ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPEKS' ASSOCIATION. 125 



The Secretary. — Mr. President, I like to take them out best 

 in the evening. I open the cellar door just as soon as it gets dusk, so 

 the light won't bother the bees,^ leave the cellar open and give them 

 lots of air and then in an hour ePtwo let them out. In that way, with 

 all the excitement they get they don't start flying, I set them outside 

 and they will quiet down. Maybe, they won't fly for two or three 

 days, that don't matter. They won't mix up or drift. If you try 

 to let them out on a bright, sunshiny dsiy, just as soon as you open the 

 door the cellar is full of bees, and they don't know where they are, 

 and a few of them never find their hives again. 



The President. — Any other answer? It is not a good thing to 

 let them out when the weather is very cold, so the bees will perish 

 before they get back, or if the day is windy and cold, nor is it a good 

 thing to let them out at a time when the weather is too warm, so that 

 they will go out with a rush and get mixed up. I have let bees out 

 on a day on which they ought not to have got out at all, and then 

 there were two or three days before there happened to be a day on 

 which they could fly, and then the wind got rather strong and the bees 

 would drift around, that was after they had been set out two or three 

 days, but usually it works out all right. 



The Secretary. — I believe the ideal time to let them out would 

 be to study the weather reports and let them out in the evening, if 

 the next day is supposed to be bright with little wind. If you get 

 them out in that way you can get the best results. 



A Member. — Mr. President, I think we all have experience with 

 some drifting, and not very long ago I read a statement of Mr. Doolittle, 

 he says you can do away with drifting if you put the bees out on a 

 bright day, if you smoke the hives a little. He says he has never any 

 trouble with drifting. Has anybody tried this? I am somewhat du- 

 bious if that would work out so perfectly as he says it does, but we all 

 know that Doolittle does not make any statement except where he 

 knows what he is speaking of. He says you can put them out any 

 time or under any conditions if you smoke them a little before putting 

 them on the same stand again, and it don't matter whether they get 

 on the same stand again or not. That is Doolittle's statement. Is 

 there any one that can bear him out on that? 



The President. — I usually smoke the hive, and use the entrance 

 block. After the block is in, I stop the entrance with a little cotton, 

 and then along about four o'clock, perhaps, along towards the evening, 

 the cotton can be pulled out, and they come out a little, the next morn- 

 ing more of them come out, and in that way they don't drift and don't 

 get lost. "How and when to feed in the spring. " is the next question. 



A Member. — Give them the honey in the fall. 



The President. — The way to feed in the spring is to give them 

 the honey in the fall. I find for me the best way to feed is to keep a 

 good supply of reserve combs. I give them all I think they need in 

 the fall and then soine, but I usually find they need some more in the 

 spring. I keep over about one or two full coinbs. Root combs, filled 

 with honey, for spring feeding, and then I take out an empty comb 

 and slip in a full one wherever the colony seems to need it. It is the 



