place — comb honey. I have often
heard groceryinen say, "I keep my
honey under the counter." I sold some
to a gracer once. I said, "Where do
you keep it?" and he said, "Down un-
der the counter." I said, "You put it
in the gallery under the chimney,
where it is the warmest place." Ho
said, "Is that necessary?" I said, "You
will find it necessary if you want to
keep the honey in proper condition for
your customers."

Mr. Ahlers: I would like to find out
how to stir honey in a single can when
you heat it in hot water.

Mr. Moore: This article even gives
a machine for stirring honey while
heating.

Mr. Ahlers: In a single can?

Mr. Moore: I simply take a five-
gallon can and a big spoon and stir it.
The top is cut off.

Mr. Ahlers: The cans are worth
considerable. I sell them for fifteen
or twenty cents each.

Mr. Moore: A great many people
cut the tops off the cans and stir the
honey. The cans are %vorth less than
the risk of spoiling your honey.

Mr. Ahlers: I raise the can half a
dozen times, and pour off the honey as
fast as it liquefies, and I heat it in
an open galvanized kettle on a stove
with eight holes, and. heat it with dry
heat. It will not candy so quickly. If
you heat it with steam heat it will
candy more quickly.

Mr. Baxter: Put your honey in bar-
rels instead of in cans, and when any
customer w^ants it liquefied you can
liquify it from the barrels in an ap-
paratus on purpose for liquefying it,
without any risk. Do not keep it in
the cans.

Dr. Dadant: I think I can liquefy
honey in single cans without stirring
it at all. Don't let the water boil.

Mr. Moore: We are in a hurry
sometimes, and we get the water too
hot, and then, if it is not stirred, the
honey on the edges will become heated
too much and will scorch.

Mr. Wheeler: I want to hear Mr.
Baxter's method.

Mr. Baxter: I should take it out of
the barrels and liquefy it in a liquefy-
ing apparatus, where there will be
no danger of burning it.

Dr. Miller: I have attended a good
many bee conventions, and I am ready
to say right here and now that in
Chicago I find the most interesting
conventions where beees are discussed.
There is, however, one thing wrong.
You put on the tension and you keep
it up right straight through, and try
as nearly as you can to kill every fel-
low that is here before the session is
over in the afternoon. I move that
we have a recess.

Recess taken for ten minutes.

Joining tine Illinois Association.

President York: Mr. Smith, the
President of the Illinois State Bee-
Keepers' Association, has a statement
to make.

Mr. Smith: The State of Illinois
has been very generous to the bee-
keepers by allowing them an appro-
priation to carry on their meetings,
hold their meetings, and publish their
reports, and for the suppression of
foul brood. Now, it has been said that
while the State Association was grant-
ed the money and had the use of it
the Northwestern had not been treated
as it should have been, as its mem-
bers were citizens of the State, a good
many of them. That impression is not
true. I am here to explain. Now, we
want the members of this Association,
or as many as live in the State of
Illinois, to join the State Association.
We need your membership and your
Association. We are trying to get a
foul brood law passed that will give
the State Inspector the authority to
destroy or clean up where the bee-
keepers have bees that are diseased,
and who object to the Inspector en-
tering their premises. Now, we have
been very careful with our finances,
and the proposition is this: We pro-
pose to pay the expenses of the short-
hand reporter's work of getting this
meeting on record, and its publication.
We propose to pay for publishing your
reports, and we will combine it with
our report and mail it to every mem-
ber that will join our Association,
upon the payment of twenty-five
cents. This is taking all the respons-
ibility, or all the expense, away from
your institution, and we are willing
to pay for it. We are willing to di-
vide. The money is as much yours as

86

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

ours. We are all Illinois bee-keepers.
The appropriation is made out of the
public funds of the State, but it must
be made through and to the Illinois
State Bee-Keepers' Association, be-
cause we are the only one recognized,
as we work under a charter, the same
as the State Horticulturists or any
other of the State organizations. I
would like very milch to have all of
your names so that we can enter them
on our list in the State Association.
We ■'are willing to divide the money
with you. Tou get out of it just what
we get out of it. I think that is a fain
proposition. Don't you think so, Mr
York?
President York: I think so.

Mr. Smith: We need your assist-
ance and advice, and while you can
not come and meet with us, we are
willing to pay for you to send a dele-
g.ate. You can delegate any one here
you wish to attend our Association,
and we will pay his expenses at our
next meeting. NoT>^ I would like to
hear from some of ffie members of
the Northwestern.

Dr. Miller: What would it cost us
to get this report? In other words,
how much is there in it for us?

President York: I, perhaps, can an-
swer that. This Association has never
paid for a single report that has been
taken. Heretofore I have always done
it for the American Bee Journal. But
this year the State Association agrees
to pay for it and have it published in
their report. I have allowed theta to
use it heretofore. One year we had
two or three hundred pages of type-
written report, which cost us in the
neighborhood of seventy-five or eighty
dollars, which was a very full report —
the most expensive we have ever had.
The Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keep-
ers' Association has about the longest
and the best report of any bee-conven-
tion in any country. We have more
questions discussed than any other
bee-keepers' association. That is one
reason our reports are usually long, if
they are taken very full.

Dr. Miller: In dollars and cents
what do you say this report would cost
us?

President York: I cannot tell, but it
vnll be in the neighborhood of $50.00
or $60.00, or more, if it is as long as
some have been.

Dr. Miller: The membership of this
Association is about how many?

Mr. Moore: The membership is very

fluctuating. There are about two hun-
dred who have paid us their dues.
At the date of this meeting there were
about fifty. Tliey let their member-
ship lapse.

Dr. Miller: About how much money
are you likely to get in the course of
the year from membership; how many
have paid a dollar within the last
year ?

Mr. Moore: Fifty- six. Of course,
this was a panic year, and the worst
we have known.

Dr. Miller: Let us call it $60.00. That
would be $15.00 that you would ask
us to pay into the State Association's
treasury to make us all members, and
we would get out of it about $60.00.
If I understand the thing squarely we
are to get from them about four times
as much as we pay them. I am ready
to call it a bargain for one.

Mr. Horstmann: I like the proposi-
tion Mr. Smith made to us. I think it
would be a good thing to go into that
Association. I thought myself that we
had not been treated fair. I wrote to
the Secretary of the State Association
once and said I didn't believe in "tax-
ation without representation." He
wrote back and took me at my word,
and I have never got a report since,
and I would like to have those reports.
I am in favor of this Association go-
ing in in a body.

Mr. Moore: The year before that we
got about $80.00.

Dr. Miller: There was last year an
objection raised, and it was a valid
one. Hera is an outside "barbarian"
like Mr. Wilcox — I mean a gentleman
from Wisconsin. (I don't want to hurt
Mr. Wilcox's feelings). It is a nat-
ural thing that a man outside of the
State would say, "We don't belong in
Illinois." But if we can get more
money out of it than we put in, it is
a good thing. Now, I will tell you one
thing that has a good deal of bearing
upon this: Pardon me if I say that
this whole thing looks a little bit liks
the tail swinging the dog; but we are
willing to be swung if we can make
enough out of it. The State Legislature
counts on the State Association as be-
ing a good deal bigger than the Chrcago
Association; is that not so, Mr. Smith?

Mr. Smith: Yes, sir.

Dr. Miller: The State Association
comes directly in contact with the
Legislature. If we want laws made,
and if we want to have the recognition
of the Legislature, we will, by affiliat-

4 a

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPEIIS' ASSOCIATION

87

ing- with the State society, make the
State society that much stronger and
larger. The word of the State Asso-
ciation counts for that much more.
Tliat alone, if it doesn't cost us too
much, makes it so that we ought to
accept any proposition of this kind,
and unless there is objection from these
outsiders it seems to me the thing
ought to go;" and at the same time I
believe, when the thing is put in the
shape it is, we are going to lose no
money by it. I don't think these "bar-
barians" ought to make any objection
to it. 1.

f

Mr. Macklin: We are discussing this
question without a motion, and in or-
der to bring it before the meeting I
would like to make a motion that we
join the State Association in a body.

President York: At twenty-five cents
a member?

Mr. Macklin: Twenty-five cents a
member.

Mr. Smith: Now,' we would be will-
ing to take you all by the hand and
say come in, without paying a cent,
but we cannot do it; our constitution
won't allow it. We cannot allow any
one to join for less than a dollar, but
if they come in as an Association they
can join in a body by paying twenty-
five cents apiece. You will all be
members of our Association. You will
receive just the same as the rest of
us. You can have a voice in our
meetings. You can send your delegates
if you cannot come; those that live in
the State, and those outside of the
State will get our reports bound with
yours and mailed to' you for twenty-
five cents.

Dr. Bohrer: I don't live in Illinois,
and would not for a good deal, because
I have a better home than Illinois has
for me. I like Kansas much the best,
and I. don't care anything about my
membership that this Association wants
here, but I think it is the right move
for this Association to join the State-
Association in a body. You want a
foul brood law in this State, and the
more members there are and the more
they act in concert with each other,
the more certa,in you are to get that
law. You want to put a word in the
ear of each member to write to his
State Senator and member of the
House, and say what you want and
why you want it. We get no appro-
priation from the State of Kansas. I
have even tried to get the Horticultural
Association to go with us, and when
I went to express myself I was rapped

aside and informed that that was not
a bee-keepers' association, but I scared
the parties out on that, and we will
receive recognition there. What you
Avant to do is to act in concert and
get your members to write to the mem-
bers of the Legislature, and, if neces-
sary, to send a committee to know
what they are thinking about, and labor
with the members of the Legislature,
and especially influential members;
and if you find a man opposed to a
foul brood law, do as I know of anoth-
er man doing, who met a man on a
horse in the road and said, "You are
the blamedest faced man I ever saw
in my life." "Can I help my looks?"
"No, but, blast it, you can stay at
home." Tell these men to keep stili
if they don't want to do anything for
themselves or anybody else. Don't al-
low this wholesale rotting of colonies
of bees all o\er the country to go on.
If there is a man here who is op-
posed to a iioul brood law, I want to
hit him square between the eyes.

Mr. Moore: I want to call the atten-
tion of the Association to the financ-
ing of this propositieon. It has to be
financed, if we are going to join the
"National" in a body and pay them
fifty cents, and the Illinois State As-
sociation in a body and pay twenty-
five cents — that means that you are
going to pay seventy-five cents out
of each dollar that is paid in here. It
won't reach. I have been eleven
years in this position. If I offend any-
body I am sorry. When people com^
to Chicago and pay fifty or fifty-five
dollars for themselves and their fam-
ily here to hear this discussion every
one should pay a membership fee. If
fifty or sixty come here it is not right
for twenty or twenty-five to pay their
fees and the rest not. Things have
to be financed. I don't propose to take
any salary for this past year. That
makes seven or eight j-ears I have
served without compensation. I am
in love with the industry. I couldn't
keep house without bees, and my wife
feels the same way, and we are bee-
people. But these things have got to
be paid for. I hope you will take this
to heart and not be offended. Every
one who comes here and enjoys these
discussions should pay the little sum
of money, and then there will be mon-
ey to finance things.

Mr. Wilcox: I suggest that we levy
a tax of thirty-five cents upon every
man who don't bring his wife, and
fifty cents on every one who does.

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

Mr. Macklin: My intention when I
made the motion was that we would
all put up twenty-five cents in addi-
tion to what we pay to the Northwest-
ern Association, but I don't say so,
although that was my intention.

Mr. Baxter: I want you to under-
stand that I don't want to belong to
the State Association twice. I be-
long to it, anyway, and don't want to
join through the Northwestern.

Mt. Kimmey: About this time, and
as is often the case, I am a little mud-
dled. Dr. Miller has said I would
make money by joining, and Mr. Moore
said I would lose money by joining. I
would like to sit down and think it
over a while. Does the motion include
the twenty-five cents extra?

Mr. Macklin: With the consent of
my second.

Mr. Wilcox: Yes; twenty-five cents
extra.

President York: This motion carries
with it an extra fee of twenty-five
cents, so that the d'ues will be really
$1.25 — this Association fifty cents, the
National fifty cents, and the State
Association twenty-five cents.

Mr. Winter: Is that every year, or
just this year?

President York: Just one year at
a time.

Mr. Kimmey: Have we any consti-
tution and by-laws?

President York: Yes, sir.

Mr. Winter: Does the constitution
fix the yearly dues?

President York: This has nothing
to do with the dues.

Mr. Kimmey: I pa:id a dollar. If I
refuse to pay the extra twenty-five
cents, where am I?

President York: We will put you
out! [Laughter].

Mr. Kimmey: You can not do it; I
don't know, it strikes me as if w^e had
better not get into this muddle.

Mr. Moore: The dues were fifty
cents to start with, and they were
amended to make it $1.00.

Mr. Kimmey: It should be an
a;mendment to the constitution. It
cannot be done this way.

Mr. Smith: You say your finances
would not reach $15.00?

Mr. Mcore: We were ten cents in
the hole 'v:p to today,.

Mr. Smith: What have you done
with the revenue you took in today?

President York: We have that here.

Mr. Smith: How much was taken
in today?

Mr. Moore: $32.00.

Mr. Dadant: Mr. Smith, what are
the annual dues to the State Bee-Keep-
ers' Association?

Mr. Smith: The annual dues are
$1.00, and half of it goes to the "Na-
tional."

Mr. Kimmey: Am I not a member?
I hand you a -dollar. I am a member
of the State Bee-Keepers' Association.
The dollar includes my membership
in the "National." You take that dol-
lar and enroll me in the Illinois State
Bee-Keepers' Association. What ap-
propriation do you get from the State
of Illinois?

Mr. Smith: The appropriation has
been $1,000.00 a year.

Mr. Kimmey: Do you make any re-
port of what you do with that money?

Mr. Smith: There is a report made
to the Secretary of State and to the
Association.

Mr. Kimmey: I have belonged to
associations of that kind, and I was
not satisfied with what they did with
the /money. It seems to me that a
thousand dollars is a small amount of
money, and you will be looking for
money, instead of spending it. It
seems to me there is no question but
that we should join the State Associa-
tion in a body, and if anybody is like
Kimmey and w-ants to pay a dollar
outside and pay it for the good of the
cause, let him do it. Let us go ahead
and join this Association, even though
we may come short in this institution.
I think there ought to be seventy peo-
ple in this room 'R^ho will pay their
dues and give Mr. Moore the $70.00 he
requires. It will take $35.00 to join
the National, and there will still be
enough to run this Association after
we have done it. I don't think there
should be any hesitation about pass-
ing this motion.

Mr. Baxter: The motion isn't a
dollar, but $1.25. This brother and I
have paid that dollar to the State As-
sociation for membership, and now
they are going to take us in again
on the cheap plan of twenty-five cents.

President York: Whoever is a mem-
ber we would not need to pay twenty-

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

89

five cents for. The Secretary can find
out who already are members and
pay only for those who are not mem-
bers.

Dr. Miller: I think the motion to
make the dues $1.25 in contravention
to the constitution is wrong. If your
constitution says a dollar, leave it a
dollar. Don't sa,y twenty-five cents
for joining the State Association. What
is your warrant for levying it?

Mr. Wheeler: Didn't Mr. Moore say
that he worked for the last year with-
out compensation?

Mr. Moore: Out of eleven years I
have worked seven free.

Mr. Wheeler: I thought each year
we voted for Mr. Moore to be com-
pensated.

Mr. Moore: After I had worked
seven years I was voted a compensa-
tion for one year.

Dr. Miller: I think we ought to
avoid what seems unconstitutional. It
seems to me that practically we are
changing from $1.00 to $1.25. If I
understand Mr. Kimmey, his idea is
this — if I misinterpret him let him
speak for himself, he is of age: If
we pay up as we should there will be
no trouble. If every one who attends
here pays in his dollar — do I under-
stand you correctly, that if every one
pays in his dollar who attends here
there will be no trouble on the finan-
cial question?

• Mr. Moore: I don't agree.

Dr. Miller: If there is a possibility
of getting through this thing and
leaving that dollar stand where it
was we ought to do it that way. I
might be forced into paying an extra
twenty-five cents if you insist, but I
would like to get through and really
not pay more than a dollar, and if we
can do it that way and get more in, I
would like to do it.

Mr. Moore: Last year we got in
$56.00. Suppose we get in $60.00.
Thirty dollars goes to the National,
$15.00 goes to the State, leaving $15.00
for the year's expenses, which is $5.00
less than we have to pay for this room
for two days. Suppose you run it up
to $80.00 — that leaves $20.00 for this
room, and not one cent for postage
and other expenses for the year.

Dr. Miller: How much would that
leave us in the hole?

Mr. Moore: Tear before last we
took in $79.00; last year, $56.00. At

.00 you pay out $60.00 to these two
associations, leaving us $20.00, which is
what we pay for this room for two
days, and leaves us nothing for the
year's expenses and for postage, which
would be $5.00 or $10.00 for the year.

Dr. Miller: About how much in the
hole?

Mr. Moore: Twenty dollars would
cover that. If we were assured of
that we would feel pretty safe.

Dr. Miller: What is the biggest
thing we would be in the hole if we
stick to the dollar?

Mr. Moore: We have got to jump
from $56.00 to $79.00. If we get $80.00
we would still be plenty in the hole.
We are about $25.0j0 or $30.00 in the
hole on the year's expenses. That don't
count my compensation anything.

Dr. Miller: Now, Mr. President, that
twenty-five cents I don't believe in
being forced to pay. A dollar I have
paid, and I am willing to stand by
that, and I don't want to pay a cent
more in that way. I believe there is
a mistake in these figures, and believe
they will come out better than they
look. If you will let me off without
paying that twenty-five cents I am
ready to pony up to $30.00 to get us
out of the hole. I won't pay you that
twenty-five cents!

Mr. Whitney: Is there any consti-
tutional objection to individual mem-
bers of this Association donating twen-
ty-five cents if they want to? It seems
to me that we can make up the twen-
ty-five cents or the amount necessary
to join.

President York: If this Association
wants to vote twenty-five cents a
member and pay it out of the treas-
ury they can do it, constitution or no
constitution.

Mr. Whitney: To accommodate Dr.
Miller I was going to suggest that we
join the State Association and recom-
mend that every member pay his
twenty-five cents ,and those that don't
we will pay for out of the treasury,
and not force anybody to pay it. The
motion should be changed to join in
a body at twenty-five cents.

Mr. Kimmey: I move that the Sec-
retary be instructed to notify the mem-
bers next year, thirty days before the
anniml meeting, of the proposed change
in the constitution, making the annual
dues $1.25 instead of $1.00.

Motion was seconded, put and carried.

:> r

90

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

Joining the National — Election.

Dr. Miller: I move that this Asso-
ciation join the National Association
in a body, the same as last year.

Mr. Baxter: Except those that are
already members of the National.

The motion was seconded, put and
carried.

The election of officers was then
taken up, and all were re-elected for
the ensuing year as follows:

President, George W. York, of Chi-
cago.

Vice President, Miss Emma M. Wil-
son, of Marengo, 111.

Secretary-Treasurer, Herman F.
Moore, of Park Ridge, 111.

Mr. York was elected as delegate to
the State convention.

Mr. Kannenberg: I believe we al-
ways vote Secretary Moore an allow-
ance for the year for what, he has
done- for us, I move that we allow
him $20.00 for his services for the last
year.

The motion was seconded.

Mr. Moore: I stated that I would
not accept any compensation for the
last year, owing to the condition of the
treasury.

Mr. Horstmann: I am willing to give
my share toward paying it, for I don't
believe in running the Association into
debt. Let the bee-keepers pay up
well this year, and we will come out
all right.

The motion was put and carried.
Oldest Bee- Keeper.

"Who is the oldest bee-keeper pres-
ent?"

President York: I take it that this
question means who has handled bees
for the longest time.

Dr. Bohrer: There is one other
gentleman who has handled bees long-
er than I have, which is fifty years,
and that is Mr. Baldridge. Mr. Bald-
rldge and I were in the first conven-
tion at Indianapolis. I know of no
one else.

President York: Mr. Baldridge, how
many years?

«

Mr. Baldridge: Fifty-three.

Mr. Stuebing: I have taken care of
bees for sixty-two years. When I was
eight years old I came over here to
America and I bought three colonies
of Mr. Williams.

Dr. Miller: I commenced keeping
bees sixty-nine years ago. I had a
colony of bumble-bees. Then I took a
long vacation, and you can't fairly
count me with the older ones.

Medicinal Qualities of Honey.

"What medicinal properties of honey
will help its .sale most if they are
known?"

Mr. Holbrook: I should be glad to
have the Secretary read an extract
from a marked article by C. W. Day-
ton in the. Bee-Keepers' Review, in
answer to this question.

The Secretary then read as follows:

"If, on rising in the morning, we
work or exercise for three or four
hours without breakfast, we may feel
a somewhat painful emptiness In the
stomach. If we pay no attention to it,
after two or three hours a slight head-
ache, toothache, backache, rheumatism^
or any other ailment which we have
been troubled with, will start up. This
is the certain evidence of diseased
digestive organs. The cause of the
disagreeableness is mucus mixed with
secretions from the diseased digestive
organs during the preceding night,
which form a very injurious ferment.
If we eat breakfast it will stop the
gnawing sensation in the stomach, and
the food will absorb the contaminable
substance, but only a small part of the
food can digest. Undigested, it will
contaminate the whole system, and
excite to activity any old disease by
which we may have been previously
attacked.

"Take a small bowl of water at a
temperature of 50 or 60 degrees. Stir
into it three tablespoonfuls of evapor-
ated milk or six of Jersey cow's milk
and a quantity of mild-flavored honey
the size of a walnut. Sip with a tea-
spoon. Don't think that if a little
milk is beneficial more is better. The
efficiency . of this mixture depends
upon withholding the milk. More milk
will cause it to be digested. Being
neither food nor drink it will quickly
find its way through the digestive or-
gans. Honey contains nutrition and
imparts strength, but, being already
digested, it excites no digestive activity.
Pure water would be absorbed into the
vascular circulation through the walls
of the stomach if the system were
lacking moisture. Milk cannot be di-
gested in the stomach, nor can honey
be handled in the intestines. The de-

■ r * -

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-IvEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

91

bilitated condition of the digestive or-
gans causes the pylorus (outlet of the
stomach) to remain unclosed until in-
gested nutrition, or else nutrition
pumped from other parts of the body
and carried to it by the blood, enables
the pylorus to resume its action. If a
meal is eaten while the pylorus re-'
mains in this inactive state a part of
the food will go directly into the in- .
testines and become a most contam-
inating material.

"In twenty minutes to an hour after
swallowing . the above mixture there
will be a movement of the bowels by
which you can detect the truth or
wrong in the foregoing statement. In
one or two hours later the natural hun-
ger will assert itself in an unmistak-
able way and the organs of digestion
will be prepared to properly care for
it."

Dr. Miller: What is the medicinal
quality he has been telling about?

Mr. Holbrook: I might say from the
time I commenced to sell honey I
recommend as a remedy a pint of hot
water with a tablespoonful of honey
and six tablespoonfuls of milk, and
week after week reports of relief from
stomach trouble commenced to come
in until I felt perfectly safe in giving
that out as a remedy. In a great many
cases we used it as a leverage to start
to sell honey. I have found it to be the
best starter. There is scarcely a fam-
ily that does not have some one who
has stomach trouble; and I think if you
get this started as a medicine they are
so pleased that they have recovered
that they cannot do enough for you.
I know that was my experience, and
I believe the same thing will work in
every town, and after you get their
friendship it is easy to push the sale
of honey as a food. Mr. Todd said
his wife had been drinking fermented
honey for a few months and had
gained something like twenty pounds
in weight. It will stand thrashing
out. There is something in it.

Mr. Moore: I am selling honey con-
stantly, and I am preaching to all my
friends that honey with a great many
people is better than an equal amount
of sugar, and I think the older we be-
come our digestive organs are weaker.
Honey is better than sugar, that is,
for the people with whom honey agrees.
You will find if you substitute honey
for a given amount of sugar it will
lengthen your life, and I am preaching
it to my customers.

Dr. Bohrer: When I was President
of the Kansas Bee-Keepers' Associa-
tion a physician came into our meet-
ing and wanted to know what the fees
were for becoming a member. It was
a doctor in Topeka who came in, and
he said the reason he wanted to be-
come a member was because he wanted
to study the habits of the honey-bee,
and wanted to start a large apiary in
Missouri to procure pure honey for
patients suffering from the white
plague, that is, consumption. He said
it was conceded among physicians that
honey as an article of food and as an
ingredient in the medicines they used
was the most valuable of all the sweets
in the world. The Governor has called
a convention to meet in Topeka in the
House of Representatives- on the 3d
and 4th of this month. I want to go
down there to see what is being done.
A camp for consumptives is being -run
in the hills near Topeka. One of the
secrets of it is to have the patients
sleep in tents as much as possible and
to get up into a higher and drier at-
mosphere; but honey, they claim, is
going to prove valuable for consump-
tives. As a practitioner I found that
as an ingredient in cough syrups it is
the most valuable thing I can get hold
of. It is coming to the front,- and will
supersede almost anything else, and
an extensive demand is likely to be
had for honey for this purpose. The
white pfegue in this country is increas-
ing, and if there is anything in the
way of diet or drugs suited to patients
of that kind it is a good thing, as it
is getting to be the bane of the coun-
try; it causes more fatal sickness than
any other one ailment in the country.
I call attention to this for what it is
worth. It is now attracting the at-
tention of our ablest scientific men in
the medical profession.

Dr. Miller: I suppose if you were to
ask the average physician about it he
would probably look at you in surprise
if you would ask him whether honey
was a good thing for consumptives.
He would look at you in surprise and
perhaps give you an evasive answer,
and if you asked him what was the
right thing he would tell you cod liver
oil, and cod liver oil is the standard
thing. Physicians will tell you they
know that the amount of nourishment
got from that is what is wanted to
help a consumptive patient. And I
have wondered many a time for j^ears
why they couldn't get it into their

92

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

heads that honey with practically the
same composition, the same materials
only in a pleasant form, could be sub-
stituted— a delightful article of food —
for the exceedingly disagreeable cod
liver oil. They take cod liver oil dis-
guised in all sorts of ways. Now, it
appears from what Dr. Bohrer isays,
and I confess it is news to me, and a
delightful thing to learn, that they are
awakening to the fact that honey may
take the place, with consumptive pa-
tients, of cod liver oil. It is a good
thing for us to tell, and to talk about
it, for there are people who need some-
thing of that kind all around vis — very
few that don't.

Bee Dumping Its Load.

"How long <Joes it take a bee to
dump her load?"

Mr. Wilcox: Several years ago I
had wild bees. I took out my watch
and timed them, the time a bee start-
ed from its home and returned, and
from its first base, and I believe, as a
termined the distance it probably was
from its first base ,and I believe, as a
rule, five minutes was about the short-
est time from the time the loaded bee
started with its load until that same
bee returned again. In case they were
two or three miles away the time was
about an hour — rarely under five min-
utes. I have known one to return
within four minutes, but in all cases
the tree was near by, so that the time
must have been taken principally in
unloading.

"Does Honey Freeze?"

President York: You will have a
good time to try it within the next
two or three months.

Dr. Miller: How are you going to
tell whether it is frozen or not?

Mr. Moore: I would like to ask if
any one says that honey does freeze.
I believe honey will not freeze under
any circumstances. But does honey
freeze, and what bearing does that
have on our interests?

Mr. "Wilcox: That question has
been discussed, and it has been repeat-
edly stated that honey does freeze, and
a good many members have seen it
when it has frozen so that it expands
when the capping cracks. Marketable
honey such as we call honey certainly
does freeze. If there were no water
in it at all I am not sure it would
expand any on account of the cold,

I am not sure it would congeal any
harder, but I suppose it would. I sup-
pose by freezing you mean congeal-
ing hard as ice.

Mr. Taylor: The thing is to deter-
mine what is freezing. When you
tackle that it will settle the whole
thing.

Dr. Miller: I think Mr. Taylor is
right about that. As ordinarily used,
when a beekeeper says his honey has
frozen he simply means that it has
been subjected to a degree of temp-
erature at which water freezes. In
other words, if you would ask if honey
has frozen when it has been out in
zero temperajture, I would say yes.
Whether that would agree with the
scientific degree of freezing or not, I
don't know, but in ordinary language,
when it has been down to that temp-
erature we say that honey has been
frozen.

Mr. Whitney: As I stated in a forrti-
er talk about freezing honey — the can
that I spoke of which was kept in an
ice box for a long time, the honey
would fiow as I turned the can up-
side down and right side up, without
any evidence appearing that it had
frozen at all. In the common accept- '
ation of the term, I could not freeze it
— kept it there a long time — and yet
that extracted honey would run when-
ever I turned the can.

Mr. Moore: By freezing do you
mean granulating?

Mr. Whitney: No; it was liquid
honey when I put it ' there it was
liquid all the time, didn't granulate,
and as we commonly speak of freez-
ing, it didn't freeze. We thought we
couldn't freeze it.

The T-Supep and Others.

"Did Dr. Miller bring a T-super of
honey? If not, why not?"

Dr. Miller: I didn't see that suffi-
cient good could be done by it. I did
bring one other thing along. I am
always willing to show it when you
want to see it.

Mr. Moore: I was ordered to notify
everybody to bring in their supers of
honey, and to give each one a dol-
lar who brought to this meeting. Two
or three months ago Mr. Taylor wrote
to the secretary and asked him what
had been done, and up to that time
nothing had been done. A notice was
published in the bee papers, but no

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

93

one paid any attention to it. Mr.
Taylor wrote a week or so ago and'
ask€d what had been done, and I told
him he was the only one who had,
paid any attention to it.

Mr. Kimmey: Mr. Taylor has the
super here, and I suppose his object
was to exhibit the manipulation of it
before us. I think it would be w^ell
to set some time when he could do
that, and I think a good time would
be this afternoon or evening. His ex-
hibiting it this afternoon may induce
some other brother or sister to do the
same thing to-morrow. There is noth-
ing else that will interest me more
than to have Dr. Miller exihbit his
super, and I would like to see Mr.
Taylor's, too.

Dr. Miller: Allow me to amplify my
answer by saying that I couldn't
bring a super of honey as desired be-
cause the idea was to get it as it
came from the hive. I have not k
super of honey as it came from thfe
hive. !

President York: "We will call on Mr.
Taylor to exhibit his super of honey.

Mr. Taylor: This case just came
from the hive. It is a section out of
the case. Some laugh at me because
I take them out with my thumb nail.

Dr. Miller: Can you tell us when
it was taken from the hive?

Mr. Taylor: I cannot tell the day; I
can tell about the time. It was prob-
ably about from the first to the sev-
enth of July. Tou can see how it is
done, and how clean it keeps the
wood — very little scraping to do, and
no comb starters.

A Member: Why not, Mr. Taylor?

Mr. -il^aylor: Why not? What's the
use? ^

A Member: Is there any objection
to tliem?

Mr. Taylor: Yes; it takes a lot of
time.

A. Member: Is that a super just as
it came from the bees?

Mr. Taylor: Exactly the same — just
as it came out.

A Member: Never been opened be-
fore?

Mr. Taylor: No, sir; never opened
until just now.

A Member: Wasn't that produced
on a Heddon hive with one story?
Mr. Taylor: Two stories.

A Member: What is the name of
the super?

Mr. Taylor: I don't know any name
but the Heddon wide-frame super.
What is Heddon about it is these side
screws. If you want to, you can put
the sections in, and when they are
pretty well done you can turn the
case over, and you get the sections
filled up. The sections are four pieces,
seven to the foot, dovetailed.

A Member: I would like to ask if
that super has ever been inverted?

Mr. Taylor: Yes, that was inverted.

Mr. Moore: What was the object
of inversion, Mr. Taylor, to get them
better filled all over?

Mr. Taylor: Yes.

Mr. Moore: I would be interested
to hear just what the points of ad-
vantage are over ordinary supers, or
other supers.

Mr. Taylor: Over supers that don't
have the wide frame, of course it
keeps the section cleaner. You will
leave the top and the bottom intact;
and you may sandpaper and scrape it,
but you never can make it like the
wood, at least I never could.

Mr. Moore: You find no necessity
for cleaning them at all in order to
sell them?

Mr. Taylor: Of course, you give
them a little scrape and take off what
you see. You invert the super. But I
don't always invert them.

Dr. Miller: At what stage of ad-
vancement do you invert?

Mr. Taylor: Just as soon as the
combs will stand up.

Dr. Miller: With regard to the ex-
pansion in wet weather. I would ask
whether it ever injures the case on
being screwed up tight.

Mr. Taylor: No. These sections are
not basswood; they are poplar. It
makes quite a difference. I have used
basswood where they would sw^ell
sufficiently to push the case open.

Mr. Whitney: How much of a start-
er do you use, the full sheet?

Mr. Taylor: Full sheet, full as I
can. It -doesn't touch the bottom quite.

Dr. Miller: About what margin do
you leave below?

Mr. Taylor: About three -sixteenths,
I try.

Mr. Frank: What weight of founda-
tion do you use?

94

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

Mr. Taylor: I use my own make.

Mr. Frank: What is the weight of
it?

Mr. Taylor: The weight is about ten
to twelve feet to the pound. I can
make it .thinner, but I don't like it
thinner than twelve.

Mr. Whitney: At what stage of
progress ^o you invert it?

Mr. Taylor: As soon as the founda-
tion will stand up.

Mr. Bodenschatz: I should like to
ask Mr. Taylor what he does when
he finds more glue on them. I should
think they would stick more or less
to the frames.

Mr. Taylor: They cannot get any
more on this.

Mr. Bodenschatz: Thej' will get
some on the edges.

Mr. Taylor: There is some on this.

Mr. Bodenschatz: I should think if
they would stick more, it would break
more sections pushing them out.

Mr. Taylor: No; it doesn't break
any.

Mr. Jones: I would like to ask Mr.
Taylor in regard to the spaces. Is
there a full space above and below?

Mr. Taylor: Half space each, half
space below and a half space above.

Mr. Jones: When they are inverted
the same spacing will be there?

Mr. Taylor: Yes.

Dr. Miller: How much do you call
a space?

Mr. Taylor: Three-eighths is what
I call a space. Of course, I don't al-
ways get it.

Mr. Wheeler: You wrote to me last
spring and said you were going to
try some bottom starters. Did you
do it?

Mr. Taylor: Yes; I tried a few.

Mr. Wheeler: You don't like them?

Mr. Taylor: No.

Mr. Wheeler: This was an extra
good honey flow. Don't you think there
would be an advantage another year
with a poor honey flow, or with a
moderate honey flow?

Mr. Taylor: I don't think there
would. Of course, there would be in
some cases; but with my foundation
it is quite difficult to do that.

Mr. Wheeler: Won't it stand up?

Mr. Taylor: If the foundation ia

hard you can do it. My foundation is
soft, and it is more difficult.

Mr. Wheeler: What makes it differ?
Mr. Taylor: I suppose it is the ma-
chine. I use the Given press.

Mr. Wilcox: It is the process of
making, then, that makes the differ-
ence?

Mr. Taylor: I think so.

Mr. Wheeler: Do you think that
your foundation extends down to the
bottom?

Mr. Taylor: Generally it will un-
less there is a poor flow. I have no-
ticed that with my foundation they
draw it out more readily than the or-
dinary foundation. With a hard foun-
dation they will build out the cells,
but they apparently don't like to ex-
tend the bottom.

Mr. Whitney: On this subject, I
have a short paper that perhaps might
come in here, and if it won't bore the
members too much, I would like to
have it read.

Mr. Kimmey: I understand that Mr.
Taylor gets a dollar for this, which
is small compensation for what he
has done for us. In addition, I move
that we give him a vote of thanks.

The motion was seconded, put and
carried.

Dr. Miller: It seems to me the
thing is all right without remarks. He
is the only one who has enterprise
enough to do anything of the kind.

Mr. Taylor: The dollar, of course,
will help me to pay the expenses of
getting that here, but I don't want
to lug that to Chicago again for a
dollar, but the vote of thanks will
recompense me.

President York: He will no doubt
sell the honey for twenty-five cents a
section.

Mr. Taylor: I will sell it for fifteen
cents a section.

Mr. Horstmann: I will take the
whole case.

Dr. Miller was then asked to show
his exhibit.

Space Under Bottom- Bars.

Dr. Miller: The question is, what is
the proper depth or space there should
be under the bottom-bars, and we
have been in the habit of having
something like three-eighths of an
inch, and at one time or another in

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

95

the course of a year a good many
of us seem to think — while I happen to
think of it, there is a pair of com-
mon pocket scissors. I don't know of
anything more convenient than that
for clipping queens' wings. Those are
in my pocket all the year around.

A Member: Ever prick yourself on
them?

Dr. Miller: I can't because I carry
them in my trousers' pocket all the
year around. I only mention that be-
cause it is often spoken of that you
must have a sharp-pointed pair of
scissors for clipping queens' wings.

A Member: What do you want to
clip their wings for, Doctor?

Dr. Miller: So that they cannot fly.
Latterly the idea seems to be gain-
ing ground, at certain times of the
year at least, that it is desirable to
have a larger space under the bot-
tom-bars. A few years ago I in-
vented what was called a reversible
bottom -board. It ia now called the
Danzenbaker bottom-board. What
change has been made in it to warrant
that change in name I don't know. At
any rate it was a reversible bottom-
board having one side so that there
would be between three-eighths to
half an inch between the bottom-bars
and the floor, and the other side so
there would be a larger space. I
used that with no little satisfaction;
but it was a good deal of trouble to
lift the hive off and change the board,
so that, although it was convenient,
I have gone back on it and wanted to
have something easier, and I finally
came to have a bottom -board so deep
as to allo^v a space of two inches be-
tween the bottom -bars and the floor.
The objection to that is that while it
gives you a fine space under for win-
ter— ^and I find that two inches is
none too large a space to allow things
to be kept clean under there — during
the time the bees are at w^ork in the
summer there must be something to
prevent their building down, and I
used for several years a box, simply
a box turned upside down in there,
which made a solid floor, and they
couldn't build through. Well, I
wanted something that would allow
the space there, and that would keep
the bees from building down, but still
allow the air, and finally the thing
that has suited me better than any-
thing else is just what you see there.
All there is of it is two sticks and

slats across, and there is nothing spe-
cial about them. I happen to have
two top-bars, but a straight stick of
any kind will do, and then the slats
across. There is no trick about it.
All there is to it is to have something
that will come wuthin" an inch of the
bottom-bars, and it took me some time
to come to it and feel that I was safe
in having as imuch as an inch during
the building season, and I am none too
certain that I can always have that
amount of space. So far, I have had
no trouble with that.

A Member: Does it sit under the
hive that w^ay?

Dr. Miller: Under the brood-frames,
on the bottom-board. Understand,
there is that space of two inches from
the bottom-board, and that will stay
two inches — for instance, it is two
inches now. That gives me that two
inches during the winter in the cel-
lar, and it will stay two inches until
dandelions are in bloom and there is
danger of the bees building dow^n;
and when dandelion bloom comes this
device goes under to prevent the bees
building down, and stays there until
the harvest is over and all danger is
over.

Mr. Wilcox: Did you ever try one
thicker at the back end than at the
front, so that the space would be
deeper at the front than at the rear?

Dr. Miller: No.

Mr. Wilcox: I have used such a
hive.

President York: "What do vou call
it?

Dr. Miller: For want of anything
better, I have called it a "bottom
rack." The other thing I called a
"fa'Ise bottom," but this could hardly
be called a false bottom. I call it a
bottom rack. I would be much
obliged if anyone would suggest a
better name.

Mr. Baxter: I suppose this is ex-
clusively ^ for producers of comb
honey, but you would not suggest
that at all to people who produce ex-
tracted honey.

Dr. Miller: Why?

Mr. Baxter: Tou don't suppose they
would ever build under the bottom-
boards in my hives. I raise my hives
every spring, put a block under at
least an inch high, and there is over
two inches space between the bot-
tom-bars and the bottom of the hive.

96

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

Dr. Miller: Most certainly there
would be a difference, and there is
much less chance of it, and Mr. Da-
dant has given the answer. After your
combs are built and you have nothing
but fully drawn out combs, while
they are building those combs. I
should be afraid there would be a
little crowding there. At any rate,
. I would not insist upon it that Mr.
Baxter must use it if he does not need
to. But for those that want that
space, I suggest you can have the ad-
vantage of that full two-inch space
without having any building down.

Mr. Baxter: I can see it would be
necessary in the Dangstroth hive, but
in the Quinby hive I have never seen
any building below.

Dr. Miller: If Mr. Baxter has
worked the Quinby hive long enough,
working for comb honey, aiHd has
found year after year that they don't
build down, I will accept his word;
but I suspect that no matter how deep
the frame, if they are crowded enough
to work in sections, they will prefer
building down under a part of the
time.

Mr. Whitney: Have you observed,
Dr Miller, that the bees build down
the comb in the brood-chamber to the
bottom-bar any better with that rack
under than before?

Dr. Miller: Theoretically they do,
but practically I don't know.

Mr. Whitney: We all know who
have observed the work of the bees.

Dr. Miller: I have not the chance to
know because I am not sure I have
had a comb built down since I have
used that.

Mr. Whitney: We know that bees do
not always build down to the bottom-
bars in the brood-chamber, especially
in the center, because there is a cool
current of air under the bottom-bars
so that the bees cannot well work
the wax where the bottom -bars come
so near the bottom-board. I know
that in my observation of my own
cellar, if I put those combs to one
side, and on the line of the entrance
where the air comes in, they will
build down to the bottom-bars.

Dr. Miller: I might say that my

opinion would be that they would

build down better with this than with

I . the ordinary shallow space, because

' ' the rule is that this inch space under

the bottom-bars is filled entirely with

bees. There is a cluster of bees down,
and bees under this, and that being
the case, I should think they would
build down better.

Mr. Wilcox: Would you rather have
those bees under than to have them
up on the combs?

Dr. Miller: No; but if they want to
go there, I would not object.

Mr. Wilcox: I have used a chaff
hive, which has a bottom-board with
a space one and one-fourth inches
at the front end and only a quarter
of an inch at the rear end, and I like
the hive very niuch on that account —
it is easier for the bees to keep it
cleaned out.

Mr. Holbrook: Isn't that more help-
ful in preventing swarming than any
other device ?

Dr. Miller: I think that is an impor-
tant part of ijt, because the giving 'of ■[
abundance of space underneath helps
to keep the bees cool, and that does
just that much toward preventing
swarming. I think it helps very much
in that way.

Mr. Holbrook: In your case, that is
what you use it largely for, is it not? '

Dr. Miller: I use this to keep the
bees from building down. I use the
large space to give them air, and that
helps to keep down swarming. Per-
haps I had better go a little further
and say that I can have the large
space without this, but if I should at-
tempt to run that two-inch space
through the summer I would only
have threg-eighths of an inch space,
because they would commence build-
ing down, and if they commence they
don't stop at an inch from the floor,
but go down so that there will be only
a three-eighths space, but if there is
only an inch to start with they won't
begin building in that space. I may
get caught some time and find they
will build a little in that inch space.

Mr. Baldridge: Is it not a fact that
if they do build below the bottom-
bars in the brood-frames they will
build drone-comb mainly, or to a great
extent?

Dr. Miller: They will to a great ex-
tent. I have had a good deal of that.
I would not like to make a brag that
I have had building down; but I have
had a good deal where I have not had
anything under, and I think there has
been quite a little more of drone-
comb than of worker-comb.

ILLINOIS STATE BEfi-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

97

Mr. Baldridge: You would get a
good deal of drone-comb.

Dr. Miller: I don't want any build-
ing down, because they would be
likely to build crosswise.

Mr. Whitney'iS paper was then read
by Mr. York, as follows:

Are Separators Essential to the Pro-
duction of Straight-Comb
Section Honey?

Something like three years ago sub-
stantially this question was put to a
large number of recognized experts
by the editor of the The American IBee
Journal, and more than 90 per cent of
the answers were yes; that cratable
honey could not well be produced
without separators. It has been my
contention for a number of years that
straight sections could be produced
without separators, and I am grati-
fied to learn that this contention is
supported by so good authority as "W.
K. Morrison, a very close observer,
and one having a bee-keeping experi-
ence thought to be unsurpassed by
any other man in the United States,
and a man who is regarded as an au-
thority on any subject- about which he
speaks or writes. Also, I am pleased
to refer to such names as Messrs. J.
E. Hand, Rowland Sherburne and Leo
E. Gately, all of whom are extensive
and experienced honey-producers.
.Assuming that straight comb honey
can be produced in the surplus cham-
ber without separators, how to do it
presents itself for solution. My ear-
lier experiences in bee-keeping were
with the use of the standard 4%x4%x
1% and 2-inch two bee- way sections
without separators. There were more
or less (often more) uneven or bulged
sections. By experimenting (which
I'm quite given to) by cutting down
sections and fitting them into Langs-
troth sized frames, holding eight sec-
tions, and putting them into the brood-
chamber to one side with brood-frame
spacing, found them built down even
like brood-comb. This led me to
think that, if a narrower section with
a full sheet of foundation was used,
and a full force of bees, just as perfect
sections could be produced in the sur-
plus chamber without separators as
with; hence the adoption of the sev-
en-to-the-foot section, which has be-
come the standard in my yard, and
has been used with marked success
for the last ten years.

The essentials to success are a sec-
tion not thicker than seven-to-the-
foot (the tall, thinner ones now in use
are fully as good, if not better), a
full sheet of foundation, a force of
bees sufficient to fill the super, a
temperature warm enough to permit '
comb-building simultaneously in all
the sections. Right at this point as 1
look at it is the only objection of
any value that can be given against
the non-use of separators, and that is
that, in our northern latitude, there
are often chilly nights in June, at a
time when bees are the busiest at
comb-building, which causes them to
retire from the outside sections to
the center rows, when single-board ^
hives are used, which sometimes re-
sults in having irregular sections.
But sections injured by brace-comb
when separators are used more than
ofCset the damage done by uneven
comb when not used. Later I Avill de-
scribe what I believe the ideal hive
for comb-honey production.

I have experimented with plain
wood, fence and tin separators; were
I to use any I prefer the tin, though
they cost more, to either of the oth-
ers. They are practically everlast-
ing, easily cleaned, while the others
are frail, difficult to clean and mussy
generally. Never yet have I produced
a fence section of honey that I could
not discover a corrugated appear-
ance across the comb. Once I per-
forated several tin ^separators, punch-
ing four holes about four inches apart
in the form of a square, and one in
the center opposite of each section,
and while these were only large
enough for a bee to go through easily,
there were little projections opposite
of these places on each comb like the
round heads of little bolts. The sev-
eral experiments that I have been able
to make convince me that the only
perfect section of honey is that pro-
duced by the use of the plain sepa- '
rator, or none at all.

Separators retard the work of the
bees, which is another serious objec-
tion to their use. Every facility
should be given for access to the sur-
plus chamber compatible with the ul-
timate results to be attained. Inci-
dentally, this is an argument in favor
of the T-super over that of the sec-
tion-holder bottom.

In support of my contention, I wish
to be permitted to quote extracts from
correspondence of the gentlemen

•■'^■^■.---:r

98

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

whose names have been mentioned.
In Gleanings in Bee Culture, Dec. 1,
1907, p. 1503, Mr. Hand says:

"We have had the pleasure of a
short visit from W. K. Morrison of
tropical fame, and of the many inter-
esting subjects relating to bee-culture
that were up for discussion before the
convention of two, and the one that re-
mained with us the longest after Mr.
Morrison's departure, and is with us
yet, is the non-use of separators in
the production of comb honey."

After referring to other matters,
Mr. Hand says:

"Mr, Morrison also assured us that
he was able to produce sections of
honey, with perfectly straight and
even comb, without the use of sepa-
rators, by using full sheets of foun-
dation in the sections." Again he
says: "About this time there seemed
to be a demand for a light-weight
section to sell by the piece, and this
resulted in the introduction of the
seven-to-the-foot section, as it is call-
ed, and the same becoming quite pop-
ular. It was claimed that honey could
be produced in these without the use
of separators; * * * some went
further and used a section still thin-
ner, and, it was a notorious fact, every
decrease in the thickness of the sec-
tion, the necessity for the use of sep-
arators iwas correspondingly lessened."

After referring to the difference in
the size of the sections, comparing the
tall with the square, without disput-
ing the claim made by many that the
former is the better seller, he says:
"The argument that appeals the
stronger to the producer of honey in
favor of the thin section of the great-
er comb surface, is the fact, as stated
by Mr. Morrison, that, if they are thin
enough, no separators will be required
to produce combs perfectly straight
and even."

I most emphatically endorse Mr.

Hand in what he says, as follow^s: "I

consider this the best argument in

, favor of the thin section that has yet

appeared."

I quote further from Mr. Hand, for
I do not know how better to present
ithe case under consideration. He says:

"The question that arises at this
time is, are separators a hindrance to
the bees? Separators are an expen-
sive luxury in more ways than one.
In the first place, they cost money,
and not only take up valuable room

in the super, and valuable time in
handling them, but they are a posi-
tive hindrance to the rapid building
of comb, by breaking the cluster up
into thin slices, for it is a notice-
able fact that bees will build
comb more readily wihen they can
cluster in a compact body, and the
larger the cluster the faster will the
comb grow. It is claimed for the
fence separator, a better filling of the
sections as a result of a free passage
for the bees through the fences be-
tween the slots, and, also, that the
woven-wire separator affords a still
better means of passage for the bees,
and, therefore, sections of honey built
between these separators will be still
better filled than will those that are
built between the fences. Admitting
that this is true, whioh we cannot
deny, yet does not this have a ten-
dency to prove that, without any sep-
arators at all, the sections would* be
better filled? Even admitting, for the
sake of the argument, that just as
many pounds of honey can be pro-
duced with separators as without,
then, if straight and even comb
can be secured without them, what
excuse have we to offer for their use?",

August 1, 1908, on page 947, Glean-
ings, Mr. Sherburne says:

"The reading of Mr. Hand's article
in December 1st issue, page 1503, on
the size and shape of sections, prompts
me to give something of my experi-
ences. I have produced tons of comb
honey without separators, in fact, I
have never used them. It is to be
hoped that some one will find a better
plan than any we now ihave; but if I
had to use separators to produce
good comb honey, I would give
it up and run for extracted en-
tirely. I make it a rule not to
put on a super of sections until
the colony is strong enough to
fill all or a greater part of it with
bees at once. They will soon be
working in all the sections, and these
will grow naturally and evenly. This
is the secret of success in using sec-
tions without separators."

November 15, 1908, on page 1372,
Gleanings, Mr. Gately says:

"During a season of our prolonged
flows, the bees, if rightly managed,
will store as much honey as can be
secured in the average locality; but
seldom is the flow suflRciently heavy
for bees to work in supers as they
will in a good basswood region. Dur-

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

99

ing such slow flows the bees are in-
clined to croiwd honey into the brood-
chamber, rather than into the surplus
arrangement. As separators accentu-
ate this inclination, I have been for
some time endeavoring to eliminate
these from our supers, and I have met
with a measure of success."

In this connection, Mr. Sherburne,
page 947, August 1st, presents an ar-
ticle at once interesting and instruc-
tive. Like him, we have learned that
the secret of getting cratable honey
when no separators are used, lies in
hei/Ving most of the sections started
upon simultaneously. Comb-honey
supers as now constructed, while being
the source of frequent complaints,
generally allow greater convenience
for the man than for the bees. In lo-
calities similar to ours, many who
started in to produce section honey
have gone back to producing bulk
comb honey for no other reason. I
cannot but realize the great disad-
vantage bees labor under in ordinary
supers; and another year, notwith-
standing preconceived ideas as to how
section honey ought to be produced,
no separators will toe used in our
apiary. That more honey can be se-
cured if we dispense with separators,
has been demonstrated over and over.
When bees do not enter the - sections
readily, but crowd the brood-nest with
honey, the working condition of the
colony is rapidly impaired. For a col-
ony to remain populous is impossible
under such circumstances. The last
season some 2,000 1% Danzenbaker
sections, having beeways, were used
in our apiary, without separators, and
never before did I see so clearly
demonstrated the necessity of having
supers so arranged as to meet the
natural requirements of the bees."

And again, I wish to repeat, that
this is a very strong argument in
favor of the T super in the production
of comb honey, over that of the sec-
tion-holder bottom, but this is still
better wihout separators, as equally as
good results can be obtained if prop-
erly manipulated.

In conclusion, recurring to the mat-
ter of iwhat may be considered the
best arrangement for the production
of comb honey without separators, I
think It safe to say that that known
as the Chaff hive, being double walled
to the top of the ibrood-chamber, with
outside case high enough to Inclose
space sufficient to contain two or

three supers under the cover (mine
contains three), with an air-space of
1% to 2 inches around the supers in
which the bees may cluster, is an
ideal arrangement for the production
of comb honey without separators, in
a climate w^here the temperature is
liable to sudden change. It is a com-
mon thing for the bees to cover the
sides of a set of supers in these hives
an inch thick. No fluctuation of tem-
perature during the busy season dis-
turbs the work in the supers in the
least degree.

The advantage of this arrangement
was well illustrated a few years ago,
during ah unfavorable season for sur-
plus honey. My bees secured quite
a crop of honey, while my neighbors,
with more colonies, secured little or
none at all. Possibly a cushion over
the top of supers in single-board hives
might be an advantage. But, I repeat,
that a hive with an air-space around
supers, as described above, with sec-
tions thin enough, so that the foun-
dation shall be spaced as the bees, left
to their own devices, naturally space
com'b from; center to center, we have
reached th^ ■ Ultima Thule in the mat-
ter of arrangement for the production
of comb honey without separators.

WM. M. WHITNEY.

A Member: I can crate honey
produced without separators; but It
is not all straight as it would be with
separators, and if we must have chaff
hives and air-spaces and all that sort
of thing, I don't want to try it again.
In my opinion, to produce comb honey
as the market now requires, with the
average bee-keeper, it is impractical.

Mr. Wheeler: In place of a double
side to the hive, I struck on a plan
that works nicely for comb honey.
I got my . section -holder made for
a seven-to-the-foot section. After-
wards I w^ent to work to change the
size of my section from 1%, and used
the same section-iholders, and I filled
up the space on each side of the hive —
the extra space that was left, I put in
a different separator, another separa-
tor, so I left a big space on each side
of the separator, so that the bees
could have the privilege of going up
on the side of the hive. Those double
separators take the space of one sec-
tion, so I eliminated that inside sec-
tion that is alwa3^ unfinished, and I
find that the bees will go to work and
finish it on the outside of the super

I

100

EIGHTH A^iXU■AL. KEPORT OF THE

at the same time that they do the cen-
ter. I take out one row of sections
and fill it out with a dummy, some-
thing lilie Dr. Miller's bottom rack, to
allow the bees to have free access up
and down and out of the hive, and
it seemed to iwork finely. My sections
on the outside are finished up better
than they used to be.

Mr. Whitney: Do you use separa-
tors at all ?

Mr. Wheeler: Just the same, I use
separators.

Dr. Miller: I would like to ask Mr.
Whitney if he thinks that without
separators seven-to-the-foot, which
would be not far from 1% inches
from center to center, if he thinks
that would be as well as to have 1%
from center to center.

Mr. Whitney: I have had but litle
experience with those thinner sec-
tions, but what I have had leads me
to think that they would be better
than the seven-to-the-foot, although I
had quite a large stock of seven-to-
the-foot sections on hand, and used
them. I think if I were to buy now,
I would buy the thinner sections, to
run without separators.

Dr. Miller: Another point that Mr.
Whitney brought up, it might be
worth while for us to ask a question
about. He said he was not able to
use fences without having something
objectionable, a washboard appear-
ance; something like that. Is that
correct ?

Mr. Whitney: That is right.

Dr. Miller: I would like to know if
that is the general experience. How
many have been able to use fences
without any such objectionable ap-
pearance ?

Mr. Macklin: I have used tin sep-
arators to some extent, and I never
found any corrugations on the oomb
honey. ,

Dr. Miller: ' Why?

Mr. Macklin: Too much work, I
prefer tin separators. I use a tin sep-
arator; it lasts forever, and costs very
little more than the sawed separator.
I buy lilO sheets In a 'box, and it costs
atout eight and a half cents a sheet;
a cent a separator. A sheet cuts into
eight separators, and there are strips
left that I use to hold the section-
holders. I much prefer the tin.

Mr. Whitney: I simply wanted to
say in reference to the tin, I would

prefer the tin to either of the others,
as I stated, because they are so much
easier to clean, and they are ever-
lasting, and if I was going to recom-
mend a beginner commencing honey
production, perhaps I would recom-
mend the use of separators. Dr, Mil-
ler said he didn't think the average
bee-keeper oould produce good honey
without separators. The average bee-
keeper, take the country over, cannot
produce good honey anyway. He is
not careful enough. He is careless and
slipshod. But I think the careful bee-
keeper who attends right to his busi-
ness— of course, he don't want to be
fooling around with a good many
other things — can produce the nicest
kind of section honey without separa-
tors. I have produced considerable
honey; I have a small apiary, and I
have seldom sold a case of honey for
less than $4.00.

Dr. Miller: Mr. President, will you
be kind enough to go on with that
motion, and ask how many there are
who have used fences and found no
objection in the appearance of the
sections, and how many have used
them and found the appearance of the
sections objectionable on account of
them.

Mr. Kimmey: I rise to ask Dr. Mil-
ler this question, in regard to the cor-
rugated appearance of the sections. T
may say that during the few years I
have kept bees, I have used the fences
from the start, simply because I read
some bee-papers where that was rec-
ommended. I got the Root ten-frame
super, seven section-holders, and I
have never noticed any corrugations
such as have been spoken of, and I
have produced as fine honey as I ever
saw anywhere. I think I like mine
better than this. You know the kind
I am speaking of; there is nothing to
cover the section on top. The three
sides are covered, one by the section-
holder at the hottom, and the ends of
the section-holder, at the outside end
of each row, and the other sections
come right together, just the simple,
plain sections. That leaves the top of
the sections uncovered, so that you
have to clean the top of the sections;
that is the main objection. But the
other parts of the section are superior,
because there are two edges of the
section that are uncovered, and in my
section there is only one, and they fit
closer than those do, and I think there
is less propolis along the under side

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

101

than there is with these. When you
ask the question, "Are you perfectly
safe?" I would say, "No, of course not,"
because there is nothing that goes ex-
actly right; but yet I think that they
are tolerably good in a good honey-
flow. In a very poor honey-flow, they
are good for nothing.

President York: The question Dr.
Miller wanted to ask was, how many
had used the fence separators and
found corrugations on the honey -comb.

Dr. Miller: There are two classes,
one has used the fences and found the
surface objectionable, and some liave
not.

President York: How many have
used the fence separators and found
them objectionable on account of the
corrugations on the comb? Four.

President York: How many have
used them and not found them objec-
tionable? Thirteen.

Mr. Taylor: May be some don't
count the corrugations objectionable.

Mr. Kimmey: I would like to ask
Dr. Miller if the corrugations are of
such magnitude that you couldn't help
but notice them. May be some of
them have not looked closely enough.

Mr. Macklin: With regard to the
use of separators, I bought 683 pounds
of honey from one bee-keeper who put
up his honey without separators. I
bought it subject to crating, what I
could crate I would pay for, and what
I couldn't crate I would send back. 341
pounds went back as being uncratable.

Mr. Taylor: How many went?

Mr. Macklin: The difference be-
tween 341 and 683.

Paste for Labeling on Tin.

"What is the best paste to stick
labels to friction-top tin pails? How
is it made?"

Mr. Dadant: Simply make flour
paste. Take water, let it get hot
on the stove, put flour in it and keep
stirring it on the stove until you have
the paste thick enough, and you will
never have any trouble. Not starch,
but flour, common flour.

Dr. Miller: Rye or wheat flour?

Mr. Dadant: We use wheat flour.
Perhaps if we had rye, we would try
the rye.

Mr. Taylor: I suppose a good many
fasten the slats in the bottom of cases
with that. How are slats fastened in

the bottom of shipping cases? How
many fasten them in with paste?
Pres. York: Raise the hands. None.

Mr. Taylor: How many nail the
slats to the bottom of the shipping
cases? (Four.) I would put them in
with paste. It is very much easier and
very much more effective — such paste
as Mr. Dadant has described.

Mr. Dadant: In "order that the paste
will not mold if you keep it for a while
without using it, and in order that the
mice won't gnaw it off the faces of the
tin cans, we use a little alum liquefied
in the water when you make the paste,
and it will keep the paste fresh much
longer. We have kept it three or foar
weeks, until it became so dry w^e
couldn't use it.

Pres. York: How do you apply it?

Mr. Taylor: Just put the alum in
the water and melt it.

Pres. York: How much alum to a
gallon of paste?
^Mr. Taylor: O, excuse me!

Dr. Miller: A little carbolic acid is
just as good.

Honey Souring in Summer Heat.

"Will extracted honey sour in sum-
mer heat, about 95 degrees?"

Mr. Macklin: It depends upon the
honey.

Mr. Baxter: It depends upon where
it is kept.

Orange Honey.

"Do bees gather honey in such quan-
tities from orange blossoms as to war-
rant a bottler in labeling his honey
"Pure Orange Honey"?"

Mr. Whitney: I have a bottle of
honey that I bought at a grocer's
labeled "Orange Blossom Brand" honey,
and it is beginning now to granulate a
little. What that means I don't know.
Whether it is proper to be considered
now under the question, I don't know.

Mr. Taylor: It means the name of
the brand and the quality of the honey.

Mr. Whitney: I was wondering
whether under the Pure Food Law that
was a proper brand for honey. It is
put out as "Orange Honey."

Dr. Miller: I suspect the pith of
that question is to find out whether
bees gather enough from orange blos-
soms to warrant any one in saying he
has orange honey. Years ago that label

h

102

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

was used, and I think I am not^ wrong
in saying that the statement was made
that there never was such a thing as
having enough gathered from orange
trees to warrant any such label. Lat-
terly, however, some have said that
they do have. I think there have been
some statements made that ought to
be accepted as truth, that in some
cases at least orange honey may be on
the market.

Mr. Fluegge: In case there was
enough orange blossom honey to bring
it on the the market in bottles, could
it be readily distinguished from sage
honey or other California honey? I
think we ought to refer that question
to some bee-keepers from the Pacific
Coast.

Pres. York: It can very easily be
distinguished.

Dr. Miller: Have you tasted honey
that you believed was orange honey?

Pres. York: Yes, I had a gallon keg
of it at one time. ,

Mr. Fluegge: Have you tasted the
honey in the market today labeled
"Orange Honey"? The so-called orange
honey you tasted this morning was
sage honey.

Dr. Miller: Was the orange honey
you tasted anything like that made
f rorm sage ?

Pres. York: No. It came from Cali-
fornia and it tasted like the blossoms
smell, so I am satisfied that it was
orange honey.

Mr. Fluegge:: In case that was
honey put out under false labels, would
the "National" do anything to take up
the matter; would they be interested
in that?

Pres. York: You had better refer
that to Mr. France. I cannot answer it.

Mr. Fluegge: If there were a party
labeling sage honey or other amber
honey "Orange Honey," would the
proper thing be to refer it to the
"National?"

Dr. Bohrer: The proper thing
would be to refer it to an analytical
chemist in connection with the Pure
Food Law — to the pure food officers.

Mr. Fluegge: "Would the pure-food
people know orange honey from any
lOther honey?

Dr. Bohrer: They will find it to be
pure honey, but it isn't orange blos-
som honey.

Mr. Wheeler: I believe the label is

used to deceive people. It does de-
ceive them, but whether it is done for
that purpose or not, I don't know. I
find that brand in the market, and
people tell me they can taste the
orange in it. I am just like you, I
think it must be pure sage honey. In
California you can go anywhere in the
streets and taste the same thing that
is sold all over Chicago as "Orange
Blossom Honey." People think be-
cause the name is on there that that
is the case.

Mr. Fluegge: If I bring you a sam-
ple of this honey, will you pass your
opinion on it?

President York: I will, because I
am anxious to taste all honeys. I
would like to say in answer to this
question that orange honey is pro-
duced in rather small quantities in
Florida and California, but certainly
not in large enough quantities to war-
rant putting it on the market as such.
This is simply a brand, the same as
the "Hazel" brand, sold extensively by
Siegel, Cooper & Company, and others.

Mr. Wheeler: While we are get-
ting this label business settled, I will
say that a year or so ago the pure-
food commissioners told us that we
should not put "Clover Honey" on it
unless we we were sure that it was
clover honey, or we should not put on
"Basswood Honey" unless it was bass-
wood honey. Would these people have
the right to label it "Orange Honey"
if it was not from orange blossoms?

President York: I think they oould
be prosecuted under the Pure Pood
Law.

Mr. Wheeler: If they labeled it
"Orange Brand?"

Dr. Miller: I am pretty sure that
"Orange Brand Blossom" could be
prosecuted if it deceives.

Dr. Bohrer: I think Dr. Miller is
right. Tihe Secretary of the State
Board of Health in our State came to
our State Fair, and he went to all
those men selling different things on
the play ground, and he said that there
must not be anything bogus — there
must be no deception about it. Now,
"Orange Blossom Brand" — what is
that name for unless to deceive peo-
ple? It was not intended for any-
thing else, and any deception makes
any one liable to prosecution in our
State.

Mr. Whitney: That honey is put up
by a large wholesale bouse in this

ILLIXOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

103

city, and sent out to the grocers all
over the country, "Orange Blossom
Brand."

Dr. Bohrer: Have you a State Pure
Food Law here?

President York: I think we could
easily find out about that by submit-
ting it to the Department of Agri-
culture and getting their opinion on it.

The Convention then adjourned to
7:30 p. m.

THIRD SESSION.

The Convention met pursuant to ad-
journment, with President York in the
chair.

Prospects for Clover Honey in 1909.

"What is the prospect for a crop of
white clover throughout the drought
belt next season?"

Mr. Smith: I can say 'that through
central Illinois the prospect is not
very flattering. The clover is burnt
out. You cannot see any trace of
white clover at present. "We have had
no rain since the first of July, to
amount to anything.

Mr. "Whitney: I asked that question
because in some places up in "Wiscon-
sin, where there is a gravel subsoil,
it seems as though the iwhite clover
was cleared out largely. I was down
east in New York State during the
fall, and they have had a greater
drought there than we have had, and
in Ohio also, and excepting on clay
soil they complained a good deal the
same way; so it occurred to me that
anybody who had a nice crop of honey
in the drought-belt might not miss it
if he held it over, although we are ad-
vised to dispose of it if we can get
a reasonable amount for it; hut I am
afraid the season next year for white
clover honey v?ill be a rather poor
one.

Dr. Miller: I cannot tell you about
a very large scope of territory, but
within a week I went out to see what
the pj*ospect was on my own place.
I went into one field that had not
been closely pastured down, and there
had been a bit of late rain, and there
was an abundance of clover; young, to
be sure; it had grown late. The pros-
pect on that piece is just as good, I
think, as it was this year — one of the
best years I ever knew for the growth
of M'hite clover. I went into another

field which had been pastured very
severely, and I couldn't see a leaf of
clover; and then I put on my specs
and got on my hand and knees, and
could see a small leaf here and there;
but I don't think there will be very
much of a growth of clover there. I
think it depends very largely upon
how closely a field was pastured down
as to whether there will be any clover
there or not. !

Mr. "Wilcox: But what I want to
find out is, would a severe drought at
this season .of the year, through Octo-
ber, for instance, be detrimental to
the honey crop the succeeding season?
Is it necessary that the fall rains
should give the clover a start before
winter sets in? That is the point I
wish to get at. Our honey crop will
depend somewhat upon the iwinter
snows and spring rains. "We must have
clover.

Mr. Kluck: In the northern part of
Illinois, where I live, the old pasture
fields have no white clover. It is all
burnt out — cannot find any. Fields
that have hardly been pastured have
some white clover. The prospects are
for no clover next year.

Queen- Excluders and Extracted Honey.

"In the production of extracted
honey, is it practicable to compel the
storing of the chief part of the sur-
plus in supers without obliging the
bees to pass through queen-excluders?
And if so, by what means, and what
advantages will result to the apiarist
by securing this ?"

A Member: My greatest trouble is
that they will store too much in the
supers and not enough in the brood-
chambers. The result is that they
have no honey for winter stores, un-
less I feed them after the season is
over. To do that, I have to take out
the empty combs and put the full ones
in. If the bees will, without any at-
tention on the part of the bee-keeper,
store enough below to carry them
through the winter, there is no trouble
but that they will store enough above —
all they can spare.

Mr. Kluck: If I put on the queen-
excluder, my colonies will swarm the
same as though I was producing comb
honey. The queen has not room, anl
they will swarm.

Mr. Holbrook: "What size hive do
you use?

f/

104

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

Mr. Kluck: 10-frame Langstroth,
and when I have no excluder I am not
troubled with swarming very much.

Dr. Bohrer: Are you bothered much
with the queen going above?

Mr. Kluck: She will go In the first
super. Some times I have 5 or 6
supers on at one time.

Dr. Miller: I am a little curious to
know what Mr. Wilcox can tell us on
that — by what means, and what ad-
vantages will result to the apiarist by
securing this result?

Mr. Wilcox: The question is by
what means is it practical to induce
them to store the honey in the supers?
My opinion is that it is impracticable
to do it; that they will do it anyway.

Dr. Miller: Without passing through
the excluders ?

Mr. Wilcox: Yes, without passing
through excluders. You get too much
honey above, anyway.

Dr. Miller: Possibly I misunder-
stood the question. I got the idea that
the writer of the question wanted to
know, when he had excluders on, how
he would get the bees to store the
honey above without going through
the excluders.

Mr. Wilcox: How to get the honey
above without the use of the ex-
cluders.

Mr. Smith: There would be an ad-
vantage to the apiarist not to have
room in the second super or the combs
filled with bee-bread. . The bees will
not store bee-bread where the queen
cannot go; there I think it is quite an
advantage to have excluders.

Mr. Whitney: If the excluder is on,
and there is an upper entrance for the
worker-bees to go in and out, they
might be induced to store their honey
there without disadvantage to them,
because they would not have to go
through the excluder. Some times
that is done. Perhaps the entrance
should be on the opposite side from
the entrance in the main hive be-
low.

Mr. Wheeler: I don't see any need
of an excluder with shallow frames. I
don't think there is any trouble in
bees going into the super if you use a
four or five inch frame.

Dr. Miller: Do you mean shallow
frames above or below?

Mr. Wheeler: Above. After that is
full, put in another one. Bees don't

attempt to put brood in a shallow
frame, with me. If I put a Langstroth
frame above another Langstroth frame,
they are almost certain to put brood
up there. With the old style excluders,
in nine cases out of ten, the queen will
go through the excluder.

Mr. Horstmann: I don't see any use
in an excluder except late in the sea-
son. I put my excluders on about the
first part of September or the latter
part of August. I give the queen all
the room she wants. I breed sometimes
in three hive-bodies at one time. When
the honey season is almost over I fill
up the lower hive-body, and as fast as
the young bees hatch out, the bees
will fill the empty cells with honey,
and I am never bothered with bee-
bread up there. I think it is a great ad-
vantage around here not to use the ex^
cluders until the honey season is al-
most over. I consider that the bees
have just as much trouble getting into
a small space as I would have in try-
ing to crawl through a fence with a
mail sack on my back. If the bees
come in loaded, the queen-excluder is
a disadvantage to them, and by doing
away with that excluder during the
main fiow it is a great advantage to
the bee-keeper, and also to the bees.

Mr. Moore : There may be some here
in my own fix, who would like to know
how extensive honey producers find
this, whether it pays to put excluders
in all cases between the brood-nest and
the super, or whether the damage to
the super honey Is so small that it does
not pay for the honey.

Dr. Miller: Are you talking about
comb or extracted honey?

Mr. Moore: Comb, exclusively.

Dr. Miller: In working for comb
honey, I can answer that by telling
my own practice. I don't use exclud-
ers at all with comb honey, because
there are so few cases in which I find
any 'brood from the queen getting
above that it doesn't pay to have the
expense or even the trouble of the ex-
cluders; but in order to be successful
without the excluder it is important
tha,t you have every section filled with
worker foundation. If you have merely
starters in the sections, the queen will
be almost sure to go up, because the
bees not having enough drone-comb
below to suit their notions will build
drone-comb above, and you can count
on the queen going up and laying in
your sections.

ILLINOIS STATE BJSE -KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

105

Mr. Moore: Dr. Miller, can you add,
if you know, what is the practice of
our largest comb-honey producers in
this matter?

Dr. Miller: I think there are very
few comb-honey producers who use
excluders. Indeed, some of our larger
producers of extracted honey do not
use excluders. They, however — for in-
stance, B. I>. Townsend — depend upon
getting the bees started to storing over
the brood-chamber, and then, when
they add room for extracting combs,
they add it above. There are some at
least who depend upon what Mr.
Wheeler spoke of, shallow extracting
combs. I think Mr. Dadant says the
queen will not go up and lay in shallow
extracting combs as she would in the
deeper combs.

Mr. Taylor: I should like to ask
v.-hether some seasons you don't get
considerable brood in sections?

Dr. Miller: Yes, and no. I think
there is a difference in seasons, and I
don't know what the difference is.
Sometimes I have had a super in which
there would be a very large proportion
of the sections that would have brood
in them. I don't know, but take it all
together, take one season with another,
I think the worst season I ever had, I
don't believe I ever had enough brood
in sections to make it pay to use ex-
cluders.

Mr. Taylor: I think not. Still, I
think there are some things that rather
draw the queen up. For instance, if
you have a good colony upon founda-
tion or starters, and you remove sec-
tions from the hive from which they
came, sections that are only partly
worked out, the queen is pretty sure to
go into them.

Dr. Miller: That is, would swarm.
But if you have comb, to hive them
upon comb, they are not apt to do that,
or if you have a case of sections nearly
finished and put that immediately
above the brood-frames, she isn't likely
to go up.

Mr. "Wheeler: It looks, from what
these men. say, as if a man that han-
dles comb honey should not use queen
excluders. I use queen excluders on
my comb honey, but I use a different
hive. I use the Heddon hive. After
the bees get nicely started in two of
the Heddon hives, I put the comb super
above and slip the lower story away,
and I have the brood chamber 6 inches
deep, (about 5%), and above the queen -

excluder all the comb honey goes. Nine
times out of ten the whole of the white
clover honey comes into the comb
honey super. Whenever that is filled
I put another above. I never have any
brood in the super, and very seldom in
arranging that way do I have any pol-
len. At first I had trouble with pollen
in the super because I didn't put my
second brood-chamber underneath. But
by leaving the two brood-chambers on
for two or three days, the bees com-
mence putting pollen into the combs
they have already built, and none of it
gets into the super. I use the queen-
excluder entirely for hiving new
swarms on the Heddon hive.

Dr. Miller: Mr. Wheeler and Mr.
Taylor have together mentioned one
thing, and I might perhaps be pardoned
to go«on with what Mr. Taylor said,
and say that the rule is in hiving a
swarm not to put the supers on until
the bees have got a start below, until
the queen has established her work
below.

That is not what I say.
What do j'Ou say?

I say put them right on.
Without any excluder?

Yes.
What if the queen goes

If she does?

She

Mr. Taylor:

Dr. Miller:

Mr. Taylor:

Dr. Miller:

Mr. Taylor:

Dr. Miller:
up?

Mr. Taylor:
doesn't.

Dr. Miller: I understood you to say
that if you put on sections that they
had just started on —

Mr. Taylor: I said if you do that,
but I didn't say I did it. No; I don't
use excluders. I use comb generally.
For instance, if I were obliged to use
a hive with only starters in or foun-
dation, and didn't have a case of sec-
tions nearly finished to go on to act
as a queen-excluder, I should be
obliged to put on an excluder for a
time.

Dr. Miller: Or wait. Suppose you
didn't have an excluder,

Mr. Taylor: I don't wait. I have as
many bees as I want, and I don't hive
swarms now very often on either
starters or on foundation. If I have
a comb I use the comb. Then I man-
age my swarms in some other way
after they are exhausted.

Dr. Miller: The President asked as
to the point Mr. Wheeler made — the
depth of the frame. The kind of hive
has no little to do with it. Unques-

-\

106

EIGHTH ANNQAL. REPORT OF THE

tionably, he is right about that. But
as to pollen in the sections, I have
some suspicion that with shallow
frames I would have pollen in the sec-
tions, even if I used excluders. What
makes me think that is, that when
using shallow frames in the brood -
chamber I used them without ex-
cluders, but I had a very unpleasant
proportion of pollen in my sections,
and yet without brood, and I can hardly
see what difference the excluder
would make in that case, because the
queen didn't go up, but the bees took
pollen there,

Mr. Wheeler: I have figured that
out in my own mind. T.he bees go to
work in the two stories in the Heddon
hive as deep as the Langstroth hive,
and begin storing the pollen where
they are going to have their brood-
nest, and after that brood-nest is es-
tablished and their plans made, they
don't lug any pollen outside of that.
Out of, maybe, three hundred supers
that I (had of comb honey, I had but
one of pollen.

Dr. Miller: May I ask, Mr. Wheeler,
why mine did — because they did?

Mr. Wheeler: Did you put your
super on at first when you hived
your swarm?

Dr. Miller: No, sir. The super was
put 'On afterwards, after the brood-
nest was established.

Mr. Wheeler: It must have been a
matter of location! I 'have been
troubled with pollen occasionally, but
thought I had the .matter overcome by
my present arrangement.

Mr. Taylor: I think with Mr.
Wheeler's practice it is necessary to
use excluders. For some years I
practiced his nietihod. But hiving In
one section of the Heddon hive, of
course, for the same reason that Mr.
Wheeler does, I used two sectiofts for
two or three days, and then took one
away, but still there would be more
or less pollen taken Into the upper
story when the lower section was
taken away. It is a rather small
amount of room for a queen, and a
good queen will fill one section of
the Heddon hive entirely full of brood,
so there are but a few ounces of honey
in it, and not much room for pollen,
so that often the bees are compelled
to take their pollen above. I don't
practice that method any longer.

Dr. Miller: May I ask right here if
Mr. Taylor thinks the use of an ex-

cluder would prevent the pollen from
getting above?

Mr. Taylor: I don't think it would.
In my practice, it doesn't. It may
have a tendency that way — not so
much taken up. But still I find pol-
len to some extent in olijectionable
quantities with the excluder. Now I
don't practice that method any longer.
I use the two sections of the Heddon
hive.

Best Hive for Beginners.

"What is the best hive for beginners
in apiculture?"

Mr. Whitney: That question was
answered a year of two ago by Dr.
Miller. It was asked, and he said,
"Yes."

Mr. Wilcox: I should say the same
hive that our forefathers left off with.
In other words, the best hive invented
up to the present.

Dr. Bohrer: I live in a State where
bee-keeping is practiced on a very
small scale. When I first went there,
twenty-five years ago, I was Presi-
dent of the State Bee-Keepers' Associ-
ation, and held that position a great
many years, and a great many letters
were written to me asking, "What hive
shall I begin with?" I wrote a num-
ber of private letters, and said that
my judgment mig'ht not give satis-
faction, as some man might come
along who iwas a friend of some other
hive, and would condemn what I sug-
gested. I finally answered it on two _
different occasions, through the "Kan-
sas Farmer." I have written for the
Bee-Keepers' Department 'Of the
"Kansas Farmer" for a number of
years. I said this, that in the records
upon the subject you will find that
more of our extensive bee-keepers are
using the Standard Langstroth hive
more than any other, and perhaps
more than all others combined, and
that a new bee-keeper would make no
mistake to commence with the Langs-
troth hive. But I said then, and say
it now, that I don't want to discourage
any man in the matter of experiment-
ing with or improving our bee-hives,
because it is too early yet to say that
we have reached perfection in that
direction. I know there have been
some improvements made in the
Langstroth hive in the last fifty years;
some very valuable improvements.
But for the average beginner, he will
make no mistake If he uses the
Langstroth hive. Mr. Bingham would

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

107

not use anything 'but the Bingham
hive, with very shallow frames. Mr.
Heddon would not use anything but
a Heddon ihive. But they are experts.
But t'he average bee-keeper that
doesn't look into his bee-hives half a
dozen times in a year, would better
commence with a larger hive than the
eight-frame. I have advised them to
use the ten-frame Langstroth, for the
beginner. Mr. Dadant won't use any-
thing ibut something similar to the
"Jumbo" Ihive, and it is a good hive
if a man wants to winter bees out-of-
doors. But I would not advise a be-
ginner to commence with that, be-
cause if he ever wants to sell his
apiary he would have a lot of diffi-
culty in selling that hive, because they
are not in general use. There are
more Standard Langstroth hives than
all others combined. That is not say-
ing anything against the man who
wishes to use the divisible brood-
chamber hive, the Heddon hive, or the
Jumbo hive. I couldn't use, and would
not be satisfied with it; but if it
would suit you, use it. But for the
beginner who knows comparatively
nothing about bees, and the man that
doesn't handle his bees very much, and
just iwants a few colonies in his
■orchard, he cannot get anything better
than that if !he wants to handle his
bees at all. If he doesn't, he would
better keep no bees at all, as that is
a cause of foul brood 'being scattered
over the country. We will have a
fight to get a foul brood law, but we
will get it. We are going to have
trouble in this State. One man of
some influence in the State Senate
thinks what we want is to pass a law
paying some one to go into our hives
and pick dead 'bees out of them. That
was the sum total of his logic in the
matter. That was my reason for ask-
ing that question, because I know
there are a great many persons be-
ginning, who don't know w^hat to be-
gin with. We will make no mistake,
and won't tell them any story, when
we say that there are more Langstroth
hives in use 'by the successful bee-
keepers than all others combined.

Dr. Miller: There is just one objec-
tion to taking the advice that the
Langstroth is the one for a beginner
to commence with; if it is true that for
some, as I understood Dr. Bohrer to
say, it is better to have a hive of some
other kind, a shallow hive. If that is
better for him, it might be better for
that person to have begun with that.

If he starts up with a whole lot of
Langstroth hives he cannot so easily
change to the other. My advice to a
beginner would be to begin with a
movable-frame hive.

Dr. Bohrer: And one of the best.

Mr. Kluck: I heartily agree with
what Dr. Bohrer ihas said with regard
to the hive. I would never advise a
lyoung man to keep bees in anything
smaller than a ten-frame Langstroth
hive. An eight-frame he will have to
watch. They will easily starve to
death, as there are too many bees for
the honey. If a wet, cold time comes
in the spring, you will find they are
starved to death. I have told the bee-
keepers in northern Wisconsin and
southern Illinois that I wished I had
never been to that convention when
they voted that the eight-frame hive
was the best hive for the bee-keeper
to have, and the hive you could make
the most money out of. Tou could
do it with the first swarm, but after
that you are out.

Dr. Bohrer: If you understood me
to say I recommended the eight-frame,
you are wrong. I didn't recommend
it; I always recommend the ten-frame
hive.

Mr. Kluck: I always tell the begin-
ner to get a ten-frame hive; but if
they can look through and tell about
the bees later, they can get an eight-
frame hive.

Mr. Taylor: If a young man is
going to keep bees, he wants to learn
the business, and an eight-frame is
just as good or better to learn on
than the ten-frame. One thing he
wants to learn is that bees must be
looked after. It won't' do to set down
your hive and take what honey you
can get, and let the bees starve to
death if they have a mind to. Tou
must see if they have stores. There
is an advantage in eight-frame hives,
and that is, you get the honey in the
sections. Of course, you see the ad-
vantage of that. Tou get your honey
where you can sell it and get a good
price, and it is a montey-making busi-
ness to put in sugar stores for the
wintering of the bees, and a man be-
ginning to keep bees ought to knoV
that, and he cannot learn it any .better
than by keeping his bees in a hive
that is a litle too small some times
for the storing of sufficient honey for
wintering purposes.

Dr. Bohrer: Mr. Taylor, do you

108

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

. think you can get more section honey
off an eig'ht-frame hive than off a
ten-frame ?

Mr. Taylor: If your colony is just
as good, you can. Tour colony is just
as good if your stores are as good.
If you have a queen that can All a ten-
frame hee-hive — if you come to count
up the number of bees that are pro-
duced in an eight-frame hive, you can
see your queen doesn't fill it.

Dr. Bohrer: I have had them fill an
eighteen-frame hive.

Mr. Taylor: You get a queen that
will fill five Langstroth hives full of
bees, and if the strain is good for any-
thing, you have a good, strong colony
all summer. I don't want a great
overgrown colony of bees. I always
have trouble with swarms if they are
overly large. "When you hive them in
a hive where they are uncomfortable
and uneasy, they don't work as well
as a moderate colony of a good strain.

Mr. Moore: So far, I have gathered
from this discussion that when I am a
beginner, when I am green at the
business, I shall start with a Langs-
troth ten-frame hive; tout the in-
ference so far is, that when I get ex-
pert in the business, I will have to
take a "Danzenbaker" or something
else. I don't think you ought to say
what is good for a beginner, but for
a bee-expert, or what is good for a
man who is going to play at it, as I
would not say what is good for a be-
ginner, as a man who begins ought to
begin the way he is going to stick to
^ it. I go up against the great man
from Michigan with fear and trem-
bling, but I am diametrically opposed
to Mr. Taylor's views on this ten-
frame question. You must think of
this, there are very few Taylors in the
bee-business. Mr. Taylor is like Mr.-
Heddon — he would make a success of
anything he undertook to do. He puts'
his whole energy and enthusiasm into
it. But you take the average bee-
keepers up here in the North, we are
going to succeed with a ten-frame
hive where we will fail with an eight.
It means that the bees are going to
have one-fourth more strength, one-
fourth more honey, which is important
where we have long, tiresome springs
with no honey for the bees; or six or
seven months of winter when bees
gather nothing and still consume. I
stick to it that for nearly everybody,
except these very expert people who
put their whole time and soul into the

bee-business — it doesn't matter wheth-
er they have a four-frame or a four-
teen-frame hive — ^but for the ordinary-
people that keep bees, the ten-frame
Langstroth hive is the thing. The bees
will do better for themselves, with less
brains on the part of the bee-keeper,
than with any other hive, in the
North.

Mr. Taylor: Mr. Moore says with a
ten -frame hive the colony will be one-
fourth stronger. Well, now, if they are
one-fourth stronger, they will use the
same proportion of the comb for brood,
and how will you get any greater pro-
portion of honey in that- hive for the
wintering of the bees than you will in
an eight-frame hive?

Mr. Moore: I don't know that I un-
derstand the question clearly.

Mr. Taylor: According to your ar-
gument, you will have the same pro-
portion of comb occupied by brood in
a ten-frame hive as in an eight-frame
hive, and your colony is that much
stronger. Of course, there is just the
same proportion of room left in the
ten-frame hive as in the eight-frame
hive for stores. The bees are as liable
to starve to death as they are in the
eight-frame hive — must be something
wrong with the argument.

Mr. Moore: I have had eight or ten
years' experience with the ten-frame
(hive, and I have observed the success
of my neighbors with their bees. I
have noticed this: I have imported
foreign blood frequently, have bought
quite a number of queens, and have
kept an average of young queens in
my hives; and my ten-frame hives
were bang-up full of bees — they could
fill three ten-frame hives if you were
running for extracted honey. I don't
believe it is possible to get any such
results from an eight-frame hive to
start with in the spring, with our
Northern climate, with the long, cold
springs.

Mr. Taylor: I just want to make
the remark that you will notice I have
not said anything against the ten-frame
hive. I am simply speaking to the ar-
gument that has 'been made in favor
of it.

Dr. Miller: There is one phase of
the question I -was, thinking of when
Mr. Moore was saying that a man
ought to be advised to take the hive
he is going to continue to use, but
there is one phase of the question
that makes it possible to vary from it.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

109

If you (were to say to me, which is
better for a beginner, an eight-frame
or a ten-frame hive? and give me
nothing but that question, not allowed
to put any conditions at all, I would
say, without any question, the ten-
frame hive, on this ground, that the
average beginner is not going to be
a very careful bee-keeper; he is not
going to give the very closest atten-
tion to ihls bees, and if he is not, the
ten-frame hive is decidedly safer for
him than the eight-frame hive. You
will see there is some reason for giv-
ing the advice to the beginner to begin
with the ten-frame hive. I have had
experience with the ten-frame hive
and with the eight-frame hive. I am
now using eight-frame hives, and if I
were beginning again, it would be a
question with me whether to use eight
or ten-frame hives. One objection to
the ten-frame hive is that it is too
small. 'The eight-frame hive is prac-
tically larger, because you can take
two stories of the eight-frame hive,
w)henever a queen is filling more than
one story, whereas with a ten-frame
hive you would have too much room
to give the two stories.

Mr. Wilcox: I was going to ask,
how long must a man continue with
a ten-frame hive as a beginner before
he can use an eight-frame hive? When
does he cease to be a beginner? If a
man intends to do large bee-keeping
and be a successful bee-keeper, he
should begin with the best hive that
he has any knowledge of, or the one
he believes to be the best; start with
it, and continue with it, until he finds
something better.

Mr. Horstmann: I believe Mr.
Moore likes the ten-frame hives best
because they look better in his esti-
mation. A bee-keeper knows there is
no difference in the ihives. It does not
make any difference whether you use
an eight, a ten, or a twenty-seven
frame hive. I say it doesn't make a
bit of difference. I have used the
eight and ten side by side for several
years, and my eight-frame hives have
come out ahead. That may be due
to the eight-frame hive-bodies having
a better queen. I have one eight-
frame colony that I had on the scales,
that gave me 227 pounds of honey, and
my best ten-frame hive gave me 147
pounds. They 'had all the room they
wanted, both the eig'ht and ten. I
story them up four or five stories high.
In the spring I bring my bees out of

the repository, and I claim, with good
protection, they can build up the col-
ony that much faster. My eight-
frame colonies will be as strong as the
ten in the spring. There will be no
reason for any difference. Why should
there be? The queen has had all the
room she wanted all summer; and
there is no reason why the dolony in
the eight-frame hive-body sbcfuld not
be as strong as the ten. ■

Dr. Bohrer: The impression seems
to be that I was advising the use of
shallow hives, the Danzenbaker and
other hives. I wish to remove that
impression; it is not a correct one. I
said I could not be induced to use
them to any extent. One of the first
shallow hives was invented by Dr.
Bingham, of Michigan. He sent me one
of those hives, and I used it one year,
and if I had not put those bees in the
cellar I would have lost them, because
, it was too shallow to winter in, and
I think you will find the same diffi-
culty in the Middle and Northern
States. In the South you can winter
your bees in shallow hives more easily
than you can in the North. The rea-
son I have recommended the Langs-
troth is because I regard it as safer
for one who does not understand the
business. One man may become an
expert in less time than another. One
man takes it up from the start. I had
eighteen hives sent to^ me from differ-
ent parts of the United States and
Canada to test. Among them was a
Quinby hive, and a Thomas' hive from
Guelph, Canada, all deep-frame hives.
I had a personal conversation with
Mr. Quinby with regard to the reasons
for making his hives two or three
inches longer than Mr. Langstroth's.
He said, "In New York, wtoere I live,
we have protracted cold weather, and
the bees go into winter quarters in
the lower part of the hive, and the
more you can have the stores above
them and to the rear of the hive, the
safer they are." Where a beginner
commences with a shallo^v hive, about
a five-inch frame, he is running a risk
that an expert would know how to
get over. A beginner would not think
about that. The expert would know
he would have to put another hive-
section up there or lose his bees. The
Standard Langstroth will give better
satisfaction almost over the civilized
world, but in the Western hemisphere,
at any rate, without any care from the
bee-keeper, and Mr. Quinby gave me as

110

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

the reason the hive was made deeper
and the frame longer, was because it
took the hees longer to eat through
a range of combs. The "Jumbo" is
very near the Quinby frame, not quite
so long, and may not be quite so
deep — I forget dimensions. I hav«
used all of them, the "Dadant" hive,
the "Queen" hive — I had eighteen
different hives at one time — and when
I come to practical purposes, for the
beginner, I recommend the Langs-
troth, and until I have reason to
change my ideas from actual experi-
ence, I shall recommend it.

Mr. Whitney: I have listened to the
arguments of the eight-frame advo-
cates and the ten-frame advocates for
the last number of years, and as a be-
ginner, I come to the conclusion that
I would add the two together and di-
vide it by two, and take the nine-
frame hive, which I use, and it is an
admirable hive, all things considered.
The eight-frame hive is considered by
men like Mr. Doolittle as being the
best hive for comb-honey production,
because the bees do not store so much
in the brood-chamber. For extracted
honey, the ten-frame hive would be
the better, it seems to me, for more
storage-room. But after all the dis-
cussion of this subject, it resloves
itself down to the answer that I think
Dr. Miller gave two years ago, when
the question was up. He said, "Yes."

Mr. Moore: According to Mr.
Horstmann, there Is no advantage in
a ten-frame hive over an eight-
frame. Mr. Horstmann would just as
lief have eight dollars in the bank as
ten dollars in the bank. There has
been a long discussion for years on
this subject. The eight-frame advo-
cates have stated that if you had an
enormous chamber like the ten-frame
hive, there would so much below that
there would not be so much above,
and it has been a controversy between
the eight and the ten-frame hive. Dr.
Miller says he would not have any-
thing but a sixteen -frame -hive. Now,
it resolves itself, in my mind, to this:
One great big colony with all the
push, and go, and spirit, there is in
It, is worth half a dozen weak ones,
and I think you will find that the
eight-frame hive, with our long, dis-
couraging' season, will not have the
push and go, because It seems that.
In the spring, bees can actually weigh
the honey they have. Suppose you
don't- interfere with the honey in the

brood-cihamber from the year before,
the ten-frame hive will have enough
to take them through seven months
and come out with enough honey to
encourage them. Dr. Miller says the
sixteen-frame hive is the same propo-
sition, twice eight. It is the same as
if you put them all on one story. The
idea is to get enough with the push
and go. You have got to figure on
our cold winters and long springs,
and the ordinary bee-keeper cannot do
it; but with a ten or sixteen-frame
hive the bees will attend to it, be-
cause they will have abundance of
room and abundance of honey.

Dr. Miller: I think we have talked
a good deal more than we know about
this. The question is, what would this
convention advise the beginner? One
would advise a ten-frame Langstroth
hive, another an eight-frame Langs-
troth hive, another would advise shal-
low hives, and another a hive larger
than a ten-frame Langstroth. Will
you kindly find out how many there
are who would advise those different
kinds?

President York: How many would
advise a beginner to use the ten-
frame Langstroth hive? (Four.) How
many would advise the eight-frarne
Langstroth hive? (One.) How many
would advise a shallow hive? (One.)
How many would advise a hive larger
than a ten-frame Langstroth? (One.)

Foul Brood Law in Illinois.

"Why have we no foul brood law in
Illinois?"

Mr. Smith: It is not because the
bee-keepers have not attempted to
have one passed, that is, those who
take an interest. For the last six
sessions of the Legislature I have
been on the floor of the Senate and
House both, and did all I could, and
at the last session it passed the Sen-
ate, and would have passed the House,
but it was lost (by one vote in the
House, and I suppose there were
some bee-keepers to blame for that,
but I would not say so, and I hope
that the next time we make an at-
tempt it will be successful.

Mr. Kimmey: May I ask Mr. Smith
what seems to be the trouble? What
arguments are used to oppose the pas-
sage of such a law?

Mr. Smith: There are numerous
things that come up. In the first place,
the Legislature was averse to creat-

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KLEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

111

ing any new appointive office for the
governor as a political factor, as they
claim all appointive officers are politi-
cal factors for the administration.
Again, there were some parties in the
committee that argued thus: "Well,
supposing you go around and burn up
those people's ibees that have foul
> rood, what are you going to do with
all those in the hollow trees? "Won't
they stay there? You cannot go out
there and hunt those up, and the bees
that have been cured will be attracted
there and the disease will be carried
to them."

Mr. Moore: Will you tell us why it
would necessarily be an appointive
office when it is not now with the
present law? Why would it be a
governor's appointment when it is not
now?

I>r. Bohrer: Are you appointed by
the State Association?

Mr. Smith: Our Act called for the
appointment by the governor.

President York: The Act that failed
to pass.

Mr. Smith: Yes. Now, we propose
to change it, so that upon the recom-
mendation of the Illinois State Bee-
Keepers' Association, the governor
shall appoint. Well, the governor might
appoint, would probably appoint, some
political friend. He might not appoint
a man that was competent, or that he
knew was competent for that purpose.
That was the objection they had.

Dr. Bohrer: Was your law formu-
lated so as to call for a State bee-
inspector that should be a competent
person, recommended by competent
bee-keepers?

Mr. Smith: It was supposed that
the State organization of bee-keepers
would not recommend a man who was
not competent. If the bee-keepers
have it in their hands, they will select
a man who is competent.

Dr. Bohrer: The law ought to make
that provision.

Mr. Smith: Then, again, there were
letters written to the members of the
House and Senate that it was a polit-
ical graft, that it was a personal graft,
and T don't know what all. I never
paid any attention to the letters, and
never read any of them.

Mr. Moore: By whom were the let-
ters written?

Mr. Smith: By some who claimed
that they were bee-keepers, and that it
was all unnecessary.

Mr. Wilcox: Perhaps our experience
in Wisconsin in getting a foul brood
law might be considered in connection
with this. Our law provided that the
inspector should be appointed uopn the
recommendation of the State Bee-
Keepers' Association. It stood that
way until in 1898 a committee of law-
yers, when they came to that law,
struck out the clause relating to the
recommendation, and left it that a foul
brood inspector should be appointed by
the governor, and the Legislature ap-
proved the revision as made by the
committee. Our foul brood inspector
has been appointed by the governor,
and we have always been successful
because we have had the same in-
spector first and last. ^

Dr. Miller: I doubt the wisdom of
our spending time on that point, be-
cause we have at the capital two men
who are thoroughly competent to do
all that can be done. I am speaking
now of the president and secretary of
the State Association. I believe they
will do all they can,- to secure such a
law, and I doubt if there is anything
we could offer that would be any ad-
vantage to them.

Mr. Moore: May be the president of
the Illinois State Association can give
us some advice as to how we can help
to get such a law.

Dr. Bohrer: We had a good deal of
trouble in Kansas, and when we tried
to get a bill through the Legislature
creating a State bee inspector, they
would not hear of it. It provided for
an appropriation that looked big to a
good many, to the members of the
Legislature. Then we formulated a
bill providing for the appointment by
the county commissioners of a county
bee inspector who should be recom-
mended by the bee-keepers of the
county, and he was to be paid by the
county treasurer, the same as any oth-
er county debt was to be paid, the
property to be assessed or taxed
through the county commissioners.
That way, we got it through.

Mr. Kimmey: I asked this question
because I wanted to know the argu-
ments for and against. I know a num-
ber of the members of the Legislature.
I know a good many of these fellows
who are raising a row down there now,
and I want to know what arguments
I may expect to meet if I have occa-^
sion to talk with these men.

Mr. Smith: If the members of this
Association that live in the State of

ii;

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

Illinois will ask their members of the
Legislature to vote for that bill, I will
guarantee you that it will pass. Now,
I will tell you that the information
against the law that went to the Legis-
lature came from this Association.
They objected to that bill — very sorry
it should happen.

Mr. Kluck: If the bee-keepers of
Illinois were a unit to have this foul
brood laAv, we would have it the first
session of the legislature; but we find
so many that don't care, so many that
don't know, and a few that don't want
it. That is the only thing to hinder.
If the bee-keepers would go to their
representatives and tell them that we
want such a law, we would have it.

Pres. York: That is the thing to do.

Telling the Honey Crop.

"What has the average bee-keeper
to gain by telling the public what his
crop is, and also by advising others to
engage in bee-keeping? What do we,
as an association, gain by advising be-
ginners to go into bee-keeping?"

Mr. Wheeler: I think that is a good
question. I think it is of vital import-
ance to this bee-keeping community
as to how they are to dispose of their
honey, what we are to do with the crop
after we get it. The woods are full of
honey and there is no apparent market
for it. The market is slow this year,
and I think it would be a wise thing
for this Association to spend an hour
in discussing the manner of selling
honey, rather than some other foolish
question.

Mr. Horstmann: I don't think there
is anything to gain by telling the pub-
lic what your crop is, because it isn't
the public's business what crop you
get. But I don't think any one should
be so selfish as to keep his business all
to himself. If any one wants' any in-
formation about bee-keeping, you
should give it to him. If any one asks
me if there is any profit in keeping
bees, I will answer him, and give him
all the information he wants, and will
not charge a cent. I don't think it
would hurt me if any one would start
next door.

Mr. Wilcox: I think that is a good
question. I may not agree with Mr.
Wheeler or Mr. Horstmann in their
conclusions. I am very positive in imy
own mind that it is an advantage to
all bee-keepers to tell what their crop
is. I will answer one question at a

time, because I wish to speak to the
point and nothing else. If no one told
what the crop was, how would you
know what price to ask for your
honey? If no one told what their crop
was, how would we know what the
honey crop of the country was, and
what the market ought to be? How
would we find out if nobody told? If
the bee-keepers w^ould keep it to them-
selves and never let us know what
their crops are, how could the market
establish prices? We cannot get in-
formation without giving it, because
each man gives to the other, and he
receives in return the same informa-
tion from him. It is the means of
maintaining steady prices. Without it
they could not be -maintained; the
trade could not be regulated; they
could not establish prices; they would
not know what the prices ought to be.
This fall I had to wait until I got re-
ports from various States before I
knew w^hat to ask for my honey, be-
fore I dared to offer it on the market.
Neither did I dare to buy. And it is
so with every dealer. He cannot know
what to ask for his honey until he
knows something about the crop of
the country.

Mr. Holbrook: Emphasize the word
"public," and it will change the whole
thirg.

Dr. Miller: It seems to me the ques-
tion as discussed so far is as to wheth-
er there is anything to gain or not;
and the question really is, what is
there to gain? This occurred to me:
The Agricultural Department of the
United States spends thousands of dol-
lars to get information in advance as
to the wheat crop, for instance, and
this Department is supposed to be in
the interest of the farmer, and that
knowledge is spread broadcast over
the land, as to what the wheat crop is.
They will tell you beforehand what the
prospect is when there is no crop, and
they will tell you what the prospect is
after the wheat has grown, and they-
will tell you about it when it is har-
vested. They make public all about it.
I don't know whether this applies to
the honey crop; but if not, it will per-
haps be a good thing to make public
the crop. Why is it not good to make
known the honey crop? I am not an-
swering the question.

Mr. Wilcox: It could not be made
public if the bee-keepers would not
tell it.

Mr. Kluck: I recall an incident of a.

ILLINOIS. STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

113

prominent bee-keeper of Freeport, 111.
He did not do anythijng' ' else but keep
bees, and had an early crop of honey.
He marketed some of that honey, and
had it inserted in the Freeport papers
that there was a tremendous crop of
honey. Honey dropped in ten days
from fifteen cents down to ten, on the
insertion of that one article that there
was an immense crop of honey in
Freeport.

Dr. Miller: Was there an immense
crop?

Mr. Kluck: No. It appeared so at
first, but it was not -so.

Mr. Holbrook: So you see where
the bee-keepers were who sold their
honey at ten cents!

Mr. Whitney: That was simply the
local market?

Mr. Kluck: That was the local
market.

Mr. Whitney: For instance, it did
not affect the Chicago market?

Mr. Kluck: No, sir.

Starting New Bee- Keepers.

"What . has the average bee-keeper
to gain by advising others to engage
in. the business? What do we, as an
Association, gain by advising beginners
to go into bee-keeping?"

Mr. Whitney: I am interested in
that because I have taught at least a
hundred people how to keep bees with-
in the last three years. They went
into it, but I guess they dropped out
of it in two or three years. But there
is this gained, it gives individuals an
opportunity to learn something about
bees and honey. The average indi-
vidual throughout the country, it seems
to me, is more ignorant in regard to
bees and honey than in regard to any
other subject. Some intelligent people
in Lake Geneva, Wis., have asked me
about the "king" bee. They know so
little about it, and there is satisfac-
tion gained, to say the least. I don't
think there is any injury to the honey-
producer to instruct people how to
keep bees.

Pres. York: Don't you think these
people who drop out of bee-keeping
learn to use honey, and will be honey
consumers afterwards?

Mr. Wilcox: What has Mr. Whit-
ney gained by teaching these people
about it?

Mr, Whitney: I sell them lots of

honey. I sold a colony of bees last fall
for $10.00.

Mr. ICimmey: It seems to me that
there is an intimation that there is
something to lose both by reporting
your crop and advising somebody else
to go into the business. In the one
case, if you let the public know how
much honey there is, the price may
drop. In the other case, there would
be more honey produced than there
would be sale for if a great many
people went into the business. I think
both suggestions are wrong. I would
ask, what is the honey- producer liable
to gain by advising other people to
go into the business. I would say that
I think he is liable to gain enemiesv
As I look over the five or six years I
have had some bees; and have observed
others who have started in the busi-
ness and fizzled out; it seems to me
that that is the last business I should
advise the ordinary man to undertake
as a business, just as a business. I
think I would say to him, "Go and
learn the plumbers' trade; be a car-
penter, clerk in a store, or even be a
lawyer!" Now, three or four years
ago we had a good honey crop, and it
looked to be a nice business. Next
year, I had to feed my bees nearly all
summer. The year 1907 was nothing
to brag of. This year has been a good
exception, and it strikes me, it is not
a business to advise any one to go
into. But, as I said before, as far as
letting the public know what your
crop of honey is, I think it is the thing
to do. The more information you have
in your mind and give to the world,
the better the' world is for it, and the
better you are for it, and the more
people engage in bee-keeping the bet-
ter price there will be for honey. Just
imagine that I am the only bee-keeper
in the world. Suppose any of you fel-
lows would buy honey from me? You
would say, "I like sugar better. I can
get sugar for five cents a pound, and
this is fifteen cents a pound." I be-
lieve the more honey there is produced,
and the more bee-keepers there are,
the more sale there will he for their
commodity. [ "

The convention then adjourned, till
9:30 the next day.

SECOND DAY — Morning Session.

The Convention met pursuant to ad-
journment, with the President, George
W. York, in the chair.

—8

114

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REI'OKT OF THE

The session opened by Dr. Miller
leading in prayer, as follows:

"Our Father and our God, we thank
Thee for the blessings that we have
enjoyed. We thank Thee for the en-
joyable time we had here yesterday.
Grant that we may make good use of
all that we have learned. We pray
that Thou wilt forgive anything that
has been amiss in our thoughts or our
words. Grant now to direct us this
day in all that is done. May we
realize that by Thy blessing we get all
that we get out of bee-keeping and all
our enjoyments in every way. Hear
us, bless us, we ask in Jesus' name.
Amen."

President York: We are glad to
have Dr. Miller with us. He was the
first and only President of the North-
western Bee-Keepers' Asociation many
years ago.

Two or More Queens in One Hive.

"Has any one kept two or more
queens in a hive at the same time,
and what was the result?"

Mr. Kluck: You can keep two or
more queens under certain conditions,
where all at once you will find one of
the queens missing.

Dr. Miller: Probably there is not
one here but that has had, at some time
or another, two queens in one hive.
Since we have clipped queens' wings,
we know more about some things, and
I suspect it is a very common thing
that the old queen will remain in the
hive for some time when the young
queen takes her place. It is an un-
usual thing to have anything but the
old queen and her daughter in a hive
together, but I did have in one case —
I think it was an accident — where two
got together that were, so far as I
knew, not related. That question pos-
sibly, however, refers to the Alexander
plan of having two queens in one hive.
You can get two queens in a hive that
are not related if you take two old
queens and introduce them at the same
time, when the flow of honey is on,
and you can perhaps get younger
queens. But it is a pretty hard thing
to get two queens that are not pretty
well along in years, or months at
]e?..st, to stay peaceably together in a
hive; and as to any practical use in it,
I very much doubt if there is any use in
it at all. There was a good deal of talk
about there being an advantage in it,
but I think there is not, unless you

could have two queens in a hive over
winter, but they will not do it. In the
spring, one or the other will be gone.
This has been advanced — that if you
can ihave two queens in a hive in the
spring you can build up the colony
twice as fast, and there is a distinct
gain in that. But the fact is that one
queen will lay all the eggs that it is
easy to take care of. I don't think
there is anything in .having two queens
in a hive, and I spent a lot of experi-
menting on it, too.

Mr. Taylor: Especially when one
queen will fill eighteen Langstroth
frames.

Mr. Dadant: I should very much
like to hear any bee-keepers Who have
had any experience in the -matter. I
have not tried it myself. I have seen
so many times swarms joined together
at the same time, and they got rid of
all the queens but one. I had no faith
in it to try it because I thought it was
a waste of time. I would like to know
if any one has tried it. I was looking
for Dr. Miller to make about such a
report. I have been watching the bee-
keepers' journals, both in Europe and
in this country; they have run away
with it. I see lately, one man trying 'it
and putting two queens together, and
he found eggs at both ends of the hive,
and concluded the two queens were
laying. But that would not be any
evidence to me. I believe there is a
great deal of imagination in the idea
that two queens can lay for a whole
summer, or even two or three months,
in a hive.

Mr. Taylor: W^hat beats me is how
there can possibly be any advantage.

Dr. Miller: The advantage I was
after was the having two queens in a
hive over winter, and that would be an
advantage if you got to that.

Mr. Taylor: What advantage would
there be in it?

Dr. Miller: There would be the ad-
vantage if I have two or three weak
colonies to unite in

Mr. Wilcox: To
queens in the spring?

Dr. Miller: Yes. Another advan-
tage, and a very important one, wa.s
that by having two queens in a hive
you did not have any swarm. I think
that got me rather more than the other
thing. Mr. Alexander said, where you
had two queens in a hive that kept
down swarming. j

the fall,
use the surplus

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

115

Mr. Taylor: It will not do so.

Maintaining Good Prices for Comb
Honey.

"Is it possible for bee-keepers to
maintain the good price of comb honey-
after such a crop as the last one?"

Mr. Dadant: I don't know who
asked that question, but I am one of
those who believe it can be done. Bee-
keepers should not go down town and
take what is ofCered to them, but set
a reasonable price on their honey and
stay with it. They will get their price,
if they will advertise it and drum it a
little as other people do their business.
We have never taken our honey to the
market and accepted the prices offered
until they were suitable. We have al-
ways got fairly good prices for our
honey. We ought not to ask exorbi-
tant prices. But I believe, if we stick
together, we can get good, fair prices.

Mr. Wilcox: Will the lowering of
the price of honey increase the con-
sumption of it? If it will not, we can
just as well maintain a fair price for
producing it; but if it is necessary to
lower it to increase the consumption,
then the natural laws may govern.

Mr. Taylor: If you lower it, the
jobbers will get the same price they
got before; the retailers v,'ill get the
same price, and the consumers pay
just as rnuch. Nobody is out hut you.

Mr. Wheeler: This is a question' of
vital importance to the bee-keeper,
more important than any other ques-
tion that has been discussed. I think
that the price of honey this year in
the wholesale markets on the street
is below the price of any other com-
modity that is TDeing consumed at the
present time, and it is simply by clog-
ging the market. Th'at clogging of the
market is caused by honey being
dumped in here, and people that
crowd in early think they will get a
good price, but they get simply what
the wholesale man has a mind to give.
The price varies all the way from ten
cents for the best comb honey.
A person can go in and buy
comb honey at any price they
have a mind to set on it, and
it demoralizes the price of honey.
I am around among the grocery men
all the time, and I keep in closer touch
with the trade than most of you, the
retailer and wholesaler, and all of you.
If Mr. Moore and I could have had the
control of the Chicago market, we

could have kept the price up, as it
ought to have heen. We kept it up
for a while, hut this honey in the mar-
ket finally swamped us. We could have
got a good price for honey the whole
year through if we could have con-
trolled it. Pork, eggs and all the
commodities are ibringing as much as
they did a year ago, and there is no
reason why the beautiful white clover
honey coming into Chicago should be
given away — no reason except that
these people dump their ihoney on the
market and take what is given.

Mr. Moore: Mr. Wheeler, tell what
you got for your first comb of honey
here.

Mr. Wheeler: Sixteen and seven-
teen cents a pound.

President York: From the grocer?

Mr. Wheeler: Yes, sir, right along
through September.

Mr. Moore: I got eighteen for the
first.

Mr. Wheeler: Now you have ihard
work to give it away.

Mr. Whitney: It seems to me one
way to secure better prices is to get
all the bee-keepers of o»r neighbor-
hood to join the bee-keepers' associa-
tion and attend a convention like this,
and hear people , talk about ways and
means to secure better prices. Now,
I know of a case up in Wisconsin
where a grocer told me last summer
that he had gone out into the country
and found a fine lot of clover honey at
ten cents a pound. The producer of
that honey took no bee-paper and be-
longed to no bee-keepers' organization,
,au,d was not posted. If we had all
these bee-keepers members of some
bee-keepers' association like this, and
they would take a good, live bee-paper,
there would not be any Comb honey
sold for ten cents a pound to the gro-
cers or anybody else. Now,^ I will
guarantee to add one extra member
to this association withiri the next
year, or I will pay his dollar at the
next meeting if I don't succeed in get-
ting him. I think that ■ is one of the
best ways that we can secure better
prices. We have talked about better
prices every time I have been here at
these conventions, and yet, if we have
a reasonable crop, the honey prices
are away down. Money has been pro-
vided to advertise, and yet we don't
get any better prices. The fact is,
that the ordinary bee-keeper is not
posted, and he needs to ibe educated.

116

KIGHTII ANNUAL. REPORT OP THE

Mr. "Wheeler: Let me speak of one
thing in connection with what I said;
that is, that the retail price of honey
changes very slowly. It does not
change with the wholesale grocer. The
honey I sold last year for nineteen
and twenty cents a pound, the grocer
got twenty-five cents a pound for.
Some I know are retailing their honeij-
at twenty-five cents, and are buying
from me five cents cheaper. They do
not change their price. And there Is
a great deal of harm done by these
wholesale houses sending out postal
cards or posters telling people to hurry
their honey in and get the top market
price. You know they get that honey,
and then the bee-keepers wait and
wait for their returns. You all know
how the returns come in after they
get hold of the honey. That goes onto
the market at any price the grocery-
man has a mind to offer. There does
not seem to be any stable price for
honey in the wholesale market. They
will size a man up, and get what they
can out of him for it.

Dr. Miller: The view that ■ Mr.
"Whitney gives us is a good one, and
at the same time the incidents that I
have in mind show that it is not en-
tirely reliable. I have in mind a man
who I suppose takes the bee-papers.
He was sent as a delegate to the State
Convention for his local society, and
a grocer told me that he had bought
honey from him at ten cents a pound
this year.

Mr. Moore: Comb honey?

TDr. Miller: Comb honey, he bought
at ten cents a pound. The thing that
Mr. Wheeler mentioned is really the
thing that ought to trouble us, and I
don't see the remedy — don't see the
way out. "When honey goes away
down, and the producer will sell it,
as that man did, at ten cents a pound,
then you go into a grocery store here
in Chicago. I went into one and
asked the price of honey, and they told
me it w^as twenty-five cents a section,
which would be about twenty-seven
cents a pound. For them to sell for
twenty- seven cents what the producer
gets ten cents for, seems to show that
the consumer and the producer are not
getting their fair share of the deal,
and I don't know the remedy.

Mr. Moore: Just one word. I want
to say that the condition of the market
last year helped us on this year's sales.
Honey was scarce last year. I paid
twenty cents a pound for white clover

honey to sell again. The stores were
selling white clover honey for thirty
cents a pound.

Br. Miller: "What time of the year?

Mr. Moore: The latter end of the
season last year.

Dr. Miller: In-4he fall?

Mr. Moore: No, in the spring.
Fancy white clover comb honey is not
on the market after the first of April;
from April to July there is very little,
and at that time the price soars up,
where they insist upon having that
grade of honey. Being scarce last year
helped us greatly. I was to get a
couple of tons of honey from a bee-
keeper in Iowa. I had no trouble in
getting eighteen cents a pound for it.
They remembered they had paid twen-
ty and twenty-two not very long be-
fore. About two weeks after that I
got a second shipment. By that time
the wholesalers were getting five
hundred or a thousand pounds, and it
was a case of get rid of it at any
old price, and I couldn't get sixteen
cents as easily as I got eighteen.

Mr. Baxter: Mr. "Whitney's sugges-
tion was a very good one, but it won't
work, because the people, as a mass,
won't attend these conventions. There
is only one way for the members of
an association, and that is for each
one to make himself a committee of
one and sell as much as he can in his
home market, direct to the consumers
or through the merchants, at fair
prices, and educate the people to use
it and to pay a fair price for it. Then
you will get fair prices. But so long
as you dump everything into one mar-
ket like Chicago, it will be the same
with the honey business as with the
fruit business, and you will get noth-
ing for the honey. The demoralization
of the market here will demoralize the
market all over the country.

Mr. Wilcox: I was about to say the
same thing as Mr. Baxter has, and it
was that that led me to become a
dealer. My neighbors were selling
their honey so cheap, and they were
laughing at me. I turned around and
bought all the cheap honey, and I had
to sell it, and I sold it to the people in
the Western States for family use,
and to retail grocers at a fair price,
and I have continued year after year.
Even this year they came to me to
to buy their honey because they
couldn't sell it in the city markets at
the price they had formerly sold it.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

117

I told them I would buy It if they
wanted to sell it at the present prices.
I told tihem if they would wait a
month or so, they would get more. I
bought all that they insisted on sell-
ing, but some of it they kept and sold
for more later on.

Mr. Taylor: I think that that is
the only practical solution. I think
that if bee-keepers who attend con-
ventions even would make a point of
selling their honey at home, which
they migiht do, most of them, at least,
they could make honey scarce, even
in . such a year as this, in these large
cities. We don't know the capacity
that there is for the consumption of
honey right about us, in our own little
towns. If we would make it a point
to canvass the neighborhood, we would
find almost everywhere people w^ho
wanted honey. It takes but a little
work by an individual to dispose of
quite a large crop.

Dumping Honey on City Markets.

"Can the small ibee-men be per-
suaded not to dump their crops into
the large commission centers, demoral-
izing the market?"

Mr. Kluck: I don't believe the small
bee-keeper that does not read a bee-
paper can be persuaded not to dump
his honey on the market. That is the
man we have to contend with. "When
he has two or three hundred pounds,
he thinks he has a lot, and !he has to
haul it to the market. If he is offered
ten cents, or even nine, he will take
the nine or ten cents before he will
haul it home; and it is hard to edu-
cate a man who does not take a bee-
paper. What Mr. Wheeler says about
selling ho-ney for ten cents to grocers
in this city, I think I know wlho the
man is; he perhaps belongs to our
convention. He got eighteen and nine-
teen cents for his comb honey the
first shipment last year. The next
time he got seventeen or eighteen.
Then he waited until winter time, and
shipped a whole lot of shipping cases
separately and loose, and when they
got to Chicago they simply mashed
$60.00 worth of honey for him, and
made him so that he was ready to
take almost any price, so that he
would not lose. It is a hard matter
to educate all bee-keepers. I have in
mind a lady who had trouble with her
bees. She had melted up the beeswax.
She went to the druggist I had al-
ways sold my beeswax to, and said

s'he had a lot of beeswax that she
wanted to dispose of. She said: "I
think I ought to have eight cents a
pound for it," and he had always paid
twenty-five cents. He said: 'T will
do better than that; I will give you
ten cents for it!" Think of that!

Mr. iHolbrook: Along the line of
increasing sales in the neighborhood,
as Mr. Taylor mentioned, if I recall
rightly, I have read that Mr. France,
Wlho lives in the little town of Platte-
ville. Wis., had disposed of twenty
thousands pounds of extracted honey
per year; that is ten pounds for every
man, woman and child in town. I am
quite certain I am right in the figures.
That will give one an idea of what:
can be done in the neighborhood by
keeping at it. There are plenty of
people in Chicago' who don't use ten
pounds of honey a year.

Mr. Kluck: They have a Normal
school at Platteville, Wis., and those
students come from all over the
State, and are trying to board them-
selves. That is where the big sale of
h'oney comes from.

Mr. Wheeler: I don't know to w.hom
it is sold.

Mr. Whitney: What has been said
in regard to the increasing of sales,
or the price for honey, seems to in-
dicate that individuals in the neigh-
borhood should keep their ignorant
bee-keepers posted as to what honey
is worth, lor else buy it. It seems to
me that if two or three enterprising
men in each locality wihere honey is
produced will club together and buy
that honey, as has been suggested,
here is really a solution of the ques-
tion of prices. Now, it does seem
strange that anybody who produces
good oomb honey should sell it for ten,
twelve or fourteen cents, or any such
low prices for comb honey. I cannot
understand w^hy they do it. It is
simply because they are ignorant of
the price, and need educating, and a
good bee-paper or an association like
this will educate. It suggests to my
mind the foundation of a trust to con-
trol the honey market, so that we can
maintain prices like other associa-
tions we could mention. It might not
be in accordance with the laws, per-
haps. How about the Colorado Honey-
Producers' Association? T>o they
maintain prices there through their
association, I wonder? Why would it
not be feasible to organize something
of that kind to maintain prices?

-' -i ■

118

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

Mr. Taylor: We have not enough
John D. Rockefellers!

Mr. Baxter: I think it is feasible,
but it has to be dione in a systematic
way, and you have to use methods
that are not the kind of methods bee-
keepers would use. Tou would have
to organize like the tobacco people in
Kentucky, and bee-keepers won'i
come to that. But I know a great
deal depends upon individuals. If in-
dividuals in their own localities, now,
say the people of this convention, go
home and determine to educate the
bee-keepers, and to see that no honey
is sold in their home market at a ri-
diculously low price, they may do it.
Take our home town. There are
three bee-keepers, and no one 'Of us
undersells another. You can go to any
of the other bee-keepers, and they will
not undersell me. The barber, who
makes a side-issue of keeping bees,
will sell his small lot, ten, twenty or
a hundred pounds, and we cannot
control the price unless we buy it.
There is no use trying to educate
him; but the regular bee-keeper, that
depends upon his profit for a liveli-
hood, more or less, that man you can
educate. If you will go to work and
labor with those in your home market,
and club together and push the sale
of your honey, you will have no
trouble in disposing of tons upon tons
of it that will never come to these
cities that do come now.

Getting Queens Fertilized.

"What conditions are necessary to
have queens fertilized from an iapper
story, with an old queen in lower
story, and with excluder between
them?"

President York: How many have
succeeded in getting queens fertilized
from an upper story, with the olfl
queen in the lower story, and with an
excluder between them? (Four.)

Mr. Stanley: It can be done under
conditions, by having a queen-ex-
cluder between the two colonies and
having partitions in, and having the
entrances on the side of the hive. In
that way it can be done; two or more
queens can be fertilized.

Mr. Taylor: If you have as many
bees as you want when a swarm is-
sues, if you hive the swarm upon the
old stand and shake out some lof the
bees from the old hive, then put a
queen-excluder upon a weak colony.

that needs some strength in it, and
set the old hive with the queen -cells
in it upon the top of the queen-ex-
'cluder, and put the cover on with a
nail or something under it, raising it
sufficiently for the bees to pass in and
out, you will get a fertilized queen
there in due season.

Mr. Wilcox: I have had success in
a number of instances, but in every
instance, so far as I can recollect at
the present time, the queen issued
from the bottom story, with the queen-
excluder on the top of the first. In
that case, where we extract from
combs containing brood, and set them
on the ti»p, with a three-story hive,
they do pass out at the upper story,
and become mated in both the first
and third stories.

Mr. Wheeler: I would like to ask
Mr. Taylor what the object is in set-
ting the hive over the weak colony.

Mr. Taylor: All the object I had
was that I had bees enough, and did
not want to increase, ibut strengthen,
the colany upon which the brood was
placed. The result was, without any
intention on my part, while the cover
was sufficiently loose, I had a laying
queen in the upper story as well a^
the under.

Dr. Miller: So far as I know, I had
a case of that kind, the first that was
on record. I don't know how many
years ago that was. I had some
combs that I wanted the bees to take
care •of, and over a colony I placed
three stories of empty combs, and in
the upper story I put a frame of
brood, so that I could feel sure that
the swarms would not occupy the up-
per stories, and have the bees pass up
and down. Some time afterward, I
went to take off that upper story —
quite a while afterward — and was sur-
prised to find a laying queen there.
That brood-comb was occupied, and
the bees, being so far away from the
others, started their cells, and there
was a hole above. I don't know how
that hole happened to get there; but
at any rate that queen had gone out
and been fertilized, and I had a lay-
ing queen there. There was no ex-
cluder above. I have some times
reared queens in a lower story, having
no excluder, but a close cover, so that
the bees did not readily pass from one
story to another, but I have had them
reared in the upper story. But as
to putting the thing to practical use,
I have not been a success, and as to

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

119

having a queen reared and fertilized
over another with a laying- queen, with
me that is not a success.

Mr. Wheeler: Have you tried it?

Dr. Miller: Yes; I have tried it in
late years. After having that case so
many years ago, I thought it was *a
fine thing; but I cannot succeed now.
I think Mr. Doolittle mentions that in
his book. There are so many failures
about it.

Mr. Wheeler: Even with a queen-
excluder?

Dr. Miller: Yes, even with a queen -
excluder,

Mr. Whitney: Do you know ihow
old the old queen was in that hive?

Dr. Miller: I don't know. That
might make a very decided difference,
A very young queen below would en-
courage an old queen above. In any
case, I think it was entirely separate
from the other; I don't believe that
young queen went down. I don't know
the age of the queen, and that may
have much to do with it.

Mr. Wheeler: If the honey-flow
ceased before the young queen was
mated, there wo'Uld be danger of her
killing the old queen also.

Early Blooming of Yellow Sweet
Clover.

"How much earlier will the yellow
sweet clover bloom than the white
sweet clover?"

Dr. Miller: In my locality, three
weeks. I think it is generally claimed
two weeks, but this year there was a
difference of three weeks.

President York: The yellow usually
blooms three weeks earlier than the
white, I» believe.

Mr. Kannenberg: I find, in our lo-
cality here, it blooms four weeks earlier
than the white clover. We tried it
last year, and the yellow clover was
four weeks earlier.

Mummified Lizard.

President York then read a letter
from C, T, Wise, of Acton, Calif,, as
follows:

"I send you iby today's mail (under
separate cover) a small California
lizard, or 'swift,' that I found 'mum-
mified' in one of my colonies of bees.
The little animal had evidently en-
tered the hive at the front and run to
the rear of the hive, where it had toeen
killed by the bees, and then so en-

cased in propolis as to preserve it in
its present condition.

"It was somewhat of a curiosity to
me, so I thought it might 'be inter-
esting to you. I trust it will reach you
all right. C. T. WISE."

Preventing Swarming With Young
Queens.

"Can we prevent swarming by giv-
ing young queens?"

President York: How many have
succeeded at it? (No hands were
raised.)

Dr. Miller: I don't know whether to
raise my hand for that or not. If you
get a colony to rear a ycung queen by
taking the old queen away, it is prac-
tically certain that that colony will
not swarm that season.

Mr. Whitney: Unless they rear two.
Dr. Miller: O, j^es; you might have
• what would be practically a second
swarm by rearing two. I will put it
this way: If you succeed in having a
colony rear a young queen, and that
queen gets to laying, after she gets
to laying you are safe from any
swarming. If there were two or three
young queens reared, you would be
pretty sure to have swarming. I
thing Mr. Hutchinson did practice get-
ting young queens from the South and
introducing them early, and he felt
safe from swarming by doing so. Is
that not right, Mr. Taylor?
Mr. Taylor: I think so.
Dr. Miller: I think that it is. Now,
■with me that will not succeed. If I
havg a young queen and introduce her
early in the season, as I did, I can
count on swarming pretty certainly;
but if the young queen is reared in the
hive, in that case there would be no
laying for some time, usually about
ten days. That seems to make a dif-
ference. Gravenhorst, an eminent
German authority, gave that as a fact
a good many years ago, that where a
colony reared a young queen, that made
the colony immune to swarming. But
I did have this year, I am sorry to
say, two colonies swarm which had
reared a young queen in their own
hives. But it was an exceedingly bad
season for swarming. As a rule, I
would count it a safe thing, if you
take away a queen from a colony, give
it a queen -cell, and let them rear a
queen, that colony will not swarm.
I think it would be safe ninety-nine
times out of a hundred.

120

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

Mr. Wilcox: You said there would
be no laying for about ten days after
the removal of the old queen. Of
course, you know.

Dr. Miller: Would there be?

Mr. Wilcox: There would not be
for twenty days, and if you have no
queen for twenty days you will lose
more bees than a swarm.

Dr. Miller: If you have conditions
such that there will be no laying for
ten days — for instance, if you take
away the old queen and introduce a
virgin, I think that would make the
thing safe enough. In that case you
w^ould have no laying for about ten
days. I know a little about bees, and
.''ome times my figures get wrong.

Mr. Baxter: Would not that depend
a great deal upon circumstances and
conditions? That will apply very well
to producing extracted honey, but not
so well to producing comb honey, and
especially in producing comb honey
if the season happens to be a prosper-
ous one, a liberal flow and a long flow.
It depends upon conditions.

Dr. Miller: I am talking altogether
about comb honey.

Mr. "Wheeler: I have been through
a good deal in that way. Some years
I have found that introducing a young
queen would work finely. Next year it
would work just the opposite way —
would not have any effect at all. I
think the season and the condition of
the bees has everything to do wnth it.
I am afraid that when some of you
start In next spring, take out your
old queens and put in young ones,
you will rue the day you ever heard
anything said a.bout it. It might work
all right next year. It seems to me it
is a dangerous thing to do.

Mr. Dadant: I would like to ask
Dr. Miller a question. Isn't it a fact
that if , you rear a young queen about
the beginning of the . swarm season,
and take the old queen out, and rear a
young queen in the hive when the
bees might make preparations for
swarming, it will insure their swarm-
ing instead of preventing it?

Dr. Miller: In other words, this:
Take a strong colony that perhaps
ihave no notion of swarming at all,
and would have no notion of swarm-
ing if you let it alone, take its queen
away, and you are practically certain
it will swarm.

Mr. Dadant: I think that, in con-
sidering this matter of young queens

and what will prevent swarming when
we have young queens, we should find
out the reason why colonies with
young queens will not swarm; what is
the reason they will be less inclined
to swarm with young queens than
with old ones. There are, in my
rnind, two reasons. One of them is
that an old queen is likely to be su-
perseded, and as it is at the time of
the heaviest work, so that in trying to
replace that queen toy a young one at
, the time of swarming, they are in-
duced to swarm. Another reason
which causes the bees to swarm
when thiey have an old queen is that
an old queen lays drone-eggs more
readily than a young queen. All those
who -have experience in the matter
will acknowledge that a young queen
is much more ready to lay all worker-
eggs than an old queen. She enjoys
laying, and enjoys laying worker-
eggs. The queen that lays drone-eggs
is tired of laying, or when the drone-
cells are in her way she cannot avoid
it. The presence of drones is a great
incentive to swarming. They are
bulkj', lazy, and keep the hive too
warm, and all those things tend to
swarming. For that reason, I believe,
the young queens, if in the ihive early
in the season, will tend to prevent
swarming, while the old queens will
tend to incite swarming. But there
are other causes. If your hive is too
much crowded, but your queen is
young, the bees will have a tendency
to swarm. If your hive is in the sun;
if your hive is too full; all those
causes will make your bees swarm. It
does not make any difference if you
have a young queen, if the conditions
are such as to incite swarming, you
probably will have swarms anyway,
and I think the main thing is, in se-
curing non-swarming bees with a
young queen, to have all things favor-
able—plenty of room, plenty of ven-
tilation, and plenty of shade.

Dr. Miller: In corroboration of that
view, let me give you one instance.
I had a colony, but I cannot recall
now — for it was years ago — whether
they had swarmed or not, but I think
they had swarmed. At any rate, they
had made full preparations for swarm-
ing, and I took away their old queen
and introduced a young queen that
had been laying not more than three
or four days, and within two days the
colony swarmed with that young
queen.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS" ASSOCIATION

121

President York: I should like to
have the Resolution Committee meet,
so as to report before noon. In place
•of Mr. Kimmey on the Resolution
Oommittee, I will substitute Mr. Bax-
ter, so tjie committee will be Dr. Mil-
ler, Mr. Baxter and Mr. Kluck.

Dr. Miller: I don't like to do any-
shirking, but if ypu can put some one
else on that committee in my place,
I will take it as i great favor.

President York: I will name Mr.
Taylor in place of Dr. Miller.

Mr. Taylor: Take me ofC.
President York: I will let it stand,
Mr. Taylor, Mr. Baxter and Mr. Kluck.

(Recess.)

President York: We will first (have
the report of the Resolution Commit-
tee. Mr. Baxter will read the report:

Mr. Baxter then read a resolution on
the foul brood law.

Park Ridge, Cook County, III.,
March 24, 1909.

To the Honorable, the Members of the
Senate and- House of Representatives
of the State of Illinois:

Dear Sirs: —

The following is a copy of a resolu-
tion almost unanimously adopted at the
regular annual meeting of the Chicago-
Northwestern Bee -Keepers' Associa-
tion, held at Chicago. 111., December
2d and 3d, A. D. 1908:

Whereas, A certain disease of bees
called "foul brood" is widespread and
virulent in the State of Illinois; and.

Whereas, At present no law's are in
effect in Illinois upon this subject; and,

Whereas, Bee-keepers everywhere
are almost unanimous as to the press-
ing necessity for such legislation, com-
monly called "Foul Brood Laws;" and,

Whereas, A large number of the
States have passed such "Foul Brood
Laws;" therefore,

Resolved, That the Chicago-North-
western Bee-Keepers' Association in
Convention assembled, does hereby pe-
tition the Legislature of the State of
Illinois to place upon the statute books
in State of Illinois certain laws about
the suppression of a bee-disease called
"foul brood," similar to the Wisconsin
law^ about bee-diseases; and.

Resolved, That the attitude of cer-
tain bee-keepers in opposing such leg-
islation is a mistaken attitude, and

that such bee-keepers are not repre-
sentative of the bee-keeping industry,
but represent only themselves.

GEORGE "W. YORK,
- President.

HERMAN F. MOORE,
Secretary and Treasurer.

President York: You have all heard
the reading of the resolution formu-
lated by the Resolution Committee.
What will you do with it?

Mr. Baxter: I move its adoption.

The motion was seconded.

Mr. Reynolds: In regard to writing
those letters, I wrote letters to the
Legislature to stop the foul brood law,
and will do it again until I know^ the
contents 'Of the foul brood law that it
is proposed to pass. The foul brood
law you tried to pass before had a
clause in it for the inspectoi* to give
notice twenty-four hours, giving him
authority to burn if it was not done
within twenty-four hours. If I was
short of supplies, I could not get my
supplies in less than ten days; A
foul brood law' should give any one
plenty of time to clean up, provided he
is willing to do so. Until I know- w.hat
the foul brood law is, I wall object to it.

Mr. Smith: I think the gentleman's
objection is well taken. That ques-
tion was gone over, and it was sug-
gested that the inspector, if he should
call at a certain place where there was
foul brood, would be put to great ex-
pense to come back again in ten days,
and that form of notice of tw-enty-four
hours was so that he could remain on
the ground with little expense; but if
there is any objection to it on the
part of the bee-keepers, we don't want
it that way. We don't want to do
anything that is arbitrary. If any
bee-keeper signifies his w-illingness to
clean up as soon as he can get sup-
plies, if he should not have the sup-
plies on hand necessary to change his
bees. I don't think there is any ob-
jection. Let it be ten days. We don't
want this law to be a loss to any one.

Mr. Reynolds: Why does that res-
olution read "stringent"?

Mr. Smith: As far as I know,
"stringent" means that it gives au-
thority.

Mr. Taylor: Now% this fixing a
time — I think that is a great mistake.
It isn't necessary to put twenty-four
hours, or even ten days. I don't *
think any bee-keeper ought to be re-

?5S

122

felGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

quired to change his bees within ten
days. The conditions are often such
that it isn't advisable. I was called,
for instance, to examine an apiary for
foul brood. It was during the hot
weather in September. It was about
all I could do at home to keep my
own bees straight. Everything was
dried up, and if the flow came at all
less than an average of ibees were
after it. I had to watch them. It
would be manifestly unwise to under-
take to examine l3ees for foul brood
under such conditions, and such con-
ditions might last for a month. Any
bee-keeper ought to have considerable
leeway. With regard to the time
when a man operates upon his bees,
if he does it within the season, within
the year, it seems to me that would
answer all requirements so far as the
prevention of foul brood was con-
cerned.

Mr. Whitney: Isn't the proper place
to argue this question of what sort of
law you will have, before the com-
mittee who has charge of a bill for a
foul brood law, instead of arguing that
question here in convention? We
simply want a resolution that we shall
have a suitable, sufficiently stringent
law to control this matter of foul
brood. The question of what sort of
a law we will have might be consid-
ered at Springfield, it seems to me,
before the committee, and not here.
•We cannot thrash that question out
here if we stayed here until Dooms-
day.

Mr. Wheeler: It seems to me that
we ought to know what we are favor-
ing. All we can tell about what sort
of a law we are favoring is by what
they have done before. We know what
they have tried to get through in
Springfield for six years. We know
what has been done, and we don't
favor any such manipulation .of the
industry of ibee-keeping in Illinois. I,
for one, am opposed to it. I believe
the bee-keepers themselves are the
ones that can take care of their own
business, and they will do it. Tlhey
read and know. There may 'be a few
people that need instruction. Now,
there has been a law on the statutes;
there has been money appropriated for
that purpose, and Mr. Smith has been
acting as the inspector. He has had
the right, and got his pay for going
around and instructing people what to
do with tiheir bees. It is a good thing
where they need help. I have money

invested, and I don't propose to have
a man come into my yard and tell
me what I shall do, and I defy any
man to come in there and find a
thing wrong witji those bees. What I
am aiming for lis the best interests of
the bee-keepers. I have no ax to
grind; nothing whatever. If a good,
honest man comes into my yard at
any time, ihe is perfectly free to do
anything he pleases. At the same
time, the bee-keeping industry is in
great danger. The State law that we
had before is plenty ample. Every in-
dustry and every bee-keeper has to
take care 'Of it himself. I was talking
with Mr. Taylor about the inspection
in Michigan. What does it amount to?
Just as bad as it ever was. He can-
not inspect, because he has not the
money appropriated to do it. If he
had lots of money appropriated, he
could not do the business. If
he was :hankering for a job, he
could do it, but Ihe has his own busi-
ness to do. After you have summed it
all up, you cannot exterminate the
disease, and I know it. There are
imen in this room who know it. You
can make a bluff at it, and after it
breaks out again in a year or two,
you can say, some neighbor has it.
There is no such thing as exterminating
it; it will break out every two or
three years. The only way to do is
to keep your .premises clean and keep
the disease out, and every man can
do it himself better than another man
can come along and say, you do this
and that. We don't want a man to
go around with authority and step
into our business and knock us around
by making some silly report, and say-
ing we have foul brood, and some
competitor pick it up and knock us
out of business. That is not right.
We have got to take care of our af-
fairs. Bee-keepers are American cit-
izens, and know what to do, and what
not to do.

Mr. .Whitney: We want the privi-
lege of attending to our own business,
and we know how to run our bee-
keeping, and we don't want to be in-
terfered with by any officers? How
about the people who own the herds
that are afflicted now with tuberculo-
sis and 'Other diseases in the moun-
tains? How about tlhat class of men
who have thousands of dollars in-
vested? Only a few days ago several
herds in New York State were abso-
lutely destroyed. And so it is with all
of these contagious diseases among

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

123

animals in our country; and ,the only
safe thing to do is to have some one
who has authority and can compel ac-
tion. It is so with the foul brood
disease among- bees.

Mr. Reynolds: Should we not ba
compensated for what is destroyed?

Mr. Taylor: That would depend en-
tirely upon the law.

Mr. Reynolds: That" is wihat we
want in that law.

Mr. Whitney: Then giO' to Spring-
field and see if you can get it. You
cannot.

Mr. Smith: Whenever I hear a man
opposed to a foul brood law, I am
pretty sure his bees have got it, and
he is afraid he is going to have his
bees interefered with just at the busy
season; but that doesn't make any
difference.

Dr. Miller: I don't care now to dis-
cuss the matter, but to ask if the Pres-
ident will ask those of other States
present, who have foul brood laws,
whether it is considered by the bee-
keepers as a good thing or a bad
thing.

President York: I will call Mr.
Wilcox from Wisconsin.

Mr. Wiloox: We have a foul brood
■law, and we think it is so nearly per-
fect that we don't wish any change.
It is effective for the purpose of pre-
vention, and it is satisfactory, so far
as I can learn, to all the hee-keepers
of the State. When we first attempted
to put it into operation tihere was
some trouble. A bee-keeper or two
had foul brood. Their • ibees had all
died. They wished their neighbors to
share the same thing. They placed
their combs upon the fences, in the
limbs of the trees, spread them
around the yard; and Mr. France no-
tified them they must take care of
tftiem immediately; they must not ex-
pose their neighbors' bees to the dan-
ger. They ordered him ofE the prem-
ises, and said that they would do as
they pleased. He then read to them
the law requiring them to take care of
their own foul 'brood, and the penalty
for exposing their neighbors to the
danger. In a little time they sub-
mitted, and since t'hen there has been
no further trouble. Now they invite
him to come, and notify him of every
case. There is no man in Wisconsin
who objects to having his bees ex-
amined if they have foul brood.
Further, they have never burnt any,

that has come to my knowledge — none
that has ever been reported. Mr.
France goes there, and if they don't
know ttiow, arid can't take care of
their own, he saves their hives, their
combs and their beeswax. He de-
stroys only the honey. It is satis-
factory in every respect. As to this
provision that was referred to in re-
lation to compensation, that has been
discussed in our State, and was when
we were framing the foul brood law,
and we reached this conclusion, that
we would say nothing about it. Why?
How much is a foul-broody colony
worth? Can any of you stop and
think a minute? It has it so badly
that it needs to be destroyed. The
hive can be saved; the frames cari be
saved, and the beeswax can be saved.
How much damage should you pay
for the diseased comb? When we
came to reason upon it in that way,
we concluded to say nothing about it.
It is true, the veterinary law of Wis-
consin provides compensation for cat-
tle slaughtered. Those having tuber-
culosis are allowed a price not ex-
ceeding $50.00 for co.ws, and so on
with other animals. We don't wash
it for our bees; and the bee-keepers
are willing to take hold of it and learn
to handle it. It has been a success.
Mr. Wheeler says it will break out
again. Five years ago Mr. France
came within ten miles of me and
cleaned out over a dozen apiaries of
foul brood, and there has never been
a case since in the vicinity; and I
believe, therefore, that it can be to-
tally eradicated. I believe this is a
wise move, and that you will all be
benefited, by it, and that I will be ben-
efited hy it if I ever buy any queens
or honey from Illinois. I said to the
members of the Legislature that we
were selling from one State to an-
other, and it was necessary, in order
to obtain good prices, that we should
sell a good, pure article, and not any-
thing that had any infectious disease.
We are pleased with it.

President York: The States 'have
been called for. We ought to hear
from Michigan, if Mr. Taylor wishes
to say anything.

Mr. Taylor: Yes, we have a law in
our State, and it is very satisfactory
among bee-keepers. Bee-keepers who
find they have foul brood are almost
universally anxious to have the in-
spector come and examine the bees,
and to direct them how to get rid of

124

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

it. Our law provides that in case hees
that have foul brood are not properly
dealt with and the disease driven out,
they may <he destroyed, but a reas-
onable time is given. No particular
time is fixed in the law, and it de-
^!j>ends somewhat upon the character
i/ot the inspector. Now, any law may
. / be aibused if the person executing it
/ is unreasonable, and if he is domi-
' neering; and that is one thing that
ought to be looked to, that such an in-
spector be selected as will be reasona-
ble, a man who is capable of sjTnpa-
thizing with those he deals with and of
getting their good will. There is no
great difficulty for any one who is rea-
sonable, in going among bee-keepers,
to find every bee-keeper who has foul
brood, or who was suspected of having
it, willing that their bees should be
inspected, and that they should be
aided in getting rid of the disease. The
laTV is very useful in a good many cases.
Of course, the. law, as the Scripture
says, is made for evil doers, not those
who do well. People who are well-
informed who have bees, and who un-
derstand what foul brood is, can man-
age their bees so as to prevent any
danger from its spread. For instance,
I was called a year ago to Saginaw
county. There were bee-keepers there
who had discovered that they had foul
brood. A prominent bee-keeper there
had a large apiary, and he discovered
he had foul brood, and he hastily
broke up stakes, and scattered the
hives, and sold his bees throughout the
country, and the country was full of
foul brood. People were anxious to have
me come and help them to get rid of
it. The first apiary I went to, the man
had some twenty-eight colonies of
■ bees. There were twenty- one or
twenty-three of those colonies dis-
eased, and he hurried around and cured
those bees as soon as he could. It was
getting along toward fall, but he sub-
stituted foundation for the combs, and
when I came around again, two or
three weeks afterwards, his bees were
all in nice shape, the foundation was
worked out, and the combs were full
of brood. From him I went to a
lirother of his who had about the same
number of bees. I found him anxious
to have his bees examined. He had
them under a shed where it was al-
most impossible to get to them. Two
or three persons who were interested
accompanied me to his place, and he
was there, bare-footed, and he pitched
in, and when the bees got onto his

legs, he would run and rub them, and
get on the other side of the hotise.
I Vvcnt through his hives and found
only two diseased colonies. He said he
would attend to them. I went to the
next place, two or three attending me
in the carriage. This man trotted on
behind and held onto the back of the
carriage. He said, "Ain't I lucky?
Only two foul brood colonies." He
went home that night, and dug a hole,
and put the diseased ones in it, and
covered them up. That was the way I
was received. One other place they
were all diseased, and they destroyed
them at once. Such communities,
where they are ignorant of what foul
brood is, and yet take an interest in
bees, and where it is a good locality
for honey, and they find that the busi-
ness is profitable, they are more than
anxious that you should come and ex-
amine their bees and help them to get
rid of the disease. And of course it is
a great benefit. It not only helps
them, but it helps all bee-keepers
everywhere in the neighborhood.

Mr. Kannenberg: I don't see why
any brother bee-keepers are against this
foul brood law anywhere. I will tell
you a little story. In my neighborhood
we had a man who went into the bee
business, and he did not know any-
thing about it. He bought" one hun-
dred and twenty-five colonies wherever
he could buy them, and he said, "I
have got books and know how to
handle the bees." He went to work
and hired a man who knew a little
about bees, and paid him $75.00 a
month to handle his bees. He was
teller in a national bank here in Chi-
cago, and earned $150.00 a month. He
said, "I will handle those bees and
make -money on it, and give up my
job after this year." So he did. Even-
ings he used to come home; he went
to work and tore them up, and worked
until twelve o'clock on his bees. What
did he know about his bees when he
tried to work them in the night? To-
day, what has he got? Two colonies.
That man was ignorant. If a foul
brood law had existed, and the inspec-
tor had come and examined his bees
and knew that he had foul brood, that
man could have been persuaded to say,
"I will fix my bees over, but I don't
know how." But if an inspector had
got around there and fixed those bees
up, my neighbor and I would not have
had the foul brood. I am glad to say,
I have got my foul brood cleaned up
now, and I will start in new. But

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

125

now if that had not occurred, if we
had had a law at that time, I would
not have had the foul brood. I don't
see how any of those who claim to
be bee-keepers can say, "We don't
want a foul brood law."

Wr. Whitmore: I am not a member of
this Convention, but here is a good
place, I think, to give a little word.
By profession I am a veterinarian. We
have the same laws existing for gland- .
ers and all of those contagious dis-
eases, and when we come to a man
who has got the trouble, he is the
man to fight the trouble, instead of ;
trying to lend a hand in getting rid of
those contagious diseases. When we
have got any contagious disease hard
to handle, it is our duty to put our
shoulder to the w^heel and get it out
of the road. Although we may sacri-
fice a little, it is better to do that
than to have the neighbors all around
us sacrifice a great deal more. I think
you are on the right track, and all
ought to lend a helping hand.

Mr. Dadant: Would it be within
the limits of the discussion to state
whether foul brood is curable or not?
It has been stated that it is not cura-
ble, that it is bound to reappear.

President York: That is not quite
on the resolution, but there is no ob-
jection, I think.

Mr. Dadant: I never saw foul
brood until I went to California some
years ago. They have foul, brood in-
spectors in almost every country. I
inquired, and they all had had it. One
man went to a colony and found one
cell. It was in cold weather, and he
said he would treat it in the spring.
I went from one bee-keeper to another
in California. I went sixty or eighty
miles. They took me in carriages
from one to another. I struck one
bee-keeper who, the neighbors told me,
had had it. We went to his place.
He said he had foul brood, and it
would always happen. I said that
people had cured it. He said, "I have
tried to cure it, and I never have suc-
ceeded." "Have you got it here now?"
He said, "Yes," and he showed me.
There was a pile of combs against the
wall, some that were chalk marked,
and he held them up and showed me
the cells with the brood in them.
There was a man who couldn't cure
it, had it in his honey house, and
marked it "foul," I don't believe that
kind of a man can cure foul brood.

Mr. Baxter: I am red hot on this
question, and I don't know as I ought
to say much, as my French blood
mig;hit run away with me. I believe
that it is the height of folly in this
enlightened age to oppose a law like
• this. It would be very well in the
dark ages or in a wild state. But
now, when we have laws for regu-
lating all kinds of diseases, I should
think we ought tQ do the same with
the bee-industry. It doesn't much
matter whether it can be cured or
not. It can be stamped out. If it
can be cured, so much the better.
You cannot cure glanders and such
diseases, but they can be stamped
out, and we want to do that. I know,
as the gentleman stated over tihere,
that the ones who have the disease
are usually the first ones to prevent
the eradication of the disease; the
first ones to fight the inspector or the
means for eradicating it. It also ap-
plies to the human family. Take
scarlet fever or small pox — we are al-
ways willing to ihave our neighbor
quarantined. If it comes to us, wa
kick like everything. It is ihuman na-
ture. That is why we should have a
law, so as to compel, where it is nec-
essary, the necessary means to get
rid of the disease. I know that means
have been taken to obstruct the
cleaning out of foul brood in this
State, and it is for that reason we
need a law, to compel those to
acquiesce and get rid of the disease;
and I believe in recommending a law
something similar to the Wisconsin
law. We only ask for something tlhat
is fair and just to everybody; and in
this age the ma;sses have got to be
protected, and it is unreasonable that
one or two, or a few, should obstruct
and oppose anything like this law,
and lead the great majority of the
people to their ruin. Such" a law is "
necessary; will do every person good.
Nobody can have any /harm by it, and
I am in favor of seeing it through,
and I know, from what Mr. McEvoy
and other inspectors Ihave told me,
that it can be got rid of, and it can be
cured if taken in time, and that is
what we want to do. There is noth-
ing unreasonable in this resolution.
No advantage will be taken of any-
body. We only ask what is right and
just.

Dr. Miller: I don't see that it
would onake a bit of difference to me
whether we have a foul ibrood law or
not. Tfaere is no foul brood around

126

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

me. I hope there never will be.
But some time I think there migtht be
some case near me. I have had it
within twelve miles of me. It was
there two or three years ago, and, as
far as I know, it isn't any nearer yet;
and yet I am just a little afraid that
some time there might be a case near
me, and I should want, in a case of
that kind, to feel sure that I could be
protected. As the matter stands now,
I should be very much afraid that
some farmer with a single colony —
and there are a -wihole lot of Scotch-
men around there. I live in a Scotch
family myself. iSome of you here are
Scotch enough to know that if a
Scotchman knew he had a case of foul
brood around — he is so stubborn — he
would not do anything unless it was
required by law; then he would yield
to the law. I want, for my own safe-
ty, to feel sure in the matter. I would
sleep more securely. There are
States whioh have foul brood laws,
where they have ibeen in operation for
some time. Tou gentlemen^ tell me
that the people are pleased with the
foul brood laws, and that the bee-
keepers like them. If I have been
rightly informed, before those States
had foul brood laws, there -was ob-
jection to them. Am I right in that,
Mr. Wilcox?

Mr. Wilcox: There was strong ob-
jection in the first place.

Dr. Miller: And that objection has
disappeared, if I am rightly, informed?

Mr. Wilcox: Yes, sir.

Dr. Miller: If the law was really in
operation, the objections of some of
our friends here would disappear, and
they would find there was nothing
wrong about it; nothing bad about it.
There is one thing, however, in the
resolution as read that I think should
be changed. Unless there is a change
of sentiment, that resolution could not
be unanimously passed. The word
"unanimously" is used in two places
in the resolution. So long as there
is a single dissenting vote, I don't
think those words should be there. I
move, Mr. President, that the word
"unanimously," where it occurs in
those 'two places, be stricken out.

The motion was seconded.

Mr. Logsdon: I don't like to speak
in public, but I want a foul brood law
very much. I have some bees. I don't
want the word "unanimous" stricken
out. I want every man here to be

together. I want this foul brood law
very much, and I admire, and I just
want the men that are looking out
for their rights in with us. They Tvill
come with us. I wish we had the law,
and had one of those men for the in-
spector, not but what I believe there
are others just as good. I
wish we had the law, and had one of
those men, then I would feel perfectly
safe. I don't think I would be un-
justly dealt with, yet the foul brood
would be exterminated. Don't let that
word "unanimous" be stricken out.
Every American citizen cannot be
blamed for the feeling of self-protec-
tion, or for desiring that his rights
shall not be placed subservient en-
tirely to any neighbor who may have a
little bit of animosity, or a careless
or misinformed inspector, or a misin-
formed neighbor. I believe a careless
inspector would be just as bad as a
man who piles his foul brood up for
his neighbors to get it. I would not
be afraid of the law if I could have one
of those men for an inspector; and
yon ought to think it over. I have
talked with Mr. France. There was
an apiary destroyed within about fif-
teen miles of me last summer — a man
found who had the foul brood. He had
all his bees buried, that is, the frames,
of course, he saved the bees. Don't
let us take out word "unanimous." I
believe those men will suggest a way
so that we can all get together. I wish
the chairman would let one of our
opposers speak again.

Mr. Wheeler: I don't want to oc-
cupy your time. I want to speak on
that word "unanimously." When the
law was brought up before, when these
people down in the center of the State
thought they had thiings in their own
hands, there were things done by in-
spectors that were appointed by them
that were a thorn to us. It showed
us what they intended to do when
they had the laws in their own hands.
We are friends of the bee-keepers. I
have been at this meeting for nearly
twenty years, and I don't think you
ever noticed anything that I have said
that showed any desire to injure any
one of us, unless I thought that man
was trying to injure the whole of us.
I may be mistaken. I don't want to be
personal. Had my ire up a little, and
said something that I ought not to
have said. I. am opposed to that word
"unanimous." I don't want these peo-
ple to go before the Legislature and
say, "We carried the whole thing

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

127

unanimously for laws such as we
want." There is tha* word "stringent"
in there. We are all in the business
for the money we get out of it, and
lots of times we get nothing but a
little pleasure out of it. We don't
want to gouge any one, or be gouged.
We don't want to drive any man to the
wall or be driven ourselves. We don't
want to put anything in this resolu-
tion that will show to the Legislature
that we want a "stringent" law that
will put a star on a man and allow
a man to destroy property, and my
property, if he wants to. Mr. France
is an example, and you all speak of
him, and if you can get such a man,
it is all right; but we don't want Tom,
Dick and Harry to interfere with our
bees.

Mr. Moore: I want to plead with
these gentlemen to allow this resolu-
tion to go in unanimously. Our civi-
lization rests upon the good of the
majority. Each one must give up a
little of their liberty for the sake of
all. That is what our civilization
rests upon. Take the administration
of the law — these gentlemen are il-
logical. They say, "Because this may
work out badly, we won't have any-
thing." Even the judges on our
benches have sometimes been corrupt.
Juries have sometimes been corrupt.
We won't have any judges then; we
won't have any juries. Sheriffs have
been corrupt. We won't have any
sheriffs. Marriages go wrong. We
won't have any marriages. Tou are
talking about the results. We won't
have anything because it isn't sure to
come out right. You are not logical.
The people who have offices want to
please the public, their tenure of office
depends on it; so that the sheriff and
the judge who are before the public
want to do the best they can, and they
are apt to do things honestly, other
things being equal. To say you don't
want anything because they are some-
, times corrupt is not logical. You have
got your remedy. A man comes to
you and says, "I am going to destroy
your bees." You can get an injunc-
tion. The man himself can go and
get the paper, and go on a fast train
or a fast horse, and stop it, and no
inspector would attempt to do any-
thing if a man said, "I am going to
get an injunction." No injustice is
going to be done to anybody. In the
name of logic, in the name of all the
bee-keepers in the country, who are
ninety-eight per cent in favor of foul

brood laws, and in the name of an
inspector by the name of France, a
good man going about doing good —
you won't dare to say to .me, there is
no good man in Illinois, and that
France is unique — I plead with you to
allow this to be unanimous.

Mr. Baxter: Suppose we vote to re-
tain this word "unanimous," and there
are three or four votes against it,
would it be unanimous?

President York: No.

Mr. Baxter: Why nOit call the roll,
and, if you can, show to the Legisla-
ture that nine-tenths are in favor of
it. There is to be no restriction to a
man's liberty, or to the use of" his
property for the good of the public.

Mr. Smith: I have no feeling
against those men who are opposed to
it, and I believe they are honest in
their convictions. I was in the service
of our country, fighting men who were
the enemies of our flag, and I believe
they were honest in their convictions,
and I can shake hands with them. I
just want to illustrate. A man by the
naone of Taylor wrote me in June, the
height of the honey-flow on white
clover, that there was something the
matter with his bees. I went over and
found 92 colonies out of 102 com-
pletely enveloped with foul brood. He
"was a poor man, and he used all his
means to keep up his hives and keep
up his bees, and he sat down and
cried. He said: "My whole crop's
gone and my bees are gone." I told
him: "Don't be discouraged. We will
save your bees, and it is early yet, and
you can get a crop of honey." "Do
you think you can do it?" he said. I
stayed with him two days, and we
didn't destroy the brood, and let it
hatch, and after the brood hatched, I
went over it again, and we melted up
the combs. Today, there has no foul
brood appeared in his apiary, and he
had four thousand pounds of fine
honey, 106 colonies in good condition.
Another man had thirty- seven colonies
in the height of the white clover sea-
son. I went over and transferred those
bees, and he had in" the neighborhood
of three thousand pounds of honey,
and his bees were saved. We don't
want to destroy property. TVe want
to save property. I have burnt very
few icolonies, and only at the request
of the bee-keepers themselves, when
the combs were so old and full of moth,
and so badly diseased and rotted that

128

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OP THE

there was no chance of doing any-
thing with them.

Mr. Whitney: I move the previous
question.

The motion was seconded.

President York: It is a question of
whether the debate shall cease. All in
favor of the previous question will
say aye.

The motion was carried.

President York: The motion is
whether or not we shall strike out the
word "unanimously." All in favor of
striking out the word "unanimously"
rise, and the Secretary will count.

Secretary Moore: Seventeen.

President York: All in favor of
leaving the word "unanimously" in,
rise.

Secretary Moore: Seven.

President York: The words will go
out.

Mr. Baxter: I move that on the
original motion, the vote be taken by
rising.

President York: The motion before
you is on the approval of the resolu-
tion presented by the Resolution Com-
mittee, as amended. All in favor of
the resolution will rise.

Secretary Moore: Twenty-five.

President York: Those opposed will
rise.

Secretary Moore: Five.

President York: The motion is car-
ried.

An adjournment was then taken to
1:30 p. m.

SECOND DAY — Afternoon Session.

The convention met pursuant to ad-
journment with Pres. George W. York,
in the chair.

Wintering Bees.

"What is. the best method of winter-
ing bees?"

Mr. Taylor: That probably has been
asked by some one who lacks expe-
rience, and one of the answers would
be to find out how bees were wintered
in his neighborhood by those who were
wintering them successfully. I doubt
very much whether there is any man
here who can say what is the one best
method of wintering bees, because
what may be best in one place may
not be best in another.

Black Brood and Foul Brood.

"Is the same treatment necessary for
black brood as foul brood?"

Mr. Taylor: I think the same treat-
ment is effective.

President York: They use the same
in Canada and New York State. I re-
member the subject was up at the Na-
tional Convention at Detroit, and I
think that was what they stated there.

Drones and Queenlessness.

"Is the presence of nice big drones
in a' hive at this time of the year an
indication of queenlessness?"

Mr. Taylor: I should say, if there
are nice big drones, the hive is very
likely queenless. If they are small, it
is a little more likely that they are
queenless, although there are excep-
tions sometimes. A queenless colony
will have drones at this time of the
year; so, in general, if drones were
found in a colony now, it would be
strongly suspicious of queenlessness.

Wintering Bees in Northern Illinois.

"What is the best method for a be-
ginner to winter his bees in this part
of the country?"

President York: How do j^ou winter
yours, Mr. Wheeler?

Wr. Wheeler: I winter them in the
cellar and keep the temperature as
near forty-five degrees as possible, and
dark — keep the temperature even. I
put them in as late as I can and take
them out as early as I can in the
spring, when they begin flying regu-
larly, and when there is no danger of
their being injured by the cold winds
and changes of temperature. There
seems to be a time when you can tell
by intuition when to get them out — the
action of the bees, the temperature of
the air and the birds singing give me
an idea.

Mr. Horstmann: The question seems
to be what is the best way for a be-
ginner of winter bees. A beginner
would not have very many colonies of
bees. I would suggest that a beginner
use an ordinary dry-goods box, take
the bottom out of it, put it over the
hive and fill It in with hay, and cover
it so as to keep the water out; leave
an entrance so that the bees can go In
and out when they like. He should
do that until he has experience; then
a repository is better. But a beginner
has not had experience, and would not

!S(r-^MrF*vB^ier -s.^ *

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KIEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

129

know whether the bees were wintering
well or not, but under one of these
dry-goods boxes he would be sure they
would winter as well as they could
winter.

Mr. Whitney: I would recommend
the beginner to adopt the double-wall
chaff hive. I have wintered them out-
doors.

Mr. Kannenberg: I think for my
part, or the beginner's part, if he has
only a few colonies of bees, it would
be well if he would make a box and
put planers' shavings in it, and put it
on the super on top of the hive, and
have it so the bees can crawl from one
of them to another, give them access
to all the frames, and the heat and
moisture will go into the cushion, and
it will save a lot of going to work and
carrying them in and out and back and
forth. If he does that way, I think the
bees will keep fine. '

Mr. Kennicott: I will give you the
way I have wintered bees, and I have
had considerable success for a good
many years. I put on supers, with a
canvas or thin sheeting cloth on top
of the frames, and fill in the super
with dry leaves. Leaves are better
than straw or chaff or anything of
that kind, because they keep in the
heat better and are warmer. The
leaves will take off the moisture per-
fectly. Then I bank my hives with
leaves from behind and over the top.
I have wintered bees several years in
that way perfectly. I didn't lose a
colony last winter, not one, and I had
pretty nearly thirty that I wintered.

Mr. Wheeler: What kind of leaves
do you use?

Mr. Kennicott: Any kind.

Dr. Miller: I think we have a ques-
tion here that will bear a vote. It will
be of interest to know how many pre-
fer outdoor wintering and how many
prefer cellar-wintering.

President Tork: How many prefer
outdoor wintering? (Thirteen.)

President Tork: How many indoor?
(Seven.)

Mr. Taylor: Now, it will help us
further if we can find out what the
location is of those who are wintering
bees outdoors, for instance, as far
south as Mr. Dadant and Mr. Baxter,
there will be no question, but when
you come to this locality, there is a
question, and it will be Interesting if
you can find out what proportion of

those who are, say, as far north as
Chicago, or even twenty-flve miles
farther south, are wintering outdoors.

Mr. Kennicott: I live about eighteen
miles northwest of here. I have had
more or less to do with bees for the
last fifty years, and we have rarely
ever lost any bees when wintering out-
doors on the stands that we give them.
We set them down near the ground,
probably six or eight inches above the
ground, and my hives are twelve inches
deep, and I find that the deeper the
hive, the better you can winter the
bees. There may be something in that.
The cold does not affect bees at all, I
think. I have wintered them inside
two or three times, once in a cellar
and twice in an outbuilding, and I
have lost them by their coming out
and losing their strength, losing a good
deal of their vitality by going out-
side, and I have lost a good many bees
that way, I presume; but I think that
outdoors they will take care of them-
selves a great deal better, and get a
chance to fly occasionally that they
won't inside.

President York: There were twenty
that voted. How many of those twenty
who voted before, live within twenty
miles south of Chicago or twenty miles
north of Chicago, and winter bees out-
side? (Seven.)

President York: Hov/ many are
further north than twenty miles who
voted before to winter outside?
(Three.)

Mr. Macklin: I winter both indoors
and outdoors. I take the ver>' heaviest
colonies and pack them outdoors. I put
in one cloth over the brood-frames,
several thicknesses of loose paper over
that, and then the cover over that,
and then cover that with leaves. The
lightest colonies I put indoors, in the
cellar. I live one hundred and twenty-
five miles due west of here, in the
same temperature, or perhaps colder
than here. The thermometer is lower
with us than given in the Chicago
papers. I have had better success with
outdoor wintering than with those in
the cellar, but that is hardly fair
when I put the lighter ones in the cel-
lar.

Mr. McClure: I work for B. Walker,
who has some two hundred and twenty-
five colonies of bees. We use a double
brood chamber, then put on another
story, then put a device over the
frames, put a carpet over the device.

-9

130

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPOUT OF THE

and then fill it with leaves; and out of
two hundred and twenty-five colonies
last winter, he only lost two — outdoor
wintering, ten miles due west of Chi-
cago.

Mr. Whitney: I think, two years
ago, Mr. Abbott said if you had honey
above a cluster of bees, you couldn't
freeze them. I have never had any
experience in wintering bees in single
board hives, but I believe that if there
was the right kind of cushion on top
and plenty of honey over the bees,
they would winter well in single-board
hives outdoors. Mine have been win-
tered, of course, in double-walled hives,
and I have had very good success.

Mr. Macklin: There is one tiling I
didn't say. When I take off the woolen
cloth in the spring, I find it, in the
majority of cases, moldy, which shows
that it collects considerable moisture.

Mr. Horstmann: I have a very sim-
ple way of wintering bees outside
which may be of benefit to a beginner.
I have a screen cover — take any ordi-
nary half-inch lumber and make a kind
of a frame and put in a window-screen,
have about half the top of the hive
covered with that, then have a cushion
such as they use on steam-pipes, cov-
ered with burlap, then have a venti-
lated cover to put on top of that, and
there is no danger of the bees smoth-
ing in the hives, even if the entrance
is closed up tight. I close the entrance
up about half way and leave two or
three inches open, and the bees can
always get air through the cushion;
and if you go out in cold weather and
put your hands under that cushion,
you will find it is very warm. I think
that cushion will hold the heat and
keep the bees much drier than if they
were closed up otherwise, and always
warm. You can put that felt on water-
pipes in cold weather, and very seldom
the water will freeze, and what is good
for pipes is good for bees.

Mr. Taylor: Asbestos?

Mr. Horstmann: No, hair; a cushion
the same as they use on steam pipes,
and it is a good idea.

Bee- Keeping For Women.

"Is bee-keeping advisable work for
women ?"

President York: Miss Candler, what
have you to say?

Miss Candler: It is for me, I think.

Mr. Taylor: That is, for some
women.

President York: Miss Kennicott has
had some experience. What have you
to say?

Miss Kennicott: I think it is. If you
are not afraid of them.

Mr. Moore: I want to call attention
to several ladies who have had great
success with bees. Mrs. Stowe kept
about eighty colonies at Bvanston. Mrs.
Harrison of Peoria, and some others
have made a great success of bee-
culture.

Mr. Whitney: Miss Pickard of Wis-
consin. What were the figures on her
bees?

Mr. Moore: I think from one hun-
dred colonies she produced 16,600
pounds in one season.

Miss Candler: I have three hundred
colonies and have produced thirteen
thousand pounds of honey this year.

Mr. Moore: Tell us about it. Miss
Candler.

Miss Candler: I had to do it alone
until school vacation, and then I had
a little boy to help me.

President York: I am afraid you did
not improve leap year, Miss Candler.

Miss Holmes is here; we ought to
have her report on this. What haye
you to say on this question?

Miss Holmes: I have found It very
profitable, but we are not so situated
that we can devote our time to it and
not be called off for other things in
the height of the honey-flow.

President York: How many colonies
have you ?

Miss Holmes: Only nineteen.

President York: What is your crop
this year?

Miss Holmes: About four hundred
pounds; about as many as I can handle
alone. I cannot come up to Miss
Candler.

Mr. Whitney: Couldn't she find any
man who was not afraid of bees to
help her out?

President York: Perhaps she pre-
fers to be her own hive-lifter, instead
of having a man hive -lifter.

Mulberries For Feeding Bees.

"What about mulberries for feeding

bees?"

Dr. Peiro: I know something about
mulberries, but it is the white mul-
berry. Don't think any kind of mul-
berry will do, because it won't. The

ILLINOIS STA.TE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

131

white mulberry is seventy-three per
cent sugar, saccharine substance,
whereas the European mulberry has
something like fifteen per cent, and
another black mulberry has perhaps
twenty- one. I have had some experience
in feeding white mulberries to bees, and
the more I use them, the better I like
' them. I think it is the coming food
for bees in time of droughts, that will
be money in the bee-keeper's pocket.
I have some bees, and I feed them
those mulberries during the time of
fruition, from about the 15th of June
to the 15th of August. The way I feed
the mulberries is by putting them in
a dish and mashing them up, because
they can't get the honey or saccharine
substance out of the mulberries as they
are. You have to mash them up. I
believe I know some one who has seen
that done, and knows how they swarm
over it just like a piece of comb
honey. I attribute my success with my
Ijees to the use of mulberries for food.
I have just one colony this year. I got
a hundred pounds of honey, and some-
times more — call it a hundred pounds —
«very year by encouraging the bees
with the white mulberry. Any ques-
tion I will be very glad to answer.

Mr. Whitney: Do you find that good
honey to winter them on, or don't you
know about it?

Dr. Peiro: Yes, sir; it is a very
good honey for me to eat, I know that,
and everybody who uses it likes it very
much.

Mr. Whitney: Most fruit juices are
not considered good to winter bees
on.

Mr. Kennicott: What mulberry is
that?

Dr. Peiro: The white mulberry.

Mr. Kennicott: Is it a native of this
■country ?

Dr. Peiro: It is a native of Persia,
I think. It is of the fig family. It
is as hardy as an oak, and it needs
only to be known about for people to
take hold of it and plant it. It makes
a beautiful shade-tree. It is as hardy
as any tree we have in the country.
I am told the wood itself is excellent
for posts.

Mr. Kennicott: "yVe have a mulberry
liere that is a na.tive that isn't ex-
actly white. It Is' a kind of a pink
and yellow.

Dr. Peiro: That mulberry has prob-
ably been hybridized with the black,
and eventually it gets a deeper color.

Mr. Kennicott: It has a very sweet
berry and grows very large. I have
seen the trees more than two feet
through. It is a native of this State.
They were never planted here, but they
grow wild in the Desplaines timber
here.

Dr. Miller: Are we to understand
that this one hundred pounds of honey
was mulberry honey?

Dr. Peiro: Not all of it, but a great
deal of it was.

Mr. Holbrook: It costs money to
pick the berries.

Top Covering Over Hive.

"How thick a covering on top is- nec-
essary to keep in the heat of the hive?"

Mr. Kennicott: An ordinary super
filled with leaves is suflicient.

Dr. Peiro: Let me say one thing in
regard to that very point. I keep my
bees outdoors all the time. The way
I work it is to take a large box and
pad it in with all kinds of paper, news-
paper or anything else, and then I work
that over my hive, and it goes down
to the bottom of the hive and projects
out enough so as to protect the en-
trance and not let the snow get in
there. That answers all my purpose.

President York: No covering over
the top of the bees?

Dr. Peiro: Just this box I spoke of
being padded.

Mr. Brubaker: Is there a danger of
getting too much packing around the
bees outside for winter?

Mr. Jones: Not in our part of the
country, eighty miles north of here.
In a very warm winter, they ought
perhaps to have a little larger entrance.
I never found there was any trouble
in getting too much — not less than six
inches of packing, I would 'say.

Comb Honey on Hand.

"What amount or per cent of the
crop of comb honey is still on hand
among the bee men here?"

Mr. Macklin: 1 have not had any for
six weeks.

Mr. Kennicott: I have about one
hundred pounds on hand, white clover
honey mostly.

President York: There might be a
chance to sell it if we knew who had
it.

Mr. Kennicott: I have plenty of
customers at home.

V:-

132

EIGHTI-T ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

White Clover Seed.

"Will white clover seed sprouted
after November 10 survive the win-
ter?"

Mr. Kennicott: Not without protec-
tion.

Cellar For Comb Honey.

"Would a basement cellar 20 by 40
with active furnace in one end be a
good place to winter comb honey, and
in what part should it be placed?"

Mr. Kannenberg: Yes. I say, place
it as near the furnace as you can, not
to have too much dust around it.

Mr. Kennicott: And without too
much dampness.

Mr. Kannenberg: There won't be
any dampness near the furnace.

Mr. Whitney: If the basement is
dry and warm, I don't know why it
would not be as safe as in an upper
room. It seems to me that it would
be all right.

Mr. Moore: I think that would be
a very ideal place to winter comb
honey. I would like a thermometer,
and would put it in a place that reg-
istered eighty degrees as near as pos-
sible. I know some put paper over it,
and use tacks to hold it down, as
there might be coal dust and other
sorts of dirt that would perhaps ruin
it, so that would be a good idea.

Mr. McClure: Wlhioh is considered
the best honey, from Wisconsin or fur-
ther south as far as St. Louis — white
clover honey?

President York: Which is consid-
ered the best, the Northern or the
Southern honey? Mr. Baldridge, what
is your experience? You have had
honey from all over the country.

Mr. Baldridge: I sihould think the
white clover in Southern niinois would
produce as good honey as in the
northern part, I don't know why It
should not.

Getting New Mennbers.

"How can we g«t two hundred bee-
keepers out of the one hundred thou-
sand near Chicago to these meetings?"

Mr. Kannenberg: Draft them, like
men in war time!

Mr. Whitney: I would like to ask
if there are a hundred thousand bee-
keepers within the region of Chicago,

President York: The census of Illi-
nois gives something like thirty-five

thousand in this State; so you take alt
the States surrounding Chicago, there
ought to be a hundred thousand.

Mr. Whitney: Yes, if you take the
United States. I supposed that tad
reference to the immediate vicinity of
Chicago.

President York: I think it means
the States within a radius of two or
three hundred miles of Chicago.

Mr. Whitney: I think we would
have to draft them if we wanted to '
get them from Ohio and Pennsylvania.

President York: The question
asked for only two hundred.

Mr. Whitney: It would be a good
thing if we could get them.

President York: I think the high-
est attendance we have ever had at
the Chicago-Northwestern convention
was one hundred! and fifty.

Mr, Whitney: \ Right here, if I may
be permitted to 1 occupy the stand, it
seems to me that if each one of us
that comes to this association would
use a little effort and a little persua-
sion, pleasantly, with the bee-keep-
ers, we can induce some one, and per-
haps two or more, to join. I am cer-
tain that I can. I believe any other
member can do the same, and we can"
double the attendance next year. I
want to ask, before we close, if an
individual should join any time be-
tween now and, say, the first of Jan-
uary, would he become a member of
the State Association?

President York: I should say, yes.

Mr. Whitney: And would be
counted as of that association to in-
fluence the Legislature. It seems to
me that we could get an additional
number to join the association if we
would get to york. I am going to
go for three ot four within the next
few days that I know will join if they
can have the privilege of belonging to
the State Association, as well as the
National.

President York: All three for the
dollar. We would like to have them
give $1.25 if they will, but the twenty-
five is not compulsory. The liegisla-
ture meets about the 10th of January,
so that if the names of any new mem-
bers are sent in to the Secretary be-
fore that time, they would become
members of all three, and in time to
Ihelp on the legislative work.

Mr. Moore: In this connection, I
might state the executive committee

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

1^3

sent out, two years ago, two thousand
notices by mail to those who would
naturally come to Chicago to see the
fat-stock show, or to trade. It cost us
$35.00, including postage, and we got
in thirty-one or two dollars in money,
and no doubt got some increased at-
tendance.

Best Comb Honey Hive.

"What is considered the best hive
for comb honey; if there is a prefer-
ence?"

Mr. Horstmann: I would consider
the eight -frame hive the best for comb
honey. My reason is the same as Dr.
Miller's, because you can build up your
colony strong by using two hive-bodies
until the flow begins, then take off one
of the hive bodies and put on the
super. I think you can get more and
better honey from the eight-frame hive
than you can from a larger or a
smaller hive.

Mr. Moore: Do you find that there
is a tendency to swarm when you have
a large number of bees in the super?
Would it be better to put the super on
before the honey-flow began, and pre-
vent the liability of swarming out?

Mr. Horstmann: I find the best way
is to have a few empty combs in the
section. You always have some in the
fall that are not full. I usually extract
the honey from the unfilled sections,
put them in the first supers, and the
bees will get to work right away. When
that super is half full of honey, I will
raise that up and put another over the
brood-nest, and by the time the honey
is almost capped, I will raise it up ond
put another super on, and the danger
of swarming will be very small. I have
not had a swarm in my apiary for
three years.

Mr. Moore: Would it pay to keep
a few dozen or a few hundred bait-
sections and have them perfect!
empty of honey, and put from one^^
five in the middle of each super as
bait?

Mr. Horstmann: I usually put them
around the edge of the super. Almost
every bee-keeper will have them in the
fall. I put in a frame that holds
about eight or ten sections, and I put
them in the extractor, and then I can
set the empty sections in any hive-
body and give the bees a chance to
clean them out clean. I usually have
a hundred or a hundred and fifty of
them, and find them a great advantage

— don't need any honey there at all;
just having the empty cells will at-
tract the bees and reduce swarmins.
I believe the bees get a swarming fe-
ver like a hen gets a sitting fever, and
if you can prevent them from getting
the swarming fever you are all right.
If you use an eight-frame hive they
must have closer attention than with a
larger hive. By having a large force
of bees from two hive-bodies, sixteen
frames, you will have them go up in
the super in a great rush, and your
comb honey will be that much nicer.
The comb honey that I got here yester-
day, I don't think any one would care
to see nicer honey than that, and that
was in an eight-frame hive because It
was in an eight-frame super. So it is
evident that the eight-frame hive is A
No. 1 for comb honey. If it was not.
Dr. Miller -n^ould not use it. I have
great confidence in Dr. Miller's bee-
keeping, although he will not come
out straight and say the eight-frame
or the ten-frame hive is the better.

Mr. Moore: I think that these gen-
tlemen, when they go before the bee-
keepers and say an eight-frame hive is
the best for comb honey, ought to do
as we did at school; they ought to take
the eight-frame hive and put it to the
second ^xnver. They mean sixteen
frame, becSbU^fe it is the eight-frame
hive raised toHhe second power.

Mr. Horstmann: I don't see how the
Secretary can call that a sixt^en-frame
hive. I have them sometimes piled up
ten stories high, but it is still an eight
or a ten -frame hive. Tou have got to
call it that size. We simply use that
double colony for a while, then we
will take away that extra hive-body in
the honey- flow, and we will cap it over
quickly and get it off the hive nice and
clean. It is an eight-frame hive if you
use an eight-frame hive-body. There
is no such a thing as a sixteen-frame
hive. I have a twenty-seven frame
hive. There are three divisions in it;
I can call that a twenty- seven frame
live. It is nothing else but a twenty-
seven frajne hive. But if I use a five,
six, eight or ten frame, you have got to
call it that hive.

Mr. Macklin: I would like to ask
if the queen goes up in the body above.

Mr. Horstmann: She will go, but
there is such a small amount, it does
not amount to anything. If you use
full sheets of foundation, the chances
are that she will not go up. But if
they do put pollen in a couple of sec-

134

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

tions, throw them out. The idea is to
get nice, clean comb honey.

Mr. Moore: Do the bees use both of
those eight-frame hives as brood-
chambers?

Mr. ■Wilcox: Perhaps he has made it
plain enough. We Tsrant to consider
that the two-story eight-frame hive is
still an eight-frame hive, two stories
high, to be used in that condition until
it is time to put the sections on, which
will be after white clover shows its
bloom and before the bees make prep-
arations for swarming. It is neces-
sary that it should be a week before,
otherwise it will not discourage
swarming. "When you put that on, re-
move all the brood from the second
story to the first, and remove the
combs that have no brood in them or
reserve them; then you put on your
super at the proper time, when your
apiary is in the best possible condi-
tion for comb honey. The story be-
low it is filled with brood. They will
naturally store it as near as they can
above, and by having that super on be-
fore the principal honey-flow begins,
they make preparations to fill it, in-
stead of making preparations to swarm.
It tends to discourage swarming.

Mr. Horstmann: There Is lone thing
I didn't mention — the extra brood I
have in tbose two hive-bodies. I have
brood enough to give to other colonies
to help them out. It is very seldom
I am able to get all the brood in one
hive-body, tout I will have the fullest
hive -body below with all the bees.

Mr. Kannenberg: Has it ever hap-
pened that your bees filled the second
story from the lower story, and left
no brood at all in the lower story?

Mr. Horstmann: That happens
where I am working for extracted
honey.

Mr. Kannenberg: The queen left the
lower story, and just put brood in the
top story, and left nothing in the lower
story.

Mr. Horstmann: I would advise you
to get a better queen. I would take the
head right ofC a queen that would do
that, if she didn't know enough to stay
below.

Frame Bottom -Bars.

"Should bottom-bars be made of
light or heavy lumber?"

Mr. Macklin: Heavy.
President York: What is considered
the best bottom -board?

Mr. Kannenberg: I think a good,
heavy bottom-board is the best of
anything. I have very thin, %-inch
bottom-boards, and I would not use
them any more. They warp and come
apart. If you have a bottom-board
%, I think that is the best bottom-
board.

Best Hive-Stand.

"What is Ihe best hive-stand, and
how is it made?"

Mr. Kannenberg: I think the best
'hive- stand is of cement. It will last
forever; it doesn't rot the hive, and
it is always dry.

Mr. Wiloox: It is too heavy to carry
into the cellar.

Mr. Kennicott: A 2x6-inch wood, set
up edgewise, is about as good a hive-
stand as you can get.

Mr. Wilcox: The hive-stand I am
using is made seven inches high, forty
inches in length, and as wide as the
hive is long, about twenty inches, and
two hives on a stand; stands two or
two and a half feet apart. I prefer
those stands, for tQie reasion that the
hives are in pairs, and they stand level,
they settle level, and for the further
reason that I can pick them up and
move them when I wish to run the
lawn mower, or move them to a new
piece of ground once in a while.

President York: What sort of a
lighting board leads up to the en-
trance?

Mr. Wilcox: The bottom-board of
the hive projects out in front, and sit-
ting on this box, they do not leave.
The bottom-board sits on the stand,
and the bee strikes under and hits
the stand, and she can can climb up
into the hive.

Mr. Whitney: But suppose one
practices clipping a queen's wings. It
seems to me the stand advertised In
the catalogues, about a two toy six
piece of timber, witih an alighting
board slanting to the ground, wouW
be better than anything else, and
cheap, as well.

Mr. Bodenschatz: The best thing I
can use is a box from twelve to twen-
ty inches wide; about twenty inches
long, and atoout two feet high. I level
off the ground and set the box in, and
use alighting boards from one foot'
long to about sixteen inches wide, or
whatever hive I use, and have the
bees climb up. The boxes are as
cheap as anything you can get hold of.

^

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

135

Mr. Horstmann: I am making my
own hive-stands now. I have used
two by four, two by six, and the reg-
ular hive-stands. I am making flags
now of cement, ordinary torpedo sand
and cement, and I think a barrel of
cement will make about eight of those
slabs. I make them two feet and
eight inches long, and eighteen inches
wide. I will be able to put that slab
1% down. I make a slab and let it
dry about two days. I expect to
make them on an average of one a
day, and I want about fifty ready by
next spring, I will be able to put
them on the ground ansrwhere. The
flags will be long enough to set the
hive on. I have them on the slant,
so that the water will run right ofC
the flag, and I think it is going to be
all right. I will report on it next year.
Tou can use those flags to make
sidewalks or anything else, if you get
tired of keeping bees. You can lay
them lOut and use them for sidewalks
aJiy time, if you make them strong
enough. I think they will have a ten-
dency to keep the ants away some,
too.

President York: IHow expensive are
they?

Mr. Horstmann: They will figure
out about ten cents apiece, making
them myself. Anybody can make a
frame, an ordinary door, and take a
two by four and make a frame, and
after the cement gets dry you can
take the frame off and set the stones
aside. I have two, and I have taken
them out of the frames without any
trouble. I believe they are the best
stands. I have read about them be-
fore. Set them down on the ground.
If the ants bother you, lift the flag
and put kerosene or something under
it. I will he able to report on them
next year, after I have had a year's
experience. I don't like to be too
sure, unless I have some experience.
I believe it is a ibeneflt to all of us
to hear some one give their expe-
rience— not say something because they
think It is so, but give us the reason
why It is so. The hive question came
up here. Some of you claim the ten-
frame hives are the best, and others
that the eight-frame hives are the
best. Mr. Moore is a great ten-frame
advocate. I ibelleve he likes them
•because they look well. I want to
know the reason for everything. That
is what we are here for. If there is
a good hive-stand, we want to adopt
it and use It generally.

Swarming.

"Which is the better, natural swarm-
ing or shaken swarms?"

Mr. Bodenschatz: I think the nat-
ural swarm is the 'better. If you clip
the queens' wings, you are sure they
cannot go. You get better selling
queens, stronger and more profitable.

Mr. Whitney: As Dr. Miller would
say if he were here, this is a big ques-
tion. I have had a little experience in
artificial swarming, but if I want to
succeed in making a colony of bees
and place them out on a stand imme-
diately, I will wait until the colony
swarms, and when they come back 1
divide them, and I can put them any-
where I please, and they will stay.
A year ago I had a very strong col-
ony, twio stories and double walls.
There were nineteen frames in the
hive, and the upper story was as full
of brood as the lower story, all from
one queen. I went to work and made
artificial swarms from that colony
after they had swarmed. I watched
them come back, and I went to work
and divided that colfony and made four
colonies, and put three of them to
one side — left the old queen on the
stand, and they went right to work
just as though they had naturally
swarmed. On two of them I put supers
of frames for extracted honey, and on
one of them a section case, and I put
three section cases on the old colony,
and I had them nearly all filled. That
was artificial swarming after they had
swarmed, and I sold those colonies for
$10.00 apiece.

Best Bees for Comb Honey.

"What are the best strains of bees
for comb honey?"

Mr. Bodenschatz: I think the best
strain for capping is the black bee,
what they call the German black bee;
but they are harder to handle, and
they will not go so far to carry the
honey as the Italians will. They are
as good a strain as any, and will do
the same in capping as the black bees.

Mr. Wilcox: The question is, which
are the best strains. It does not in-
quire concerning races. We will first
choose the race of bees from some
good breed, probably the Italians,
When we have chosen the race, then
we may choose from that race the best
strains to breed from. Those which
have previously done the best give the
best results. We notice that we are

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.

iTH =-;^s- *

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

137

Mr. Moore: Won't you go a little
further, and tell us some of the char-
acteristics of the Caucasians?

Mr. Stanley: Their good qualities
are, that I can get them started in
sections; they build up faster in the
spring, and are toetter bees to handle
t5xan the average of Italians; they
keep the honey better; I am not "both-
ered as much with swarming, and they
dio not put pollen in the sections any
more or as much as other bees; they
do, probably, gather a little more.
That is why I like them better.

Mr. Moore: Ek) they sting you and
run around and fall ofC the combs?

Mr. Stanley: No; I would not keep
them if they stung me.

Mr. Whitney: I have had a little
experience with the Caucasians. I
think Mr, York sent me a queen two
years ago, and I introduced her to an
Italian colony, and in time I had a
Caucasian colony of .bees. They did
not do anj^hing that year. Towards
fall they just chucked their hive as
full of propolis as they could. They
didn't quite close the entrance. The
next year I nursed them along, and
built them up as well as I could. They
are capital hees to handle. I handled
them many times without smoke or
without a veil, and imy hands bare — I
, never use gloves — and I didn't get a
sting; not one in all the two years I
had them — a lady came along and saw
me handle them. They were rather
weak. I was afraid they were going
to mix with my Italians. I saw they
were producing drones very rapidly,
and that causes me to S"" that th«
ordinary foundation, such as we use
for worker-comb, is just about the
kind of foundation that the Caucasian
bee, the queen, takes to lay drones in.
They are a small bee and make a
small section. I found they were pro-
ducing drones pr«:-*ty rapidly. The
lady who saw me handle them asked
me what I would tixke for that colony
of bees. I said: "You can have them
for $10.00." She said: "All right," and
she took them. They were in the
neighborhood, a mile or two away, and
that summer they swarmed "to ibeat
the band." They swarmed themselves
almost to death. They saved two
swarms of them, I think. A young
lady told me that some person on the
farm said that their man was out and
saw a swarm of black bees, and told
thetn to come up and hive them. They

went up and saw them, and said:
"Those are black bees; we don't want
them." I was up afterwards, looking
over the colony for them, and looking
over the brood-chamber, and I saw
half a dozen bee-cells that had been
nicely capped. I thought a number of
swarms, deducting those they had
saved, had gone ofC, and I said: "That
swarm of bees you saw up there was
your Caucasians," and showed them
their queen-cells, and convinced them
they had lost two or three swarms of
bees. -It is the experience - f those
who have handled them most, that they
are great swarmers, and great to put
propolis into their hives in the fall,
and, of course, they breed drones. I
think perhaps they would swarm less
if the foundation base was a trifle
smaller than it is; perhaps 'that would
change that condition.

Mr. Moore: Will Mr. Stanley tell us
how he can teU a Caucasian from an
Italian or Grerman bee by inspection?

Mr. Stanley: I cannot tell. I have
to watch their movements and th«
way they work, and then I am not
sure.

Mr. Moore: They look like an Ital-
ian bee?

Mr. Stanley: No, sir; they don't.
The queens are a litle slimmer. The
bees are smaller and a little more

restless.

Mr. Moore: Yellow bands?

Mr. Stanley: iDark ivories, as near
as I can call them — ^between a hybrid
and a black, I should think.

Mr. Whitney: Those that I had, the
segments were very black, with a very
narrow white band at the joint of the
segments of the abdomen, and . the
queen looked like an enlarged, as near-
ly as I could describe it, mud-wasp,
more like that than like an Italian
queen; quite dark, but she had some
earth- colored bands across her; but
very slim, and long-legged apparently,
because her slim body made her look
so. It is very easy to tell this strain
that I had from the Italians or from
the hybrids, but a little difficult to tell
them from the regular black bees.

Mr. Kannenberg: I want to ask
Mr. Stanley if they were hybrids or
regular Caucasians.

Mr. Stanley: I had some of both, I
think.

138

EIGHTH ANNUAL, REPORT OP THE

Prices of Bees.

"If an undesirable colony of bees is
■worth $10.00, how much is a good col-
ony worth?"

Mr, Whitney: There ought to be a
standard price. If somebody comes to
me and wants to buy a colony of bees
and a double -walled hive, I want
$10.00 for it, whether it is black, Cau-
casian or hybrid. I want $10.00 for a
colony of bees; and I wish that every
member of this association would fix
that sort of a price on their bees and
stick to it. Perhaps they would not
sell very many, but they would get
somewhere near what they are worth.

President Tork: What is a good
colony worth if you got near what that
was worth?

Mr. Whitney: I think I would hare
given $10.00 for that colony of bees to
know something abut it.

Mr. Moore: I am another $10.00
man, and have had a $10.00 price on-
bees for the last ten years. If I can
raise $10.00 worth of honey, are they
not worth that? I have to deliver that
colony and give good advice for the
next three or four years, telling them
about it, so I think I give $10.00 worth
all right.

Mr. Whitney: I don't deliver them.

Mr. Horstmann: My prices run from
$6.00 to $150.00.

Size of Bees.

"How do the Italians, Carniolans
and Caucasians compare in size?"

President York: There is a differ-
ence in Italians, as there are some
golden ones and different kinds — there
is pretty nearly as much difference as
in other strains. Tou will find quite
a difference in all of them.

Mr. Whitney: There is quite a
difference in the same strain at differ-
ent seasons of the year. Bees some
times oome out of winter quarters in
the spring poor like the cattle, and
need feeding. Tou can fatten them up
as you can stock. The Italian bees
then — what is known as the three-
banded Italian — are atoout as large as
any bee that we find; larger than the
blacks. The Carniolans I don't know
so much about.

Best Hive- Cover.

"What make of hive- cover Is the
best for this locality, and describe the
best hive-cover."

Mr. Kannenberg: I think the "Ex-
celsior" hive-oover is about as good a
hive-cover as there is made.

Mr. Arnd: I think there is no cover
on the market as fine as the "Colora-
do" cover, with the inner cover; it is
the heaviest, best made cover in the
market today.

Mr. "Moore: I want to ask more
about this cover question. I would
like to get somebody's experience on
metal covers. My experience with the
wood covers is bad, and I find the ac-
tion of the rain and sunshine even-
tually pulls them apart, and that
makes a place for the rain to get in.
Isn't it better to have a metal cover,
or tin over the top, if you please?

Mr. Arnd: There is a metal cover
called the -."Acme," It is flat, with
heavy sides, and it has tin over the
top. We have now a cover that we
make specially to order with galvan-
ized iron. It also has an inner cover,
which gives a narrow ispace like the
"Colorado" cover. It is a warm cover
in winter and cool in summer, I don't
think either that cover or the "Acme"
cover will crack.

Mr. Moore: Have you used them
on your hives?

Mr. Arnd: I have used them.

Mr. Wilcox: I have some that have
been used for thirty years, that have
been made of lumber and well covered
with tin, and they are in good con-
dition yet, so that tin is the most
economical.

Mr. Moore: What color do you
paint them?

Mr. Wilcox: Ours are painted rath-
er a light color, nearly white.

Mr. Moore: They are much too
cold in the spring for the best results.

Mr. Wilcox: I don't know as that
affects the temperature of the bees
very much if you have any packing
on top under the cover. The cover is
made two inches deep, and there is
packing underneath, consequently the
sun does not affect them under that.
I advocate dark-colored hives for
spring use, and keep them all sum-
mer.

Mr. Kannenberg: I have handled
many covers, and tried them. I have
had covers with air spaces in them,
with tin on top, such as Mr. Arnd
spoke of, and the covers were made
of %-inch thickness, and I would not
have those covers if anybody would

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

139

give them to me. They will warp. In
the spring, you can put your finger
under the hive, and the bees can
crawl out all around. I would rather
"have a plain board cover of good
thickness.

Mr. "Whitney: I .bought thirty or
forty colonies of bees when I went up
to Lake Geneva, of a gentleman who
toad an old hive, and he had a cover
that was made of zinc, that is, the
outside was zinc. How long he had
them, I don't know. They are ever-
lasting. There is no rust whatever;
nothing to be done to them. Whether
they cost more than tin, I don't know.
I suppose they do. But he must have
had them at least twenty years; just
as good, so far the zinc cover was con-
cerned, as when they were first made;
and when I sold my bees, they wer*
just as good as they ever had been.
For that kind of a hive, I concluded
that they were the very best cover to
be used. There was no necessity for
painting at all. The cover that I use
on a double-wall hive is entirely dif-
ferent. It is like the gable of the
roof to a house, and I never had any
trouble with that cover at all.

Mr. Arnd: The "Colorado" and
"Acme" covers I spoke of are made
out of good, heavy material. This
"Colorado" cover will weigh twice as
much almost, with the inner cover, as
the "Excelsior" cover. It is good,
heavy lumher, and ipeople who have
used them for years would not have
anything else.

Mr. Horstmann: I would say that
I use covers of my own make. I have
a cover that telescopes aibout two
Inches over the hive-body, and the
ridge-iboard of that cover Is loose — it
is not nailed ion at all. It is made
with a groove, so that when the
ridge-board Is on top of the gable
cover It prevents the rain from coming
in, and the hive is always ventilated
by using the cover. When It Is nec-
essary, I use a small, thin cover right
over the hees. In the spring I use
this hair felt cover that I use in the
winter time, putting it on the cover so
that it will keep the bees warm. It
always acts as a good shade-iboard.
There is a space ibetween the thin
cover and the main cover at all times,
and I have never had a colony of bees
overheated with that cover, and al-
most everybody who has seen that
cover has used it themselves. Any-
body can have the privilege of using

that cover. There is no patent on It.
I had about one hundred and twenty-
five of them made several years ago,
and they are. just as good now as the
day I got them. Mr. Duff uses them
also. I made some of them. I think
they are the best covers, not hecause
I made them. I would be glad to
show the cover, and if anybody likes
them, let them go ahead and make
them. •

Keeping Empty Extracting Combs.

"How should emptyy extracting
combs be kept when not In use?"

Mr. Wilcox: I don't know how they
should ibe kept. I have kept them a
great many years, and am keeping
them now. The most important thing
Is to keep them away from the mice.
But you have to look out for the
moths also. To prevent that, I keep
them on the bees a little later in the
fall than is really necessary, and then,
taking them off at the approach of
cold weather, no more moths cut
them. After I had completed my ex-
tracting, which I finished only about
two weeks ago, I left the extracting
combs outside, and let the bees clean
them out. Then I put them away, and
I have to place poison and traps
around to keep the mice and rats
away. They will keep free from moths
if you will place them in a rack In a
light place, spaced an inch apart. A
great many bee-keepers keep them,
and they are perfectly safe. It is well
to have them thoroughly cleaned up
/by the bees in the fall, otherwise there
will be granulated honey in them in
the spring. I do not care how cold
it is, the freezing will do no 'harm.

Comb or Extracted Honey.

"Which is considered the most profit-
able to produce, comb or extracted
honey?"

President York: How many think
comb is? Raise your hands. (Eigiht.)
How many think extracted is? (31x.)

Mr. Wilcox: I was going to say, I
don't vote either side, because that
doesn't answer the question. Ex-
tracted is the more profitaWe under
certain circumstances. Comb is th6
more profitahle under other circum-
stances. What they wish to Imow is
when and where comb is the most
profitable, and when and where ex-
tracted. If I were in a locality where
the honey flow, when there was a

140

EIGHTH ANNUAL. RKPORT OF THE

honey flow, was a good one, and where
white clover or basswood was plenti-
ful, I should certainly produce comb
honey, and advise every one else to
do so. But if you are in a locality
where the honey is principally of a
dark color, I would produce extracted
honey, because the dark extracted
honey sells for only one cent less than
the light extracted in all wholesale
markets; while there is about a differ-
ence of four cents in comb honey be-
tween the dark and the white, and
where there Is much dark honey, you
can scarcely make a success of pro-
ducing the best white honey, for the
reason that your supers and the honey
inside of your hives is more or less
mixed with dark honey, and if the
bees do not consume every pound of
it in rearing brood in the spring, some
of it will find Its way into Vhe supers
to shade the color of your honey.
Therefore, if your honey Is pretty
dark, produce extracted honey. If It
Is pretty nearly or all white, produce
It In the combs.

Mr. Whitney: Isn't It a fact that
from fifty to a hundred per cent more
honey can be produced In extracted
form than in the comb, and although
extracted honey brings a little less
price, more money really can be real-
ized, even though It Is white clover
honey?

Mr. Wilcox: I am of the opinion
that I can pnoduce and market two
pounds of extracted honey as cheaply
as one of comb. The average yield
depends upon the season. In a poor
season, you will get more than two
poimds of extracted to one of comb.
In an extra-good season the difference
will not be so much, perhaps forty to
fifty per cent more extracted honey
than comb. It depends upon the lo-
cality and the season.

Moths and Bees.

"Do moths ibother the bees that
stand in the shade rmore than in the
open ?"

Mr. Whitney: My strain of bees are
not bothered with moth at all, either
in the shade or open. They are three-
banded Italians, and will take care of
moth very quickly. I have never seen
any difference between the shade and
the open.

Loss of Young Queens.

"What causes loss of young queens
before mating?"

Mr. Stanley: There might be a num-
ber of causes; might be a storm come
up; might have your hives too close.
That is a hard question to answer.

Mr. Wilcox: That doesn't answer
the question. This is before mating;
not at the time of mating.

Mr. Horstmann: How does anybody
know they are lost before they leave
the hive? They have got to leave the
hive to be lost.

Mr. Stanley: Unless you handle
them so much that you kill them in
handling the combs.

Mr Horstmann: Whoever wrote
that question might give it to us a
little plainer.

Miss Candler: I asked the question.'
I have been trying to rear queens and
the queens were lost. They were vir-
gin queens, about twenty-nine or so,
and they were all right a few days
before in the hive.

Mr. Horstmann: How long after the
queens were hatched until you noticed
that they were lost?

Miss Candler: Just a few days.

Mr. Wilcox: Is eight a few?

Miss Candler: All the way from
three days to two weeks that I could
not find them.

Mr. Horstmann: In that case I think
they were lost In the air. The young
queens go out sometimes when they
are from three to four days old, and of
course a young queen is more clumsy
than an ordinary bee, and they are
more apt to be picked up by birds.
Sometimes they get lost by entering
the wrong hive, but they are mostly
lost, I think, by birds picking them up
in the air.

Mr. Whitney: One yeear I lost five,
and we had a pair of kingbirds that
had a nest near the apiary, and I
charged it to those kingbirds. I don't
know whether they were guilty or not,
but I borrowed a shotgun and killed
them both, and after that I didn't lose
any more young queens.

Mr. Moore: Isn't it a fact that if
you have nuclei for queen-rearing ar-
ranged in a row so that they look
alike there is danger of their being
lost? Isn't it important to set them
around in irregular form for the guid-
ance of the queen returning?

Mr. Horstmann: I believe almost
everyone rearing queens does that. I
always try to change mine. I never

•^^r^r.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

141

have two of them looking alike if I
can help it." If you set little nuclei
boxes right close together I think most
of them would be lost. In one hive I
have four entrances, one at each cor-
ner of the hive, and in that case I be-
lieve they are all right. Take these
boxes and have them around the en-
trance on each side, and there isn't
much danger of the queens getting lost
in that hive, but if you had them in a
row, side by side,, they would naturally
get mixed up.

Mr. Wilcox: I am of the opinion
that the greater portion of them are
lof't by birds. One year when I had a
great many bees and much swarming,
I iDst a number of bees, and I noticed
a large number oi kingbirds around
the apiary. I shot twenty of them and
frightened the clivers away, and after
that I lost only cnt or two in the sea-
son, so the kingbirds were getting the
young queens and drones.

Mr. Logsdon: I hate to have th^i
kingbirds killed. A young queen is not
much like a drone. She is more like
the worker bee. I killed a number of
kingbirds and I dissected them, and
never saw anything but a drone — you
caniiot Imd any other bee. I even shot
them up to Jast season, and I never
will kill anothbr kingbird. They are
our protection; they do us good; they
are our companions in life, and we
ought net to aestroy them. I have
killed them so many times, and dis-
sected them. They feed on the drones
only, and we always have too many of
them; and 03 to their picking up a
virgin queen — if you have ever noticed
how rapid and strong the virgin queens
are in their flight; a virgin queen is
very easily excited, and will run over
the frames and fly, and in handling
them I have lost, or would have lost,
virgin queens, finding them crawling
on my coat sleeve or starting to fly.
There are different ways of losing
them. They are very active and ex-
citable. Tou will look in your hive a
dozen times before you find her, she
is so quick. In making these manipu-
lations, being so quick, she gets ex-
cited, .and she often takes wing, and if
you close the hive while she is taking
wing you may often lose her that way.

Mr. Wilcox: I am glad to hear the
opinion, even though it differs from
mine. One or the other of us is cer-
tainly mistaken. I hope we may some
time be able to agree.

Mr. Whitney: At Kankakee one

time, when I had my apiary there be-
tween two rows of- trees, the bees were
inclined to go out in a regular stream,
and there were kingbirds there, and
occasionally they would go. I watched :
those birds very closely, and I feel
certain that they caught something be-
sides drones. While I had my bees
there, on one day a kingbird caught
over a dozen inside of two and a half
minutes. I watched and saw him do it.
Pretty soon he made a dive for those
bees going out in a swarm, and they
were too many for him — they stung
him. He flew away and lit on a post,
and chook his head and fluttered about,
and that was the last I ever saw of
that kingbird in that yard. I am cer-
tain he was after bees, and not drones,
at that time.

Mr. Logsdon: Please may I ask
what time of the day this was?

Mr. Whitney: Some time in the
middle of the day.

Mr. Logsdon: About the time the
drones were flying?

Mr. Whitney: I can't remember of
drones flying. I have heard it said
that they caught nothing but drones,
but I am quite certain that they catch
bees. It has been told that they sim-
ply suck the juices of the bee and spit
the bee out, but you could not find
the bee in their crop. I have read ac-
counts of their doing that, and that
has been given as the reason you could
not find them in the crop of the bird.
I don't know whether it is true or not,
but I will not kill ajiy more. After I
had shot those kingbirds, I picked up
one of them as it came from the tree
and fluttered to my feet and died
there. I picked it up and said, "This
is the last bird of any kind I will ever
shoot or kill; if they kill any number
Of bees, I won't kill another kingbird,
or any other bird," and I have not
since, and I never will.

Mr. Wilcox: I was going to say, the
point he made was that he could not
find them in the crop. Tou examined
the crop and found no bee?

Mr. Logsdon: I examined the crop
and found nothing.

Mr. Wilcox: Did you find anything
else?

Mr. LiOgsdon: A little cheese or
something of that kind.

Mr. Wilcox: What I wanted to say
is that a kingbird has no crop. They
only have a place where the crop is.

\

142

EIGHTH ANNUALi REPORT OF THE

The food goes direct from the mouth
to the gizzard.

Mr. Liogsdon: I don't care anything
about the particular designation of the
place where we find the drones in a
kingbird, whether it is in the crop or
gizzard, or in a portion of the wind-
pipe. It makes no difference. The
point is that I don't wish to see the
kingbirds destroyed. I have watched
them carefully. The kingbirds never
come to my apiary until the drone sea-
son, and never until from noon until
perhaps three o'clock, which we know
is when the drones are flying. Again,
as I told you before, I have dissected
them, and have found the drones in-
ternally. I don't know that it is nec-
essary for me to be a physiologist or
an anatomist; if I can find a drone on
the inside of a kingbird, that ought to
be sufficient to anyone, either pro or
con. 1 have killed them, but, like my
friend, I will never kill another one.
They are a brave little bird, and I
don't know of any other animal in na-
ture that can teach us more the prin-
ciples of bravery and industry and
self- protection than a kingbird, and
they are here and do us good, the same
as all birds. I have never lost a queen
through the influence of a kingbird, so
far as I know — a virgin queen, now,
mark you — if it was a fertile queen
flying away with a swarm, sometimes
they will; but for a virgin queen, just
dismiss that from your minds. I will
guarantee the kingbirds don't eat them.

Mr. Barkemeier: Is the kingbird the
same as the bee martin? My bees
swarm about ten o'clock. The king-
bird and bee martin will come and
peck at the bee-house in the morning,
and my brother shot, maybe, ten, and
they got off with ten or twelve bees.

Mr. Logsdon: Was it a first or sec-
ond swarm?

Mr. Barkemeier: The first swarm
in the morning, ten o'clock.

Mr. Logsdon: Everyone who has
bees can see them fiying in the after-
noon by four or five o'clock — twelve
o'clock you can see them. They eat
only drones.

Mr. Watts: We have a distinction
In our neighborhood between the king-
bird and the bee-martin. They are a
different sized bird. The kingbird is
much larger than the bee-martin. I
think the bee-martin is a more dan-
gerous bee- catcher than the kingbird.
What we call \he kingbird is white
under the wings when it Is flying,

but the other bird is of a dark brown
color. There may be some other dis-
tinction between the two kinds of
birds.

Mr. Wilcox: We are discussing
this for t^e purpose of getting infor-
mation. I don't want to carry my
point if it is wrong. I will be glad if I
am wrong if you will furnish reason-
able evidence of It. But as to whether
kingbirds eat worker bees or not —
several times I have seen them early
in May, before there was a drone
passed from the apiary — come into the
yard and catch bees when it was so
cold that only once in awhile a bee
came out of the hive. I have seen
them come close to the hive and pick
up bees before they fairly got from
the hive. I am confident they were get-
ting worker bees, although I didn't
catch them to see. I have often ex-
amined the gizzard and found drones
and lizards and other insects in there.
But you must catch them pretty quick-
ly after they have swallowed it or you
cannot tell what Is in them.

Mr. Horstmann: I don't believe I
ever killed a kingbird, but I have
friends who have killed them because
they thought they killed the queens.
Unless he can tell us that the jiiing-
bird is of great' value to us, I would
advise Miss Candler to buy a good
shotgun before she leaves the city
and "la,y for" the kingbirds before she
loses the queens next year. Are the
kingbirds of any use to us? If they
are, I would not want to kill them, but
if they cannot show any value, I would
just as soon kill them as not.

Mr. Wilcox: They catch the millers
and bee-moths.

Mr. Horstmann: My bees never have
any moths.

Number of Colonies to Keep.

"How^ many colonies can a person
keep producing comb honey if work-
ing on a farm?

President York: It would depend a
little on the size of the farm.

Mr. Wilcox: I can answer that. I
have tried it for twenty or thirty years
and I have kept from three to four
hundred colonies.

President York: How large a farm?

Mr. Wilcox: -From 120 to 240 acres,
but I had my whole family helping and
some hired help.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPEHS' ASSOCIATION

143

Mr. Moore: Depends on the size of
the farm and the size of the family!

Mr. Wilcox: And the amount of
help.

Carniolan Bees.

"Has anybody had any experience
with the Carniolan bees, and which
strain is the best?"

Mr. Kannenberg: I was inquisitive
about the Karniolan bees, and I bought
a swarm of them. I never had as
much swarming going on as with those
bees. They were swarming every day
in the vear! I don't want any more
of them.

Mr. Stanley: Well, I have tried them
and they are great swarmers — best for
rearing bees.

Bottling Honey.

"In bottling honey is it necessary to
heat the honey to prevent it from
crystallizing, or can it be bottled just
as it comes from the extractor?"

Mr. Arndt: I don't know about bot-
tling it as it comes from the extractor,
but I know that nearly all the honey
we receive we have to heat and liquefy
it more or loss before we can bottle it.
If we don't, it will be somewhat
clouded. Honey that is bottled warm
and tightly sealed will keep from gran-
ulating a great deal longer than cold
honey.

Mr. Wilcox: The hotter you heat it
the longer it will keep from granulat-
ing. If you boil it, it will never granu-
late. I consulted the purchasing agent
of the National Biscuit Company, and
he said he had never found any that
would not granulate, but after it gran-
ulated and they liquefied it, it would
not granulate again. I said, "You heat
it hotter than 160 degrees?" and he
said, "Oh, sure!" But that spoils the
flavor.

Mr. Arndt: Honey heated to 160
degrees will granulate again, but it
will be some time before it will granu-
late. There are certain kinds of hon-
ey that if you boil will granulate in
time.

Mr. Moore: Mr. President, give your
experience.

President York: It has been some
time since I was in the honey bottling
business, but I certainly did bottle
"some" when I was bottling by the
carload, and buying glass jars by the
car load.; We heated the honey to as
near as possible 160 degrees and sealed

it while hot. We used the "Tip Top"
jar like this one, and found it to be
the best that we had tried up to that
time. I doubt if it can be improved on
for a jar that will not leak under any
conditions. We bottled it very quick-
ly after getting it to 160 degrees, and
had very little trouble with it granu-
lating in the grocery stores. Where
we found it did granulate, we took It
back and reliquefled and re-labeied it
without taking it out of the bottle.

Mr. Moore: What per cent would
granulate?

President York: Perhaps not over
one per cent would granulate before
it was isold out.

* .

Mr. Ahlers: If honey is heated to
160 degrees, will it not be affected
in flavor?

President York: Not unless it is
kept a long time at 160 degrees.

Mr. Ahlers: If it is brought up to
160 degrees and bottled immediately?

President York: I think not.

Mr. Ahlers: I heated some to about
that temperature and I thought it did
affect it, but I had no thermometer.

Mr. Moore: If I heat it with water
under it, it is 212 degrees when your
honey is 160 degrees. I have honey
heated that way.

• Mr. Ahlers: I heat all my honey in
galvanized cans, and then take it off
the fire instantly. After I heat it ig
water I put it in enamel kettles.

Mr. Moore: If you leave it over
the fire the temperature will go on
up.

Mr. Ahlers: I keep stirring it until
it gets to that temperature, and then
I take it off.

Preparing Bees Fop Winter.

"What is the shortest and best
method of preparing bees for winter
with the least cost?"

President York: Probably putting
them in a cellar, if you have a cellar.
This likely means outdoor wintering,
though.

Mr. Wilcox: I think Miss Candler
could answer.

Miss Candler: I don't know whether
my method is the shortest or the
least expensive. I winter in paper —
wrap them in paper, with a super
on top. I use tarred felt paper. It
is the most practical for me.

144

EIGHTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE

Mf. Moore: On the summer stands?

Miss Candler: Yes, sir.

"Has any one had experience with
wrapping paper around hives for win-
ter or spring, and with what results?"

President York: Has anybody else
had experience with tarred felt or
any other kind of paper?

Mr. Moore: If no one has anything
to say, that brings up a question that
has been discussed at great length —
the color of the outside of the hive,
or the paint. To my mind, it is ma-
j terial to have a dark color. Every-
one knows that black absorbs all of
the rays of the sun. White does
not absorb any of them. When you
have a white cover it is glanced off,
as if a bullet would strike there and
glance away. The moment a ray of
sunshine strikes a bee-hive with a
black tarred paper, the ray goes right
down in there, how deep I don't know,
but it goes deep enough to be a very
material matter in keeping up the heat
and life of the bees.

Mr. Whitney: The kind of hives I
have been accustomed to using are
painted white, with perhaps some trim-
ming; but the packing around the hive
and over the top is so great that even
though the outside of the hive were not
painted, I don't think the sun would
have any effect whatever. There is
heat enough in that hive, in that pack-
ing, to keep the bees warm without
any rays at all; they generate heat.
Put a thermometer in there, and you
will find it is up to 90 degrees even in
cold weather. It seems to me that this
talk about white paint on the outside
of the hives, the objection to it, is a
mistake. When we have the bees all
packed good and warm with a thick-
ness of cushion and planer shavings
around the outside, or boxes, as have
been described, I don't think the rays
of the sun cut any figure at all.

Mr. McClure: A person would have
to watch if he used just a single-wall
hive and used tarred paper. The sun
would not affect the bees. Would not
the bees be liable to come out in cold
weather and get stiff, and not be able
to go back again?

Miss Candler: I always thought they
were, but I have never had any trouble
at aJl. I think I lose fewer colonies
with paper than w^en I used packing.

Mr. Moore: Some of the friends may
have forgotten that Dr. Miller does not

paint any of his hives, and he attrib-
utes some of his success to the fact
that he does not paint them. They be-
come almost as black as 'black paint,
and he says it is a great help in early
fall and late spring in helping the bees
keep up the temperature.

Miscellaneous.

President York: I don't remember
ever attening a convention of the Chi-
cago-Northwestern Bee-Keepers' As-
sociation that has kept up as lively a
fi.re of questions as this one. It has not
lagged a minute. We have had a pro-
gram all the time, and you have helped
to make it. Dr. Miller attributes the
success of our convention to the fact
that we do not have long-winded pa-
pers— but something new coming up
all the time. I want to thank you, as
j'our president, for your patience with
me as your presiding officer. I have
tried to be fair. I do not suppose I
have suited everybody, but I have done
the best I could. I hope next year we
will have a larger attendance, that you
will have a good crop of honey, and
that you will bring some one with you.
■^Ve ought to have at least a hundred,
or more. The Chicago -Northwestern
Bee -Keepers' Association stands next
to the National in the interest of' its
meetings. I have been to other conven-
tions in other parts of the country,
and it seems to me there is no other
meeting that compares quite with ours_
in the interest that so many take in it,
and I think" one reason is because of the
question-box program. I am sure we
are always glad to have with us the
members of the old Northwestern Bee-
Keepers' Association, that used to meet
here twenty-five years ago — Mr. Bald-
ridge, Mr. Wilcox, Dr. Miller and Mr.
Taylor. We could not get along with-
out these old war-horses. Of course
we are glad that new ones are coming
here to take our places, and it Is by
the. infusion of new blood that we can
keep up the interest.

Mr. Horstmann: I would like to ask
whether this association went on
record as favoring a foul brood law for
Illinois.

President York: Yes, sir; we passed
the resolution just before dinner to-
day.

Mr. Whitney: I wish to ask whether
the members of this association have
all received notice of the election of
officers ifor the National, to forward
their vote.

lL,L,IXOIS STATK BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 145

President York: During the month fore the December American Bee Jour-

of November the officers of the Na- nal goes to press, so as to announce

tional are elected. Postal card notices the result of that ballot.

were sent to all the members. Is there ,, ^tx^i. t ■ j •

, , . I, £ iv, Mr. Whitney: I received mine very

any one here who is a member of the i j. . -xt St^ * +i- j.-

-KT4.--1 r-^-j J. u. A. ■, J late m November, not more than time

National who did not get a postal card , * -4. * -.t xt * r,- v,

,,,.,. TVT f i- o to get it to Mr. Hutchinson; perhaps

ballot during November some time? ,,'' x, j xi. • „;;

_,, ,, , , ., „„., , - , -r others had the same experience.

The polls closed the 30th day of No-

vember, and doubtless the secretary. President York: I got mine near the

Mr. Hutchinson, is counting the ballots first of the month. And now we stand

now, or has counted them. He will adjourned to the call of the executive

notify Mr. France. I hope to get it be- committee, in December, 1909.

-10

146

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

THIRTY-NINTH ANNUAL CONVENTION

OF THE

National Bee-Keepers' Association

HELD IN

The Sun Palace of the Wayne Hotel
IN THE CITY OF DETROIT, MICH.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, October 13th. 14th and 15th, 1908

The opening session was held on
Tuesday Evening, October 13th, at
eight o'clock.

The President, Mr. George E. Hil-
ton, of Fremont, Mich., occupied the
chair, and after having called the
Convention to order, and after having
extended greetings to those present
and having congratulated the Asso-
ciation on the large number of mem-
bers and friends in attendance, called
upon Mr. E. Root of Medina, Ohio, to
give his "Moving Picture Exhibition."

Owing to the fact that the apparatus
was not in readiness to give the ex-
hibition, Mr. Root was unable to carry
out this part of the programme, but
gave a demonstration of handling live
bees, adding some remarks on how
to quiet bees with and without the
use of smoke; how bees could be put
in condition for the purpose of uniting,
introducing and handling bees in gen-
eral.

The pictures were subsequently
given on "Wednesday Evening.

LIVE BEE DEMONSTRATIONS.

By E. R. Root.

On the program for the evening
.session for October 13th was a live-
bee demonstration by E. R. Root, of
Medina, Ohio. He had on the plat-
form a large wire-cloth cage, inside
of which was a nucleus of iive bees

and a large dishpan. Before Mr. Root
began his regular demonstration work
he said:

"The handling of live bees before
popular audiences and at bee shows
is very common in England. The ob-
ject of these demonstrations is ■ to
educate the general public on the sub-
ject of bees and bee-keeping, and, in
particular, how bees may be handled
with bare arms and face without being
stung. In my work for this evening
I hope to show you how I handle
bees before crowds, taking them up
by the handfuls, throwing them over
my arms and face and on my head.
I do not know whether the bees that
I have in the box inside of the cage,
where I am to operate, will prove
tractable or not. While I find a great
difference in the temperament of bees,
yet I have nearly always been able
to give my demonstrations without a
single sting; and, after showing how
bees' can be played with like kittens,
it is my custom to invite some one
in the audience to come inside the
cage with me and pick up a handful.
Strange as it may seem, I usually
have plenty of volunteers; and, on only
one occasion, has one of these volun-
tees been stung. It happened in this
way:

"A little German, who had had some
experience with bees, volunteered his
services. After he had been in the
cage a moment or two I saw that he

IIjLINOIS state BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATIDIT

147

was a little too 'fresh.' Observing how
I threw the bees over my head, he
proceeded to perform the same stunt;
and, the next thing I knew, he was
saying to me in an undertone, 'Mishter
'oot! Mishter 'oot! dese pees dey pe
schtinging — py shiminy! ach!' Fearing
a panic in the audience I told him to
keep perfectly quiet. In throwing the
bees on himself he threw them vio-
lently over me; and, if they were
piercing HIS epidermis, they certain-
ly were puncturing mine in no un-
certain way. With my fingers I combed
the bees ofE his hair and proceeded
quietly to get them ofC my own per-
son. 'Now,' said I, 'keep still;' and when
he stepped out of the cage some of
his pent-up ardor had visibly waned.
"Why was he stung? Because he
had failed to observe my precaution
not to push his fingers through the
bees rapidly, and then throwing them
too violently on his head. Now, bees
will stand a good deal, but they will
not tolerate such treatment as this.
Let me explain.

"In order to make a success of
handling bees by the handful it is
exceedingly necessary to get them
thoroughly under control. First of all,
we use a little smoke in opening the
box of bees. Next we pull out a
frame and shake the inmates into a
large dishpan. The other frames are
shaken in a similar manner. This
act has a tendency to frighten the
bees. To complete the work of de-
moralization we now shake the pan as
we would a corn -popper. One would
naturally think that this would excite
the bees to fury; but so far from do-
ing this it has the opposite effect.
Some bees require more shaking than
others; at all events the process must
be continued until the insects tumble
over each other in hopeless confusion.
When this stage is reached, one may
push his hand very gently and slowly
Tinder the cluster, for they will be so
demoralized that they will not offer
attack. In pushing the hands under
the now little pets it is very import-
ant to make the movement so slow
that no bee will be crowded or pinched.

"I>ately I have learned a new trick.
I shake the bees up into a large ball,
tip the pan up at an angle, and then
ROLL the bees so that the ball will
fall into the hand. A big bunch of
them can thus be picked up; and then
when the act is repeated with the

other hand, one can form a very
pretty festoon or cluster of bees. They
may now be placed against the face,
or be gently shaken from the hand
upon the head. But before doing this
the ears should be plugged with cot-
ton; for should a stray bee crawl into
the ear, it would put the operator hors
du combat ; in fact, it might spoil
the whole 'show.' After the bees are
carefully lodged on the head, a quick
shake of the hands will free any bees
clinging to them. Then the fingers
are passed over the top of the head,
and the bees are gradually combed out
of the hair. If this is done carefully,
there will be no stings.

"After I have shown the various
stunts^ forming little swarms, uniting
two clusters of bees, then stretching
the clusters until they break, I shake
the bees from the hands into the pan,
then shake the pan, after which I al-
low the volunteer to pass his hands
around amidst the bees. If he fol-
low the volunteer to pass his hands
ceive a single sting, and, at the end
of his performanve, he will receive
a round of applause from the audi-
ence,

"But before one proceeds to handle
live bees inside of a cage he must
remove his coat and vest, roll up his
shirt-sleeves, remove his collar and
tie, and last, but not least, tuck his
trousers inside of his stockings. The
baring of head, arms and neck gets
the audience interested, for now they
think the operator will surely be
stung. It is very important there be
no sleeve or loose fold of clothing
under which the bees may crawl, get
pinched, and sting."

With these remarks Mr. Root pro-
ceeded to remove his coat and vest,
roll up his sleeves, and enter the
cage. But the bees did not at first
yield to the treatment; whereupon he
explained to the audience that he
would have to shake the pan until
they showed that they were completely
demoralized. He next picked up the
bees by the handful, spread them over
his face, and then threw them on his
hand and neck. Some one in the
audience volunteered the statement
that, even if Mr. Root WERE being
stung, he would say nothing; where-
upon he replied that, so far, he had not
received a sting; and after the per-
formance was over he expressed his
willingness to be examined by a com-
mittee.

:Wwv

148

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

"While the demonstration was in
progress many questions were asked,
during- which Mr. Root explained that,
after the bees have been thoroughly-
subdued by the pan-shaking method
they may be united with other bees;
and that, if queenless, a queen could
be introduced to them without diffi-
culty. In fact, he explained that this
method of getting bees under control
could be used in practical work in the
yard, many times, to great advantage.

The president then called upon Prof.
E. F. Phillips of the Agricultural Bu-
reau, Washington, D. C, who gave
an address*" on "Bee-Keeping in Ha-
waii."

This paper was also to have been

illustrated with stereopticon views, but

owing to the reason previously men-

' tioned, the views were not given until

Wednesday evening.

Prof. Phillips' address is as follows:

BEE-KEEPING IN HAWAII.

Bee-Keeping on the Hawaiian
Islands is one of the minor industries,
which is being conducted with profit.
As in all other places, this business
can never become a leading industry
from its very nature, but there is rea-
son to believe that there is yet room
for considerable expansion. The modi-
fied methods made necessary by a
tropical climate and other conditions
of a local character, present some new
phases of the keeping of bees, and,
in view of the fact that these modifica-
tions will be of interest to bee keepers
on the mainland, as well as to those in
Hawaii, it may not be out of place to
give a brief account of what I was
able to observe personally and to
learn from others in the four weeks
spent on the islands in making an api-
cultural survey. '

The bee keepers of Hawaii were or-
ganized into an active and efficient as-
sociation about two years ago. By
united effort this organization has ac-
complished much that is of great value
to the industry. When the question
of marketing their honey under the
regulations of the Food and Drug Act
o'f 1906 arose, they sent a representa-
tive to Washington to present their
case. In this and many other ways
the bee men have shown themselves
to be alert and progressive in looking
after their best interests.

Methods of Management.

At the present time bee-keeping is
largely in the hands of four corpora-
tions, they owning and operating at
least four-flfths of all the bees on the
islands. These companies are all man-
aged by American citizens, but there
are a number of smaller apiaries, some
of which are owned by Japanese. The
last named apiaries are usually not so
well kept nor are they so productive.
The total number of colonies at present
is probably about fifteen thousand, and
the annual output of honey, which is
mostly shipped to the mainland or to
Europe, is probably about nine hundred
tons. The keeping of bees by corpora-
tions, as opposed to individual owner-
ship, is something which is rarely ob-
served elsewhere. Being located a con-
siderable distance from the market and
the expense of supplies and shipping
being high, it has seemed desirable to
the bee-keepers to organize companies
so that they can make large shipments.
There is also on the Hawaiian Islands
a tendency, to a marked degree, to in-
corporate all industries, and doubtless
this common method of conducting
business has induced the bee keepers to
adopt it. With this system it is possi-
ble for one skilled manager to, oversee
the manipulation of several thousand
colonies, the actual manipulation being
done in most cases by the Japanese
helpers; in this way the cost of main-
tenance of the apiaries is reduced very
considerably. Since the price obtained
'for Hawaiian honey is still rather low,
it is, of course, necessary to reduce ex-
pense in every way possible.

The buying of "bee rights," as it is
practiced in Hawaii, is something prac-
tically unheard of elsewhere, and would
certainly appear to a mainland bee
keeper as a new and strange procedure.
The nearest approach to it is the rent-
ing of locations for outyards, which
pan usually not insure no competition.
This would not be possible were it not
for the fact that most of the available-
agricultural land on the islands is held
in large tracts, mostly as sugar cane
plantations and ranches. Arrangements
-are made with the manager of a planta-
tion for locations for apiaries and the
bee-keeper agrees to pay a certain
amount for the use of the land and for
the honey removed from these apiaries.
Frequently this is in the form of an
agreement to pay a certain sum for
each ton of honey removed from the
plantation, but at times it is a fixed

ILIjINOIS state BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

149

sum for the year, the bee-keeper
assuming what small risk there is of
getting a crop. The plantation man-
agement in turn agrees not to allow
other bee-keepers to keep bees in their
territory. There are frequently small
holdings within the boundaries of the
plantation, over which the plantation
company has no control, and some
other bee-keeper may lease ^ this with
the idea of allowing his bees to range
over the entire plantation. If, for
example, he puts two hundred colonies
on such a holding the immediate plac-
ing of isay five hundred colonies just
across the line has a discouraging ef-
fect on this poaching and it can end in
only one way, since the bee-keeper,
who has a right there, has the ad-
vantage. The same thing happens
when an outside bee-keeper gets too
close to the boundary line.

Naturally, when land is divided into
smaller holdings, as is the case almost
everywhere on the mainland, such an
agreement is not possible and a bee-
keeper must run the risk of competi-
tion. There is no way of telling what
amount of honey is taken from any
given area when the tracts are small.
The moral right dt priority claim,
which so many bee-keepers advocate,
has small place in the manipulations
of territory in Hawaii, where the bee-
keeping companies pay for what they
get and insist on getting it. One of the
large companies gained its exclusive
right by reason of the fact that it owns
and leases a tract of over one hundred
thousand acres for ranch purposes.

Owing to the fact that breeding goes
on every daj'^ in the year, and, equally,
to the fact that there is honey com-
ing in practically all the time, it is
possible to increase the number of
colonies at a rate which is truly sur-
prising. In one case, which was re-
ported, twenty colonies were increased
to four hundred and twenty in eight
months' time. This was done by con-
tract, the agreement being that the
colonies should be large enough for
manipulation in honey gathering. Of
course, queens were artificially reared
in this case.

Extent of the Industry.

At the present time there are on
the islands probably about fifteen
thousand colonies of bees, most of
which are, as above stated, owned by
four companies. From the custom
house statistics it is shown that the

annual shipments of honey amount to
about nine hundred tons. The Island
of Kauai now supports about three
thousand colonies, and, after traveling
over almost the entire cultivated por-
tion of the island, the author is of the
opinion that the island is just about
half stocked. The Island of Oahu seems
to be well covered from an apicultural
standpoint. Molokai is not a cane pro-
ducing island, but the algarroba forest
is nearly stocked and the only place
for heavy expansion seems to be in
the mountains where several forest
trees are nectar bearing. The Island
of Maui could not be examined as
carefully as the others on account of
inclement weather, but from reports re-
ceived, it is obviously, not stocked to the
extent that it should be. The Island of
Hawaii, the largest of the group, is rel-
atively the least developed of any of
the islands. There are only a few
apiaries on this area, almost equal in
extent to Connecticut, and there are
great possibilities. On the south coast
there are vast areas of cane and the
same is true of the Hamakua coast
on the north. The Kona coast would
probably support some bees in the cof-
fee plantations. I saw one such apiary.
On the interior of the island there are
vast areas which are entirely unde-
veloped from an apicultural stand-
point, and the island can doubtless sup-
port thousands of colonies of bees at a
profit.

The total area now actually stocked
with apiaries would not nearly equal
one-half of the State of Rhode Island
in size, while the honey crop is probably
twenty times as great as in that state.
According to the census report for
Rhode Island, it would be forty times
as great, but we cannot use this data
on account of its obvious unreliability.
This comparison will show the honey-
producing capabilities of the islands,
as compared with our more northern
countries, and will also show how
thoroughly the areas are stocked
where the industry has been taken up.
A small part of Oahu is doubtless
overstocked, due to crowding into a
given area by competitive companies.
There was no evidence of such over-
stocking elsewhere.

Overstocking an area with bees is a
subject much discussed among bee
men, and the situation in Hawaii illus-
strates very beautifully the fact that a
theoretical discussion of how many
colonies may be kept in one place is
of no value whatever. Each location

'.fS

150

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

must be judged on its own merits and
a given area, which will support only
twenty colonies in one region, may
support one thousand elsewhere. It is
also obvious that seasons vary to a
marked degree. In many parts of the
mainland, it is deemed advisable to
keep not more than one hundred col-
onies in one apiary and to allow each
apiary a radius of one and one-half to
three miles. On the basis of these
figures, from fifty to two hundred
acres are necessary to support single
colony of bees. Without discussing the
merits of these figures, it is enough
to say that this is the common main-
land praictice, particularly the more
densely populated areas. In contrast to
this, an examination 6f the methods in
Hawaii are extremely significant. One
area of cane on the Island of Oahu con-
tains a little over twenty thousand
acres. Near this is some algarroba
forest, but not enough to influence the
crop very much. This area supports
nearly five thousand colonies, some of
w^hich yield exceptionally large crops.
In certain parts of this area competi-
tion is too strong to yield proper re-
sults, but some apiaries yield over two
hundred pounds to the colony. In
some other cane areas, this record can
be almost equalled. Algarroba will not
produce so much per acre, but thig is
partly due to the fact that it blooms
for less - than six months while cane
fields furnish honey dew every day in
the year. One strip of algarroba for-
est on Molokai supports nearly two
thousand colonies; it will not average
more than one-half mile in width and
about thirty miles of it is used for bees.

Sources of Honey.

Floral Honey. — The amount of floral
honey produced on the islands annual-
ly is about three hundred tons. For-
merly the only source of honey on the
islands which was widely enough dis-
tributed to make bee-keeping commer-
cially important was algarroba, native
"Keawe." This tree was introduced
to the islands by Father Bachelot,
founder of the Roman Catholic mis-
sion, in 1837, and the original tree still
stands on Fort street in Honolulu.
It has been carried to all the islands
and is one of the most valuable things
ever introduced to the group. It fur-
nishes not only an excellent honey,
but the pods furnish excellent fodder
and the wood is the main article of
fuel.

The honey from algarroba is "water
white" in color and granulates very
soon after it is stored by the bees in
spite of the warm climate of the is-
lands. This characteristic makes fre-
quent extractions necessary to pre-
vent the combs from being clogged.
In regions where algarroba is practi-
cally the only source of honey, at the
close of the flow an amount of honey
sufficient to keep up the colony until
the next flow is left in the hive. This,
of course, soon granulates. When the
honey flow diminishes, the brood
chamber is reduced and considerable
honey is stored in the space formerly
occupied by brood. When the next
flow comes on a good deal of this
granulated honey remains in the
combs and since this cannot be ex-
tracted, these combs are removed and
replaced either by empty combs or by
foundation to give the queen more
room. These combs containing granu-
lated honey are then placed in huge
solar extractors, the largest that I
ever saw. With two hundred or more
colonies in an apiary, there is often
need for a solar extractor which will
hold several hunderd combs at a time
and practically every apiary had such
a piece of apparatus as part of the
equipment. The sun's heat liquefies
the honey and melts most of the wax,
and the wax from the "slumgum" is
then extracted by the usual methods.
The honey from these solar extractors
is not darkened as one would^ expect.

The algarroba tree is either the
same species as, or very closely re-
lated to, the mesquite of the south-
west (Prosopis juliflora). On the is-
lands it grows to the size of a tree as
is also the case in Mexico. In Texas
it is very much smaller. In 1908 the
trees came in bloom about March 1st,
the time varying considerably in
different localities on tlfe islands. It
usually blooms until August, and this
very long blooming period adds great-
ly to its value to the bee-keepers.

The following list of honey plants,
other than the algarroba, is taken
from Bulletin No. 170, of the Office of
Experiment Stations Report on Agri-
cultural Investigations .in Hawaii, 1905,
from the report of the Entomologist,
D. L. Van Dine:

Various species of Acacia — wattle,
koa, etc.

Sisal (Agave sisalana.)

Alligator pear (Persea gratissima.)

Banana (Musa spp.)

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

151

Various species of Eucalyptus.

Guava (Psidium spp.)

Lantana.

Various species of citrus-orange,
lemon, lime, etc.

Lioquat (Eriobotrya japonica.)

Various species of cucurbits.

Rose apple (Eugenia jambos.)

Sugar cane (Saccharum ofiicinarum.)

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica. )

Tobacco (Nicotinana tabacum.)

Catalpa speciosa, a good honey tree
introduced some three years ago by
Mr. Jared G. Smith, special agent in
charge of this station.

Ilima (Sida cordifolia.)

Palms. ,

Sugar cane should be omitted since
the honey really comes from insects
and not the cane proper. To these
three other plants may be added "hila-
hila" (Hawaiian for "shame," the
name being given to a sensitive
plant), "Mamani" and one other plant
for which a name was not obtained.
The botanical classification of these
plants is not yet to hand. Mr. Van
Dine also reports "oi" (Verbena con-
tortus), pili grass (Heteropogon con-
tortus), ohia lehua (Metrosideros vil-
losa), and several others. This phase
of the work is being done in a most
complete manner by Mr. Van Dine,
who will publish his results as soon
as complete.

Other Sources of Honey.

Insect Honeydew. — Hawaii is pecul-
iar in that the majority of the honey
produced is from some source other
than flowers. Two-thirds of the honey
shipped annually from the islands is
largely or entirely honeydew honey.
The vast majority of this comes from
the exudations of the sugar cane leaf
hopper (Perkinsiella saccharicida) and
possibly some from the sugar cane
aphis (Aphis saccharl) although while
on the Islands I observed none of the
latter species. Of course, in a trop-
ical country there are many other in-
sects producing more or less honey-
dew.

Honeydew from the sugar cane leaf
hopper is very dark amber in color
and slightly ropy. In flavor it very
strongly resembles molasses from the
cane juice. Since the color and flavor
are so marked, a small amount of this
when mixed with the mild light color-

ed algarroba honey imparts the color
and flavor of honeydew to the entire
amount. Most honeydew honeys on
the mainland granulate very rapidly,
but this type does not granulate at all.
Samples several years old are as clear
as when first extracted.

The chemical composition of Hawai-
ian honeydew honey is quite unlike
that of floral honey and this fact has
led to the charge of adulteration by
buyers on the mainland and in foreign
markets. Since nowhere else, as far
as I am aware, is honeydew honey
produced in such large quantities, it is
not strange that cursory examinations
were misleading. I saw enough while
on the islands to convince me that,
however unlike floral honey this prod-
uct maj' be, it is a natural sweet prod-
uct collected and stored by the bees
and is then extracted and shipped
with no additions of other sugars.

* When the Food and Drug Act of
1906 went into effect, the Hawaiian
Bee-Keepers' Associations sent a rep-
resentative to "Washington to find out
under what name they could market
their crop, since it does not conform
with the standard of the Association
of Official Agricultural Chemists.
They were informed that it could be
sold on the mainland market provided
they label it just what it is. This they
have done and it is now sold as honey-
dew honey. The bee-keepers of Ha-
waii fully realize the peculiar honey
with which they have to deal and are
not attempting to market honeydew
honey in competition with floral honey
for table use. It goes to the baking
trade and for such use is reported to
f be satisfactory; at any rate the price
received is equal to that received for
algarroba honey.

As stated elsewhere, bees prefer
floral nectar to honej'-dew. However,
when the supply of floral nectar is
not great the bees work on both and
as a result there are mixtures of the
two stored in the hives varying all
the way from the pure honey-dew
honey to pure floral honey. It is these
mixtures that cause the trouble in
labeling. The standard on honey*
allows some honeydew in honey and
therefore, to be absolutely certain
whether a given quantity of the prod-
uct of the islands may be sold as
honey or honej'deAV honey, a chemical
analysis is necessary. The various
mixtures which occur are well illus-
trated in Plate I. of Bulletin 110, Bu-

152

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

reau of Chemistry. This plate illus-
trates very well the influence of honey-
dew on the physical properties of
honey. At one end of the series is
the pure algarroba, which is repre-
sented as granulated, while at the
other end is a sample of honeydew
honey which is as pure as it is usual-
ly found. Between the two in perfect
gradation are shown various mixtures
just as they came from the hive in
various extractions. The chemical
analysis of these particular samples
by Miss Alice R. Thompson show that
the chemical composition varies in ex-
actly

There is a test which may be
applied with considerable sa.fety. Al-
gerroba honey granulates rapidly and
pure honeydew does not; it has been
found by analysis that mixtures which
garroba honey granulates rapidly and
chemical composition that they may
be sold as honey. The flavor and
color may be characteristic of honey-
dew honey in spite of the fact that. the
mixture contains enough floral honey
to be sold as such.

The sugar cane leaf hopper was
first collected on the islands by Dr.
R. C. L. Perkins, now connected with
the Hawaii Sugar Planters' Agricul-
tural Experiment Station, in 1900* and
by February or March of 1903 had
"appeared generally throughout the
cane fields of Hawaii in numbers
sufficient to prove a serious check to
the growth of the cane."t For several
years the work of this insect caused
a loss of about $3,000,000 annuallyj; to
the planters and naturally they were
anxious that something be done to
stop this heavy loss. By various means
the leaf hopper has been brought under
control until to-day it is not abundant
enough to hinder the growth of the
plants "and plantations that were to a

*U. S. Dept. Agr., Office of the Sec-
retary, Cir. 19, p. 11.

*The Leaf-Hopper of the Sugar Cane,
by R. C. L. Perkins, Bulletin No. 1, Di-
vision of Entomology, Board of Com-
missioners of Agriculture and Forestry,
Territory of Hawaii, 1903.

tThe sugar cane leaf-hopper in Ha-
waii, by D. L. Van Dine, Bulletin No.
5, Hawaii Agricultural Experiment
Station, 1904.

tReport of the Governor of Hawaii
tolhe Secretary of the Intet-ior for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1907, p. 22.

certain extent abandoned are again
producing heavy crops of sugar." §

During the time spent on the islands
I saw no cane fields that were seem-
ingly injured by the leaf hopper, but,
on the other hand, there were no cane
fields examined that did not contain
many leaf hoppers. The fact that the
leaf hopper is not doing damage
enough to hinder cane raising does
not signify that it has disappeared nor
is there any biologic reason for believ-
ing that it will while cane is grown
unless some entirely new^ methods of
fighting it are found. The fact that
six hundred tons of honeydew are pro-
duced annually from this source in
spite of the fact that only a limited
amount of the area is accessible to
bees, is a certain indication of the un-
told millions of these insects which
still exist.

The leaf hoppers exude a S'weet
gummy substance on the leaves of the
cane and the honey bees work on this
eagerly. However, where bees have
access to both honeydew and floral
nectar, they prefer the nectar to a
marked degree. When algarroba be-
gins to bloom the honey stored be-
comes noticeably -whiter.

In view of the fact that honeydew
honey has the taste and color of com-
mon molasses, it has been suggested
that probably this product is gathered
by the bees from the sugar mills
which are so numerous on this island.
I visited several such mills located
near apiaries, on days w^hen bees were
actively flying. No bees were to be
seen anywhere around the mill. If
bees actually did come to the mill
after sweets, they would become a
serious nuisance to the workmen.
Why they do not is something of a
mystery, but I can vouch for the fact
that I saw no mills screened to keep
bees out nor did I see any bees at work
in the mill or even on the pile of sweet
refuse ("mud cake") outside.

Molasses is used for feeding cattle on
the islands quite extensively. It is
poured out in troughs or half barrels
where the cattle can get it easily and
frequently; these are located near
apiaries. Many of these were examined
as I went about among the apiaries
and in not a single instance did I ever
see a bee work on the molasses. It

§Ibed.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

153

some cases these 'feeding troughs are
as near as a quarter of a mile to api-
aries. A dairyman near Waimea,
Kauai, whose trough is located not a
quarter of a mile from a large apiary,
informed me that he had never seen
bees working on the molasses. Ob-
viously Hawaiian honeydew honey
does not come from this source.

Extra-floral Honeydew. — In addition

to the honeydew of insect origin, the
situation in Hawaii is made still more
complicated and interesting by the
fact that the hau tree has nectaries
on its leaves w^hich secrete a honey-
dew. These are located on the veins
of the leaves near the stem and are
one, three or five in number. Small
drops of honeydew may frequently be
seen on these spots. It is interesting
to note that these extra floral nectar-
ies are present on the outside of the
calyx of the flowers. There is appar-
ently no true floral nectary.

The hau tree is used quite exten-
sively as a hedge and grows twenty to
thirty feet high. It is doubtful whether
this is the source of any great per cent
of the honeydew honey, but the fact
that it is present makes it still more
difficult to analyze the bee-keeping sit-
uation on the islands.

Disease Survey.

The bee-keepers of the Islands were
very anxious to learn whether or not
they have any brood disease among
their bees. They were quite certain
that there is none, but desired this
opinion to be confirmed. For this
reason the apiaries visited were care-
fully examined and absolutely no
trace of any known infectious disease
was found. In view of the fact that
a brood disease would spread rapidly
in that climate the bee men may con-
side rthemselves extremely fortunate.

The Convention then adjourned to
Wednesday, October 14th, at eight
o'clock a. m.

The following message was received
from the Eastern Ontario Bee -Keepers'
Association: ^

"Athens, Ont., Oct. 12th, 1908.
"W. H. Hutchinson,

"Sec'y National Bee-Keepers' Assn.
"Wayne Hotel, Detroit, Mich.

"Eastern Ontario bee-keepers send
friendly greeting to National with best
wishes for pleasant and profitable
meeting. M. B. HOLMES."

SECOND DAY.

Morning Session.

Wednesday, October 14th.
At nine o'clock a. m. the President
took the chair and said:

"The Convention will pleas come to
order. We have with us this morning
one of the veteran bee-keepers and a
veteran journalist of the State in
which he now lives, and one who has
done more perhaps in the interests of
bee-keeping from a scientific stand-
point and for the people of the world
from a moral standpoint than any
man now living in the bee-keeping
ranks, and the session this morning
will be opened by prayer by Mr. A. I.
Root of Medina, O."

The audience rose while Mr. A. I. Root
invoked the Divine Blessing.

The President — There comes a time
in the history of every man's life when
he feels himself inadequate for the re-
sponsibilities that rest upon him, and
as I stand before you this morning as
your President and feel the responsi-
bility that rests upon me as the pre-
siding officer of this Convention, na-
tional in name, but international in its
make-up, I certainly feel not only hon-
ored in thus being permitted to stand
before you, but I feel there is a re-
sponsibility that rests upon me that
perhaps never did before.

I am not a stranger at presiding
over bodies, but never before have I
presided over a body of this character,
except that I have been called to the
chair in other national conventions to
take the place of the presiding officer
for a short time. I feel to congratu-
late the people of America because
when "sve speak of this Association we
must speak of it so broadly, because
it includes not only the United States,
but the entire Dominion of Canada as
well. I feel this could justly be
named, and perhaps properly, instead
of the National Association of Bee-
Keepers, the American Association of
Bee-Keepers, or the International
Association of Bee-Keepers; and I
should be very glad indeed to enter-
tain a resolution before the adjourn-
ment of this Convention looking for-
ward to the time when our Constitu-
tion and By-Laws may be so changed
that Canada shall have her just share
in the pride of this Convention in hav-
ing at least a portion of the name.

154

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

I feel we are under more than or-
dinary obligations to our friends from
the other side of the line. They have
come to us from time to time in our
State and in our National Conventions,
and we have felt their influences with
us; and I say the people of the United
States are^Tmder obligation to the Bee-
Keepers of Canada ; and it has been
my purpose for the past three years in
meeting with this Association in Chi-
cago, and again at San Antonio, Texas,
and last year at Harrisburg, Pa., to
bring this Association w^here we now
have it, in order that we might be so
closely allied to our friends across the
water that their numbers might pos-
sibly exceed ours; and I am not sure
in looking over the faces but what the
ladies and gentlemen from Canada per-
haps exceed those from the United
States. They have always been so
loyal to the cause of bee-keeping and
have been so kind to us that I say
again we are under obligations to them.
I congratulate them on being able to
come and sit with us under the Stars
and Stripes, under the flag that Amer-
ica so well loves, and I feel there is a
kindred love on the other side for that
flag, whose Star is the emblem of
peace, and every Stripe a bond of
union.

"Well do I remember the last Na-
tional Convention that met in the city
of Dtroit. As I remember it, it was
about twentj^-five years ago. At that
time Father Langstroth w^as with us;
and that grand old man. of which this
gavel reminds me, planted the tree
from which this gavel is made, upon
the bands of which are the inscription
and dedication to him; and it shall be
the property of this Association so
long as the Association shall last. It
was dedicated at the Convention at
Chicago some three years ago.

Many years have transpired since
that time. I think one Convention has
been held in Canada since then, and
one only. "We have been nearly all
over the United States; from California
to the State of New York; the conti-
nent has been well traversed; and
where it will go next time I do not
know, but I do know that wherever it
goes there will be loyal hearts, men
and women true to the keeping of the
fraternity that they represent; and I
feel it an honor to stand before you
this morning. I think I once said that

to be permitted to stand before an
audience of American <;itizens vras an
honor that could not be conferred upon
king, prince or potentate under a mo-
narchial government, and so here with
that freedom of atmosphere we breathe
we are glad to welcome those from
the other side and from all nations of
the earth to us. We cannot reach out
too broadly; and our pursuit is one
that is widening and deepening both
in interest and otherwise, representing
as we now do about 700,000 bee-keep-
ers with an annual output of about
fifty millions of dollars. This we get
from statistics which I think are quite,
accurate. It may sound large to us,
but only a few days ago I clipped from
a paper that is published by that vet-
eran publisher who publishes the Sun-
day School work in Chicago this clip-
ping. "Where he got the information I
do not know but it reads like this:

"Work of Bees."

"Three hundred billion bees made
enough honey during the current year
to fill a train of cars long enough to
reach from New York to Buffalo. At
the low wholesale rate of ten cents a
pound it was worth $25,000,000, and if
the 700,000 bee-keepers of the country
had worked as industriously and skill-
fully as did the bees, the weight of
the output would have been three
times as great and the value $75,-
000,000.

"In one year the beehives sent to
market a product worth nearly as
much as the barley crop, three times
as much as the buckwheat crop, $6,-
000,000 greater than the rye crop, and
nearly $9,000,000 greater than the rice
crop. All of the rice and buckwheat
grown on an aggregated area of 2,126
square miles did not reach to the value
of the money by $151,259.

-"To appreciate these results, one
must necessarily strive also to appre-
ciate the number of insects at work.
That is rather difficult, for three hun-
dred billion stretches a long way be-
yond intelligent human comprehen-
sion. The human mind doesn't work
well in anything mathematically
greater than thousands."

So you see we are not small, and
yet I feel that sometimes we almost
belittle ourselves. I don't think we
have had ourselves up where we real-
ly belong. Our work does not end in

rw)^^S-T^'f^^' X'-'C-'- -.'■ /T--^^^^^^

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

155

the keeping of bees. I have felt we
ought to have a closer association
with the horticulturists of our coun-
try. One of the most profitable meet-
ings I ever attended was a joint meet-
ing of the State Horticulturists of
Michigan and the State Bee-Keepers
held at Saginaw some twenty years
ago.

Mr. A. I. Root — (Interrupting.)

Amen !

The President — Brother Root says
"Amen" and says it was a good meet-
ing. It was the first time I ever pre-
sided over a State meeting. I thought
we had a good meeting. Perhaps it
was because I was young. I am older
now. That meeting did much to bring
about a reconciliation, for at that time
a reconciliation was necessary, be-
tween the Bee-Keepers and Horticul-
turists of the State of Michigan, and
I think equally so in other States, be-
cause they thought the bees punctured
the grapes and ripe fruit and the bees
were doing them a great injury. They
have since been educated to know the
bee is really their best friend. The in-
terests of the bee-keeper and horticul-
turist are so mutual they ought to
meet in convention together annually
that we may understand from them
their things and they from us our
things, and then we could meet more
mutually together and be of mutual
benefit one to the other. It is well
known by our horticulturists that many
of our very best fruits would fail to
produce fruit at all were it not for the
insect kingdom, and the bee being more
numerous in the early part of the sea-
son, it is more valuable to the horti-
culturists than all the other insects
combined.

It is not my purpose to take up your
time this morning. We have a very
excellent program upon subjects in
which we are all interested. The dis-
eases of bees I think we very little
understand. We have been perhaps
fortunate in the State of Michigan in
having a good "Foul Brood Law," and
we have had good inspectors, and the
work is going on nobly. You will hear
from them later on.

In conclusion, I want to again men-
tion the kindly feeling of the people
who have come to us from the differ-
ent states and from the" different na-
tions represented here, and I wish we
might have entwined about our meet-

ing hall somewhere the fiags of these
two great nations. There are no
greater nations on the face of the
earth than are represented by the
Stars and Stripes and by the Union
Jack; and we live together in such
close harmony and there is such a
kindly feeling between the Mother
country and the United States, that
to-day we feel no distant relationship
whatever, and I feel that it is only
fitting that I should in one hand raise
the Stars and Stripes and in the other
hand the flag of Canada, and what
better can I do than to fold them
across the most vital parts of man
and say! "Thou who lookest upon the
nations of the earth, wilt Thou look
upon us in Thy divine and in Thy
sympathetic love of nature and watch
over us, and protect us through time,
and finally when we are done with all
these things of earth wilt Thou accept
us and save us where we shall be re-
united as one grand nation before the
throne of Him who presides over all
nations." (Applause.)

Mr. W. T. Davis (Stratford, Ont.) —
I would like to move a vote of thanks
to the President of this meeting for
the very able and pleasant manner in
which he has referred to the Bee-
Keepers of Canada, and for the senti-
ments that he has expressed with
reference to an International Bee-
Keepers' Association.

Dr. Bohrer (Kansas) — It gives me
very great pleasure to second the
motion.

The Vice President, Mr. G. W. York,
put the motion, which, on a vote hav-
ing been taken, was declared carried
with applause.

The Vice President — I thank the Bee-
Keepers of Canada very much indeed.
I hope to see you later.

The next number on our program is
"The Bacteria of Bee Diseases" by Dr.
G. F. W^hite of the Apicultural Bureau,
Washington, D. C.

Dr. White then read a paper entitled
"The Relation of the Etiology (cause)
of Bee Diseases to the Treatment" as
follows:

Bee-Keeping is not an industry
which brings a fortune to a few, but
is one the profits of which add com-
fort to 700,000 homes in America.
This industry, which is a pleasure and
a profit to so many, is beset with its
diflSculties. One of the greatest ob-

156

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

stacles encountered in the successful
pursuit of bee keeping is disease.
There are a number of diseases which
attack the honey bee. Those which
cause the greatest loss attack the
brood. These diseases are known to
the bee-keeper as American foul
brood, European foul brood, and pic-
kled brood. Considerable loss is sus-
tained also from paralysis and dysen-
tery. Other disorders of less impor-
tance are sometimes encountered. If
the apiarist is to treat these diseases
effectively it seems to me he should
become familiar as possible with their
etiology. Therefore I have chosen
this opportunity to discuss the causes
of bee diseases as far as they are
known, and to emphasize the impor-
tance of such knowledge in the treat-
ment.

The word disease is made up of the
two parts: "dis" referring to a nega-
tive condition, and "ease" meaning a
state of rest. By combining the parts,
we have the very appropriate word
meaning a negative state of rest. We
are all familiar wth health w^hich is
the state of rest. It is the condition
which we experience when all the or-
gans of the body are, so to speak, in
a state of equilibrium. And departure
from this state of health is disease.
I would have you remember that dis-
ease is alike in nature in all the ani-
mal kingdom and differs only in kind.
To understand best the nature of
disease, we must study the causes of
disease. A number of factors may
combine and be responsible for a dis-
eased condition. This group of fac-
tors man combine and be responsible
fora diseased condition. This group
of factors is known as the etiology.
Etiology then means the causation of
disease. Let us further consider the
etiology of disease and use bee dis-
eases largely as illustrations.

Etiology (Cause) of Diseases.

Every abnormal condition in the
body of the bee, which we know as
disease, has a cause which has
brought about such a condition. In
most of the diseases of man and the
higher animals, comparatively little is
known of the etiology. Likewise and
unfortunately the same is true of bee
diseases. ^Sradually, but slowly, new
facts about all diseases are added to
our knowledge, the unfortunate thing
being that so many are reported as

facts which have never been demon-
strated to be true.

In the study of the etiology of a
disease and in the discussion of it, it
is convenient to divide the casual fac-
tors into predisposing and exciting.
Under the predisposing causes which
may be considered as factors in bee
diseases, we have age, sex, race,
heredity, climate and preexisting dis-
ease. Under the exciting causes, w^e
may consider food and microorganism.

To illustrate, let us consider the
different factors just mentioned.

Predisposing Causes.

Age. — In your experience with hu-
man diseases, you have learned to ex-
pect scarlet fever more often in chil-
dren than in adults; to expect typhoid
fever in young adults and cancer in
those more advanced in life. In bee
diseases, we expect European foul
brood to attack larvae that are
younger than those which suffer from
American foul brood. We expect the
so-called "Pickled brood" to die just
before or after capping, while paral-
ysis is, as far as we know, a disease of
adult life.

Sex. — Of some importance -in human
diseases is the factpr sex. Appen-
dicitis and diabetes, for example,
occur more frequently in men, while
cancer is more frequent in women.
In bee diseases, we expect in Ameri-
can foul brood to And the worker
larvae more often attacked than the
drone, while in European foul brood
this difference, if it exists, does so
only to a slight degree.

Heredity. — You are all familiar with
the fact that heredity is considered as
an important predisposing factor in
tuberculosis, gout, insanity, etc. It is
interesting that in the so-called "pic-
kled brood" there is some evidence
which indicates that heredity plays an
important role.

Race. — The negro is considered quite
susceptible to tuberculosis, while gout
is comparatively rare in the race.
Some bee-keepers believe that race is
an important factor in bee diseases.
Comparatively little is definitely known
on this phase of the etiology.

Climate. — That some human diseases
are more frequent in some climates
than others is a fact familiar to us all.
That climatic conditions play a part in
bee diseases seems to be quite probable.

l"LL.INOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

157

Preexisting Disease. — This factor has
very little, if anything, to do with bee
diseases. By preexisting disease we
mean that when an individual passes
through an attack of a disease, the dis-
ease predisposes that individual to
other diseases. This is illustrated in
various human and animal diseases.
In bee diseases, we do not know
whether any individual bee ever re-
covers from an attack of disease. Many
bee-keepers think that adult bees in
American foul brood colonies are less
active than in normal colonies.
Whether they suffer from disease, we
do not know. It is possible, but not
probable, that they have suffered a
light attack of disease while in the
development stage and emerged as
adult bees with weakened organs
which do not perform a normal func-
tion. If this were true, it would illus-
trate the importance of preexisting
disease as a predisposing factor in
etiology.

Having thus briefly considered some
of the more important predisposing
causes which enter into the etiology
of bee diseases, let us consider two of
the 'more important exciting causes,
food and microorganism.

Exciting Causes.

Food. — The character of food is be-
lieved by many bee-keepers to be an
exciting factor in dysentery. Should
the food contain poisons, grave results
might follow. Some attribute paral-
ysis to the character of the food but
this is far from a demonstrated fact.

IVIicroorganisms. — ^By microorganisms
we mean those living plants and ani-
mals which are very small and must be
magnified greatly before they can be
seen. Those which are to receive our
attention are bacteria, protozoa, and
" fungi.

Bacteria. — We have now come to the
consideration of that factor in the
etiology of bee diseases which is imost
important and with which we would
have the bee-keepers familiar. The
annual loss sustained by the bee-
keepers of this country, due to the one
cause, bacteria, is to be reckoned in
millions. It is unfortunate that it is
necessary to use the word bacteria be-
cause too many at once think that they
are not able to understand anything
about bacteria. This is a mistaken
idea. It is not difficult to understand

the facts about them which are most
important in the treatment of disease.
It might be well to review here some of
the things about their life history.

Nearly two years ago, I had the
honor and pleasure of, reading a paper
at a meeting of bee inspectors, held
at San Antonio, Texas, upon the sub-
ject of the bacteriology of bee dis-
eases. This paper you can find in
Bulletin No. -70 of the Bureau of En- '
tomology, of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture, on page 10.
In it is discussed briefly the nature of
bacteria, their distribution, the meth-
ods of their study, and the results of
their activity. In the paper you are
told that bacteria, often called germs,
microbes and parasites, are very small
plants. So small, indeed, that 12,000
placed end to end measure but one
inch. They increase in number with
marvelous rapidity. Under favorable
conditions each bacterium in twenty
rhinutes becomes two. At this rate
countless millions are formed in
twenty-four hours. As the soil be-
comes exhausted in which they are
growing, many species form spores
which are in a way comparable to the
seed of higher plants. These spores
are very difficult to destroy by heat
and other disinfectants. It is well to
remember, concerning the distribution
of bacteria, that they are found in
very large numbers everywhere about
us but that most of them are as harm-
less as the vegetables we eat. But
should there be introduced into an
apiary, for example, species of bac-
teria which cause American foul
brood, then the brood becomes ex-
posed to the disease and will probably
contract it.

The study of bacteria must be done
for the most part in the laboratory.
By the use of the microscope, we are
able to tell the genus (e. g. bacillus)
to which an organism belongs, and by
specially prepared media or soil, we
are able to determine the species to
which it belongs (e. g. alvei.)

Having determined these things
about bacteria, we are interested in
finding out what they are capable of
doing. We learn that some do good,
for example, the bringing to decay the
remains of dead animals and plants,
while other species do harm by their
ability to produce disease or death in
the animals in which they are able to-
gain entrance. The disease, American

•T.-i-irt'T' ,V'*^*..'V

158

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

foul brood, which causes the greatest
loss to the bee-keeping industry has
been demonstrated to be caused by
bacteria. Above all I would have you
understand that the death of the
brood is due to one species of bacteria
growing in the larvae.

Protozoa. — In contrast to bacteria,
the protozoa belongs to the animal
kingdom. They are very small uni-
cellular animals. Many species are
harmless as are many species of bac-
teria, while some species, as some
bacteria, have the power to produce
disease. They produce disease and
death in a manner very similar to bac-
teria, that is by growing in the body
of a living animal. As far as we
know, none of the bee diseases are
due to protozoa. One investigator de-
scribed what he thought was a pro-
tozoon and named it Spirochaeta apis.
It was shown that he made an error
in his. observations. Therefore there
is no spirochaeta apis and no pro-
tozoon, as far as we know, which is
pathogenic to bees.

Fungi. — This is rather a broad term
but in the diseases of animals we
usually refer, in speaking of fungi, to
that form of plant life which is higher
than bacteria. They are usually made
up of branching mycelial threads and
have a variety of methods for produc-
ing spores. One writer described one
species, Aspergillus pollini, which he
was supposed to have proven to be
the cause of pickled brood, but he
had not done so.

To the above groups belong the
known exciting causes. There are
also unknown exciting causes. When
the unknown causes become known,
they may be found to belong to the
groups mentioned above.

There is a very important classifica-
tion of diseases into those which are
infectious and those which are non-
infectious. From what has been said
this classification becomes clear to us.

An infectious bee disease is one
which may be transmitted from one
colony to another through the natural
processes in the apiary. American
foul brood and European foul brood
are examples of this class of disease.
What is transmitted in an infectious
disease? It is the exciting cause of
that disease. In American foul brood
it is one species of bacteria, Bacillus
larvae. In European foul brood, we
do not know what is transmitted.

Since we do not know the exciting
cause, it must be classed under the
unknown exciting causes. When the
cause is determined, it will probably
belong to one of the three groups of
microorganisms mentioned under the
known causes.

A non-infectious disease is one
which is not transmitted from one col-
ony to another. The so-called pickled
brood and paralysis, as far as we
know, illustrate this class of diseases.
This brief discussion of the etiology
of disease is given in order that you
may get a clearer idea of the nature
of disease and what is meant by etiol-
ogy. We shall now consider treat-
ment of disease and illustrate with
bee diseases.

The Treatment of Disease.

Those who are familiar with bee
diseases are also familiar with the
different methods of treatment. It is
not my purpose to discuss any of the
classical methods, but to suggest a
few of the principles upon which such
methods must be based if they are to
be most effective. Treatment is both
preventive and; curative.

Preventive Treatment. — Too many
believe that treatment of bee diseases
consists in the control of eradication
of a disease after it is found in the
apiary. That is only the minor part
of treatment curative. The treatment
which is of major importance is the
preventive treatment. Prevention is
much easier than cure. To prevent
disease in the apiary is to keep it out.
To keep it out is to keep out the ex-
citing cause. In order to keep out
the exciting cause, it is desirable to
know its distribution or where it is
found. In American foul brood, the
exciting cause. Bacillus ^ larvae, is
found in immense numbers in the
body of the diseased or dead larvae.
These dead larvae, for the most part,
are allowed by the bees to remain in
the brood cell as a scale. The honey
also has been demonstrated to contain
the bacteria which produce this dis-
ease. The pollen may be contam-
inated with the spores of this disease-
producing organism. The combs from
an apiary affected with American foul
brood are a fruitful source of infec-
tion. The inside of the hives which
have contained colonies suffering with
American foul brood may be contam-
inated with the germs which produced
the disease. Honey extractors, honey

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ILLIlsOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

159

tanks, and wax extractors, which have
been used in infected apiaries, are
also a fruitful source of infection.
Therefore, if you are to keep the dis-
ease-producing bacteria out of your
apiary, and thereby keep out disease,
you must not feed honey unless you
are positive that it did not come from
an infected apiary or that it has been
thoroughly boiled. Neither must you
use old combs unless you are positive
that they have not been in an infected
apiary. Use no used bee supplies
from an infected apiary unless they
are thoroughly disinfected.

These thing's being true of the in-
fectious disease, American foul brood,
of which we know the cause, until the
cause of any other infectious disease
can be determined, we can do no
better than to suggest the use of the
same principles in the treatment of
such a disease, as must be used in the
successful treatment of American foul
brood.

Curative Treatment. — In the cura-
tive treatment, considering the colony
as a unit, use is made of two widely
different principles — the removal of
the disease-producing material, thereby
removing the germs, and the use of
drugs.

In separating the disease-producing
germs from the colony, all the combs
are removed which removes the prin-
cipal sources from which the brood is
infected — foul brood larvae and honey.
It is always safer to allow the bees
to go into a new hive or a hive which
has been thoroughly disinfected. The
greatest care should be exercised in
protecting all infectious material
which has been removed, that it may
not be robbed by the bees.

The principle involved in the treat-
ment by drugs is that of an ajntiseptic.
The theory is that a small amount of
some drug like beta napthol, salicylic
acid, carbolic acid, eucalyptus, and for-
mic acid, etc., is sufficient, when taken
with the larval food, to prevent the
growth of the pathogenic bacteria.

Having thus in a general way con-
sidered the subject of the etiology of
disease and the treatment in accord-
ance with such knowledge, let us con-
sider the different diseases separately.

American Foul Brood.

That Bacillus larvae is the cause of
American foul brood has been demon-
strated conclusively. It is a species

of bacteria which, when it is intro-
duced into the healthy larvae, multi-
plies rapidly and causes the death of
a large amount of the brood. When
the larvae die, the body decomposes
and the remains dry down to a tongue-
like scale on the lower side wall of
the cell. In this scale are millions of
spores which are able to produce dis-
ease in other larvae should they be
fed to them.

Just how the bacteria are carried
from a dead larvae to a helathy one
we do not know. It is not uncommon,
in examining the brood, to find only a
portion of a larvae in a cell, the bees
having removed a part of it. On
breaking the body wall* of a larvae in
examining for foul brood, bees readily
suck up the contents which flow out.
This is true when the larvae which is
punctured is healthy or sick with dis-
ease or which has been dead a few
days. The larvae at these stages of
the disease contain a very large num-
ber of the disease-producing bacteria.
These observations would indicate
that in this way, in part at least, the
infectious material might be carried
to healthy larvae. Actual contact of
the appendages of the bee with the
foul broody material, and the subse-
quent contact of the same appendages
with the food of the larvae may be a
method by which the disease-produc-
ing bacteria are spread. "We do know
that in foul brood it is possible to ob-
tain Bacillus larvae from the honey,
and we do know that when bees are
fed the spores of Bacillus larvae in
honey, American foul brood will
appear in the apiary.

The spores of this bacillus are very
resistant to heat and other disinfec-
tants. They resist the boiling tem-
perature of water for fifteen minutes.
In five per cent carbolic acid they
were not killed in two months' time.
This was demonstrated by obtaining
growth in cultures after the spores
had remained in this disinfectant for
that length of time. Likewise we
have -demonstrated that the spores of
Bacillus larvae when taken from the
scales of American foul brood, resist
the action of mercuric chloride (cor-
rosive sublimate) 1:1000 aqueous solu-
tion for two months. Having these
facts before us, we can better judge
the methods of the treatment.

In treating this disease, we must
bear in mind the preventive and cura-
tive measures. In preventive treat-

160

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

ment, many of the conditions you can
control; others may be difflcult. You
can at least be sure that you import
no bees or used supplies which might
have been in an infected apiary. Use
no old combs and feed no honey of
which you do not know the history.
In this way the bacillus which causes
the disease in a large measure can be
kept out of the apiary. There are
conditions which are difflcult to, con-
trol. Should a nearby apiary be dis-
eased and some of the colonies be-
come weak or die out, it might be
difficult for you, in a dearth of nectar,
to keep your bees from robbing from
the diseased apiary and in this way
bring these disease-producing germs
to your healthy colonies.

Some preliminary experiments have
been made but the results do not in-
dicate that drugs, in the treatment of
this disease, have the value advocated
by some English writers.

European Foul Brood.

European foul brood is another in-
fectious bee disease. It attacks the
brood at an earlier period in the
growth of the larvae, as a rule, than
American foul brood. The cause of
this disease is not definitely known.
Prom brood dead of this disease,
Cheshire and Cheyne isolated Bacillus
alvei. From their work it was long
supposed that Bacillus alvei was the
cause of the disease, but later investi-
gations make the value of their work
doubtful.

A number of organisms have been
found in the larvae dead of this dis-
ease and some of them have been
described. One species has been en-
countered in our investigations of the
disease which is of special interest.
The individuals of this species are
quite small, apparently non-spore-pro-
ducing media. Until we know more
about this species, it will be referred
to as Bacillus "Y." Since the cause
is not positively known, the amount
of heat and chemical disinfectants to
destroy the virus has not been demon-
strated. If, later. Bacillus "Y" is
demonstrated to be the cause, we
shall expect that very much less heat
will be sufficient to kill it than is nec-
essary to kill Bacillus larvae, the
cause of American foul brood. Like-
wise we shall expect that disinfec-
tants will be much more readily effec-
tive. As the exciting cause has not
been demonstrated, the determination

of these facts have not yet been made»
Until we know more about the etiol-
ogy of European foul brood, we can
do no better than to suggest the appli-
cation of the same principles which
are found advisable in American foul
brood.

So-called Pickled Brood.

"We refer to this disorder of the
brood as the "So-called Pickled Brood"
and not Pickle Brood, because the
condition which William R. Howard of
Fort Worth, Texas, described is not
what the bee-keepers know as Pickled
Brood. The exciting cause of this dis-
ease is not known. The larvae die at
that age just preceding or just after
capping. Some bee-keepers have a
theory that heredity plays an impor-
tant part as a predisposing cause. As
far as is known, it does not seem to
be infectious.

Treatment. — This disease is treated
by some bee-keepers by requeening,
on the assumption that heredity is the
important factor in the production of
the disease. If more were known con-
cerning the etiology, the treatment
might be materially changed.

Paralysis.

Paralysis is a disease of the adult
bee. The cause of this malady is not
known. It does not seem to be in-
fectious although in some apiaries a
large number of colonies may be
affected at the same time. Some have
advanced the theory that the char-
acter of the food is the exciting cause.

Treatment. — Since we know nothing^
positively about the cause, we can
suggest very little in the way of treat-
ment. The removal of the stores from
the hive would tend to remedy the de-
fect if the character of the food was
an important factor in the etiology.

I have thus briefly called your atten-
tion to the nature of bee diseases, the
etiology as far as it is known, and
suggested some of the principles upon
which the methods of treatment must
depend if such treatment is to be
most efficient. If we - should review
what we have just said concerning the
etiology and treatment of the differ-
ent diseases, we observe the following
facts :

There is but one disease, American
foul brood, of which we know abso-
lutely the exciting cause. It is a
species of bacteria but there are many

I

ILLTNOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

161

things concerning the nature, the dis-
tribution, and tlie activity, of which
we do not know. The facts which
have been determined enable us to
suggest some of the principles upon
which the treatment must be based.
Just so rapidly as our knowledge of
the etiology of this disease increases,
so rapidly will we be able to suggest
principles for the improvement of the
methods of treatment.

In European foul brood, we only
know positively that the disease is in-
fectious and we can do no better than
to use the principles gained by the
study of American foul brood. As our
knowledge of the etiology of this dis-
ease increases, the methods of treat-
ment will be altered.

In the so-called "Pickled brood" we
do not seem to have an infectious dis-
ease. Nothing is positively known of
the etiology except that the larvae
die at approximately the same age in
all cases, which is about the time of
capping. The treatment that is used
by some is based upon the principle
that heredity is an Important factoif
and, therefore, requeening is resorted
to. In the disease of adult bees
known as paralysis, practically noth-
ing is known and practically no treat-
ment is known to be effective. It will
be noted that in every case the treat-
ment is based upon the knowledge of
the etiology.

The treatment of any disease rests
primarily upon the removal of the
cause. This presupposes some knowl-
edge of the causej It is clear, then,
"nat the better we know the cause the
better will be the methods of treat-
ment. There are many things of very
great importance in the etiology of ^
bee diseases which are yet to be de-
termined, but there are many things
which are known that if applied by
the bee-keeper will prove to be of
great value to him financially. It is
to be hoped that the bee-keeper will
rniake himself as familiar as possible
with the nature of the etiology of bee
diseases. It is not necessary that one
should understand all the details of
the work which must be done in order
to determine the cause of disease.
When you have read carefully all that
is written concerning the investiga-
tions of bee diseases, we should be
disappointed in you if you should pre-
,sume to know all about it. It is just
as impossible to become familiar with
the details of the investigation of bee

diseases and not work in the labora-
tory as it is to become familiar with
bee-keeping and not work in the
apiary. However, there is much about
which all can know. It is far more
important in the control of bee dis-
eases that some of the etiology be
known to all than that all of the etiol-
ogy be known to some. If this
scourge of our industry is to be con-
trolled, and it can be controlled, it
will be done by means of methods
which are based upon a knowledge of
the etiology of these diseases. Too,
if it is controlled or eradicated, it will
be done by the united action of well-
informed bee-keepers. From this dis-
cussion, I can draw the one conclusion
— that in the knowledge of the etiol-
ogy of bee diseases lies the hope of
their control.

Dr. Bohrer — There is one point I
desire to call attention to. Dr. White
refers to the fact that, bees that are
hatched in a colony diseased with foul
brood appear weakly, and that I think
appears to be the case until they are
transferred or shaken upon comb
foundations. My experience has led
me to believe that so soon as they are
put upon comb foundation the mani-
festation of the ailment or weakness
ceases.

My experience with the drug treat-
ment has not been satisfactory at all.
In fact I regard it as being entirely
unavailing. Nothing will answer but
the removal of the comb and honey
and putting them into clean hives.
That is the only remedy I have found
at all effective.

Mr. Holterman — I would like to ask
Dr. White as to the source of infec-
tion. He speaks of the need of disin-
fecting hives. I think we should all
be open to change of view and open
to investigation, arid that is a question
, upon which there is a good deal of
difference of opinion. I would like to
ask if there is any actual evidence,
the result of investigation, which has
been brought forward to show the dis-
ease is ever transmitted in that way.
I believe it may be a source of infec-
tion, and I believe it would be well to
try to carry on some investigations
along that line. I think it is more
dangerous to hold the view that it is
not a source of infection and act upon
it than to believe it is a source.

Dr. White — ^As far as I know there
has been no work done upon that line.
The paper read that it would be safer

-11

162

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

to disinfect the hives, but -u-hether it
is necessary or not we do not know.
If there were honey or burr combs
containing honey left in the hive it
would be almost necessary to remove
them.

Mr. Holterman — Do you think it
would be possible during the next
year to take colonies in which the di.*^-
ease has been bad and see if it is
possible to get cultures from a hive
which has not been disinfected?

Dr. White — I can't say positively
what will be done during the coming
year, but it would be a very good
point to bear in mind when we can
get to it.

Mr. Frazem — I would like to ask the
doctor if it is not a fact known to the
scientific Avorld that there are bacteria
of health as well as bacteria of dis-
ease, and ihat there is always a battle
between the bacteria of health and the
bacteria of disease, and that being the
fact, if it is not possible to apply the
principles of hygiene to the conditions
of our bees and keep them in a
healthy state so that it would be prac-
tically impossible for them to take the
disease even when there is a chance
of contagion.

Dr. White — I think no matter how
healthy your bees are, if they get a
sufficient amount of honey which con-
tains the spores of bacillus larvae
they will get the disease. Although
the suggestion is a good one, we know
definitely nothing about the matter. I
believe it would be better always to
keep your colonies in as perfect a con-
dition of health as possible.

Dr. Rohrer — I understand that has
reference to an antidote. That being
the case, as far as known now, the
best antidote I have found is hot
water or fire.

The President — The next number on
our program is "How to Detect and
Know Bee Diseases," by W. D. Wright
of Altamount, New York, one of the
New York Inspectors of Apiaries.

Mr. Wright — I think my paper will
corroborate or follow along the same
lines as that which Dr. White has
given us. It is as follows:

HOW TO DETECT AND KNOW BEE
DISEASES.

Of course Mr. White's method of
determining the different bee diseases
by the use of the microscope, is abso-

lutely correct, but as the majority of
bee-keepers are unable to use this in-
strument in their diagnosis, it is well
that there are certain characteristics
pi-esent in the difCerent form of dis-
ease which will enable careful, ob-
servant bee-keepers to determine with
the naked eye, what disease, if any,
is present.

I will first describe "European Foul
Brood" (bacillus alvei) which has
caused greater losses among the apia-
ries of New York State than all other
diseases combined.

On opening a badly infected colony
the most striking feature is the scat-
tering capped cells containing brood.
When you notice such an appearance
don't fail to look for further evidence.

Many of these capped cells contain
healthy brood, and the mottled appear-
ance of the comb is caused by the
large number of larvae, that, on ac-
count of disease, fail to mature and
are never capped.

However, in the earlier stages of
the diseases, we are obliged to look
for other symptoms, always remem-
bering that the pearly white and
glistening larvae are healthy, and only
those which have lost their lustre,
and in some cases become mis-shapen,
or which show a small black or bright
yellow spot near the center, are to be
looked upon with suspicion.

This latter symptom is not always
present, as a colony may be badly
affected without showing any such.

After the larvae dies it turns to a
dull yellow color and continues to
grow darker with age, running
through all the shades of brown to
nearly black.

Under favorable conditions this dis-
ease rapidly spreads throughout the
brood nest until the majority of the
brood is dead, and the hives become
almost cesspools.

At this stage the brood gives off a
very foul odor, simiilar to "American
Foul Brood."

In this disease most of the dead
brood is uncapped, but occasionally a
few of the dead are capped, the cap-
pings of which may be sunken or per-
forated.

Therie is little or no ropyiess found
in this disease. The dead larvae often
remain coiled around the bottom of
the cells, drying down to a thin scale

ILLIInOIS state BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

163

or skeleton, showing the rings or seg-
ments.

"American Foul Brood (bacillus lar-
vae; is certainly a close second to
that just described. Its characteris-
tics are quite distinct from the former
disease, viz. : Fewer of the larvae die
before the cells are capped, hence
there are many more perforated and
sunken caps in this disease.

The dead larvae are at first of a light
chocolate color, but gradually turn to
a very dark brown, forming a thin
scale on the lower side of the cell,
which is very tenacious and seldom
removed by the bees.

Before the dead larvae dry out they
consist of a viscous or ropy fluid
which may be drawn out of the cell
two or three inches without breaking.

There is also a rank odor present
in the hivq at this stage of the dis-
ease. I really dislike the term "Glue
pot odor" as applied to this disease,
and I think it an insult to the glue
manufacturer. It seems to me to be
somewhat out of date, as in this age
of refined and prepared glues, most
bee-keepers would probably be more
unfamiliar with the crude ill-smelling
product than with the odor of the dis-
ease itself.

Next in order is what is known as
"Pickled Brood." This is a peculiar
disease of the larvae which causes
death at about the time of capping of
same, sometimes just before.

At this time they are of a light
brown color, and have a distended,
dropsical appearance. The skin is
rather tough and filled with a watery
fluid.

The larvae usually lie on their backs
and lengthwise of the cells, both ends
sharply pointed, sometimes having
black heads. Occasionally they appear
in a different form, viz.: they axe flat-
tened, and lie against the lower side of
the cell, extending nearly the full
length of same, ' and with black and
ragged edges.

The disease looks quite formidable,
and it is not surprising that it is
some times mistaken for "Foul Brood."
There is little, if any, odor present.

Palsy, or paralysis, is a disease of

the adult bees only, and is usually not

^ very serious in the northern states.

^^-j?5ften only a few scattering colonies

^-^ in an apiary will be affected by it.

The diseased bees present a shiny

or greasy appearance, as most of the
hair on the thorax has disappeared,
having probably been removed by
other bees in biting and teasing them.

Their abdomens are often greatly
distended.

They also often shake and stagger
about, finally leaving the hive, either
of their own accord, or through expul-
sion by the healthy workers of the col-
ony. They drop at the hive entrance,
sometimes by hundreds, some crawl-
ing about over the ground until they
finally disappear.

Mr. Williams — I would like to ask
Mr. "Wright one question, and that is
in regard to the season of the prev-
alence of these diseases, if either one
of them would be worse in the spring
or fall than the other?

Mr. Wright — Yes. We find Euro-
pean Foul Brood to be much more prev-
alent in the spring. As soon as they
commence breeding rapidly the dis-
ease shows up in the apiaries. After
a good fiow it disappears greatly un-
less it is very strongly seated in the
apiary. I have a sample of European
Foul Brood with me that was taken
from a hive about a week ago.

Mr. Holterman — Does it seem to
spread more in the spring than later
in the season?

Mr. Wright — Yes.

Mr. Holterman — Can you give us
any reason for that?

Mr. Wright— Robbing is much more
prevalent in the spring than in the
fall.

Mr. Holterman — The extent of the
disease is not reduced later on in the
season in the individual colony, but it
is a matter of spreading.

Mr. Wright — Yes, in the individual
colony.

Mr. Holterman — Then that could
not be attributed to robbing very well.

Mr. Brown — ^I would like to ask Mr.
Wright if Mr. Alexander's treatment
of foul brood has been adopted as the
standard?

Mr. Wright — No, sir; Bee Inspectors
have not adopted it and do not recom-
mend it.

Mr. A. I. Root — The gentleman has
brought in what I would judge was a
sample of American Foul Brood and
handed it ^to Mr. Taylor.

Mr. Byers — Did I understand you to
say that the odor of European Foul

164

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

Brood is similar to the American Foul
Brood?

Mr. Wright — ^I so consider it.

Mr. Manley — In bees that are affected
with paralysis, does the disease ever
disappear witljout treatment?

Mr. "Wright — ^It does.
Mr. Manley — ^Will it eventually de-
stroy the colony?

Mr. Wright — That I can't say. I
don't know of it having destroyed any
colonies.

Mr. Manley — We have been import-
ing bees by the carload into our State,
and we have had considerable trouble
along that liae. I have sometimes
thought it was paralysis, other times
I have thought it was not. We no-
ticed the bees in large numbers crawl-
ing over the ground and moving all
over the apiary, and it would always
disappear and we would usually get a
good heavy honey flow.. I finally
thought it came from confinement on
the cars. The wings of the bees were
worn out to that extent that those
large numbers were seen all over the
apiary.

Mr. Wright — How long after the
moving did you observe all that?

Mr. Manley — Possibly about three
weeks. I noticed it in the clover flow.

Mr. Wright — Those were old honey-
gathering bees?

Mr. Manley — I can't say whether
they were all old bees or not.

Mr. Wright — ^I have never known of
losses by it although there may have
been.

Mr. Moe — ^If this specimen of dis-
eased brood was brought in and 1 got
hold of it and got my fingers sticky
and I go home and handle my own
combs and bees, what would be the
result ?

The President — ^Wash your hands.

Mr. Moe — ^According to the accounts
given here will that be sufficient when
neither carbolic acid nor heat always
kills?

Br. Bohrer — ^Do you treat a Euro-
pean Foul Brood similar to American
Foul Brood?

Mr. Wright — Yes. If you wash your
hands in a solution of carbolic acid
\ and formalin, it will be all right, I
think.

At the request of many in the Con-
vention, Mr. William McEvoy of On-

tario addressed the Convention as fol-
lows-

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: — I
am in an awful fix amongst scientists
and I don't take too much stock in
some of the scientific work, in a way,
to start on, because they are mixed
or confounded with black brood and
foul brood or at least European and
American foul brood, and to start off
I will rule out the American and I will
speak of foul brood. The other, I
think, has a good name to leave it
under, the name of black brood, be-
cause otherwise it mixes matters so.
I have not been very familiar with
black brood, although I have run
across it, and that requires the same
treatment as the other. But, go back
to 1875 when my experience with foul
brood was that it broke out in my own
apiary. I heard there was such a
thing, and in my ignorance I dis-
tributed it splendidly. I would take a
comb of brood out of the diseased
hive and exchange it with a strong
one, and I soon found I was spreading
the disease. I tried many things and
I failed in curing it. At last I thought
if I would take nice white combs that
never had brood in and put them in
the colony it would make a qure. Oh,
not so simple! It gave it a great
check, though. The bees are a little
restless for a while. I carefully lifted
the combs apart to see the queen and
I saw quite a little honey here and
there, and I knew they hadn't got it
altogether, and I took some of that
honey and I fed it to others and I gave
the disease right there from that.
That led to finding the honey was dis-
eased. At that time we had no foun-
dation, and I started with extractor,
and I can cure any case of foul brood
with the extractor. It is not very prac-
tical, but this was my early experi-
ment with it. I left the combs with
the bees a day for four days and I
extracted each evening; then I took
them away and let them gather and
give another set of combs and ex-
tracted in two days more, and it was a
cure. My combs couldn't last out for
I hadn't them to spare. Finding that
the honey was diseased, I said. Where
is the disease? That is the next thing,
because all the honey in the foul hive
is not diseased, the most of it is;
sound, because if it was all diseased
it would kill all the brood at once,,
but it wasn't. Where was the dis-
eased brood? I took a wire and ran it
across and then ran it crossways;

■:i^?^.^S^'i^::~T-^7:

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

165

again, and I brought the cross rods
over the diseased cell; that is where
they put the honey — one the crust of
the old foul brood; I took a pin and I
would lift that out and drop a little
here and there in the larvae and every
one of these went foul. I couldn't
give it to the clean cells, but every
time I would dip into that, especially
where it was a sort of crust of the old
foul brood, that honey was foul.

As my combs gave out I have
shaken the bees down to let them
build. It was a cure in one case and
a failure in the other. Why? The
one had but very little disease and
hadn't much loose honey unsealed in
the brood nest; the other was a bad
case and they stored a quantity of it
all through these cells, and it being
in the honey flow, as soon as they
drew out a little of that comb they
stored some of it and it broke out
again. When the season gave out in
the fall I resorted to building. I
would take a board and nail a rim
around it and run wax in the joint and
feed sugar syrup and let them build.
Along later on in the season I found
colonies that I didn't think had it,
but they were pretty full of brood, and
perhaps three dozen cells were foul,
and to destroy that brood was going
to destroy my fall and winter bees.
I shook the bees off and gave them
plenty of honey to winter, but there
was a piece left at the bottom there;
they stored some of the honey and
started up business. I cut ofE some of
these with solid honey, but some of
them would build a little comb at the
bottom and start again. I found out
later, by letting them go till they
hatched out and then shaking, that T
could innke the cure in that way; and
I would feed Ihe sound on<^s, one liore
and another there, and get capped
stores. Aftsr I shook them all on to
capped stores they had no place to
put it; they had got to keep that
honey and consume it, because these
were sound combs.

Speaking of this pickled brood,
scientists have looked for the germ.
Grentlemen, that is starved brood. I
have been on that for twenty-two
years. That takes place in the period
between fruit and clover bloom in
some localities. They use the unseal-
ed stores for feeding the larva, and
they Yv^on't uncap fast enough to keep
pace with all the larva that requires
feeding, and the result is that some

are well fed, some are half fed, and
some starved. The gentlemen who have
described that starved brood have
described it perfectly. On the ninth
day, lying on its back, you find it
turned up black, pickled as they call
it. That is starved. Some of it will
die after it is capped over, and you
will often find a bad capping here and
there, and you think, oh my, foul
brood! No; that is starved. The
larva didn't get enough and it died.
By feeding between fruit bloom or
during any check, where there Is a
quantity of brood feeding, you will
never have the thing at all. There is
one thing in favor of Italians, they are
better feeders of larva than any other
race_ I ever found. In 1869, on the
28th of May, after a very favorable
spring when the brood nests were full
of brood, a heavy frost took place and
killed everything, and for days it
came on rain, rain; the bees
used up the unsealed stores, and there,
was starved brood everywhere all
over Ontario. They all thought they
had foul brood, but it was starved
brood. They sent it away and some
of the scientists said they didn't think
It was. In 1895 we had one week in
the latter end of May and two weeks
in June when we had so much rain
each day. Then again we found it. If
3rou will follow up the feeding you will
never have that. As far as the treat-
ment is concerned one shake will do
in many cases, but where a farmer
has bees and is busy and has a very
bad case in the honey flow it will not
do to shake once only. If he shakes
them on to foundation and leaves
them sitting in the sun, some of these
will swarm out the next day and mix
with the sound ones and spread it;
but if he shakes them on to starters
they will seldom swarm, and four
days after that they will be cured.
Practical men can cure in many cases
in one shake.

I don't know that I have anything
more to say on that point than that
I think if people would look closer
after their bees and attend them there
wouldn't be so much disease, but the
trouble is by letting them get ahead
and then treating.

Mr. Brown — There is one subject
that has not been touched upon. A
great many bee-keepers keep different
watering devices in their yard, and in
handling a foul brood colony, if it is
badly ' affected, it has always seemed

166

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

to me the feet of the bee may become
contaminated with the diseased mat-
ter, and, in visiting a watering dish,
would contaminate the water and the
whole apiary get the disease.

Mr. McEvoy — ^Eighteen years ago I
was appointed inspector. For fifteen
years before that I had been treating
and I had never disinfected a hive in
my life. The question was often put
• to me this way, how long am I to boil
the hive? And my answer was, that
will depend upon how long you intend
to boil the bees. What, boil the bees?
Yes. Surely you are not going to take
these bees and just throw them all
into your nice clean hive without boil-
ing or scalding their little feet, are
you? I said, never mind the hive at
all. I will be responsible for it if you
will thoroughly cleanse those bees of
the honey. An empty hive can't give
the disease. The bees do not feed
lumber to the larva.

Mr. Robb — I would like to ask Mr.
McEvoy, is foul brood in Ontario on
the increase or on the decrease?

Mr. McEvoy — No. We had it seeded
down in 37 counties, but after all that
has been written and spoken it is
wearing out; It will never again be
bad in Ontario, if we had no inspec-
tors at all, from the simple fact that
the people understand it pretty well
now.

Mr. Coggshall — ^Which is the most
contagious, black or foul brood?

Mr. McEvoy — Of the two I would

sooner take my chances and treat the

black than the foul, unless the foul
was thoroughly done.

— Mr. Byers — Mr. President and Gen-
tlemen: I wish to say I agree
'thoroughly with our friend, Mr.
Wright, when he suggested to Dr.
White that he should put European
foul brood first. Some three or four
years ago at our Ontario Convention
the question was asked, Have we got
European foul brood or black brood in
Ontario? We have got European foul
brood in Ontario at the present time.
There is no question about that, on
account of its great virulence and a
little difference in the way it seems to
act as compared with the way Mr.
Wright says it acts in New York
State. In the first place where this
outbreak has occurred in Ontario it
only covers about ten miles square,
and a good honey flow has had no
effect upon it. It has increased by

leaps and bounds. Apiaries that have
it in the middle of June are wiped out
by September. I have seen larvae at
the age of three or four days dead,
jvist as if a blight had went over it.
I am thoroughly convinced it is not
through robbing alone that this dis-
ease is spread. It might be a good
thing for Dr. White and others to in-
vestigate this disease. In my opinion
we practically know all we need know
in regard to American foul brood. I
don't rush after it, but I don't dread
it; it has no terrors for me, but I do
dread European foul brood. Dr. White
told us that practically nothing lis
known of how this disease is spread.
I hope steps will be taken to find that
out. I am a honey producer and de-
pend upon honey for a living, and I
told Mr. Holterman while I did not
dread American foul brood, when I got
out where this European outbreak was
it made me .shiver. I am not so sure
as to the McEvoy treatment being as
effectual with European foul brood as
it is with American foul brood. I do
not agree with him that it is easily
treated. If he was out for one day
where this outbreak in Ontario is he
would agree with me that the Ameri-
can is not to be compared with the
European foul brood as we have it in
Ontario, We hear that we got it from
New York State. I don't know where
we got it, but the fact remains that we
have got It, and I earnestly hope steps
will be taken at Washington and Ol-
tumwa to combat this terrible scourge.

Dr.- Phillips — In view of the fact
that spoken of the danger from Euro-
pean foul brood it might be of interest
to get an idea as to where European
foul brood is now found in the United
States. As near as we know it was
first discovered in New York in 1897,
and in 1899 they began to fight it in
that State. For a long time it was
not found outside of the Mohawk Val-
ley.. As I understand, it is now found
in several parts of New York State
and in about sixteen other States of
the Union as well as in Canada. It
is a disease that is spreading very
rapidly, and it will only be a very
short time when, in discussing Euro-
pean foul brood, we will have to say
it is found in every State in the Union
and in every county, unless some steps
are taken to stop it.

Mr. Holterman — Have there been
any reports made to Dr. Phillips at
Washington from any other part of

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

167

Ontario than the one he corresponded
with Mr. Byers about?

Dr. Phillips — That is the only one.

Ml". Holterman — I think our Ontario
Government is making a mistake. This
disease was only in one or two apia-
lies and now it covers ten miles square
or less. I think between the Provin-
cial and Dominion Government they
should at once stamp out every single
apiary where this disease is found. ;

Mr. McEvoy — Do you treat it at all,
Mr. Wright?

Mr. Wright — I have cured it.

Mr. McEvoy — ^Without burning?

Mr. Wright — Yes.

Mr. McEvoy — That is all right.
Now, Mr. Byers, you are mistaken.

Mr. Pressler — Mr. Wright has stated
that the dread of American foul brood
is not as great as it was years ago if
we know how to handle it. The peo-
ple of New York State, especially Mr.
Wright, have had considerable experi-
ence with black, or European brood.
Do you dread it as much to-day as you
did three years ago?

Mr. Wright — Both diseases are bad
enough, but Mr. Byers need not dread
even European foul brood.

Mr. Holterman — We are now touch-
ing upon a subject which is, I think,
of very great importance to the bee-
keeping industry, and I believe we
should be thoroughly afraid of foul
brood, whether American or Euro-
pean. I know underneath the surface
I have been blamed for spreading foul
brood. There have been two cases
where, in a mistake years ago, I sold
foul brood to other parties and then
made it right as I best knew how. I
am .afraid of foul brood. I never had
a serious attack of it, but I have occa-
sionally had cases, and from what I
know of it from my own experience,
and from what I have seen a great
deal more in others, I would say what
every bee-keeper and bee journal
wants to do is to make every person
thoroughly afraid of it.

Dr. White has said that there are
cases where we cannot control the
causes, as it were. That is, if my
neighbor has foul brood the stronger
my bees the more likely I am to have
the disease. I have somewhere like
four hundred colonies, and I have said
time and again that if the disease
should break out to any extent in my
apiary I would simply throw up the

job; it would cost me thousands of
dollars to cure that disease, and there-
fore I have very good reason to be
thoroughly afraid of it. With all due
respect to these gentlemen who have
spoken, and whom I agree with in
many things, I do not agree with the
sentiment of not being afraid of the
disease known as foul brood.

Mr. McEvoy — On this question of
treating the disease, if you have got
a lot of nice white comb over diseased
colonies, and these have wire founda-
tion, they are very valuable, and you
do not want to destroy them if you
can help it. If you have been afraid
of foul brood, turn the cloth back and
let the bees clean those combs out
clean and dry, and they , will be per-
fectly safe, and the greater amount of
combs of that kind that can be saved
the greater quantity you will get; but
where an old comb has had a cell of
foul matter in it, it will stay there as
long as the comb lasts.

Mr. Pressler — Does this apply to
both American and European foul
brood?

Mr. McEvoy — Yes.

The President — Perhaps we can
save some discussion by taking the
tiext paper and then taking up the
discussion of this whole matter. The
next paper is "Getting Rid of Foul
Brood with the Least Financial Loss,"
by the Hon. R. L. Taylor of Lapeer,
Mich., Inspector of Apiaries for Mich-
igan.

Mr. Taylor — The subject has been
talked about so much that I had got
rather tired of it and I presumed most
of you had. My topic is how to get
rid of foul brood with the least finan-
cial loss. I think the first thing
everybody ought to attend to, who has
foul brood or fears he may have it, is
to get thoroughly acquainted with it
and with the description of it. I have
been surprised at men coming to me
and wanting to know about something
that had happened in the combs of
their bees. Some had dead brood and
wanted to know whether it was foul
brood or not. They had read all about
foul brood, the descriptions of it, but
they couldn't t;ell whether the dead
brood was afflicted with the disease
or not. The descriptions are plain
enough. There are 1,000 of them, and
they are every one plain enough so
that anybody with any intelligence
can understand when they see a case
of foul brood. The trouble is that bee-

168

EIGHTH ANNUAL, KEPOKT OF THE

keepers do not sit down and study the
description.

Now, as was intimated by someone
here, tlie price of freedom from foul
brood is eternal vigilance. We are
not going to get entirely rid of it be-
cause It is in the woods, and bees die
in the woods, although I have heard
some say that a colony in a tree never
dies, but it is pretty certain they do,
and they surely would when they had
foul brood, and we will get it from the
woods and from two or three colonies
liere and there out in the country per-
haps that we never have known about
where the owner takes no particular
interest in them and does not care
whether they die or not, and does not
care whether they are robbed out or
not when they do die. That, I think,
is the point of greatest importance.

Now, as to avoiding financial loss
otherwise. You understand the loss
may consist in the loss of the bees or
the hive or the honey. How shall we
proceed in order to save this prop-
erty? Sometimes the bees will be
found to be worthless when you dis-
cover the foul brood. When they get
so weak that there are about a hand-
ful of bees left, they are almost en-
tirely old bees, and the quicker you
can destroy them the better. There is
no financial loss in that. The hive is
safe to use again. There is no finan-
cial loss in that. But sometimes we
find foul brood colonies that are of
considerable strength. You may dis-
cover in your apiary a half dozen or
dozen colonies afCected with foul
brood. How are you to dispose of it?
In the first place, you want to under-
stand thoroughly just what you have
got and the condition of each colony.
Then you want to lay down a plan as
to how you will proceed. If your col-
onies are strong there is a way to get
rid of it without much danger and I
think with perfect safety so far as the
new colony is concerned^ and that is
Baldridge's plan of using a bee escape.
You prepare a hive for your colony
with starters or foundation and place
it upon the stand of the colony that
has the foul brood, setting that one a
little aside, putting the entrances as
nearly together as possible; then take
sufficient bees out of the foul broodj.
colony and put them in the new hive
with the queen to make a start —
sufficient bees to take care of the
queen at least — and then put up a bee
escape upon the front of your hive,
having it in every other way perfectly

bee tight. Then you have nothing
more to do but to let the bees come
out of themselves through the escape,
and if you place your escape properly
they cannot return to the foul brood
colony but go into the new hive. Mi\
Baldridge uses that and says it is al-
ways successful. I have used it in
several instances and have found it
successful. There are other cases
where some of them are rather weak.
There may be a considerable number
and you may want to cure them by
the shaking method. Provide your
hives for as many colonies as you de-
sire to make out of the diseased ones,
which will generally be somewhat less
than the number which have the dis-
ease, because a good many of them,
unless in a very favorable time of the
year and early, will not be sufficiently
strong to build up into a good colony.
You want to make the new colony
sufficiently strong to build up. You
select from these diseased colonies
one or two colonies, if your brood is
worth anything, upon which to put the
brood that you take from the rest of
the diseased colonies. Then you shake
off the bees into new hives, taking
such colonies as you think will do
best and setting the brood from which
you have taken the bees upon. one or
two of these diseased colonies and
allowing it to remain there a week or
two so that a gopd deal of the brood,
the healthy brood, in these diseased
colonies will be saved.

Now, I think these methods, with an
intelligent understanding of the dan-
gers of handling the disease and of
the danger of weak colonies being
robbed, will be sufficient, and those
colonies upon which the foul brood
has been put of course will be treated
in a week or two afterwards the »ame
as the previous ones were treated.

Mr. Holterman — ^Would you cage
the queen in these colonies that you
put the brood on?

Mr. Taylor — I would shut her below.
I have never caged her, but I confine
her to one part of the hive.

Mr. Moore — ^What would you do
with the combs?

Mr. Taylor — If I had conveniences
for taking care of the combs so that
I could be perfectly sure they could
be cared for without the bees getting
at them, I would boil them up and get
the wax out of them. But if I had a
colony that had been cleaned of foul
brood and I discovered an infected

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

169

comb or two the best course would be
to burn them right up. Burn them or
bury them unless you have conven-
iences in which you can take care of
the combs securely. There is where
the danger comes.

Mr. Holterman — If you had 100 col-
onies would you do that?

Mr. Taylor — It would depend on the
man. A good careful man could save
his bees and save the wax in the
combs. If he was not a careful man
he had better burn them up.

Mr. Lewis — Mr. Taylor says put the
diseased brood over a queen excluder.
Now, I have tried that with four hives
and have had two of them block up
the escape so that the bees above
smothered to death.

Mr. Holterman — ^Were there many
drones in your brood?

Mr. Lewis — No, it wasn't from that
cause.

The President — Did you use a bee
escape ?

Mr. Lewis — Yes, a regular bee es-
cape. That seemed to be all filled up
with cappings and then the bees had
crowed in "and blocked it right up so
that it was just solid and the bees
were dead. Now, take a good clean
comb that never had foul brood in it^
but that had honey from a foul brood
hive below, and above a bee escape.
I had one hive of that kind and I
wanted to save that comb badly. How
I could get the honey out that re-
mained in those combs after extract-
ing was a problem. I saw that every
cell was uncapped on both sides of the
card; it was about two-thirds full
above when I discovered the old hive
was full of foul brood. So I took
them one by one and I soused each
card up and down in water, turning it
over and throwing the water out three
times in succession. Then I sunk
them In water over night and then
threw them out, and the next morn-
ing put them up to dry in my bee
house, and before they were quite dry
a large colony of bees came out and 1
put them right into that hive and they
have been there four years without
any sign of foul brood.

Mr. Taylor — What did you wash
them out for?

Mr. Lewis — To get the honey out.

Mr. Taylor — It was brought from
the fields?

Mr. Lewis — ^Yes.

Mr. Taylor — Well, that is always
safe.

Mr. Williams — Mr. Taylor speaks of
using the hives again. Does that in-
clude using the frames over again?

Mr. Taylor — I have. If you boil
them thoroughly I consider it safe.

Mr. McEvoy — Yes, perfectly safe.

Mr. Taylor — ^In fact I think it would
be safe without it in the majority of
cases, because the foul brood does not
go up to the -frame and if I cut out
the combs I would not be much afraid
to use them just as they are.

Dr. Phillips — ^It seems to me that
this discussion has missed the whole
point in the financial treatment of bee
diseases. If we are going^ to eradicate
bee diseases from the country or state
or continent, it must be done by a
modified method of manipulation. If
a man goes on producing honey, as
we have been taught to do since the
honey extractor was brought in, the
bee diseases will be very hard to con-
trol; but if we modify our methods so
that wax production becomes a part of
our manipulation, bee diseases will no
longer be a serious proposition. We
have been led to believe that the
combs may be used and should be
used year after year. Bee-keepers
have been led to believe that wax pro-
duction is not profitable and a little
figuring on this thing will demon-
strate that such is not the case. A
colony of bees does not consume fif-
teen or twenty pounds of honey in
making a pound of wax provided the
extractor that is used is of the right
kind. If a colony of bees is shaken
from its combs or swarms from its
combs and is started in a new hive
the amount of honey used in pro-
ducing a pound of wax is far from
being fifteen pounds. It is very low.
We have a fresh writer who is very
competent to ■n^rite on the subject,
who has put this figure as low as two
pounds. It does not cost fifteen
pounds of honey to get a pound of
wax. Now, if we utilize this point Tf
we modify our manipulations in such
a way that we compel the bees to
build wax by shaking we will make
almost as much money from wax as
we did before from the old method.
The shaking treatment I believe is the
only treatment worthy of considera-
tion. If we allow the bees to leave
the combs bj' the use of the bee e£
cape they go out without the stimulus;
which they should have, and do not

170

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

secrete wax anything like as fast as
they do when shaken, and under those
conditions wax is secreted at a very
much less cost.

Something has been said about
whether it is desirable to save bees-
wax or not. That also goes into the
loss question. If we are to have any
hope of success with the eradication
of bee diseases, we must save this
wax and save it all, or the bee dis-
ease treatment cannot be carried on
as a financial success. A colony in a
ten-frame Langstroth hive contains
over four pounds of beeswax. At 30
cents a pound — that is higher than the
average bee-keeper gets — the average
bee-keeper with an ordinary wax
press cannot get very much over three
pounds, but there is over four pounds
there — but figuring on what he gets,
that is 90 cents, that two story hive
contains $1.80 worth of beeswax, and
it does not pay to throw it away, be-
cause any one who is worthy of the
name of bee-keeper will take care of
that and see that it is not robbed out.

In the eradication of bee diseases
we must look to the method of treat-
ment which the successful and careful
bee-keeper can use. There is no use
in trying to get a method which all
bee-keepers can use, because the time
is going to come when all bee-keepers
cannot continue to keep bees. The
time is going to come when bee dis-
eases are going to wipe out about 50
per cent of the bee-keepers in the
United States.

Mr. Byers — Just a word in regard to
what Mr. Taylor has said and criticiz-
ing whether the super combs should
be washed out. He says he thinks
they would not have trasmitted the
disease if they had not been washed
out. I do not know positively that
when you put super combs over a foul
brood colony that never had it, they
will transmit the disease.

Dr. Bohrer — In connection with
what Dr. Phillips has said I would like
to call attention to another matter
that has not been named. I don't
know what protection you people have
in Canada in the way of legislation,
and I don't know what the different
states outside of my own have in the
way of legislation, but I do know this,
it is very defective. I intend to for-
mulate a bill on my return home pro-
viding that the Bee Inspectors of the
different counties shall not permit col-
onies of bees to remain in any man's

house or barn when known, and shall
not allow men to keep bees in boxes
or ordinary box hives. As long as you
allow them to do it I do not see how
an inspector can do his duty, nor see
how we are going to stamp it out and
keep it stamped out. In heavily tim-
bered sections of the country you may
provide that all trees containing bees
may be cut down and the bees taken
out. We do need legislation against
allowing bees to remain in houses and
barns and other out-buildings and be-
ing kept in box hives or logs. I make
the suggestion that all bee-keepers
consider this.

Mr. McEvoy — "We have a clause in
our Act whereby we can order all box
hives changed into frame hives where
they are diseased.

Dr. Bohrer — ^How about bees in
houses or trees?

Mr. McEvoy — "We have nothing to
do with the trees; I suppose we could
have, though.

Mr. Lewis — I would like to ask what
we would do in that case, after we
have ordered all the bees to be put
into frame hives, when the people will
let hundreds of these common farmer
bee-keepers build combs crossways of
those frames.

Mr. McEvoy — They can transfer
them all the same.

Mr. Richardson — ^I would like to ask
about this treatment of Mr. Taylor's
in changing to the new hive when
disturbing that diseased swarm and
they would fill up with the diseased
honey, wouldn't they carry the disease
into the new swarm?

Mr. Taylor — They may carry some,
but they get rid of it before they get
comb built to store it in.

Mr. Richardson — They •would use
some of that diseased honey to build
some of that comb?

Mr. Taylor — No.

Mr. Friess — A gentleman over here
has spoken about washing his combs
out. Why couldn't the bees in in-
creasing their brood below carry that
honey from below and put it above,
and would it be safe to use that?

Mr. Taylor — I don't think there is
anj' danger In that.

Mr. Friess — ^Don't you think th*i
honey from below would contain these
germs after being carried above?

Mr. Taylor — I don't think they carry
any above. The conclusion I have

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

171

come to is that combs which never
have had foul brood in are safe to use.

Mr. Friess — Does not the good
honey below become infected by the
foul brood honey?

Mr. Taylor — No, it is because they
store honey in cells that have the
dead brood in.

Mr. Friess — Will they remove that
up above?

Mr. McEvoy — Yes; some times.

Mr. Newton — I have not been so
much interested in the work of foul
brood until the past year. As I have
been passing around from yard to
yard, I have seen people have
been too lenient altogether. They
want to save these few combs. It is
the thought of saving these top combs
that are over diseased colonies. I
wouldn't advise anybody to do that.
I think we should be very much
afraid of it.

Mr. McEvoy — Johnnie, would you
destroy the combs over a diseased
colony?

Mr. Newton — Yes, I am so much
afraid of it.

Mr. McEvoy — You are dead wrong.
(Laughter.)

Mr. Newton — In the past season I
have found people who have used
these old combs thinking they were
safe, and the disease has broken out
again. Wouldn't it have been better
If they had resolved in the first place
to cure and get rid of the old combs?
Mr. McEvoy and myself and many ex-
perienced bee-keepers might save the
old combs to advantage, knowing
what we were doing, but when you
come to the inexperienced bee-keeper,
and he does not know the combs as
well, and he uses combs which he
thinks are all right in his own judg-
ment, but when the season comes on
in a good many cases the disease will
appear again, and for the sake of
others I say do not use any old combs
or anything in connection with hives
that have been diseased.

Mr. Man waring — We have been told
by Mr. Taylor and others that it is
safe to use hives in which foul brood
has been found. I would like to know
whether that Is the universal belief or
whether there is any exception to
that. I understand from Mr. Taylor
that all that is necessary is to clean
out an old hive and you can use it
again.

Mr. Taylor— I can"t tell what the
general belief is, but that Is the belief »
in my house.

Mr. Pressler — We have enough men
here who have tried it and know iit.

Mr. McEvoy — In my 33 years' ex-
perience I never had ^ case of foul
brood develop in an old hive, and I
never disinfected an old hive.

Mr. France — I am not as old as
Brother McEvoy across the water, but
I have put in twelve years of inspect-
ing and treating diseased bees. In the
first year I boiled the hives, and if
ever I saw anything that was sicken-
ing to a bee-keeper, it was a lot of
boiled hives; they all warped out of
shape and I found they were no use.
and in later years no hives have been
boiled or burned and they are all in
use to-day.

Mr. Holterman — I am not going to
say it is necessary to disinfect hives.
Mr. S. D. House of Camillus, New
York, stated to me distinctly that his
father attributed a second break- out
of foul brood to the fact that the hives
had not been disinfected. I want to
say Mr. House had no conclusive evi-
dence that the reason was because
the hives were not disinfected. If we
are going to learn we must be open to
reason, we must judge wisely and be
unprejudiced. On the other hand, I
want to make the assertion that be-
cause hives have been used for many
years and not disinfected does not
prove that the disease may not have
been transmitted in that way. We
know where colonies are treated for
foul brood the disease does break out
occasionally the second time, and the
man who believes that combs do not
need to be disinfected and can be used
the second time will say that that
was not the reason why the disease
broke out, but it was on account of
some other cause. At the same time
I want to say he does not know. Where
the disease does break out occasionally
the second time — and every inspector
and every one posted in this Tine
knows it does — he does not know that
it may not be because the hive was
not disinfected. I think Dr. White
and Dr. Phillips are men who should
be able to speak with authority upon
the subject of boiling hives, because
they are bacteriologists and they can
follow it up in a practical way. The
bee-keeper cannot. To disinfect a
hive it is not necessary to boil it
The germ may lie upon the surface

172

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OP THE

and all that is necessary is to wash
it with some disinfectant, and that is
the reason wliy I believe it wise for
a person to advocate disinfecting hives.
It costs so very little to do it.

Mr. Taylor — If you want to disinfect
hives at all, put a little straw and
kerosene in it on a pile of hives and
touch a match to it, and when it is
suflBciently scorched inside put on a
cover and that will put your fire out.
Fire will attend to the bacteria, you
needn't be afraid about that.

Mr. Darby — Mr. Taylor just made
the point I was going to drive at.
There are cases when I think it is
necessary that the hive should be dis-
infected. Some of us have to deal
with bee-keepers, different classes of
them, some who will do work properly
and some who will not do it properly,
and it is with those that are careless
that we have got to deal and with
whom the most trouble comes. Some-
times I find combs built cros.swise and
sometimes run together and in treat-
ing them the parties will be so care-
less as to drop the honey in the hive
and on the bottom board and on the
side and on the cover. These are not
careful bee-keepers. You are talking
to intelligent people in this audience,
but remember there are people all
over the United States and I presume
in Canada, who are not careful and
who are not intelligent on this line,
although they may be on others.
"U'hat should we do with these hives?
Take them and put other bees into
them? As Mr. Taylor has just said,
in those cases I tell them to disinfect
the hive, but my method is to paint
the hives with gasoline and then apply
a match, and the work is done in a
few minutes. All the burr comb in
there, all the honey, all the glue will
catch it and these diseased germs will
instantly be burned up. I think we
should bear in mind that there are a
great number of people who will read
this report who are not as familiar
with handling hives as we are here,
and we should consider this matter
and let these reports go out so that it
is clear enough to all minds how this
subject should be treated. Do not
take chances. (Applause.)

Mr. Cavanagh — I don't feel quite
satisfied in regard to this hive disin-
fection. There certainly is a possi-
bility of infection in those hives. We
will suppose a small portion of that
diseased brood were simply on the in-
side of that hive and that hive after-

wards had some honey spilled on it
and the bees cleaned it up, why
wouldn't that condition be exactly the
same as if the bees cleaned the honey
out of the diseased cells that have
that scale dried in it? While it is
very easy eo disinfect those hiveis and
make them perfectly safe, that danger
might exist if they were not disin-
fected.

Mr. Covyou — As to the possibility of
spreading the disease, I think the bot-
tom board is the only possible place
where these spores might fall and be
covered up. In a year or so if you
should disturb them in scraping your
bottom boards, it might possibly afCect
the bees.

Mr. McEvoy — A gentleman over
here spoke of some honey being spilled
or dropped in the hives. What is the
difference whether the bees have it in
their sacks or clean it up there a short
time afterwards?

Speaking of painting hives, I would
want to paint the feet of the bees;
one is as necessary as the other.
When it breaks out again, it is some-
thing like the old lady with her hens,
they were off the eggs and -on the
straw.

Mr. France — I am sorry to spe we
are trying to save too much infection
for fear we will lose a little some-
thing. I don't consider an infected
colony of bees worth very much. All
they are worth is the w^ax. I do thank
Dr. Phillips for bringing out the point
that from a commercial point of view
we are foolish to stand in our own
light and try in some kind of way to
save an old infected comb. For nine
years I have carried with me as an
inspector, free of charge over our
State where the bee-keepers did not
have facilities to save the wax, a wax
extractor, and the old combs melted
into wax almost in actual value paid
for the foundation, and those new
combs, put on were worth much more
than the old ones. In that way the
bee-keeper got rid of the old combs,
the drone combs, and he had new
clean combs which gave more am-
bition and vigor to the bees. Then,
why are we. dabbling over these when
we could dispose of them and make a
clean sweep of them?

Mrs. Robertson — ^How long in the
name of science do these foul brood
germs live? Forever?

Dr. Phillips — Dr. Maassen in Ger-
many had foul brood twenty years old

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

173

and he had no trouble in getting
germs from it.

12 o'clock noon adjourned to 2
o'clock p. m.

SECOND DAY.
Afternoon Session.

Wednesday, October 14th.

At two o'clok p. m. the President
called the Convention to order and
said:

"We have two or three gentlemen
with us who have come a long dis-
tance to attend this Convention, one
from Cuba and one from California,
and we feel we would like to hear
from these gentlemen. If Mr. Gilson
from Cuba will step forward and give
us a little history of things there and
particularly in regard to Rambler, that
we all know something about, we
would be very glad indeed."

Mr. Gilson — I was with our friend
Rambler for about six months of his
life. He was sick at the time and he
finally went to Havana to the hospital,
and 1 of course did not see much of
our friend, although I found him a
very genial fellow with a kind dis-
position and, being new in that part
of the country, I certainly felt having
a friend leave me like that.

As to bee-keeping there, they keep
a great number of bees and large
apiaries.

Mr. A. I. Root — How many colonies
did Rambler have at the time?

Mr. Gilson — ^He had about 300; they
were in a swamp. I believe Mr. Root
was there at the same time. He had
a good place for honey, but a very
poor place for health. That Is, the
water was not good and it was low
land, causing it to be very unhealthy.
As you all know he took the fever and
went to Havana and died while Mr.
Root was there. At one time we took
about nineteen bocoyas — a barrel is a
bocoya, with 200 gallons to the barrel
from the apiary of Rambler. That
was comb honey, and we did that the
year I went there. There was some
taken before I got there, so I don't
know how much there was altogether.

Mr. A. I. Root — This boy (Mr. Gil-
son) had full charge of that apiary.

. Mr. Gilson — ^After that I took charge
of the apiary. It was then sold and I
stayed for three and a half years. At
the end of that time it was still run-
ning for extracted honey.

Mr. A. I. Root — ^How many colonies
can they keep there in one place?

Mr. Gilson — ^Anywhere from 300 to
500, although I never had more than
336. I have seen 300 colonies produce
about 250 pounds to the colony. We
must remember that they have fully
eight months of harvest there. It is
not a fast harvest like ours is here,
but it is continuous almost. There are
slight breaks in it of course.

Mr. A. I, Root— They sometimes
have a little foul brood?

Mr. Gilson — Tes, but I did not have
much experience of that. The most of
It I have found with other men. I
have seen where whole apiaries were
wiped out of existence with foul brood,
and the hives piled up like so much
cordwood. I think it comes from en-
trusting it too much to native help.
The most of our bees were entrusted
to the native help and they did not
understand bees; they were just like
a machine; simply did as you told
them.

Mr. Holterman — They were not
afraid of foul brood?

Mr. Gilson — No; when they didn't
know anything about it.

Mr. A. I. Root — I visited one apiary
where a native was driving out foul
brood with brimstone; he supposed
brimstone would kill anything.
(Laughter.)

Mr. Chapman — ^About how much per
pound does the lioney average?

Mr. Gilson — I thiink we got at the
highest, 48 cents per gallon. They
simply run a measure down in the
barrel and measure it the same ^s
you would wine.

Mt. A, I. Root— They send the most
of their honey over to Germany to
make beer.

Mr. Gilson — I guess the most of It.
the bakers get a portion of it.

Mr. McEvoy — ^What percentage of
this honey is marketed in the United
States?

Mr. Gilson — I don't know.

Mr. Evoy — How much is shipped
to England?

Mr. Gilson — ^I don't know. Germany
gets a great quantity of it.

Mr. Kilgore — ^What is the quality of
the comb honey produced?

Mr. A. I. Root — Some of it is very
fine, equal to almost anything we have
here, but the most of it is not up to

174

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

it. There seems to be a difficulty in
producing comb honey.

Mr. Gilson — After you get it very
nice and clear, if it is allowed to stand
down there any length of time it fer-
ments and bursts the caping off.

The President — Is Mr. Witham of
California in the audience and will he
please come forward and give us a
little talk?

Mr. Witham— Mr. President, Ladies
and Gentlemen of the Convention: I
am really glad to see the ladies. I
know there are a great many ladies
engaged in the bee business. I am
glad to be at this Convention, the first
convention I ever attended pertaining
to bees. I am somewhat of a new
beginner in the bee business and
therefore I hope I will not be sub-
jected to any very serious questions.

The President — We will be easy on
you.

Mr. Witham — My experience with
bees has been very limited. I don't
know what is going on in the State
even. I know what is going on in my
immediate vicinity. I want to tell you
how ignorant I am in regard to bee
diseases. We have an inspector in
our county, and I thought I had dis-
eased bees last spring, and I told one
of my neighbors who had some bees
about three miles away that I believed
I had foul brood, but I didn't know it.
He sfnt immediately to Monteray,
where the inspector lived; he cama
down and examined my bees and my
neighbor's. When he came to my
apiary he says, I was told you had
foul brood in your apiary, b"t I find
none. I thought I had. He said:
You have got none, but your neighbor
that told me that you had, hasn't got
but three sound colonies. I said he
didn't do that maliciously I know, for

I told him I thought I had it.

I*
Tou know California is a great
place for big things, and I presume
Mr. Root knows something about that
as well as myself. We raise a whole
lot of honey there, especially in the
southern part, but some times we have
to get out there because it is a little
too diy, and I guess this season was
a poor season, but another gentleman
and I, in Santa Barbara county, had
some honey. I got four and one-half
tons out of 85 hives. There were some
ten apiaries that didn't have a pound
to sell. If any gentleman here can tell
why that is, I don't know, but that is
the case. We raise good honey there.
The sage honey is a splendid honey.

Mr. A. I. Root — Water white?

Mr. Witham — Not always. Our first
honey is water white. I am not posted
at all in this business and I have
came here to learn, and I am glad I
am here to hear the pros and cons
about bees and diseases, and so forth.
I have come to learn and carry back
to the West what I can. possibly learn
here about bees. All my practice and
theory that I get, comes out of Illinois
and Ohio and some out of Michiigan.
I see they are all represented here.
(Applause.)

The President — Taking up the reg-
ular program for the afternoon, the
first thing is a debate on the follow-
ing: "Resolved, That an Eight-Frame
Langstroth Hive is Preferable to a
Larger Hive in Extracted Honey Pro-
duction." The affirmatiive is to be
taken by Mr. S. D. Chapman of Mance-
lona, Mich., and the negative by R. F.
Holterman of Bradford, 6nt. We do
not want it understood that this dis-
cussion is to be a discussion pitted
between these two gentlemen. We
want it understood we are going to
try to draw out the facts so far as we
can as to the advisability of these two
sizes of hives, and the judges will
render their decision in accordance
with the evidence that may 'be given
by these gentlemen and by such dis-
cussions as they may draw out.

Mr. Muth — ^Who are the judges?

The President — Mr. R. L. Taylor of
Lapeer, Mich., and Mr. F. J. Miller of
London, Ontario. Are they all right?

Mr. Muth — ^Mr. Taylor is all right.
I don't know the other man.

Mr. Pressler — It is not likely that a
man is prejudiced in favor f the hive
he uses?

Mr. Holterman — ^I know Mr. Taylor
is an eight frame hive man, but he
has a fair mind, he has a judicial
mind, he is a lawyer. We want every-
one-to be fair-minded in the same way.

The President — The decision will be
rendered upon the evidence given and
we must give these judges credit for
being fair men.

Mr. Chapman then addressed the
Convention as follows:

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentle-
men:— Some time ago I received a
letter from our Secretary stating that
all the best men had refused to take
a part in this Convention. He wanted
to know if I would not come and take
a part in a debate showing some of

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

175

the good points of the eight-frame
hive in the production of extracted
honey.

In starting this discussion, let me
say in a few words I could tell you
why I prefer the small hive for my
locality. But when we take into con-
sideration that bees are kept through-
out the American continent, in nearly
every place where agriculture is
carried on, from the northern limits of
the United States to the Gulf of
Mexico and from the Atlantic to the
Pacific oceans, taking in the vast area
with its varied climates, it is no won-
der there is a difference in the opin-
ions of bee-keepers in regard to the
size of the hive as well as the differ-
ent kinds of management required in
each locality.

My experience is limited in regard
to localities. For the last 27 years I
have been -keeping bees in the north-
ern part of' this State, and it is a cold
climate. Our summer season is short,
and it is for such a locality I prefer
the small hive. Though, after think-
ing over carefully the subject of hives,
I do not know that I will be able to
say much about the small hive. But
if my opponent discusses this question
in proportion to the size of the hive
he uses, we may expect something.

The bee-keeper who depends almost
entirely upon the income derived from
his bees for the support of his family
will soon find there is something more
than the size of the hive to take into
consideration. Every hive must have
its system of management. It is in-
separable from the hive itself. It is
this that makes bee-keeping a science
— one of the grandest pursuits that
God has given us.

The more careful study we give the^
subject the broader the field for in-
vestigation. The careful observer
while working with his bees often
may be able to accomplish greater re-
sults with less labor.

In the last 50 years we have made
wonderful progress, but we should not
think we have reached the goal.
There is plenty of room for advance-
ment. This will come about through
careful observing bee-keepers — those
that work in harmony with the
natural laws governing our pursuit.

To discuss this question in an in-
telligent manner it will be necessary
to start at some time during the sea-
son and show the use we make of the
' hive for the whole year. After our

colonies are on the summer stands it
is the most important time of the
whole season's work to bring our coi- ;
onies up to the desired strength.

And now I wish to show you where
the eight-frame brood nest has some
advantage over the twelve. The bees
as well as Qurselves are subject to
the conditions of the weather, and
these outside conditions are beyond
our control. You place a man in a
small room with a stove just large
enough to keep the room in a com-
fortable condition. If a few feet in
length were added to this room, the
result would be this: he would suffer
with the cold unless he drew heavily
upon the fuel. Just so with a colony
of bees; they give off hut a certain
amount of heat, sufficient to keep the
colony in the small hive comfortable,
but in the large hive it is necessary
to draw from their stores; an extra
amount of fuel must be consumed to
Heep up the desired temperature, and
all this is at the expense of the vital-
ity of the bees. That is the point.

Take two colonies with equal stores
the first of November. Winter one in
the cellar with even temperature, the
other on its summer stand where it
is subject to all kinds of weather, and
you will find that colony will consume
about double the store the one wil'
wintered in the cellar. If there is n
difference of seven per colony, one 500
pounds there would be $250 worth of
honey saved just in the wintering.

There are many things to take into
consideration in building up our col-
onies in the spring. As I have said,
the building up of our colonies in the
spring is the most important work
connected with our industry and many
conditions must be present in order
that a colony may make good prog-
ress. First, plenty of stores. The col-
ony with plenty of sealed honey will
fare far better during a severe cold
spell of weather than the colony with
scarcely any honey. Sealed honey is
to the bees what the stove' or furnace
is to the human family; it retains the
heat, keeping the temperature inside
of the hive in a more comfortable con-
dition. Second, we must have plenty
of healthy bees to furnish the warmth
and give support to the queen. We
should never believe the queen is the
mainspring of the colony. What good
is the mainspring to the watch with-
out power to run it, and what good
is the queen to the colony without

176

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

plenty of bees to support her? The
bees are the pov/er. Plenty of good
healthy bees in the spring while build-
ing up makes good queens.

I take the position that the eight-
frame hive is better in the production
of extracted honey than any large
hive, for the reason it is better adapted
to the building up of the colony in
early spring, and when the colony
is heavy or strong enough to cover
the combs they are irf a position to
out-strip a colony of equal strength in
the large hive. But to do this we
must have a system of management
to bring about the desired results.

With my experience in running for
extracted honey I would say I should
expect the same working force. In
the Aspinwall hive would gather and
put in a marketable condition 50 per
cent more comb honey than any other
hive in existence.

In running for extracted honey we
get the same results. First, by hand-
ling frames and later by handling
supers. When we put those two
combs above we .started the bees to
work immediately in the upper story.
If we simply set the upper story on,
letting the bees take possession when
they are ready, we lose from 3 to 5
days, and if it is from 5 pounds to 20
pounds per colony, the scale shows
this. The point is right here — it takes
bees too long to become acquainted
Avith a change in their surroundings.

The bee-keepers using the small
hive will have a working force of 20
or 30 per cent more bees than the
one using the large hive; and why?
Because the small hive admits of
management at just the time required
for the rapid building up of the colony.

The colony in the large hive will
build up to a pretty fair colony at
about the time the white clover har
vest is over and you have got those
bees on your hands as cons-uniers.

I have had men owning hundreds of
colonies ask me why I raise those
two frames of brood above. Their ex-
perience is all on the outside of the
hive.

I, will try to make this point plain.
First, the colony will be from 3 to 5
days ahead of where it would be if
we let the queen go up when she is
ready. Second, w© break up a crowd-
ed brood nest in a moment's time. A
crowded brood nest is a break well
applied. It retards the queen's laying
and largely stops the storing of honey.

You will see this principle in use
in the Aspinwall hive, it prevents the
crowding of the brood nest in a hive
for comb honey. At the same time
we place two empty combs in the
middle of the brood below just where
the queen can do her best.

Those two combsi above are in a
position to take advantage of the heat
that arises from the brood nest below,
and from this on this upper story has
all the advantages in the world for
rapid building of the colony.

There is no cold draught of air be-
tween this upper story and the brood
nest. We use the same heated air in;
this upper story that arises from the
lower story and we have much more
of it.

From this on we have a brood nest
of 16 frames and this is large enough
for almost any colony. But for the
next 18 hours we find the queen, as
well as most of the bees, have aban-
doned these outside combs.

Of course, the conditions of the
weather will have something to do
with it. If those combs in the middle
of the brood nest are already filled,
and they certainly are, the queen is
idle more than one-half of the time. In
the large hive you are reducing the
size of the colony you should have.
"Can j-^ou see the point?"

Here is the advantage in the eight-
frame hive; from this on the expan-
sion of the brood nest is above in an ,
upper story just where it should be.
We take two frames of sealed brood
from the brood nest and they are
placed in the upper story so that they
are the two middle combs in the
upper story. Now is the time we wish
to get all the bees possible to take ad-
vantage of the honey flow. The ques-
tion arises, where will the queen do
the best work? In what part of the
brood nest will she deposit the most
eggs, in a certain length of time? I
will answer by saying, right in the
middle of the brood nest.
. Here is a point I wish you to bear
in mind. The larger the brood nest,
or extracting super, the more compact
and closer will the bees cluster during
cold days and nights. That is a fact, \
In the large hive the expansion of
brood must neces,sarily be in the out-
side combs. The queen will make use
of these outside combs possibly five
or six hours during the middle of the
day.

There is another objection to the t

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

177

large hive. Every pound of honey we
carry over beyond the requirements of
the colony is a nuisance. Even witli
the eight-frame hive many of my col-
onies carry too much, and in my ten-
frame hives it is a serious objection.

After Mr. Chapman had concluded
his opening address on the debate a
short recess was taken for the pur-
pose of having a photograph taken of
the Convention.

After recess the President called
the Convention to order and appointed
the following committees:

Committee on Resolutions: Messrs.
Huber C. Root, Medina, Ohio; J. L.
Byer, Mount Joy, Ont. ; and O. L.
Hershiser, Buffalo, N. Y.

Committee on Exhibits: Messrs J.
Hoffman, Wisconsin; R. L. Holecamp,
Missouri, and William McEvoy, On-
tario.

The President — ^We will now take
up the program. Mr. R. F. Holterman
of Brantford, Ontario, will respond to
Mr. Chapman.

Mr. Holterman — Mr. President, La-
dies and Gentlemen: — The subject we
are dealing with is one of principles,
not men,' and in a debate when you
admit a principle, then the one who
brings forward that principle has
scored a point, and in dealing with
the subject this afternoon I feel
strongly upon that subject becaause I
do consider it of very great impor-
tance to the bee-keeping industry, and
I will try to treat it in part at least
in that way.

Now, it is not a matter of how we
present that subject, the tone in which
we speak, or anything of that kind;
it is a matter of whether we score
points or do not, and the gentlemen
who are judges, and you who listen,
I know from what has been said, will
try to free yourselves from all past
ideas upon that subject and simply
weigh what each one says.

Now, if I were to present you with
a hive which consisted of twelve or
eight combs, one strung out behind
the other, there is^ not one in this
room who would accept a hive of that
construction; and if I would ask you
why, you would say, if you said rightly,
that the bees when clustered would
cover the least possible amount of
room, because in that way the largest
number of bees are presented to the
outside, and a cluster, if we can call
it a cluster, strung out in that way

would be an extravagance, and the
moment you admit that principle you
admit the great principle that no hive
is rightly constructed unless it is a
square, because if your cluster is
longer than it is wide, and you admit
the principle which I have admitted,
you can't cover the greatest amount
of brood with the least number of bees
until your hive is as broad as it is
long. We find that in the twelve-
frame Langstroth hive it is almost a
square. If you space it in the ordi-
nary way it is a square, and if you
take an eight-frame hive you have
one longer than it is broad.

Next, we all know that when a man
builds a house and he builds a square
house he has the greatest amount of
room for the least outlay of material;
and when we build our hives we can
house the largest number of bees for
the least money by having a square
hive. That is, if you take an eight-
frame hive, the length of it is the
same as a twelve, and w'hen you go
to the twelve frame, the question of
added expense is the added distance
of the bottom board and the added
distance of the cover, and therefore
you can with greater economy use as
squai-e hive.

Now, my friend Mr. Chapman has
spoken of using the super to put brood
into. I thought that he would use
that argument, and I am inclined to
believe that that is the best possible
use that can be made of an eight-
frame hive. But when it comes to
economy, with a twelve -frame hive I
can retain my brood chamber and not
put a super upon that hive until I
have twelve combs covered by the
bees. In using an eight-frame hive,
just as soon as there are more bees
than can be kept in the eight-frame,
then the super has to be put on and
the added room has to be given,
which practically is sixteen combs.
So that up that stage I can have
twelve combs, but as soon as he re-
quires more than eight he has to put
on his super.

Next, the normal or natural way
and the best way in which bees work
is to have the brood underneath and
the honey on top. I have spoken of
using the square hive. The natural
place for pollen and honey is above
the brood. The argument has been
used that by putting brood in the
super you can get your bees into the
super better. Ladies and gentlemen.

—12

178

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

I want to say that any man who can-
not, with a Langstroth hive, where the
natural tendency to form a round
cluster, as it^were, in every direction,
is upward (and we are speaking of
the production of extracted honey)
get the bees to go into the super when
the drawn comb is there, that colony
has no use for the extra room and you
had better not give it to them.

Next, when the brood is put in the
super you are putting your brood
combs into what is rightly the ex-
tracting super, and that which will
eventually be an extracting super, and
it is always bad practice (sometimes
we have to do it) to use brood combs
for extracting purposes, and therefore
that is a disadvantage in the manipu-
lation which has been spoken of.

Again, in tiering up if you use the
super to put brood into then you have
to use so many supers in addition to
that, and where I use a twelve -frame
brood chamber and then luse upon that
two supers, the man who uses an
eight-frame hive in order to have the
same room has to tier those hives and
by the time he gets to the fifth or
sixth tier he finds great difficulty in
manipulation.

The next thing is, that any man
who would have any one working for
him or would make him walk, drive or
ride a distance greater than is abso-
lutely necessary, is not working with
economy; and one difficulty with bee^
keepers is that in production they are
not aiming sufficiently at cheapening
'production; and if I want to cheapen
I am not going to make my bees climb
through into four or five or six supers,
but by using a twelve-frame hive, a
twelve-frame brood chamber, and put-
ting two supers on that the bees
haven't got anything like the distance
to go as they do where they have the
eight-frame. The front of the hive is
the place where every one ventilates.
Bees do not get sufficient ventilation
as a rule; and Tvhere you use the
eight-frame hive and only have the
entrance as a ventilator the bees do
not get anything like the same am'ount
of ventilation that they get with a
larger hive, and particularly is this
true where the room is added in the
supers.

Now, as to the tendency to swarm.
I had a man try some twelve -frame
hives, and after he got through he
said to me, they swarm sooner than

the eight-frame hives. I asked him
how he used them. He didn't give
them super room, and let the eight-
frame hive swarm when it would in
the brood chamber and the twelve-
frame when it would, and I at once
admitted to him that the twelve-frame
would; and why? Because in the fall
of the year where you use a twelve -
frame and where you examine them
you have a large number of bees in
the fall of the year. Mr. Chapman
has rightly said that what we wanted
all the time was large or strong col-
onies. I quite agree with, Mr. Chap-
man upon that subject. In the fall of
the year with the twelve-frame hive
there are more bees in that hive than
in the eight-frame, and therefore they
go into winter quarters in that way,
and if they winter equally as well
they come out stronger in the spring
and they, of course, have so many
bees to begin with in the spfing of
the year and they can look after more
brood, and, of course, they will swarm
the sooner. But what we can do is
manipulate it in this way; we can
give them the room. I don't say a
twelve-frame • hive alone prevents
swarming, they will stick together
more and give better results.

You and I know when we see a
swarm of bees hanging upon a tree,
if the swarm is small, if they can get
enough for the winter and build up
we are satisfied. When w^e see a large
one we say that is a stock that is
going to give us returns and success
in bee-keeping. To make the most
out of the conditions and environ-
ments which we have means to al-
ways keep a strong colony and have
your dish turned up the right side for
porridge when it runs every time.

Another point is that where people
are indifferent in bee-keeping, where
they, often depend upon the bees hav-
ing sufficient stores, where they let
them swarm; other things being
equal, where they have allowed them
to swarm — particularly is this ^ true
where the istock has been depleted —
there is a better chance of the bees
having enough honey for winter than
in the smaller hive. That Is by no
means admitting that the extra room
is used by the beo^ for storing honey,
for such is not the case. What I find
is that what the bees hold of the
brood at the beginning of the honey
season as a rule they will retain, and

■ ;:,„t ;^~,"v'

JI.LINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

179

particularly is that true if the flow is
short. What I do admit is if they are
allowed to swarm they w^ill put more
honey into the brood chamber and
their chance of wintering is better
than where the small hive is used.
The eight-frame hive has a tendency
to destroy in that way, in the hands
of the slip-shod bee-keeper, more bees
than ever a large frame hive did.

As to the matter of spring, there is
just as much occasion for contracting
an eight-frame hive as a twelve, and
if Mr. Chapman uses a part of the
super expanding his brood chamber, I
have a perfectly legitimate right, and
I do where occasion requires, to put
in a division board and contract the
brood chamber, and so I am a good
•deal unlike the Irishman who said if
he had a stick too large he didn't
know what to do with it, but if it was
too small he could splice it. So if 1
find a twelve-frame is too large, I take
out some of the empty combs and put
in a division board, and that is all
there is to it.

Mr. Chapman, in replying to Mr.
Holterman, , said: The question is
here, how large a colony of bees
should we expect af. the beginning of
the honey flow; that is, what number
should a colony of bees be in a large
colony? Take a common Langstroth
frame and we count three thousand
cells on one side, on the other side
there are three thousand more, mak-
ing six thousand. Supposing we ruse
seven of those combs, that lacks one
of ©occupying an eight-frame brood
nest, and for the first generation we
get just 42,000 bees from just what
cells would be contained in seven of
those combs at the end of 21 days; at
the end of 42 days it is 84,000. I want
to ask you what kind of swarm of
bees we got? How large a hive do
we need to produce that many bees?
I want to tell you to-day that if every
colony of bees in Northern Michigan
could be counted the numbers would
run less than 20,000 to the colony, and
there are thousands upon thousands of
colonies in that country. Many times
have T wished that I could have Just
•what bees could be raised In two
combs In three generations to put
away In the f^ll. I couldn't do it.
What Is the necessity of ibuilding a
barn for such colonies? We have to
take the cost Into consideration.
Bight here is a point In putting those

frames of brood up. During the pres-
ent season I had a colony on the scale,
and the first day it gained fourteen
pounds, the second day twenty-one
pounds, the third day. nineteen and
three-quarter pounds and the fourth
day sixteen and a half pounds, and at
the end of just one week to the minute
it was 100 pounds 8 ounces heavier.
Now, I want to show what that man-
agement with an eight-frame hive will
do. I set apart several more colonies
just as good. When they needed room
I put on an upper story, and when they
needed another upper story that was
put on. I raised up no brood. I did
with this colony that gave me the 100
pounds 8 ounces. When I came to
test this carefully I found that in the
hive where I had raised up the brood
and started the bees, in a moment's
notice, in from two or three days, and
sometimes five days, they will start in
that upper story. On the other hand,
I found that colonies exactly as near
alike as we could pick them out where
I put up brood gathered from 22 to 28
per cent more honey in those very
colonies than you could get in the
way Mr. Holterman runs his bees.
The man that is using the large hive
and sets them out and lets them build
up just as they have a mind to is
losing 25 per cent of the honey he
might get through good management.

Now, I want to say you may take
our large bee-keepers that do not pay
attention enough to the business they
have and different kinds of manage-
ment; they do not use the care and
attention they should. Every man, in
testing his management, should use
the scale. When we get results from
the scale we get something that Is
accurate; we get something that we
can swear to; and if our large bee-
keepers w^ould test all their manage-
ment so that they could know just
when they can better the results of
such management, then there is some-
thing we can rely upon. Our large
bee-keepers, if they would test this
thing carefully, at the end of five
years would b^ hundreds of dollars
better off.

There are so many things In this
large hive that we have no time to
touch upon one-quarter of them; but
there Is one point In regard to ripen-
ing honey and getting our extracted
honey In good marketable shape. In
my country It Is cold; I don't know aji

180

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

it would work, say, in the south or
possibly not in the southern part of
this state, but we have a lot of bee-
keepers in Northern Michigan that
use large hives. You will see in the
columns of our Bee Journals that the
part of their honey is left on the
hives for weeks and weeks and weeks
till it is thoroughly ripened. Now, a
man in Colorado wrote me and
wanted to know if it was possible,
with the most favorable conditions
present, to get an ounce of our rasp-
berry honey ripe. The trouble is here,
when we study carefully the laws gov-
erning heat and cold they will explain
every bit of it. I have had lots of
experience this fall with forest fires
and I have studied them carefully,
and there is no subject I think in con-
nection with our industry that I have
studied so carefully as the laws gov-
erning heat and cold and so far as it
affects the inside of a hive. Take
one of those large forest fires, we
have a strong wind from the south,
and we can go right up to the very
edge of the Are. Why? Because the
wind blows the heat and smoke and it
all goes to the north. But, let us go
around on the other side and within
one-half mile of such a forest fire is
as near as you can get, but at night
the wind woxild go down till it was
perfectly still. That would represent
the inside of a brood nest very well.
"When it is perfectly still we can walk
up to the very edge of that fire on
any side. On the side next the fire
Is the heat, and on the other there is
a cool breeze coming. Let us step
over four feet on to this burned dis-
trict, there is no fire there particu-
larly, but at the same time it is just
burned over and that ground is so hot
it will burn your shoes. How do you
find it? Nothing but heat on all sides
of you. Now, the place where heat
and cold mingle Is just the one point
where they come together. Now, the
rays of the heat, as they leave the
frame, or brood nest, converge to-
wards the center and go right over
the brood nest or over the frame; the
current is greater and the next w^armer
air w^ill come to this, and it varies
in width. I have more than 400 eight-
frame hives and over 100 ten-frame
hives, and you take a large extracting
super with outside combs and you will
find in the ten-frame hive there is
fully three times the amount of un-
sealed honey that there is in the eight.

Why? Because the outside cSmbs are
too far from the center of activity.
All it wants is just a man to compare
these methods for a little while and
you will not find but a very few who
will use a large hive in a cold climate.
No, sir, you will not. That is the point
exactly.

Mr. Holterman, in closing the de-
bate, said: Mr. President, I have used
an eight-frame and used a twelve-
frame hive, and I know a good many
others who have, and it is very rarely
indeed you can get a man that has
used a small hive and has gone to the
large that will return to the small.

As to this matter of ripening honey,
when bees are storing honey in
combs, it is necessary for the bees in
that hive to be in proportion to the
amount of honey which it stores, and
whether the hive is small or large
that proportion holds good. In fact,
the larger the number of bees in the
hive the less the contraction will be.
That must be sound reasoning. Then
we hear about the stagnation at night
with the fires, and that is compared to
the bees. We know when bees are
gathering honey there is no stagna-
tion at night in the hive. The center
of activity, as far as that 'goes, is the
whole hive. Each bee is doing its
work, each in its place, an3 as far as
that goes the whole hive is active and
will be active as long as the honey
flow remains. In the small hive the
bees are, in the way in which they
are run now, far more apt to swarm
because in each super that is added
to the other there is twelve instead of
eight combs there, and where the diflfi-
culty comes is that when the bees
swarm, whether it be eight or ten
frame hives, you will find a great deal
of uncapped honey and a great deal
that is not covered by the bees. In
the next place, by putting brood in
the super — I have spoken 'before of
the economy of production — you have
to watch those brood combs that you
put in those supers for queen cells,
and there is another cause and
another anxiety for the bee-keeper to
watch each one of these combs that
he puts in the super and see whether
the bees are going to put queen cells
in it or not.

I don't know that I have anything-
more that I wish to say. There is a
good deal more that perhaps might
have been said. I have brought out

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

181

the best I know of just now, and I
think I will not take up any more
time.

Mr. Ahlers — I would like Mr. Holter-
man to tell us how much crop he had
or how much per colony, and from
what source?

Mr. Holterman — We have been told
about what is the difference between
one hive and another on the scales.
Always let us remember that in deal-
ing with bees we are Jealing with
living things, and when we treat col-
onies exactly alike as far as we know,
and when we have judged all the con-
ditions we know of, even then we find
a great difference in what they will
do and therefore it is a very difficult
thing for us to say that because of
one certain thing we know therefore
the difference was caused by that,
and for me or Mr. Chapman to state
what has been asked, with all due
respect to the one who asked the ques-
tion, I don't see how it would help or
be of any value, and it would be for-
eign to the debate, I think.

Dr. Bohrer — In 1864 I made a six-
teen or eighteen frame Langstroth
hive, I don't remember which; I found
Avhen I had a prolific queen in that
hive she would fill it with brood with-
in two frames of the outside every
time; and in a larger hive than an
eight frame a great deal will depend,
judging by that, upon the prolific qual-
ities of your queen. If you have a
poor queen you are not going to have
many bees. If you haven't got many
bees you are not going to get much
honey. In my own apiary in Kansas,
for curiosity as mucb as anything
else, I got a few eight-frame hives to
start with, the balance are all ten. I
have emptied an eight-frame body on
top, and I have done the same with
a ten-frame body, and they would both
be re-filled about the same time, so
that in that case I was getting the
most "honey from the ten-frame hive,
and that agrees with my experience
all the way through from start to fin-
isTi. Good queens lead in all cases so
far as quality is concerned. As to
the wintering qualities of different
hives, I don't find very much differ-
ence. "With a good queen healing a
colony in a ten-frame hive I find they
do not consume any more honey in
proportion to their numbers than in
a small hive. Something may depend
in either case upon where you winter
them. Our cellars are dry and dusty

all winter so that we do not have a
great deal of honey consumed in
either. So far as the clustering of the
colony is concerned, one of the gen-
tlemen said that a colony in a ten-
frame hive would cluster in a smaller
space than in an eight-frame. That
depends, my friend, entirely upon the
pumber of bees in the hive. With a
prolific queen in a ten-frame hive, that
is, one prolific in proportion to the
space she has to occupy and populate,
you will get the most bees in a ten-
frame liive, ani they will consume
comparatively little more than in an
eight-frame hive wintered on the same
amount.

Mr. Aspinwall — It occurs to me
there is one matter we have left out
of this discussion, and that is the
length of the honey fiow. With a long
protracted flow we need a larger
brood nest to make up for the wear
and tear and loss of the bees by age
also. With an eight-frame hive we
are getting plenty of brood that will
last through a short flow, and Mr.
Chapman is right for his district. The
flow does not last more than the life-
time of a bee. What is the use dur-
ing that time ©f feeding a lot of
brood? With Mr. Holterman's district
where buckwheat follows clover the
twelve-frame is necessary to provide
the increased supply of bees for that
long period, and that is just why there
is a difference of opinion in reference
to these hives. One locality needs
the 'hive of -bees to be replenished for
a successive yield in honey. But
where we are, with white clover being
the only yield, I want to limit mine to
seven combs while the honey fiow is
on. I want ten and twelve filled with
brood up to the time I put my supers
on. I want to reduce them and make
that force work for me the rest of the
time.

Mr. Moore — Mr. Chairman, there is
one point that I believe has not been
brought out in this discussion; it is
this, that the large hive has the ad-
vantage in manipulation. Now, at
this season of the year when we are
fixing the bees for winter to see they
are in condition we find hives that are
built where the combs are solid from
one side to the other. I have a lot of
side opening hives, and you know how
quickly you can get the first frame
out of that side opening. Now, if the
hive was a little larger so that you
could have a division board in, how

182

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

quickly you could move that back and
get the first frame out; and, of course,
if the colony needs the space you do
not need to have any division board
in there. I think this is quite an im-
I>ortant point because life is siiort and
anything that helps in manipulation is
an advantage.

Mr. Holterman — I would like to ask
Mr. Aspinwall a question, whether he
would think that a colony which had
been brought forward to the honey
flow with twelve combs of brood
would give him the same yield as one
that had been brought forward with
eight; and I would also ask him
whether he is indifferent as to the
number of bees which go into w^inter
quarters and which then are there to
begin again the next season to breed
for the honey flow?

Mr. Aspinwall — Mr. President, Ladies
and Gentlemen, I certainly agree with
both speakers, as I have said before,
and I would prefer the number of bees
providing the queen would keep up
with the demands in laying for a
twelve-frame hive. There are lots of
colonies where we find the queen equal
to about eight frames, I use an ex-
pansive hive. I have had ten and
twelve and fourteen frames in some of
my hives, and if I have a queen prolific
enough to produce the bees, I would
not reject them for a minute, and they
will store me the greatest possible
amount of honey. With reference to
winter quarters, I think I touched it
Incidentally when I said the early
yields require every bee to produce a
maximum amount of honey, therefore
I w^ould limit the brood during the
storage for that short period, say from
three to four or five weeks at the most.
After that I should give them every
opportunity to increase and breed for
winter quarters. Furthermore, about
the control of swarming I am biased
perhaps a little in my remarks. I have
plenty of bees in either case as no
swarms issue with me.

Mr. Pressler — ^I would like to ask if
there is a blackboard in the house
that is available? I would like Mr.
Chapman to show on the board how
he figures 48,000 or 56,000 bees ready
for the flow in 21 or 24 days in an
eight -frame hive. I am here to learn
and here to gain some information.
If the eight -frame hive is the best hive
I want to adopt it. If the twelve is
the best I want to adopt it, and I have

never been able to figure out how
many bees I can produce preparatory
to the honey flow.

Mr. Chapman — If there are three
-thousand cells on one side and three
thousand on the other, that would
give us six thousand in one comb, and
six times seven is forty-two, and at
the end of 21 days we would have just
eactly 42,000, the number of cells
contained in seven combs. I would
not say w^e would get in seven combs
that amount. I use anywhere up to
24,000 if the queen wants them. I put
up brood and let the queen go up, or
else I keep putting up fhore brood and
let them build just as fast as they
want to.

Mr. Pressler — I mean by confining
the bees to eight frames I w^ant to
know how many bees you can get
ready for the honey flow in 21 days,
or as many as you like?

Mr. Chapman — ^I don't know just
how many I would raise in an eight-
frame, but I would judge it would be
about fifteen or eighteen thousand,
somewhere along there. It would de-
pend largely upon the condition of the
combs, the amount of honey and the
amount of brood they would contain,
and so on. "We hardly ever get a
solid frame of brood.

Mr. Pressler — I would like to say
what I find with reference to my
queens. By way of illustration we will
say that the queen will fill one comb
with eggs in one day, in an eight-
frame hive she fills it in eight days.
My queen is idle then for thirteen
day^. I have thirteen days of cessa-
tion of the emergency of yoUng bees.
I don't get any bees for thirteen days.
My queen cannot lay again for twenty-
one days. In other words, my queen
is loafing for thirteen days.

Mr. Hershiser — Have you got any
queens that lay 6,000 eggs a day?

Mr. Pressler — I say that by way of
of illustration.

Dr. Bohrer — I have timed them at
six to the minute; that comes about it.

Mr. Pressler — I want to make the
point that a prolific queen will fill an
eight-frame hive inside of 21 days, and
if she don't, I say, gentlemen, pinch
her head ofC.

Dr. Bohrer— She will do it inside of
six days.

Mr. Pressler — If that is the case the

IL,L,IXOIS STATE BEPJ-KEEP-ERS* ASSOCIATION

183

eight-frame argument falls to the
ground, because you can't get enough
frame filled with brood in 21 days.

Mr. A. 1. Root — We have a lot of
ladies present here and so far they
have not even peeped, and have not
been invited to peep, and if these
women handle bee hives I suggest they
will find an eight-frame hive a good
deal easier to handle than a twelve or
a ten-frame hive.

The President — ^We would be very
glad indeed to hear from the ladies.

Mrs. Stewart — I have both eight and
ten-frame, and I "would just as leave
handle the ten as the eight, and I
think I get the most comb honey from
my ten.

Mr. Robb — ^I would like to ask Mr.
Holterman a question. I understand
he is termed a crank on queens. If
he paid no attention to the queens
and let them manipulate in their own
way, which hive would he prefer?

Mr. Holterman — Mr. Armstrong sits
in this meeting, and, talking of what
queens can do, he will verify the
statement that I showed him a twelve-
frame hive in which the queen had
eggs from corner to corner, and at the
very outsidei there was not more than
two pounds of honey in that brood
chamber; the rest was all either eggs
or brood in different stages. We don't
give queens credit for what they can
do; we don't give them the chance to
do it.

Mr. Holekamp — I have in late years
use^ a few of these large jumbo hives
and I found last year we had ten
frames full of brood and only about
that much bottom. (Indicated two or
three inches.) That shows an eight-
frame hive is rather small, if the
queen can fill ten of these ■ large
frames two-thirds full of brood.

Mr. McEvoy— I think there Is a mis-
take in this. I think they are both
really using a bigger frame hive than
eight. An eight-frame hive left alone
is too small, but it is made larger by
the tiering up of iforood, and you can
arrive with more bees with, an eight -
frame hive if you work it out; it all
depends upon the management. I in-
spected bees north of Toronto some
years ago where a man wanted all big
hives. I told him the bee-keepers
were going into big hives and some
day they would rue it. We went
across to another man, and he had a

lot of eight-frame Langstroths, and he
had immense large hives, and the big
hive was full of honey, pollen and
little or nothing in the supers, while
the eight-frame hive was all ready for
extraction.

Take a big hive right in the midst
of the honey flow, there is one time
when that queen is looking for a place
to lay, because it is full of brood,
honey and pollen; if you— lift out a
couple of frames of brood and give
more room you can run it on that
principle. It all depends on the man-
agement. I like the smaller hive. I
will never use the twelve -frame hive
because I couldn't afford to keep them.
I can get riper honey because there is
a greater body of heat in the smaller
space.

Mr. Hershiser — ^I wanted to ask Dr.
Bohrer if I understood him to say that
his queens le,id six eggs a minute?

Dr. Bohrer — I have timed them and
have seen them lay six eggs in a
minute.

Mr. Hershiser — Do you claim they
work at that rate for 24 hours a day?

Dr. Bohrer — ^I didn't sit up all night
to "swatch. I suppose they wooild have
to shut down to take time to get
dinner.

Mr. Holterman — Wouldn't the same
argument hold good with the sickle
and the cradle and the reaping ma-
chine?

Dr. Bohrer — Certainly it would.

Mr. Byer — That gentleman Mr. Mc-
Evoy referred to has since enlarged
his hives and he has lost much money,
he was telling me, by using the eight-
frame Langstroth hive. I have eight-
frame Langstroth hives and I have
twelve-frame quite a bit deeper than
the Langstroth, and those twelve -
frame hives are always ready to super
before the eight-frame hives.

Mrs. Lewis — Ladies always like to
have kitchen w>ork pretty handy and
close by and they want plenty of
room, and so with the bees. When
we raise up .bees and do not give
plenty of room in t/he brood chamber,
when we come to extract we find
young bees in our extracting stores
and we find pollen there. If we 'want
to make box honey, and we find pollen
in the hives, it is a sign that we need
more room in the hives. If we give
plenty of room in the kitchen the rest
of the work will come out all right.

184

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

Mr. Hill — Mr. Holterman, do you
raise the combs practically, or depend
on the largeness of your hive for j^our
brood chamber? The point I am get-
ting at is this, I have a hive of my
own that I built on the theorj^ that a
colony wanted the size. It is flat
shaped and it is square. Now, it is
not quite large enough. I raise the
combs, but there is this thing I do
not like about it, as that lady pretty
nearly struck it just now, that when
I come to extract I raise them, and
those comtos are filled with dandelion,
soft maple and everything of that
kind in the spring, a quality of honey
I don't want in my clover honey.
Consequently when I come to extract
I mark these hives and as soon as the
clover begins I extract these. What I
want to know is if Mr. Holterman's
large hive will prevent the necessity
of raising those combs, and if it does
that is a point in favor of his ihive. I
would also like Mr. Chapman to
please explain to us what he does with
his clover honey when he has to raise
brood?

Mr. Chapman — I have already ex-
plained that question, ' I do not want
a pound of old honey left in the hive
at the beginning of the honey flow. I
am speaking of this old honey in the
combs. It becomes a nuisance; we
don't want to carry it over from year
to year. I do not raise up comt)s with
honey in.

Mr. Hill — How do you get it out?

Mr. Chaipman — There isn't much in
it.

Mr. Holterman — Bight-frame hi\-'es.

Mr. Morrison — I recollect about fif-
teen or sixteen years ago this discus-
sion would never have happened. Ev-
erybody had eigiht-frame hives. The
ten-frame hive was an exception.
Now, I think the tide has turned al-
together. I think the ten-frame hive
has the floor, and it wouldn't surprise
me if the twelve-frame would go be-
yond it. I went experimenting my-
self. I went on the idea that I got
from reading Mr. I>adant's •book. I
fixed up twelve frames the feest way I
could, and that was tlhe first time I
tried twelve frames. I made a hive of
my own and in three weeks' time I
took from that hive 120 fancy sec-
tions. I don't know how many sec-
tions I had, but I know I had that
many, and I can corroborate what Mr.
Holterman says, that every one of my

twelve frames were solid, full of
ibrood. For comb honey the argument
has always 'been that you must use a
small hive. Anyone here can try that
and give it a fair trial if they like. I
went to work and fixed a tub and put
the bees in, and I put the first siwarm
in it, and in the fall I chased these
bees out. They didn't have more than
a handful of brood when I brought
them out of the tub, and I took 220
pounds of extracted honey from that
tub, and that convinced me that a
large brood chamber was the thing.

The idea has prevailed that a queen
will lay about 3,000 egg=; a day, but I
believe with Mr. Dadant that we can
double that in many cases, that is, a
queen will lay 6,000 eggs a day.

Mr. Chapman — I have 'been reading
in the "American Bee Journal" w-here
one man over in Canada using just a
common eig'ht-frame hive has taken
41S pounds of extracted honey from
that hive. If there is a man in this
house who can slhow ' anything like
that with a large hive, let him stand
up.

Mr. Byer — Pardon me, that was
practically a twelve-frame hive; that
man added a super to it.

Mr. Holterman — Answering Mr. Hill's
question I would say that there is a
great objection to raising brood up into
the super; there is more or less of the
old honey and many a ton of honey
has been ruined by a few pounds of
dark spring honey that has laeen put
into the super. You may say you can
extract it, 'but it is a somewhat diffi-
cult thing to do. I avoid putting brood
in the super, and the way I do, if I
have weaker colonies, after the twelve^
frame is occupied as a brood chamber
and they begin to build cups, which,
after drone production, is the next
stage towards swarming, I take the
combs of the hatching brood lOut of
those twelve frames and put them into
the ones nearly full and so build up
the next strongest colony, and I avoid
in every way putting combs into the
super. Mr. Chapman has opractically
admitted that that connot he done, not
to have old honey in the hive (because
you have got to prepare for these dif-
ferent seasons.

Mr. Hershiser — I object a little to
such heavy Obligations being imposed
upon queens. I don't believe any queen
will lay 6,000 eggs a day and keep it
up for any length of time. If they

ILIjINOIS state BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

185

did it would make a colony at the
end of 42 days of 252,000 ilDees, and,
allowing something for destruction —
and ive would allow a good loss — still
there would ibe 200,000.

Mr. Morrison — The number of eggs
has been carefully counted and the
queen watched the whole time she
was laying, and there is not any
guess-raork about it. The period in
wihich a queen can and will lay is a
very short period indeed in this north-
ern climate; perhaps it is not two
weeks during the -whole year. It de-
pends entirely on the bees, not on her,
as to how many eggs she will lay.

Mr. Hershiser— The question is how
long it takes a queen to fill up a hive.
I think the impression we ought to
get is how many eggs would be the
average for say 42 days under favor-
able conditions, and I think figuring
on that basis we could not figure over
perhaps about 1,500 eggs a day.

Mr. Tilt — ^With regard to getting
pollen in the upper story when you
raise brood, I don't think that is nec-
essary, nor I don't think it is nec-
essary ,to get spring honey, because
any colony of bees that 'has a good
queen will have combs of honey or
brood solid practically without pollen
or without honey whiclh you put up
above the zinc. If you zinc your eight-
frame hives so that the queen can't
get up, as quick as the bees crawl out
they are full of honey, and you con-
tinue to put up brood every little while,
of course, your queen will have plenty
of room .belaw and never have any
honey or pollen in the top.

Mr. Coveyou — I would like to onen-
tion the most active time and the ad-
vantage of a large Ihive. If you have
a large quantity of Ibees in the spring
the queen will lay more eggs. The
only thing that helps the colony out
to make it larger is the hatching of a
large quantity of young hees after the
first 21 days. When they first start
to lay in the spring the hees take care
of the largest number they can take
care of, and there is not one colony in
a hundred that can take care of the
eggs that the queen will lay for the
first 21 days or even 10 days in the
spring. After the first return if they
have got four frames or fi-Ce frames of
brood, after those are hatched, that
queen can lay proibably 3,000 eggs a
day or more and take care of them.
She may do that for two or three
days, but after that she falls back.

The President — Does your argument
apply to the ten or twelve frame hive?
There is a great deal being said that
does not apply to the question,

Mr. Hershiser — I want to say a word
or two in favor of the large hive. I
have a good inany small hives and
a good many large hives, but I believe
that to-day there would be far more
bees in the country if we had larger
hives, because the larger hives hold
more honej', and bee-keepers who
are unacc"ustomed to taking good care
of their bees by reason of having too
much to do, and by reason of careless-
ness, have a good many bees starve
to death" in the eight-frame hive that
would not if they were in a larger hive
that held more stores. .,

Mr. Hunt — Tou never say anything
about pollen. I find they have gener-
ally got two combs 'Of pollen in a ten-
frame hive. If I put some brood on
top in the extracting super I find they
carry some pollen in there and I
don't want it there. Moreover, when
I come in the fall I find I have got the
whole brood up in the second story
and none in the lower story.

Mr. Davis — I think myself that the
question of large hive or small hive
is something similar to what , they
used to sajr years ago about growing
crops. "We have one of Mr. Holter-
man's disciples up near our place who
advocates the l)ig hive. It w-ould be a
fair way to settle this question to say
that the further south you go the big-
ger hive you want, but up north, even
the eight-frame hive is plenty. I had
some ten-frame hives and I have cut
them dow^n to eight, but Mr. Holter-
man is a little further south, let him
have it. I think the further south you
go the bigger hive you can have, even
if it as big as- a barn.

The President— If there are no ob-
jections the discussion on this ques-
tion will come to an end and the
judges may have the question for de-
cision.

The next thing upon the program is
an illustrated lecture by Prof. R. E.
Snodgrass of Washington, D. C, on
the anatomy of the bee.

Prof. Snodgrass gave a very inter-
esting address on the anatomy of the
bee, which he illustrated by drawings.

At the conclusion of his address,
on motion of Mr. Holekamp, seconded
by Dr. Bohrer, the Convention ad-
journed to meet at 7 o'clock p. m.

186

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

SECOND DAY.
Evening Session.

Wednesday, October 14th.

At 7:30 p. m. the President, called
the Convention to order and said: I
understand the committee on the de-
bate is ready to report.

Mr. Taylor — The report of the Com-
mittee is that according to the weight
of the evidence in the majority of
cases the large hive had the prefer-
ence, but under certain circumstances,
different methods and different men
the small hive was the best. (Ap-
plause.)

Mr. Moe — Does that mean large hives
for large men or how? (Laughter.)

The President — Tall hives for tall
men.

I have been requested to ask the
Committee on Resolutions and the
Committee on Exhibits to report be-
fore the noon adjournment tomorrow,
if they can, as it is evident many will
be going away after the morning ses-
sion.

We are now up to the dry toasts.
We have had the banquet, and you
can consider now that you are at
the banquet table and you can listen
to the toasts. I am not used to at-
tending banquets and toasts of this
kind, although I have attended a great
many banquets and have responded
to some toasts, but they usually had
some camel's milk or something else
there.

I am not going to use the usual
toast master's talk in introducing the
gentlemen who will respond to the
toasts of the evening. The first upon
the programme is "Securing Legis-
lation for Bee-keepers," and the gen-
tleman who will respond to this toast
is one who has had a great deal of ex-
perience, and when I mention his
name you will all know as well as I.
His name is N. E. France. He will
respond to this toast. (Applause.)

Mr. France — Mr. Chairman, I sup-
pose that means something pertain-
ing to laws. We recognize law as an
authority. Sometiipes the mother's
law comes pretty severe on the little
boy, I remember that part of it, but
as to bee-keepers, from what I have
gleaned from the Convention, the one
feature here would be legislation for
the benefit of bee-keepers. If I re-
member right we have Canada taking

the lead, followed immediately by the
States. We have now twelve States
that have laws upon the subject of the
diseases of bees, and from the mixture
and jangle we have had upon that sub-
ject today, if I should say a word in
behalf of legislation in connection with
the diseases of bees, providing it would
be in order, I take it that that would
be received.

In my own experience in my State
the disease of foul brood had gotten
a good headway. The President of
our State Association appealed to the
members of the association to help
him get some kind of law that w^ould
check at least the spread of the dis-
ease. A committee was appointed by
the chairman of that Convention,
the president to be a committee of
one, to go before the legislature and
get the desired law. No form of law
had been given him, or suggestion, or
how he was to obtain it, but he was
told, "You get it." Now, you know
if you take a queen bee and put her in
a hive, either eight or ten frames,
she wouldn't ' give you very many
pounds of honey; she has got to have
workers with her, and they have got
to co-operate and help to get first a
good colony of bees; and that was the
result of this attempt in my State to
get legislation. The president of our
association went before the legislative
body and asked for a law to protect
us against diseases of bees. He was
asked. Who wants it? The answer
was. The Bee-keepers. How many
Bee-keepers in your State? I don't
know; we will estimate or gUess at it.
How many places in the State have
you got that disease? I don't know.
How many Bee-keepers in your State
have asked for this thing? The State
Association. How many members of
it? It happened it was at the close
of one of those years when we had a
small crop and where this statement
first originated: "No honey no money,
no money no go," and consequently
we had a small attendance of the
membership; a membership of some
thirty odd made a pretty small im-
pression upon the legislative body.
The president was ridiculed, and he
was asked to go home to see if there
wasn't somebody wanted the legisla-
ture to look after the bed bugs of the
State. He was turned down, but
don't for one moment think that foul
brood was turned down in our State.
It kept on going from one yard to

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

187

another until counties were affected.
Then our State Association asked for
it a&ain, and they were going to ap-
point a coanmittee of one again. We
saw the folly of that. If a swarm of
bees gather honey it means united
effort. A few members could not do
it, but the many together could ac-
complish it. A Committee of the
Officers of the Association were dele-
gated to go before the Legislature
•with the form of bill that we wanted
for that law. It met opposition on
all sides and several times looked as
if failure would be the result. For
instance, being a part of that Com-
mittee myself I well remember when
going ibefore one of those Legislative
Bodies asking for its passage, the
Chairman of the Committee was sick
and unable to attend, and the next
Mem,ber on the Committee acting as
chairman pro tem had turned down
,quite a number of bills, until it was
a boast of the committee that they
were killing everything that day that
came before them and had reserved
us to the last for ridicule and laugh-
ing stock. Well, he says, we have
oome to the Bee Bill I believe, or
skeeters or bed bugs or something,
anyway we can fix that in a few min-
utes. There was an expression upon
that house that gave me no hopes. The
committee had finally left it to one
to look after. The Bee-Keepers of the
Association were not w^ith -me, and
the committee consisted of me alone,
and the fate of it looked sure. I felt
It was a just cause and I could not
see that bill lost, and I felt that If I
made any plea for the bill whatever
It would be almost unanimously
against me, and as I represented the
State Organization and that repre-
sented all the bee-keepers of the
State, I asked them in ju3tlce iwiould
they defer the hearing of that bill
until one week from that hour, in or-
der that the dhainnan of that com-
mittee representing the entire body
of legislation could be present. The
chairman pro tem said, don't you
think that all but one of the commit-
tee is enough to fix you? Go on
with what you have got to say; we will
grind your organ for you in short
order." I said, "No, sir, I beg your
pardon, I want one week from this
hour so that that committee may all
be here." It was finally granted and
I felt joyful. I went to the hotel and
I wrote until but one light was left, to
every bee-keeper I could think of in

the district where the imembers of
that committee resided, and I said.
The 13111 will have a hearing one week
from today, and not a bee-keeper of
your district has seen your member
for the Legislature or said a word to
support that bill, and they are opposed
to it. Aren't you going to give any
help? The week rolled by. The time
came and I went back, and the man
who had been chairman pro tem of
the coijimittee came and said, France,
aren't you a Methodist? Yes, I said.
That has got nothing to do with the
matter. Why? He said, aren't you a
Methodist? Haven't you been to re-
vivals? How in the name of heaven
did you stir up all the bee-keepers in
my county? When I got home on
Friday night from tfiat week's meet-
ing at the legislature the depot was
thronged with bee-keepers all fight-
ing mad at me because I wanted to
fight that bill; I am a converted sinner
now, I will support your bill. The
bill went unanimously, and we had a
law. United effort gained it, and
those of u^ in the States that have
no laws should not expect that one,
two, three or many bee-keepers in a
State will get a law; it is the united
effort; and then let the States unite
and have if possible laws that will
co-operate one State with another. I
hope we will be united on this sub-
ject and each do his individual part
as a part of a strong colony of bees,
be it eight or ten frames, and get the
desired crop, legislation. (Applause.)

The President — The next is "Rough
Spots in the Pathway of an Inspector
of Apiaries," and the gentleman who
is to respond to this toast is a dia-
mond in the rough, and we may ex-
pect something very good from him,
and you will agree with me in that
when I announce his name, Mr. Wil-
liam McEvoy.

Mr. McEvoy — I will have to decline
that. I had but very few rough spots
in my eighteen years. I have noth-
ing to say along that line. I got along
first rate with all the people excepting
a few, and I have nothing to say.

(Mr. McEvoy was greeted with
rounds of applause.)

The President — That is the greatest
ovation w^e have had since -we have
been here.

Mr. McEvoy— Mr. President and gen-
tlemen, I don't wish to speak along
that line because if I did I might stir

188

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

up a little Jjreeze. I have had some
rackets, and I would rather not go
into a thing of that kind.

The President — -The speaker who
was to reply to the next toast has
asked me to allow that to stand over
until the morning session. Then we
come to the possibilities of future bee-
keeping, and the gentleman who will
respond to that perhaps has had more
experience along the line of possibili-
ities than any one present, and has
given to us perhaps an invention that
will be in the future worth as much
to 'US as many, if not any, of the inven-
tions that have yet been brought out.
Mr. J. A. Aspinwall of Jackson, Mich-
igan.

Mr. Aspinwall — Mr. President, ladies
and gentlemen, it does not take very
much of an optimistic view to see
into the future of bee-keeping. An
inventor perhaps has a little more
optimistic chance than almost any one
else. I want to say that the experi-
ments of the past to most bee-keep-
ers ought to reveal the possibilities
of the future. They certainly do to
me. The one I want to speak of
first is the control of swarming. I
have been through so much of that
for twenty years, and with the results
attained in the last two years I am
thoroughly convinced of the perfect
success in that line. I am not going
to talk much on that invention ' as
that has been hashed and re-hashed
in the Bee-keepers' Review and some-
what in Gleanings in Bee Culture.
There are facts that we must take
into consideration, and we take the first
one from the 1st Chapter of the Book
of Genesis: "God created man in his
own image and told them ,to be fruit-
ful and multiply and replenish the
earth," and then furthermore "to sub-
due it and to have dominion over the
fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air
and every creeping thing that moveth
upon the earth." Now, what does
that mean? We have controlled all
the domestic animals as regards in-
crease, all the fowls that are In our
possession, such as we desire to con-
trol, with perfect success. How about
the bee? And may we not, judging
from analogy, and, reasoning by that
wonderful power, be able to say that
the bee can be controlled in its in-
crease ust as much so as any animal?
We certainly can control the increase
within the colony by limiting the num-

ber of frames, that is easily done, but
they multiply by division, and that is
a thing that I have been working on
to control for upwards of twenty years.
The possibilities for the future lie
largely in that.

The next most important thing is to
control the mating of queens. I have
experimented somewhat on that line,
so much so that I feel encouraged and
have absolute confidence in the ulti-
inate success that we can very easily
control the mating of our selected
queens by selected drones. Just think
of the results there! What does
that mean? It means improvement in
the size of the bee, until we reach
something that can obtain honey
from the red clover. There are very
few bee-keepers here who have not
tasted the honej- of the red clover.
I have taken from one head of red
clover more honey than a bee could
carry. When v/e have accomplished
that we can plant red clover, which
has a two fold purpose, one for hay
and the other for honey, and we have
increased our honey resources how
much? We can't tell.

In reference to the mating of queens
in confinement I refer to especially.
I have tried it by clipping the' queen's
wings slightly, with results that were
favorable to controlling the flight of
the queen or keeping her within the
area of one's own bees. I have In-
creased the mating with pure drones
perhaps 25 per cent in a hundred,
where most of my queens some sea-
sons were meeting black drones; but
Avhen you come to put the queen in a
place where she cannot meet any
other than the drones selected, there
will be magnificent results. Now, I
know the majority of our leading bee-
keepers, more especially the older
heads like Mr. L. C. Root, who is
under Mr. Quinby's instructions, felt as
though ' it was an impossibility, but
there are certain factors that have
come in in the course of my experi-
ments that have led me to believe
that m_any things that were thought
impossible, as it is in the mechanical
world, are today possible. Who would
have thought of wireless telegraphy;
who would have thought of the tele-
phone twenty-flve years ago, and who
would think of a flying ;mia chine be-
ing a success? Here is our friend,
A. I. Root, who is rather enthusias-
tic on that line, i-nd as the world is

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

189

becoming- more and more advanced ir
mechanical flig"ht, T\-e r.re approach-
ing it.

Mr. A. I. Root — 'We have got there.

Mr. Aspinwall — And there hb some
dang-er attached to it at present, ibut
those thing-s will all be eliminated.

As to the next possibility of the
future of bee-keeping, it is (hard to
say what it will be. When we have
increased the size of the bee by se-
lection for a series of years, so that
we are able to reach the honey in
clover that we cannot today, w^hat does
it mean? I can't tell. Possibly honey
will be at a price so that the majority
of people can take it a.s an everyday
luxury. It is now to the majority a
luxury perhaps once a month. I know
people who come to me and buy a
section or a few sections, and not
more t)han a case, and that lasts them
over a year. We use in our family a
section every day or &o througliout
the year. When honey can be sold
i^tail for ten cents a card, as we call
it in Jackson, and the production so
great that millions and millions of
pounds are produced where ihtindreds
of thousands are today, we will cer-
tainly be in the land of milk and
honey. We have plenty of milk, and
this will make it the land of honey
also.

There are other possibilities in bee-
keeping, and anotlher one is on the
line of successful wintering. There
was a gentleman present who told me
he lost nearly all his bees in open air
wintering. He complains of the local-
ity and of the poor quality of the flow
that the bees have to subsist upon in
the winter, and therefore the result.
We know we can feed anything in the
spring, and the ibees will live upon it.
So long as they can maintain their
fligihts to discharge the poison, they
are all right, but this accumulation in
thfe intestines during the winter is
something that is fatal to bees where
long confinement under the present
methods of w^intering make it impos-
sible to carry the colonies through.
Give them good clover honey, or, in-
stead of taking it all from them, give
them the refuse, and bees will winter
all right. Of course, tlhis method of
wintering I refer to will enable a
colony to subsist through a long pe-
riod of confinement in the open air.
I have wintered ibees where I got lots
of honey-dew from maples, where the

winter did not admit of a flight for
117 days, and that is pretty long for
Jackson county, and lots of times
for 90 days; and three year§ ago, when
the mercury went beloiw zero for 11
days in succession in the month of
February. The last part of the win-
ter is the worst, when the colony is
charged with an excess of poison. In
my experiments I have found that
bees can subsist upon what they hold
in their sacks about seven days. That
is why a swarm goes from the parent
colony with sacks full of honey to
provision themselves against a rainy
spell, which some times comes right
in the 'honey yield for three days. In
the olden times in this State and in
New York State I have seen it rain
three days in succession in June and
July. In eight days they will begin
to die off. Hive protection should be
such that it will enable the colony
to uncap the honey. The temperature
has got to be such, no matter whether
zero or not, that they can uncap
their honey. The bees at the outer
side of the cluster adjoining the honey
become chilled where the zero weather
goes beyond seven days, so that it
is fatal to .the colonies in almost all
hives. The future of bee-keping will
enable the colony to live through six,
eleven or twenty days of zero weather,
if it is necessary.

I might enumerate some other
things in bee culture but I think I
have occupied my time.

Mr. McEvoy — You are doing all
right.

Mr. McEvoy reminds me of another
point that is worthy to be sought
after, and our esteemed Manager, Mr.
France, spoke in reference to the leg-
islation on that very point. Mr. Mc-
Evoy is our Foul Brood Inspector for
Canada. Mr. France looks after the
interest of the bee-keepers of the en-
tire States and Canada, and he spoke
of the difficulty in moving -a legislative
body to the co-operation that is neces-
sary among bee-keepers. Now, let us
see if we cannot, by the proper study
of our American Bee Journal, Glean-
ing in Bee culture, and Be'e-keepers'
Review, and with the co-operation of
the men that are versed in the science
of foul brood, so to speak, if I may
use the word, obtain knowledge so
that every bee-keeper will be intelli-
gent enough to eradicate that disease
himself, and there will be no need

190

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OP THE

for the foul brood inspector or any
legislative acts in reference thereto.

Now, you know that Paul in the
Epistle to the Romans says that the
law was made that sin might abound,
and the law is made you see not for
the man who is doing right, but for
the man who is doing wrong. There
is no use of a law that condemns the
murderer or the man that is doing
any violence towards his neighbor, for
this body; they are not found here;
they are found in lots of places in our
large cities and some in the country;
but every man that is right is a law
to himself; and in reference to this
disease of foul brood, if every bee-
keeper in the land went into it thor-
oughly and took the precaution to look
after his own apiary, there would be
no need of any legislation. While we
are the most progressive people in the
world in reference to inventions gen-
erally and to the advancement of our
pursuits, as far as the financial end is
concerned, Europe is ahead of us in
reference to the technical and scien-
tific side, and we make a great mis-
take in not looking after the technical
and scientific side of bee culture. I
think every book on bee culture which
contains the physiology and anatomy
of the bee should be read with the
same interest by bee-keepers that the
practical side is.

I noticed to-day when the lecture in
reference to the anatomy of the bee
was taking place that those present
kept dropping out of the audience
until there were very few left before
the discussion ended, among the rest
was myself.

There are other possibilities in bee
culture, and these are in reference to
minor details in the handling of bees.
Mr. Ernest Root gave me some point-
ers to-day, and one of them was that
the handling and the stirring up of
the bees produced more activity. We
always say we want to let colonies
alone during the working season. I
don't know whether it was Mr. Hutch-
inson or some one else told me that
moving bees from one spot to another
during the season increased their pro-
duction. I think it was Mr. Dadant
said that.

There are some things in the way
of judicious management in the stir-
ring up of the bees that produces
great activity. The introduction of .
slatted frames between the regular

ones of the colony will do that. I
wasn't aware of it until this very fact
was brought to my notice. I know it
makes a difference to the colonies
putting them in new quarters. I will
take a colony that has swarmed where
there are no slatted frames in — and I
think Mr. Holterman will bear me out
in some of the work with my hives
^long that line — taking the frames
after they have swarmed, removing all
the queen cells and introducing
slatted frames puts the colony in the
light of a swarm that is in new quar-"
ters, and they go to work with re-
newed energy, and a non-swarming
colony works much faster than those
which have been put in new hives.

I thank you for your courtesy and
for the attention that has been given.
(Applause.)

The President — The next thing is
the cost of honey production, and the
gentleman who will respond to this
topic or toast is a man so methodical
in his every thought and every move
that I know he will give us almost
the exact results in the production of
comb honey and the cost of produc-
tion. I will call upon the Hon. R. L.
Taylor of Lapeer, Mich. (Applause.)

Mr, Taylor — The secretary kindly
hinted to me, when I was notified I
would be expected to speak upon this
topic, that I had written a very nota-
ble article, as he termed it, a good
many years ago. Well, now, I don't
suppose he expects I am going to re-
hash that, and if you want the math-
ematics of it you will find it in the
"American Bee Journal" of January
29th, 1892; it was also published three
or four years ago in Mr. Hutchinson's
paper.

You understand, of course, that the
production of honey costs labor and
supplies and this thing and that thing,
but then this is a_ toast. Now, re-
sponding to toasts ha^ always been a
bugbear to me, and I will tell you how
it was. Several years ago — ^it Is a
good many years ago now — 42 years
ago to-morrow we were married.
Well, a few weeks after that we at-
tended a Burns festival and. I was
called upon to respond to the toast of
"Our Offspring." (Laughter.) Now,
ever since when toasts are mentioned
or responses to -toasts, and I am ex-
pected to respond, it is no go. I am
like the boy who lived up outside of
our town, he was an inveterate stut-

ILLINOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

191

terer, and his fath'er stuttered too, so
the boy was not to blame. Mr. Jones
was greatly concerned about his boy
and he wanted, if possible, to over-
come that stammering in his son, so
he went to the physician. Dr. McCall,
in our town and he told him -what he
was there for, and he went through
the whole story, describing the stut-
tering of his son, and w^hen he got
through the doctor says to him, "So
your son stutters all the time," Mr.
Jones says, "n-n-no, only when he
t-t-talks." (Applause.)

The President — The next is the
friendship of our fraternity. This is
something that strikes me very favor-
ably indeed. I am very fond of friend-
ship, and I like to be friendly with
everybody, and it pleases me very
much to feel that almost evrerybody is
friendly with me, and it reminds me
of a little incident of a humorous
character that took place not very
long ago. A gentleman was going
from his home to the office and a very
pretty girl overtook him, and she said,
"Do you know that I think you are a
real nice man;" and he said, "Do you
really? "Well, I have always felt you
were a very nice girl." They walked
along together and finally she said,
"Do you know that you really remind
me of a song?" "Well, that made the
gentleman feel a little more near and
a little more nervous possibly than
ever, but he didn't like to say any-
thing, but he couldn't stand it. Before
they got to the office he said, "Say,
what is the song I remind you of?"
She said, "When the Frost Is on the
Pumpkin Vine." (Laughter.)

The gentleman who is to respond to
this toast is perhaps a better looking
man than the one I have referred to,
and it is possible that something of
that kind may have occurred to him
in his lifetime, but it might not have
reference to the frost upon the pump-
kin vine. He is that gentleman who
takes such a very pretty photograph
when he has his picture taken. Tou
often see it in the Journals. His name
is "W. Z. Hutchinson. (Applause.)

Mr. Hutchinson — Mr. Chairman, La-
dies and Gentlemen: It has been
said that we are all willing to lend a
helping hand, but decidedly backward
about lending money; in short, the
world's gauge of friendship is the big,
round dollar. But even when meas-
ured by this standard, the friendship

of our fraternity is not found wa^ting^
Let me give just one, little personal
instance:

As many of you know, "The Re-
view" was started on considerably
less than nothing; the first few years
was a race between receipts and ex-
penditures, with the latter often in the
lead. Well, near the close of the first
year, a bee-keeping friend whom I had
not met, and may never meet, wrote
and asked how the "Review" was
"coming on." I replied that, early in
the year, I had bought type and other
material for use in printing the "Re-
view," and that this was now all paid
for except $20.00. Upon Christmas
day came a check for $20.00, accom-
panied by such a letter that made it
impossible to refuse the gift without
giving offense; so, on any subscription
list is one name after which is written
"life subscriber."

While the worldly measure of
friendship may be the dollar, there
are other tests far deeper and truer;
in fact, I am not sure that tests of
friend^ip are the most interesting
phase of the subject. I have often
been led to wo'^^^r why there is this
great depth of friendship among bee-
keepers; iwhat draws them together as
with hoops of steel? Perhaps the ex-
planation is that bee-keeping appeals
only to men of a certain make-up
hience, they are, by nature, kindred
spirits. Let tihe explanation be what
it may, you know that when you were
on the way to this Convention, if you
went through the train and found a
man wearing one of these buttons,
your hand went out instantly. If you
had never met before, it made no
difference. Tou sat down in the same
seat, smuggled down together, and
then how the tongues began to fly!
Tou have met this man only five min-
utes before, but he is a brother bee-
keeper, and you have for him a w^arm-
er feeling of friendship than for the
butcher ^who has lived next door to
you for five years!

If I had left the toee-keeping ranks
a few years ago and engaged in .manu-
facturing, or merchandising, or some
similar occupation, I never should
have heard lof a ibee convention with-
out a longing to be there, well know-
ing that, (had I remained a bee-keeper,
I would have been present and seen
cheeks kindle, and eyes flash, and
heard the occasional enthusiastic re-
sounding '^whack" on the shoulders

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192

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OP THE

and felt the strong, warm clasp of
many hands. I tell you, friends, these
things are far above dollars. They
are tlie dearest things on earth. They
have brought before me tonight this
sea of faces.

The friendship of our fraternity!
May it never grow less. May it cheer
and encourage and brighten our lives
and draw us together like a band of
brothers. (Applause.)

The President — The next is "Bee-
Keepers as Temperance Reformers,"
and this comes from a gentleman
who I know has the temperance
question at heart, and a man we all
love to listen to. His name is George
W. York, of Chicago, 111. (Applause.)

Mr. York — Mr. President, Ladies
and Gentlemen: I am not to blame
for talking on this subject tonight,
neither did I select it, so if I should
say something that does not suit
somebody, you -will have to blame
somebody else. Some times it is well
to read instead of speaking extem-
poraneously.

BEE-KEBPERS AS TEMPERANCE
REFORMERS.

Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentle-
men: The pathway of the reformer
is usually strewn, not with flowers,
but with hardships and some stings.
.It is not unlike that of the bee-keeper,
at least so far as it relates to stings,
only the bee-keepers' stings are of a
different character and source.

I think it was the Poet Whittier
who advised young men to allay them-
selves with some unpopular righteous
cause and then to push to make It
win. The day was when the temper-
ance cause could 'be classed iwith the
unpopular causes. But not so today.
It is rapidly getting to be very popu-
lar these days to be on the side of
temperance and prohibition of the
liquor traffic and against the open,
legalized American saloon.

But are bee-keepers temperance re-
formers? My experience with them
for nearly a quarter of a century has
very clearly shown that practically all
(bee-keepers are on the side of temper-
ance and prohibition, and the rest are
coming fast. Bee-keeping and inteim-
perance don't go well together. It is
a combination that would be likely to
result in more stings and maybe siome
"snake bites" as well. Surely the ibee-

keeper who indulges in strong drink
is "stung" and bitten in more ways
than one.

"I have such an indulgent husband,"
said a good lady. Whereupon her
friend, Mrs. Spiteful, said: "Yes, so
John says. Some times indulges a lit-
tle too much, doesn't he?" How
thankful is Mrs. Bee-Keeper that her
husband is among the right kind of
indulgent ones.

It is a fact that practically all of our
leading bee-keepers are temperance
men, and I dare say put their prin-
ciples into practice and full effect at
the ballot box whenever an oppor-
tunity arises so to do.

Now, there is the "Grand Old Man"
of beedom — Dr. Miller, of the West.
He stands four square on temperance
and prohibition. And so does that
other "Grand Old Man" of the East,
Mr. Doolittle, who does so much.

And then there is A. I. Root. He's
been "Rooting" around for a good
many years, and I have always
thought from his sevmonettes that he
would not be caught running a saloon
should he ever quit a bee-supply busi-
ness and raisin-? "garden-sass." I
think all will concede that A. I. R.
isn't filled with "hi.t air" when it
comes to the tprnperance question,
and a few other moral subjects.

I might go on anrl rame a glorious
company of bee-k?cper:5 from all ov^or
this and other lands — even over in
Canada — who are temperance reforn'-
ers, and who wouM do their utmost lo
help wipe the saloini curse off tho
earth. But there a'-e ?• many that ii-
would be impossible' for xne to name
or count them. The proper thing lo
count those in the L-mted States will
be at the polls ne-^l November 3c,
when, no doubt, they will be just
"Chaffin" to roll up a big vote for thi»
great reform which all mankind should
"want to see win.

Now, for a little personal experience
with bee-keepers of this drink ques-
tion. As a good many know, I have
not failed to attend a single National
Bee-keepers' Convention, and some
others not national, during the past
fifteen years. And I am most happy
to say that only on one occasion have
I ever been asked to take a drink.
That was in Canada, I regret to say.
Of course, that particular Canuck
wanted to treat me right while I was
enjoying existence under the flag of

ILLINOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

193

Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, at that
time — in 1895. But I never blamed
the rest of my good Canadian breth-
ren for the mistaken kindness of that
one of their goodly number. For he
was much in the condition of a man
whose good wife said to him, "Now,
Jim, when you're full, instead of ask-
ing for more beer, why don't you ask
for sarsaparilla?"

"Well, by jove," he said, "when I'm
so full as that I can't say sar-sa-pa-
ril-la!"

All who have made a practice of
attending these gatherings of bee-
keepers know how seldom we ever see
one of our crowd smoking, and now
never drinking. When the Convention
was held here about 25 years ago, we
had to pay $40 rent for the hall in
the third story of a building. The
owner of the building kept a saloon in
the basement, and oh, how bitterly he
t?>Iked when he was paid his rent. He
said, "If I had known what kind of a
set of fellows you were, you would
never have got that hall for that
money. Not one of you has been in
my saloon!"

At the hotel opposite, where most
of the convention members stopped at
that convention, the boy at the cigar
counter was heard to say, "Queer
crowd this. Do you know, I have sold
them just three cigars!" (And I
should say, that was just three cigars
too many.) The fact is, that the name
"bee-keeper" is almost synonymous
with "temperance." And I rejoice in it.
We can all help to hasten the dawn-
ing of the blessed day when there
shall not be a saloon or drunken man
on the face of this beautiful earth of
curs.

Temperance and prohibition have
made such rapid advances during the
past few years, that to-day some forty
million people of the United States
live under "a stainless flag," so far as
the open saloon is concerned. And I
truly believe that before another ten
years shall have passed, there will not
be a legally open saloon beneath fair
Columbia's flag of fredom.

But we will have to settle this great
liquor question among ourselves. And
this '•eminds me of a story I once
heard. It occurred in Alabama. A
colored msn had a little pig he wanted
to sell. A white man came along in
the morning in his wagon and bought
the pig for $3. He drove away, but

somehow the little squealer managed
to get out, and ran back home to its
little pen. About the time it arrived,
another white man came along who
also wanted to buy a pig. He bought
it, and paid the colored man $3 for it.
He had not gone far until he met the
man who first bought the pig, and was
asked where he got that pig. "Why,
I just bought it from the colored man
up the road."

"Well, that pig is mine," said the
man who bought it in the morning.
"I was driving along and somehow it
got out and must have returned home.
Let's go back and see that "nigger"
and find out why he treats us in that
way."

Arrived at the' negro's cabin the
first man asked, "Didn't you sell me
that pig this morning for $3?"

"Yes, sah, ah did," said the darkey.

"And didn't you sell the same pig
for $3 to this man a little later?"

"Ah did, sah,"\was the answer. -
"Well, what kind of treatment is
that?"

Whereupon he gave the following
reply in_ a self-satisfied manner:
"Well now, gentleman, can'd you do
'way by youaselves and settle dat lit-
tle question?"

It is up to us all to settle among
ourselves the question of the liquor
business. We can't shift the responsi-
bility as the colored man in Alabama
tried to do.

Referring again to the tobacco ques-
tion among bee-keepers, which is real-
ly the temperance question in another
direction, I am reminded of an inci-
dent that occurred in Chicago when
Newman & Son were in the bee-supply
business and I was in their employ.
A bee-keeper called to get some sup-
plies, and, after buying several things,
Mr. Newman, Jr., said, "And now
wouldn't you like a Smoker?" mean-
ing, of course, a Bingham bee-smoker
in those days. Very promptly came
the reply from the bee-keeper, "No,
thank yow, I don't smoke."

I think it was in Philadelphia that
a bee-keeper of the temperate kind
was employed. As he was about to
change to another position he asked
for a recommendation from Ws old
employer. He was grantel his request,
the testimonial reading: "The bear-
er, Mr. Beeman, is industrious, hard-
working, faithful and sober," etc.

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194

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

After reading it over, Mr. Beeman
asked his former employer if he would
please make it a little stronger. Why,
of course, he said he would if only he
knew how Mr. Beeman whould like to
have it. Whereupon the Beeman said,
"Put it this way:"

"Mr. Beeman 'is industrious, hard-
working, faithful, and often sober."
He thought "often sober" was better
than plain sober. Of course, he was
an exception and probably came from
the Emerald Isle. ■

But I must not continue longer. I
wish only to say that I am proud to
be one of such a royal, temperate
company as are the bee-keepers of
this and other lands. But we must
not fold our hands and sit idly by,
while our fellow men are pushing the
battle against the open saloon. We
must do our part to raise the Nation's
manhood. We must let our light
shine, we must use our influence —
yes, and our ballots — whenever an
opportunity is presented to strike the
Demon Drink a killing blow.

"How long, how long this degradation.
To blight the manhood of the nation?
How long fair woman's name dishonor.
Heaping shame and grief upon her,
Whose gentle voice so long hath plead.
Whose feet so long have sunward

led—
Little voices vainly crying,
Joy of childhood crushed and dying?"

"Defend the home! Protect the

school!
Blow, blow a ringing bugle note!
For Manhood strike! For Manhood

vote!
Till Manhood rule from sea to sea,
Magnificent in victory;
Till mountain-peak and prairie sing;
Till our broad land, redeemed, shall

ring:
Manhood is king!"

The President called upon Mr. A. I.
Root to say a few words.

Mr. A. I. Root — There is nothing
more need be said to-night except you
know in what hearty accord I am
with all that has been said here by
Mr. York. Some time ago I was
down to a Lancaster Conference, and
they were holding a temperance day,
and there were three governors there.
They called upon me, it was pretty

late, and they said-I had to say some-
thing. I think I said this, "Gentle-
men, I am not only glad to be with
you, but God knows I am glad to be
one of you. God bless you."

The toasts being ended Dr. Phillips
and Mr. E. R. Root gave their stere-
opticon and moving picture exhibi-
tions, illustrative of the addresses
which they had given on Tuesday
evening, which were received with
applause.

The Convention adjourned to meet
Thursday, October 15th, at 8:30 a. m.

THIRD DAY.
Morning Session.

Thursday, October 15th.

At 8:30 a. m. the President called
the Convention to order and said: We
have with us Mr. Paul Mecewitz, of
Finland, and we will be very glad to
ihear from hint for a few moonents.

Mr. Mecewitz — Mr. President, Ladies
and Gentlemen: I think everybody
who is interested in bee-keeping in
foreign countries would like to hear
something about hee-keeping in Fin-
land. I think that is the reason why
Mr. Holterman, my first and skillful
teacher - in the art of bee-keeping,
made the suggestion that I should
tell you something about bee-keeping
in Finland,

You had yesterday a discussion
about using eight frame or larger
hives. I think somebody may ask
me: Do you use eig^ht or ten or
twelve frames in Finland? We Ij^ve
three different systems of hee-keeping
in Finland. The oldest and most gen-
eral is a system where the old-fash-
ioned straw skip is used. It is used
by many of the farmers. They do not
read any hee-papers; they just use
the methods that our fathers and
grandfathers used. They select a
number of hives in the fall and dead-
en the bees by fumigating with sul-
phur or s'nritithing else, and then cut
out the combs and press the honey
out of them, or melt the comfbs and
separate the honey from the wax.
Then the other metihod is the German
method; that has been imported
through the German papers. Som?
of our bee-keepers went to Germaay
and studied the German methods
advocated by some of the German
experts. The youngest generation in

ILrLINOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION^

195

Finland think that the American
methods are the best, from tihe results
that have 'been obtained from the
systems used by the most prominent
bee-keepers of the United States and
Canada, The American methods were
Imported to Finland mostly through
the Bee Journals, suoh as "Gleanings
in Bee Culture," "The Bee-Keepers'
Review," and "The Anaerican Bee
Journal." J think the editors of thos?
Bee Journals know tihat there are not
very many subscribers in Finland,
but that is due to the fact that there
are not many bee-keepers in Finland
who understand English enough to
read English bee-papers with p^o^i^
Still, the few who are abie to read
them communicate with other bee-
keepers and tell them about the new
methods employed in America.

Now, I think per<haps you would
like to know why I am here in Amer-
ica. I left Finland for a couple of
years. I made up my mind I would
cross the ocean and learn the modern
methods of bee-keeping here and
study here for two or three years,
and then go back and start in with
the old apiaries. Our climate is dif-
ferent from the climate in Canada and
the northern part of' the United
States; it is colder, and we have
longer winters and more snow. We
used to have very severe ' frosts in
tihe spring and fall; and the latest
reports tell me that in a large part of
Southern Finland there is practically
no clover crop; it is almost all spoiled
by the frost. Of course, there are
years when a bee-keeper can (have
surplus honey and enough to make
the business profitable, too. I heard
from a man iwho, this year, although it
is a poor season, has fifty pounds per
colony of white alsike honey. We
can depend upon two crops, tftie clover
honey and the heather honey. I don't
think there is any heather honey in
America to speak of, but almost
everybody knows that they have
heather honey in IJngland and Ger-
many, and in different parts of Eu-
rope.

Mr. Stuart — How do you winter
your bees?

Mr. Mecewltz — ^As far as the straw
skip method is concerned, these are
wintered out of doors. The skips are
provided with a mat of strsm, or I
"have seen tnem cover the hives with
snow, and it is supposed to ibe nearly
the best thing that there is. Of

course, the ibee-keepers have to look
out for warmer weather and remove
the snow before it melts. I have
never heard of anybody who wintered
his bees in cellars. All our bees are
wintered outside.

Mr. Stuart — -How long do you con-
fine them?

Mr. Mecewitz — I think they have
the very first flig<ht in the spring, in
April, and some times earlier, perhaps;
and the last, I think, is about October.^
It depends upon the season very
much.

Mr. Cavanaugh — When your bees are
working on heather, are they any
crosser than when working on clover?

Mr. Mecewitz — t have never noticed
thai the bees were crosser on heather
than any other crop.

Mr. McEvoy — Have you foul brood?

Mr. Mecewitz — Tes, but I am glad
to say we haven't any wax moths, and
we are not anxious at all to see them.

Mr. Stuart — ^Do you extract heather
honey?

Mr. Mecewitz — Yes, and we are
compelled "to perforate the old combs;
that is, we uncap with the uncapping
knife and use a pin brush, and put it
right through the comb, so that pretty
nearly every cell is perforated at the
bottom, so that the air can pass
through, and the honey comes out
easily.

Mr. Pressler — Doesn't that seem to
injure the comb ?

Mr. Mecewitz — ^It does somewhat,
(but if the comb is wired it won't hurt
it very much, and the bees fix it up
soon enough. We use . the shallow
frame mostly for extracting. I don't
know whether a deep frame would
stand it or not.

Mr. Armstrong — Do you use any of
the Holterman hives over there?
(Laughter.)

Mr. Mecewitz — No. I have seen a
ten frame.

Mr. Jeffrey — For how long does this
heather plant blossom?

Mr. Mecewitz — That depends on the
season, when it begins to bloom, I
think heather honey begins about the
middle of August and runs some times
till the middle of Septemtoer. Heather
honey is very much dependent on the
seasons. Some times we don't get it
at all. I heard one bee-keeper, say he

196

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE

could depend on heather honey only
once in eight years.

Mr. Jeffrey — ^What kind of honey is
it?

Mr. Mecewitz — A very thick honey.
It is not as g-ood as white honey, but
still we get the same price for it. It
is a little iDrownisih in color, but not
as dark as buckwheat. (Applause.)

The President — ^We also have with
us Mr. W. D. Wrig-ht, who is not only
a member of this Association, but
comes as the special representative of
the State of New York. We would be
pleased to hear from him.

Mr. Wright — I can only say that the
Department of Agriculture in New
York State is taking quite an interest
in the bee industry, as they have
shown by appointing four Bee Inspec-
tors, wtho receive their expenses and
an annual salary, which is quite liberal
■as compared with some other States
I have learned of. We are, of course,
working along other lines as well as
foul brood. We are trying to post the
bee-keepers on the best methods we
know of in the production of phoney,
and to work the apiary outside of the
foul brood business. We try to pre-
pare them in advance for the recep-
tion of -foul brood in their apiaries, as
in some cases, where it is raging in
taie near vicinity, it is quite liable to
run into the adjacent territory, and by
getting the bees in shape and Italian-
ized, they stand a much better chance
of warding off the disease and in
treating it after it gets into the
apiary.

Mr. Holekamp — Do you expect Ital-
ian bees to help or assist in prevent-
ing foul brood more than any other
race?

Mr. Root — I certainly do. I have
recommended for years the Italian-
izing -of bees in advance of foul brood.
This European foul brood seems to
extend somewhat similar to a tidal
wave and much less in the Italian
race than other races. I know of one
apiary of bees in my territory that
was Italianized before the disease
reached the yard, and while other
yards all around that apiary were
nearly wiped out, this yard came
through with not more than a dozen
diseased colonies in any one year. It
was a yard of from 100 to 200 colonies
and was producing honey right along.

It is the three banded leather color-

ed Italians that I recommend; I don't
care so much for the goldens.

Mr. Davis — ^Do you find the three
banded goldens as good producers as
those you call the leather backs?

Mr. Wright — Not with me. I was
foolish enough to buy fifty queens of
a strain recommended by certain
pretty good honey producers, and I
didn't get anything from those queens.
After trying them for a year or two I
put them out as quickly as I could and
put others in.

The President — The next thing on
the program is an address by W. J.
Manley of Sandusky, Mich., on "Turn-
ing Winter Losses Into Profit."

Mr. Manley addressed the conven-
tion on the subject for some time in a
humorous strain before he got down
to the serious side of the subject, and
requested the reporter that he should
not make a note of what he said, but
some of his remarks which were
applicable to the subject follow. He
said: How do I make anything out
of the bee business? Take five years
ago — the winter we had so many
heavy losses up through our part of
the country — I found myself in the
spring out of bees. The winter before
I had put away 225 colonies packed
in chaff hives and well protected with
a high board fence, and I had expecta-
tions that I might winter them.
But that spring I had no bees left.
They were covered up all winter, and
I thought from what I had read in the
Journals that it was all right, that
they would come out all right. Along
in March we had a thaw, and I re-
marked to my wife, it is a wonder the
bees are not breaking out a little. I
went out there and I found the whole
yard dead. I felt a little bad about it,
but she said, we will go to work and
make up the wax in the yard. We
•got a steam press and melted up the
wax; we got it out in due time — three
or four weeks — and we shipped it and
it brought us in quite a nice little
lump of money. She said, I don't care
if we could keep up with that business
quite a while. I said, there is so-and-
so over there, maybe I can get his
combs and make them up. I went
over and asked him. He said, yes, I
will sell them. He said he would take-
$140 for the bunch. I agreed to give-
it and we took his combs and melted'
them up and I made a good thing out

ILrUNOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

197

of it! I bought another lot and did
the same. I gave my wife half of the
profits, and she got so fond of it that
she tried to make out she even liked
the smell of that wax press on that
stove. She said, let's send and get
another press and we will get the wax
out that much quicker. We did so.
It went on, day after day, week after
week and m(jnth after month and we.
made sufficient profit to buy a new
press. We went on and workei away;
I was farming and my wife running
the press. That came up to haying
time — the 4th of July — and she said,
we will have to quit this, I want the
stove to cook on. I figured up and I
found we had shipped $970 worth of
beeswax. I just began to realize what
I might have done if I had gone at it
in a business-like way. We gathered
up that much within a radius of ten
miles. My brother was at it also, and
he gathered up nearly as much as I
did, and the wax we gathered up
arounJ there brought us in over
$1,500. We found lots of places where
it was too late; they had ploughed it
: under or burned it up. In the mean-
time I had taken $350 of this money
and purchased 100 colonies of bees,
the rest was in the bank, and I took
particular pains to have those bees in
my yard just before the opening of
the 'Clover flow. To cut it short, I
took $1,200 worth of honey ofC that
yard that year, and at the end of the
season when I came to figure up the
net receipts in my business just as a
side issue and compare them with the
receipts from the farm, which was my
main issue, the thing looked so lop-
sided I didn't know what to make of
It. I showe'3 her the figures. Here
was the bee business with over $2,000
M^orth of business done on the side,
and here was the farm and only $900
worth of business. She said to me.
It looks like a clear case of the tail
wagging the dog. We have not been
able to duplicate that every year right
along. I

The President — ^I should hope not.

Mr. Manley — ^Don't think I took ad-
vantage of my neighbors, I just took
advantage of their losses. I always
paid ten cents a hive for their combs,
and they were well satisfied and I
was well satisfied.

Another point I took notice of that
fall. In speaking of the foul brood

problem some one remarked that there
was no use of our being so vigilant
with our own bees if our neighbors
allowed their bees, which have foul
brood, to die and let their combs stay
there. If you do not look after his
combs and get him to melt them up
your bees will visit and rob his bees
out and bring the disease. Let me
say that if you just exercise a little
common sense and go over and buy
up his combs, you could clean up on
him in nice shape, and it would pay
you well. I question if I haven't
cleaned up more foul brood than our
state inspector. A neighbor wrote me
he had one hundred colonies of bees
to sell, to come down and buy them.
I waited a while and then he had only
sixty. When spring finally came he
had a fine sample of foul brood. He
said. What in the world will I do with
these old combs? My brother said.
Sell them to Will, he will handle
them. He said. What will you give
me for them. I says, I will give you
25 cents a hive straight through. He
said. You can have them. I said, Will
you help me cut them out? And he
said. You bet I will. I went home and
got my galvanized tank and we got
them out, and in two and a half days
I cleaned up $57.

We buy bees all over the country,
and our neighbors wonder how we can
keep in the bee business year after
year and still make it pay. We won-
der how in the world these bee-
keepers who never lose their bees can
possibly avoid becoming millionaires.

I am an extracted honey producer.
I did, before I knew better, run for
comb honey; I adopted the plain sec-
tions and all these things as they
came along. I had the bee fever.
Those that have the fever are out of
their heads about half the time. I
have eliminated all these expenses
and am willing to accept bees in any
kind of hive. This work is done after
supper; you can put a hundred sets
of combs in an hour's time. We learn
from Mr. Doolittle that there is noth-
ing about the apiary that you should
value so much as empty combs. In
this way we have the expense bill al-
most entirely elifminated, and what
we get out of the business seems
clear profit. I only had fifty colonies
this spring and I have sold a trifle
over $700 worth of honey from those

198

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OP THE

colonies. It has simmered itself down
to a business proposition with us.
Dr. Pljillips called our attention to
the aniount of loss there was in the
w^reck. After we have lost our bees
there is half enough in that wreck, if
it is properly looked after, to replace
the loss. What wax will there be in
a ten-frame hive? Dr. Phillips said
four pounds. I didn't get that. Then
there is always considerable honey.
Every pound of that is utilized and
marketed. The bakers will take ev-
ery pound of it.

Mr. McEvoy — Was the comb built
out of foundation?

Mr. Manley — Usually the natural
comb. The bees we buy as a rule are
on natural comb.

Mr. McEvoy — You wouldn't get it,
and Mr. Phillips would be right if it
was foundation.

Mr. Manley — I melted up the comb
from one hundred nine-frame hives
once that were shipped from Ken-
tucky up here, and they averaged
three pounds. I think I get it out
pretty thoroughly. It Is no trouble to
keep any amount of extracting combs
ovigr that are used from season to sea-
son. If I have a surplus I turn that
into combs. I have a cellar that 1
built on purpose to keep my bees in,
and it is an ideal place; it is above
ground and it is built of brick. It
cost me $250 spot cash and my. own
labor. It is moth tight and bee tight.
There is no trouble to keep moths
from combs that you are using from
season to season. I have never had
to sulphur my combs. If I have a sur-
plus of combs I melt them into wax.
We always hive our 'bees on full
sheets of foundation wired in. I just
leave seven in an eight-frame hive.

Mr. Coveyou — What would Mr. Man-
ley be willing to pay for his bees if
they would live?

Mr. Manley — ^I did winter through a
few bees last winter and I have
actually sometimes been sorry I did
not clean them up, because they were
kind of weak and depleted.

Mr. Coveyou — Why do they get
weak?

Mr. Manley — I am right on the open
prairie between the bay and the lake,
and they spring dwindle.

Mr. McEvoy — ^Don't you think

spring dwindling is the fault of bad
management?

Mr. Manley — Yes, I said these
losses were the result -not only of bad
stores and poor protection, but bad
management as well.

Mr. C. F. Smith — Don't you think if
you take all the honey away from
these bees and give them nice sugar
syrup that they will wiater all right
in your locality?

Mr. Manley — Possibly it would
work. We haven't tried that plan yet.
The aster honey which is so deleter-
ious comes late in the fall of the year.

Mr. C. F. Smith — I live two hundred
miles north of you, and that is the
only way I can ensure my bees.

Mr. Manley — Thank you. Doctor. I
have tried feeding sugar on top of the
honey they already have, adding to
their stores, and that helps some.

Mr. Coveyou — Don't you think if
you could get j'our bees shock on to
all full sealed stores of sugar syrup or
honey and shake them on to five and
six- frames they would winter all
right? If they don't< there must be
something wrong with it distinctly.

Mr. Manley — Have ypu tried that
plan ? il

^ Mr. Coveyou — Yes, I know it will
work.

Owing to the absence of Mr. E. D.
Townsend of Remus, Mich., the paper
on "Locating Apiaries" was not given.

QUESTION BOX.

Mr. Taylor — Isn't the quality of the
stores the whole key to wintering? I
have contended for years that cellars
and packing and all that sort of thing
didn't solve the question at all; it is
a question of feed. We used to have
a good deal of trouble here in winter-
ing bees because we had' swamps and
we had fall honey. Our swamps are
getting cleaned up now and we don't
get fall honey and our bees winter.

Mr. C. F. Smith — The store prob-
lem is not the whole one in the ex-
treme north where they have six and
a half months of continual confine-
ment in such a hive as that. With
good winter stores, with sealed syrup,
if you use a cover over them they will
drown before the six and a half
months are out. We leave them in
the yard. It has been six years since

ILLINOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

199

I cafried a cover into my bee cellar.
If the bottom drops off I leave it.

Mr. Taylor — "Wouldn't leaving the
bottom off be just as good as leaving
the cover off?

Mr. C. F. Smith — Not quite. I leave
the cover off and if the bottom drops
off I leave it off. When we leave the
tops off we put a burlap over the
hives. I don't care anything about
what the temperature is.

Owing to Mr. Hershiser wishing to
leave early, his paper was taken at
this stage and the discussion of the
question box allowed to stand.

Mr. O. L. Hershiser read his paper
on "How to Secure Good Prices for
Honey eyen in Years of Bountiful
Yields," as follows.

HOW TO SECURE PRICES FOR

HONEY EVEN IN YEARS OF

BOUNTIFUL YIELDS.

By O. L. Hershiser, Kenmore, N. Y.

- If an unusually large quantity of
any commodity is produced, and is
thrown upon any particular market
in a lump, the price will necessarily
fall, owing • to competition, and the
eagerness of holders to realize on
their goods.

If such unusually large quantity of
the commodity is distributed in such
manner as will supply localities that
have had an under production; or if
the disposition of the same is spread
out over a considerable length of time,
keeping a portion of it out of the
market until a season of scarcity if
necessary, or if new markets are
created by reason of increased activ-
ity in discovering as many as possi-
ble of the latest avenues of consump-
tion, directing, as it were, the product
into new channels, and creating a
need where need was before unfelt,
there is no need to greatly reduce
prices in order to sell the goods.

I wish to apply the above proposi-
tions directly to honey production and
consumption. If the apiarist is so
fortunate as to have produced a large
crop of honey, he should get busy in
search of new markets. If his crop
is 50 per cent more than he has been
accustomed to produce, he has just

that 50 per cent with which to work
up a new market and create a de-
mand that ■w^ill be of value in years
to come. Suppose he has to carry
a portion of his crop over to the next
year; it is almost as good as money
in the bank, and inay j'ield a much
larger percentage.

Mr. Mercer of Ventura, Cal., be-
cause of unsatisfactory prices, in the
year 1903, held his honey until the
following year, and thereby realized
$1,000.00 more for the crop than would
have been obtained if sold as soon
as produced.

When prices of honey are abnor-
mally low, H;here is no speculation in
holding the honey a year or two,
and the more bee-keepers there are
who are determined not to sacrifice
their honey because of a bountiful
crop, and lo^' prices, the more stable
will the market become.

In the last issue of the Review, edi-
torial notice is made of a bee-keeper,
who had been offered 7 cents for the
best White Glover Honey that could
lis, it would net him but a trifle above
5 cents p,er pound. I wish to say,
that the apiarist, as a class, is largely
responsible for such market condi-
tions. The jobber is always anxious
to purchase goods at as low a price
as he can oMain them, for the reason
that his profits are correspondingly
greater, and because of the lower
price at which he is able to sell, he
can do a greater volume of business.
He senis out offers for honey, and
quotes the current jobbing price of 5
to 7 cents, and in most years is able
to supply his wants at these figures.
Then, not being a philanthropist, why
should he give more?

Once in a while there is a bee-
keeper who does not figure the ex-
pense of cans and transportation, and
thinks one-sidedly only of the 7 cents
per pound he is going to obtain. Rather
than take 5 cents net frOm the job-
ber, the bee-keeper reported by the Re-
view would better sell locally to con-
sumers direct for 7 or 8 cents, and
thus save the expense of his cans;
and what could not be sold locally,
might be dispose'3 of at satisfactory
prices by a little well directed adver-
tising. Persona;lly, I do not believe
it to be ever necessary to sell honey
direct to the consumer at less than
10 (jents per pound. I reason that

200

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

any lover of honey will supply his
needs to the limit at 10 to 15 cents
per pound in bulk inasmuch as 10 to
15 cents is a popular price. Lovers
of fresh butter in the cities and vil-
lages satisfy their wants at 25 to 30
cents per pound, simply because that
has come to be the popular price.

If you have honey to sell, but keep
still about it, disposing of it will be
slow and tedious. There are various
ways of directing public notice to the
fact that you have honey to sell. If
you imagine that a bountiful crop is
to be a burden, remember that the
local fairs bring together large
crowds, among which are many lovers
of honey, who will be as glad to
learn where they can get it in its
purity, as you are to sell to them.
Be on hanJ at these fairs with an
exhibit of bees and honey. Show
how it is extracted, and impress upon
the willing listeners that honey pro-
duction is your business, and that
being a specialist, you are able to
produce it of a quality as fine as bees
can make it. Allow prospective pur-
chasers to sample it. Many of you
who have exhibited at fairs will bear
me out in the statement, that a taste
of the honey, to a somewhat doubtful
inquirer, will almost always result in
a sale, if the quality is what it should
be. Have some attractive cards with
your address and an announcement
of your business of honey production,
ready to hand to all inquirers. Cus-
tomers gained in this way are likely
to purchase of you year after year,
and after you have established a
tra'Ie at a fair price, you will not
need to lower it, even if you and
others have a bountiful crop. If you
think you could take naturally, to the
temporary occupation of a show man
or slight of hand performer, operate
a colony of bees in a cage, a la root,
to attract a crowd, and have your
salesman ready to sell the honey as
the performance proceeds, and while
the on-Iookers are spell bound.

If you have a good crop, remember
that your brother bee-keeper in other
localities may not be so well favored.
All bee-keepers who have been in the
business for years have a certain
steady demand, sometimes reaching
into thousands of pounds. They do
not wish to lose their trale, and if
they allow some other person to pick

it up, even for one season, that other
person has gained the customers for
the future, and you have lost them.

No better advice can be given to
bee-keepers who intend to make api-
culture a business, and who have had
a short crop, than to purchase honey
of reliable bee-keepers to carry them
over seasons of failure. There is no
better way of reaching this class of
customers than advertising through
the journals. Write up a neat ad-
vertisement that will catch the at-
tention of those in need of honey, and
have inserted in two or three of
the leading bee journals for three or
four months, and your honey will be
sold with little effort. K you are
unaccustomed of v^riting advertise-
ments that will catch the attention,
remember that the publishers are only
too glad to help you, or write them for
you, and they have a vocabulary well
stocked with expressions, words an!
synonyms that will express in the
superlative degree the quality of the
goods you have to offer. "Smooth oily
finish," "thick, rich deliciousness"
and the like, are expressions descrip-
tive of the highest quality and catch
the eye and thought very readily.
There is no copyright on words that
will beautifully describe your honey,
and their use should be freely resorted
to— only remember that the state-
ment should be invariably in accord-
ance with the fact, or their use is a
positive injury to you by way of the
loss of every customer who purchases
on the assumption that your goods
are really superior. There is no
secret in connection with the pro-
duction of honey of superior quality.
Just leave it with the bees, until
thoroughly capped over, or until the
end of the season, and the quality
will be perfectly satisfactory.

A few bee-keepers have built up a
good business in selling honey by
canvassing from door to door direct
to families. This method is to be
.highly commended, as it gives an op-
portunity to educate the public in
reference to bees and honey. Having
such an excellent food product of his
own production, no bee-keeper should
hesitate as to the propriety of this
manner of . selling. I am informed
that a number of bee-keepers of more
than ordinary business capacity have
made a good success of this manner

ILLINOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

201

of selling. Never having had occasion
to sell in this way, it is largely a mat-
ter of theory with me, but I am con-
vinced that customers thus gained
will purchase of you year after year.
A number of bee-keepers have obtain-
ed good results from advertising in
their local papers.

There is one thought I desire to
very strongly impress upon you. If
you have a bountiful crop, do not get
panicky about it, and offer to sell re-
gardless of price. It is never necessary
to do so. Let bee-keepers be deter-
mined to obtain a fair price, and not
compete against each other unfairly,
and the normal demand will be well
supplied. If there is a surplus over
and above, for which there is no de-
mand, at a fair price, carry it over
to a year of scarcity. You will thus
have nearly as much money as though
you sacrificed the whole crop; you
will have been spared the real mis-
fortune to yourself of having brokeii
and ruined your market, and you will
still have the surplus over and above
what is required to fill the normal de-
mand, to supply your market in years
of scaracity that are sure to follow.

Suppose a bee-keeper's normal crop
is 10,000 pounds, and in normal years
the price is 8 cents per pound whole-
sale, his income from the honey crop
will be $800.00. Suppose he obtains
a bountiful crop of say 1,500 pounds
or 50 per cent greater than the normal
from the same number of bees. A
slight decrease in price in such sea-
son of bountiful crop would be no in-
justice to the bee-keeper because the
additional expense and labor of pro-
ducin it is less, in proportion, than
that of producing a normal crop. A
slight decrease in price might also be
charged to the increased supply, but
don't let us ever have a panic, be-
cause of a bountiful crop, and lose all
the latent benefits that nature has
showered upon us. If we are to drop
the price from 8 cents in the normal
year to 6 cents in the bountiful sea-
son, when there is an increased crop
of 50 per cent, we have lost every ad-
vantage that was ours, but which has
been too often sold for a "mess of
pottage." Therefore, I emphasize in
the most emphatic manner that you
try not to sell to a glutted or unwil-
ling market, but carry over that which
may .not be sold for a fair price, and
in the meantime, keep busy in de-

veloping new markets, and outlets
for the increased production. A good
rule is to sell where there is an anx-
iety to purchase, and waste no time
trying to sell where there is apathy,
and indifference, and a bearish ten-
dency as to purchasing.

The good services of the jobber and
wholesaler are always to be recognized,
and it is certainly no reflection on
them, to advise bee-keepers to ■ de-
velop their home market, and supply
it fully before shipping to the larger
centers of consumption. If the home
market is fully supplied, there will
be less honey to be disposed of by
the jobber, ' it is true, but if the
jobber's volume of business is there-
by lessened, he is compensated by
better prices and profits on the small-
er trade. -

I would beg of bee-keepers to avoid
the tendency to get into a scramble,
and cut down the price of their honey
to ruinously low figures in order to
get the preference of sale away from
other bee-keepers. I have but recent-
ly been informed of a case where a
bee-keeper sent a consignment of
honey to a commission merchant with
instructions to sell at 10 cents per
pound if it could be obtained, and for
less if necessary to effect a quick
sale. There is certainly no profit in
producing fancy comb honey at 10
cents per pound, out of which is to
be paid, freight, commission, and for
sections, foundation and labor. The
consumer is sure to pay from 15 to
25 cents per section for fancy honey
before it reaches his table, and 10
cents for fancy comb honey with
charges and cost of supplies out, '
leaves the producer but a little over
7 cents per section. The difference
between about 7 cents and 15 to 25
cents per section goes to the jobber
and retailer by way of trifling ex-
penses and big profits to the non-pro-
ducer of the goods, by reason of the
conditions created, in large part, by
the bee-keeper who is determined to
sell, whether he makes any profits or
not. ■■,,■',.:;■.■;

Let me urge you, brother bee-keep-
ers, to follow the example and teach-
ings of a few of the craft, who have, as
far as possible, solved the problem of
marketing their product you have bat-
tled against great odds. Tou have
done well to persistently remain up-
on the firing line until your crop of

202

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

honey is safely harvested, but hav-
ing emerged from the smoke of the
.battle of obtaining the crop (the
smoke from the bee smoker of
course) do not be satisfied or claim a
complete victory until crowned with
the full reward of a just and merited
equivalent for the purest and most
wholesome of sweets, honey, you have
provided for the tables of the land.

Mr. Harmer — I ■ endorse fully the
house to house canvass in selling
honey. I have canvassed one city
for twenty- seven years, and I have
never had enough honey yet; so I
would encourage that kind of sale.

The President — We have some re-
ports of Committees, and invitations
have been sent in for the next place
of meeting. Shall we receive these
invitations here, or shall they be sent
to the Executive Committee? What
is the desire of the Convention?

Mr. Pressler — There is no reason
why the invitations should not be re-
ceived here.

The President — Shall we take the
time to receive the invitations here,
or shall they be turned over to the
Executive Committee"?

Mr. Holekamp moved, duly second-
ed, that these invitations be receiv-
ed here and then turned over to the
Executive Committee.

Mr. France — I would suggest that
later on other invitations that may be
given be also forwarded to the Exec-
utive Committee for consideration.

The President put the motion,
which, on vote having been taken,
was declared carried.

Mr. Holterman — I believe that the
thought has been advanced at differ-
ent times that the National is not
international. It is an international
Association and takes in the Dominion
of Canada, and there have been a
number of bee-keepers who have
spoken of the desirability of having
the National meet in Canada, and I
am quite sure it is in accordance
with the wish of the Canadian Bee-
Keepers that it should meet in Can-
ada. Therefore, on behalf of the
Canadian Bee-Keepers, I would ex-
tend an invitation for the National
to meet in Toronto next year. We
can promise to you a good free hall
if you will come there and one which
will be entirely built and constructed,
where the carpenters won't be ham-

mering and sawing while the Con- . ;
vention is going on. (Applause.) ]

Mr. Davis — I second Mr. Holter-
man's proposition.

Mr. Hershiser — Mr. President, I ]
wish to read a letter here on behalf \
of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce.
This letter was sent to me unsolicited.
(Reads letter extending invitation to
hold next Convention at Buffalo.)

The Convention Hall there mention-
ed is a hall considerably larger than
this one, and it would not be a very
suitable place to hold a Bee-Keepers'
Convention, but there are lots of halls ;
in Buffalo. I think you all know that
Buffalo is a nice place to meet, and
any further remarks from me would -
be superfluous.

Mr. Muth — Mr. President, The Cen-
tral Tennessee Bee-Keepers Associa- ;
tion, of Nashvjlle, Tenn., is a body of
Bee-Keepers that are very much alive
and up to the minute. They extend
to you an • invitation to meet, in that „
beautiful southern city of Nashville.
Nashville is a very interesting city,
and the hospitality that is extended to
everybody by the southern people is
well known and cannot be excelled.
I have a communication here from the
Central Tennessee Bee-Keepers' As-
sociation, and I have .also a communi-
cation dated October 1st which was
sent to me by the Nashville Board of
Trade, which I will read to you.
(Reads letters.)

I might say that at the Tennessee
State Fair this last September, and
September a year ago, the Tennessee ,
State Bee-Keepers' Association had, I
believe, about the prettiest exhibits of
honey and bee supplies and showed
more enthusiasm than I think I have '
ever seen at any place to which I '
have gone. I have seen exhibits at
different fairs, but this toojt my fancy
very much. I assure you that they
would make you feel very much at
home, and when your Executive Com- -
mittee decides the matter I trust they ;:
will give Nashville their sincerest
consideration. This part of the
country has had many Conventions, '
but in this part of the south you will ;
find you will receive better treatment .
than you did in Texas, and it is nearer J
home.

Mr. Hershiser — Mr. President, I
want to say a word or two about con- |
ventions and people who attend them \

t" ■■■■. -

ILLINOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

203

largely. It is well known that people
in this part of the country from the
Mississippi River east and from the
Ohio River north are good hands to
attend Conventions, and a good many
of us have gone to a great many con-
ventions. I have not * missed more
than one or two in the last fifteen
or twenty years. One year we went
i clear across the continent to Los
Angeles — a carload of us, and there
was more than a carload — some went
without going in the car - -some
walked. All these people came from
east of the Mississippi, but how many
peaple have we got from beyond the
Rocky Mountains or beyond the Mis-
sissippi River that come east to these
Conventions? How many people •
have we here from Texas and south
of the Ohio River? I think it is a
good deal better for such who go to the
conventions every year not to be called
upon to go so far. It would be
different if these people came up and
visited us, but we don't want the
visiting to be all one sided.

Mr. Muth — Mr. President, the Broth-
er's point is well taken. However, I
want to say to you for the Brothers
down south that I know a gentleman,
and I believe Mr. Root met him, who
is not 32 years old, and he has raised
70,000 pounds of comb honey this
year, -and he is not the only one.
There are many of them down south;
and these old tagers, like the gentle-
man who spoke, and a couple more
there, ought to go down south to get
acquainted with these kind of fel-
lows. While Detroit is the best City
to hold a Convention in that I have
ever seen, and while I know that
Buffalo is a fine city, still, you have
got to do a little missionary work to
get those fellows to come closer to
you. There are any number of bee-
keepers down there that do not raise
fifty or two hundred or a thousand
pounds, but they raise carloads of
honey. They don't feel like coming
up to Buffalo; they have got to put
on too many fine clothes to go shop-
ping.

Mr. Hershiser — ^With reference to

the man that raises 70,000 pounds of

honey, I think that is so much more

a good excuse why he should be here.

" (Applause.)

Mr. France — For .the good of the
Convention, I will say there has been
forwarded to me invitations also for

other places besides those mentioned
here for the Committee to consider
later on, and the miost of these have
come from western points. When we
met in California there was a large
gathering, almost the equal of this
one, and midway between there and
here they are expecting to have a big
gathering next year. Salt Lake City
has an invitation in, and Kansas City
has one in, and Nashville, Tenn., also
had an invitation in some time ago.
We would like an expression of the
members. The Grand Army meeting
is going to meet in the west next
year, and there will' undoubtedly be a
special rate.

The President — The Executive (Com-
mittee will have, that under considera-
tion.

Mr. York — This matter of the selec-
tion of the next meeting place is in
the hands of the Executive Commit-
tee. We don't just like to be told
where to go every time. It seems
to me after going to, San Antonio we
should have had representatives here
from Texas and other States; it was
a long trip down there. It is too one-
sided. I tbink there is only one repre-
sentative here from California, and
he happened to be here visiting. It
seems to me it is not fair. If they
want us to meet in their parts of the
country they ought to be here. We can-
not go visiting their way all the time,
and neither can we go east or west
all the time. It seems to me we
ought to go to different parts of the
country where more bee-keepers are.
We never have been to St. Paul or
Minneapolis; we have never been at
Des Moines, Iowa, or Kansas City;
and it is also true we get larger at-
tendances when we stay about this
latitude east and west. If we go fur-
ther south or away west we do not
get the attendance we do here. It
seems to me the Convention ought
to keep within three or four hundred
miles of this latitude.

The President — I fully endorse what
Mr. York has said. We went to San
Antonio, Texas, and they gave us a
hot time down ' there, but there was
not over half the attendance there
that there is here now.

Mr. Holekamp — ^It is desirable
wherever we go that we get low rates.
We went to San Antonio from St.
Louis for less money than it costs
us to come here. A good many of us

204

EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OP THE

will g'o anywhere. I like the trip
and I enjoy it. There are a good
many people will not go when it costs
too much. That is something to be
considered in deciding the place of
meeting.

Mr. Holterman — There is one point
in connection with Toronto, that if it
is held during the time of our Exhibi-
tion there are excursion rates at less
than one fare; it is a very favorable
spot indeed for a convention, and is
not so crowded as the cities are
where the Grand Army meeting is
held.

The President called for reports of
Committees.

Mr. Holekamp read the report of
the Committee on Exhibits as fol-
lows:

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON
EXHIBITS.

We, the Committee appointed to
judge the exhibits, find as follows:

Best ten sections of comb honey:

(1) Clyde English, Manchester,
Mich.

(2) C. T. Foote, Ridgeway.

(3) Leon C. Wheeler, Barryton,
Mich.

Best ten pounds of liquid extracted
honey:

(1) Leon C. Wheeler, Barryton,
Mich.

(2) Ira D. Bartlet, East Jourdan,
Miclj.

(3) John C. Bull, Valparaiso, Ind.

The most important late apicultural
invention:

(1) Iplet Section and Compliances
— J. E. Hand, Birmingliam, Ohio.

(2) Beehive • — L. A. Aspinwall,
Jackson, Mich.

(3) Hive Lifter — J. E. Hand, Bir-
mingham, Ohio.

Best single section comb honey:

(1) Clyde English, Manchester,
Mich.

(2) C. T. Foote, Ridgeway.

(3) Leon C. Wheeler, Barryton,
Mich.

(Signed.)

WM. McEVOY,
JACOB HUFFMAN,
R. A. HOLEKAMP.

Mr. France — Mr. President, the Nat-
ional Association had placed in its
hands, you remember, a fund of $1,408
called the league fund for the adver-

tising of honey. Several have asked
what has been done with it. First,
we were requested to make an exhibit
of honey from the various states at
the World's Pure Food Show in Chi-
cago last November, which I super-
intended, with the help of Mr. Hutch-
inson, in arranging, and we have
made that display. It cost us $343
for floor space; then there was ex-
press on honey from eighteen states
and five foreign countries, together
with a little board bill and local ex-
penses, which ran us about $589.23,
and the premium was the first prize,
highest award of the World's Pura
I'ood Show for honeys, which we won.
(Holding up the Pure Food Show
diploma.) (Applause.)

Following that, the Association used
$151.26, through this fund, advertised
a prize of $5 each for articles properly
adjusted, a certain number of words,
advertising the use of honey. A sam-
ple copy of these different articles,
for which we sent out $50 in money
to the writers of them, has been for-
warded to each member with an offer
that we would furnish any member
with as many more copies as they
wanted at the actual cost of printing,
and I am sorry to say there have been
very few of those calls. This was
done with the idea of introducing and
of helping to create a demand for
honey. The balance, $600, of the funds
is yet in our hands for advertising,
but we think there seems to be an in-
disposition on the part of the mem-
bers to co-operate with this Commit-
tee, and we are handicapped to know
what to do with the balance. It is
not being wasted,, however; it is
where it is safe.

Xowt another thing, it was my hard
task to count the nominating ballots
a little time ago, with the assistance
of otiiers; and the way in which our
members have sent in the crop re-
ports and nominations shows that we
are at a loss to know what we are do'-
ing. Some change lought to be made,
and I shall recommend some amenf-
ments to the constitution on that
point before we get through. As an
illustration — you may not be able to
see this paper which I hold in my
hand — but the first column Is for
those who are, nominees for President,
the second for Vice President, and
Secretary, and Manager, and the next
three 'columns are all for Directors.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

205

In the column for Directors one man
who is now a Director and whose term
does not expire for some time had 108
votes, more, by fifteen votes, than any-
body else got. That is all lost. True,
we all think a great deal of Mr. Doo-
little, but he is ailready a Director,
and why 108 throwing away votes?
Some way our members should know
a little better what they are doing
when they are voting.

Mr. Holekamp — Mr. Chairman, the
Board of Directors are now elected by
vote of the Association. "We have in
Missouri about between 135 and 150
members. I know that there are very
few amongst them who know for
whom to vote; at least, they write to
me and send me their postal cards
ajid ask me to flU them out because
they don't know who to vote for. I
have brought this before the Associa-
tion before, and if any change is to be
made in the election of Directors I
believe it would be better to have the
Association in the different states that
have 100 or 150 or 180 members en-
titled to elect one Director. The
Associations kno-w their own people,
while we at larg^ know — those who
have been at this Convention — for
whom we wish to vote. Those Direc-
tors should hold a meeting at the An-
nual Convention and those Directors
would be expected to be here and deal

. with such matters as would be of im-
portance. As it is" fto-day, the Board
Off Directors is 'only elected as an

• honorary body; they have nothing to

1 do.

Mr. Pressler — Abolish them then.

Mr. Holekamp — No. I believe it
would be well for the Association to
elect them because there is a good
'deal of work for them. There are
states which have no bee laws. I
have bee-keepers in other states who
apply to me for membership in the
Missouri Assoidiation because there
are no associations in those other
states. There is a good deal of work
that can be done; if we had a Board
of Directors who would meet at the
Annual Convention, then much more
work could be done than in a large
meeting, and I believe we oould
accomplish something which at pres-
ent we cannot succeed in doing. Un-
less all the states have foul brood
laws It will be impossible for us to
. get rid of the disease. Illinois has a
law which is not effective; Iowa has

no' law; Arkansas has none; Kansas
I understaind has a law; but all these
different states ought to be worked
up; we ought to try to get Associa-
tions there which would go hand in
hand with us, and we should get uni-
form laws so that we could get rid
of this disease which comes to us
again when we get rid of it in our
own states.

Speaking of Iowa, right along the
border of Missouri there is consider-
able disease I understand. How^ can
we prevent the affected bees coming
over our border? We have a fine of
$25 on the importation of diseased
colonies of bees or the appliance con-
taining the germs of the disease in
our state, but -it is hard to enforce.
What we need is an apiary law in
every State and Inspectors in every
State so that we can get rid of this
disease. I believe if we had the Dir-
ectors elected by the different State
Associations they would feel more
interested ' and' we could accomplish
more.

Mr. Muth — I have listened to what
Mr. France has said about spending
money for advertising. That one ef-
fort cannot bring results even if it
cost five or six hundred dollars. You
have got $1,500. Why don't you spend
it all in advertising? Do it all at once
or in succession until you have got it
spent, and see TV'hat money you will
make. One swallow doesn't make a
summer, and we learn by the papers
that one advertisement won't make
results. You have got to advertise
and advertise.

The President called upon the Com-
mittee on Resolutions to present its
report.

The Committee on Resolutions pre-
sented the following report:

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON
RESOLUTIONS.

We have met again, in one of the
largest conventions that the National
Bee-Keepers' Association has ever
held, and it would seem very appro-
priate for us to express our thanks to
the Officers of the Association who
have worked hard to make our meet-
ings what they are, and also to the
management of the Hotel for the
accommoiatlons that we have en-
joyed.

Therefore, be it Resolved, That the
thank® of the Association be extended

206

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OP THE

to the management of the Wayne
Hotel for the large room which they
have placed at our disposal and for
the many courtesies which have been
offered in various ways.

Also be it Resolved, That our Sec-
retairy, Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, be
given a note of thanks for his un-
tiring efforts in behalf of the Associa-
tion and its Convention.

Be it Resolved, furthermore. That
the thanks of the Association be ex-
pressed to the Secretary of Agricul-
ture for sending three such able repre-
sentatives— Drs. Phillips, "White and
Snolgrass — to render such vauable
aid in our meetings.

In view of the fact that one of our
Directors, Mr. E. W. Alexander, of
Delanson, N. Y., was called from this
life during the pa>st year, it seems
fitting that we express our regret, es-
pecially since he was so much ad-
mired and honored that during the
last election he received votes for the
offlces of President, Vice President
and Director; therefore.

Be it Resolved, That we as an Asso-
ciation express our thanks for the
time and thought which Mr. Alexander
so willingly gave us and our sincere
regret because of the loss which we
sustained when he was taken from us
to that other Country; also, that a
copy of this resolution be forwarJed
to his family.

(Signed) H. H. ROOT.

OREL, D. HERSHISER,
J. L. BTER.

Mr. York .moved, seconded by Mr.
A. I. Root, that the report be adopted.

The President put the motion,
which, on a rising vote having been
taken, was declared carried.

Mr. Fraruce — ^With reference to the
membership button, the Committee
has suggested that the present button
be changed for a button showing a
bee more prominently than the one at
present in use. I would ask that each
one having a button should wear his
colors and show his loyalty to this
Naitional Association.

The President — What wiill you do
with the repont of the Committee on
Exhibits?

Mr. Scott moved, duly seconded,
that the report of the Committee on
Exhibits be adopted.

The President put the nwtion.

which, on a vote having been taken,
was declared carried.

Mr. Bacon — I beg to move that Mr.
Ernest Root be tendered a vote of
thanks for coming here with his equip-
ment and giving his interesting lec-
ture and demonstration of handling
live bees, which he gave on the first
evening of the Convention. On ac-
count of his being Mr. Huber Root's
brother I think it was intentionally
left out of the report of the Committee
on Resolutions.

Mr. Holekamp — I second the motion.

Mr. York— I think 'you should also
include the exhibition of moving pic-
tures given last evening.

The mover of the motion accepted
the amendment, the President put the
same, and, on a vote having been
taken, it was declared carried

QUESTION BOX.

Question No. 1 — Can one tell by the
actions of the bees at the entrance at
this time of the year whether they
are queenless or not?

The President — I should say no.

Mr. Pressler — I will say yes.

Mr. Coggshall — Feed them a little
bit and they will get uneasy around
the entrance. You can tell better at
night than in the morning.

The President — You produce the evi-
'dence; it is not natural evidence.

Mr. Pressler — Put your feed out in
the yard and you can tell it every
time.

The President — Then I agree with
you. ^

Mr. Holterman — I would like to hear
something about that.

Mr. Coggshall — A little bit of food
will stimulate them. Put a little food
with the colony and feed the one right
next to it and see the difference.
You can readily tell the difference.
One will be uneasy around the en-
trance, and look at this bee and that
bee as if looking for a companion.

Mr. Holterman — Aren't they more
or less uneasy when you feed them in
warmer weather anyw^ay?

Mr. Coggshall — Yes, of course, only
it takes experience to tell that.

Mr. Pressler — If I understand the
question aright it is how to tell a
queenless colony this itime of the year.

The President re-read the question.

ILLINOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

207

Mr. Pressler — Yes. Go to work and
put out about 100 pounds of honey in
combs, to clean up your combs or
honey you want cleaned up, where
you have a yard of 100 colonies, and
let them go to work on that, and go
along the row and see which ones are
working freely, and, as Mr. Coggshall
says, they stop and look at each other.
Those that have sufficient stores will
•not fly rapidly and will not get as
much excited as those colonies which
are depleted in stores. Those that
have the least amount of stores will
work freely like they would in June,
and those that are queenless will not
work at all; and they will not fly
much; they will fight with each other
and look for trouble.

Mr. Holterman — That carries out
the principle that a queenless stock
never takes down syrup as well as
one which has a queen, but I think
the remedy is worse than the disease.

Mr. F. J. Miller — That is not my own
experience. When talking to S. D.
Chapman of this state in regard to
this matter he told me that he could
invariably tell a queenless colony be-
tween sunset and dark or in the morn-
ing as they were going to the field,
not at other times during the day, by
diagnosing the entrance; he would
notice those bees that were restless
and trotting across the entrance
rather than going to the field in the
morning, and at night he would see
them there with a blocked appearance.

Question No. 2 — Is there a bee man
who has tried artificial heat in the
spring to build up colonies?

The President — If there is no one
here who has, I presume we can't
answer it.

Question No. 3 — ^How are we to pro-
ceed to recover stolen colonies?

Mr. Muth — Go and get them back. •

The President — ^If the questioner
knows where the colonies are and has
a suspicion as to who carried them
there, there is a process of law, and
beyond that I know not.

Mr. Hershiser — I suggest that the
iparty retain a lawyer.

Mr. Taylor — I suggest he put salt
on their tails.

■ The President — Will the questioner
state, if here, wheither the bees in
question were stolen or whether it
was a siwarm that had been taken by
somebody else?

Mrs. Williamson — We ihad a colony,
hive and all, taken from our ^ee yard,
and we would like, to know how to get
it back.

Mr. Pressler — Would you advise to
apply the law?

The President — Not i:rl could settle
it otherwise. I would first go to the
party and lay the case before them in
a personal way ani ' try to settle the
matter.

Question No. 4 — How can you con^
trol the swarming of bees? (No re-
sponse- to this question.)

The President — Our Manager has a
resolution he wishes to present at this
time.

Mr. France presented the following
resolution: (By request.)

Resolved, That it is the sense of
the National Bee-Keepers' Association
that it is imperative for the continua-
tion of the bee-keeping industry in
the United States that the present
tarifE of 20 cents per gallon on honey
be retained, and, if possible, that it be
increased, so that the bee-kepers of
this country will not be compelled to
compete on the market with two and
a half million pounds of cheap honey
which is now annually imported.
j Resolved, That it is desirable that
beeswax be remove! from the free
list in the United States and that a
tarifE of ifot less than ten cents per
pound be placed on this article.

Resolved, That it is the sense of
the National Bee -Keepers' Association
that it is imperative for the continua-
tion of the Bee-Keeping industry in
Canada, that the present tariff on
honey be retained, and if possible
that it be increased so that the bee-
keepers of the country will not be
compelled to compete on the market
with the chea;p honey which is now
annually imported.

Resolved, That it is desirable that
a tarifE of not less than ten cents per
pound be placed on beeswax in Can-
ada.

Mr. Hershiser — Mr. President, I
want to say that if the promises of the
presidential canJidates are to be car-
ried out we are almost sure to be up
against this question in a year or so.
The tariff will, no doubt, be revised
before very long, and the people who
are looking after their interests will
have to look after them, ^nd those
who do not look after their interests

208

EIGHTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE

will have to suffer at the expense of
those who do. Therefore, I think we
ought to be on the lookout for this
thing. There is honey from the south
and other places, and beeswax that
comes in here to compete against our
own. So I aip in favor of maintaining
the tariff we have on honey, and, as
the resolution says, increase it if nec-
essary or possible, because we do not
want our little industry to suffer at
the expense of such industries as the
steel industry. I hope that every bee-
keeper will be on the lookout to do
what he can with his representative
in Congress when the time comes, to
the end that our interests '3o not suf-
fer unjustly or at the expense of other
interests.

Mr. France moved, seconded by Mr.
Holterman, that the resolution be
adopted.

The President put the motion,
which, on a vote having been taken,
was declared carried.

Mr. France — As has often been said,
we go, many of us, on long journeys
to these gatherings, not for financial
gain, but because of that mutual
friendship which ties us together, and
the remarks of Brother Hutchinson
last night reminds me of the little
button worn by our Grand Army men,
and only those who wear it can know
the bond of friendship there is be-
tween the men who served in that ser-
vice. So with us, I hope we feel that
this bee button is a token of mem-
bership loyal to one another. If per-
chance any of us get into trouble we
know whom to go to. We would not
for one moment see one of our mem-
bers wronged. The appreciation of
this was shown to me last fall at
Harrisburg, and those of you who read
the 1907 report know of the presen-
tation. (Gold watch, chain and a set
of silver spoons.) It is not its value,
but the token of appreciation by its
members will never be forgotten.

Mr. Muth — Mr. President, we are a
lot of strangers in town and I think
if we appoint a time and you appoint
a Committee, that those who are left
after the Convention is over would
hire a rubber- necked wagon to see
the City. It would be a very nice and
appropriate thing for those who want
to see this' beautiful City. They say
that " in Detroit life is worth living."
It is just because the City Is so beau-
tiful. There are quite a number who

want to see the City, and if we could
go around in a crowd it would be very
nice.

Mr. France — As I said a little while
ago in regard to this qifestion of nom-
inating and electing our officers, we
all want to take a part and be a part
of it, but we are not satisfied with the
way our present constitution and by-
laws are adjusted. It takes a year's
time and we would have to wait untfl
the next annual meeting before any
suggested amendment could be acted
upon, so that I would move that we
amend our Constitution with refer-
ence to the election of Officers and
Directors. It would have to come up
at the next annual meeting, and the
members at that time could vote upon
the proposed amendment.

The President — You give notice at
this time that at the next Annual
Meeting such an amendment will
come before the Convention.

Mr. France — Yes.

The President — That then becomes
a matter of record.

Mr. France — As a word of explana-
tion, you can see where I am handi-
capped. We have our Annual Elec-
tion of Officers this coming month,
and I am supposed to deliver to each
member a full report of all the mem-
bers and also a financial report. I
confess I can't do it even though I
work night and day. They are print-
ing this week the pages of advertising
matter, also the membership list with
the crop report so far as they were
in before I came away, and to get
that out and deliver you a copy of
that by the time the election of offi-
cers com^es on is an utter impossibil-
ity. You have been for three years
receiving the Annual Report after the
election, for I could not get it out any
earlier than I did.

Mr. Tyrrell — According to the pro-
gram we still have one afternoon left.
At the same time we have used up
the program so far as it has been
arranged. We have listened^ to some
excellent papers and addresses, and
yet at the same time tjiere has been
a good deal of our heari to heart talk
that we have had to eliminate. Some
time during the day th^re is to be a
meeting of the Michigaft Bee-Keepers
to finish some business which it was
impossible for them to finish at their
session on the first day of the Con-

ILLINOIS STATE BEE KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION

209

vention. Now, if there is nothig else
on I would like to suggest to the
Michigan Bee-Keepers present that we
who convene at two o'clock extend
an invitation to all the National Bee-
Keetpers to take up such subjects as
may properly come hefore them at
that time. I want to say that the
question of the marketing of honey is
one thing, and the competition of for-
eign honey is another thing that will

probably come up; there is also some-
thing to be said in regard to our ex-
hibits at fairs, something that means
dollars and cents to every producer.
The thought occurred to me last even-
ing, why not, through the question
box, or otherwise, have a little free
discussion together, not only of the
Michigan Bee-Keepers, but the others
as \\-ell.

On motion of Mr. Holecamp the
Convention adjourned sine die.

—14

List of Members Who Sent in Their Fees After

Going to Press.

NAME AND ADDRESS.

<»3
o —^

Campbell, Grover — Quincy, 111 48

Carpenter, Harry — R. 2, Mt. Carroll, 111 45

Cunningham^ J. C. — Box 119, Streator, 111

Duby, H. S.— St. Anne, 111

Fosse, E. P. — Marion, 111 47

Gamash, James — Waukeg-an, 111 '...... i 42

Kimmy, Fred L. — Morgan Park, 111 ...':...;.

Miller, W. C— Ottawa, 111 ;

Parker, Solomon — Harrisburg, 111

Ravanaas, Jacob — Rochelle, 111 4

Runland, Peter — Box 17, Cedar Point, 111

Scott, A. D.— Minonk, 111

Smith, J. Q.— (Report late) 36

Van De Wiel, Aaton — East Dubuque, 111 7

hrtO
o

50
oo

2000
1500

1200
1500

300

2000
300

o •

400

600
40

i

:. 1;

INDEX TO EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT

Adulterated honey 75

Bee Diseases — How to Detect and

Know 162

Bee dumping its load 32

Bee keepers non-smokers 74

Bee Keepers as Temperance Re-
formers 192

Bee Keeping in Hawaii 148

Bee Keeping for Women 130

Bees— Carniolan 1 13

Bees — Work of 154

(to page 181 no index references.)

Best Bees for Comb Honey 135

Best Bees to Keep 136

Best Comb Honey Hive 133

Best Hive Cover 138

Best Hive for Beginners 103

Best Plive Stand 134

Bills offered in the 46th General

Assembly 17-lS

Black Brood 28

Black Brood and Foul Brood 128

Black Brood — Treatment of 28

Breeding different races of qj/teens.. 72

By-Laws " *:. 15

Carniolan Bees 143

Charter 14

Charter Members 13

Cellar for Comb Honey 132

Certificate of State Inspector of Foul

Brood 4 19

Clover Honey — Prospects for 1909 103

Code of Rules for Judging Honey and

Beeswax 20

Comb honey 57

Comb Honey on Hand 131

Comb Honey — Best Bees for 135

Committee on Exhibits — Report of 204

Committee on Resolutions — Report of. 205"

Constitution 15

Contagion — Causes of 23

Discussion on Foul Brood-Law 121

Disease — Pre-existing 157

Disease Survey 153

Diseases — The Treatment of 158

Does honey freeze 92

Drones and Queenlessness 128

Dumping Honey on City Markets 117,

Dysentery 28

Dysentery — Causes of . . . , 28

Dvsentery — Treatment of 28

Etiology (Cause) of Diseases 156

Exciting Causes— Food, Microorgan-
isms, Bacteria 157

Exhibits of honey and beeswax at the
State fair 69-70

Extent of the Industry 149

Extracting Combs — Keeping Empty. . 139

Extracted Honey— Comb for 133

Financial report 29

Foul Brood 22

Fdul Brood — American 139

Foul Brood — European I6O

B'oul Brood — ^Experiments with 24

Foul Brood Law in Illinois HC

Foul Brood — SjTnptoms of ■. 2°4

Foul Brood — Treatment of 25

Frame Bottom Bars 134

Getting' Queens Fertilized lis

Handle with care 57

Hive Alanipulation — Record of 136

Honey — ^Adulterated 75

Honey — BottliHg 143

Honey — How to Se'cure Prices Even

in Years of Bountiful Supply 199

Honey — Other Sources of. 151

Honey — Sources of 150

Honey — Souring in Summer Heat 101

Honeydew— Extra Floral 153

How bees ripen honey 80

Illinois— Foul Brood Law in 110

Joining the Illinois State Association. So
Joining the National — Election 90

Keeping comb honey over winter 83

Live Bee Depionstration 146

Maintaining Good Prices for Comb

Honey 115

McEvoy, Treatment 25

•Medicinal qualities of honey 90

Members — Getting New 132

Members, list of— for 1909 7

Miscellaue-ous 144

Moths and Bees 140

Mulberries for Feeding Bees 130

Mummified Lizard 119

National Bee-Keepers'. Association —

Proceedings of 146

Number of Colonies to Keep 142

Officers for 1909 5

Oldest bee-keeper 90

Orange Honey 101

212

INDEX TO EIGHTH AXXUAL REPORT

Paralysis 160

Paste for labeling on tin 101

Pickled Brood 27

Pickled Brood— So-called 100

Pickled Brood— Symptoms of 27

Pickled Brood — Treatment of 27

Possil)ilitiea for Illinois 12

Predisposing' Causes — Age, Sex, He-
redity, Race, Climate 156

Preparing Bees for Winter 143

Preparing honey for safe shipment. . 56
Picventing- Swarming of Young

Queens 113

Prices of Bees 138

Proceedings of 18th Annual Meeting. 29

Proceedings of the Chicago Northern. 71

Queen K.xcluders and Extracted Honey 103

Queens— Two or More in One Hi\'e... Ill

Question Box 36

Question l!ox 19S-206

Report of honey for 1!»0,S 12

Report of Secretary 30

Resolution — Petition' to Legislature

for Foul Bi-ood Law 121

Root, E. R 146

Separators— Are they essential 97

Shipping crate for comb honey 57

Size of Bees 138

Space under bottom bars 94

State Association — formation of 13

State House 2

Starlnig New Bee Keepers 113

Swai-niing 135

Taking back candied honey 77

Telling the Honey Crop 112

The T. super and others 92

Title page 1

Top Covering Over Hive ISl

Transmittal letter 3

White Clover Seed 132

Whitney, Wm. M 97

Wild rose honey 75

Winter — Preparing Bees for 143

Wintering Bees 128

Wintering Bees in Northern Illinois.. 128

Yellow Sweet Clover — Early Bloom-
ing of 119

Young Queen-s — Lo.^s nf 140

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