ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



isa 



gone; the next day or two we found 

 that colony as nice as it ever was, not 

 a bee dead, the combs all right except 

 the outside. 



An interesting thing about it is — ^I 

 don't believe any one knows how much 

 bees ventilate when necessary. 



You know what the hot season is, but 

 just imagine it hot enough to burn the 

 top of the brood frames, the wooden 

 cover, the comb on one side, burn the 

 hive so that it was clear down, and yet 

 those bees kept on ventilating — one set 

 blowing cold air in and one out. 



I do not know what they thought 

 was on, but the bees had not forgotten 

 their job, and they did it well. 



Our apiarist went down and said the 

 fire had not hurt them a bit. The bees 

 met me more than half way when I 

 went out to see them. 



I told your Chairman, when I came 

 in this morning, that I had not any 

 program, and I do not know but that 

 what I have to say will be in the form 

 of a medley. 



I was interested in Mr. Dadant's ad- 

 dress, which I should judge is along the 

 same lines as that at Springfield. 



I always believed the Dadants knew 

 how to control swarming. 



Twenty-three or four years ago I 

 tried the eight frame hive, one story 

 above the other, giving the queen the 

 entire range of two stories, and I found 

 there was something in bigness. When 

 I allowed the queen the range of two 

 stories I brought down swarming. 



I went further: Put on upper stories. 



You will find that thing mentioned 

 in connection with hives in our book 

 and the Dadant hive has been in there 

 for years. Some one said, "That has 

 been in A, B, C, for twenty-three or four 

 years, don't you think you had better 

 take that out — no one uses Dadant's 

 hive and no one thinks much of that 

 method." I said, "Not on your life; 

 there is the great principle of swarm 

 control; I believe in it absolutely. I 

 know of Dadant's getting along from 

 year to year with only three or four or 

 five per cent swarming." 



Mr. Dadant has told you of the seven 

 fundamentals. 



They have been using one and one- 

 half inch spacing. 



I visited J. L. Buyer, of Ontario, Can- 

 ada. 



I went up to attend a trial, and so I 



said I would go call on Mr. Buyer. I 

 like to see their yards as they leave 

 them when they do not know I am 

 coming. 



Mr. Buyer said to me: "My yards do 

 not look very nice; it is very muddy, 

 Mr. Root, a bad day." 



I said it did not make any differ- 

 ence so far as the weather was con- 

 cerned. But he said to me, "You can- 

 not take pictures." 



I said to hina, that a rainy day was 

 as nice as a bright day to take pic- 

 tures. 



He said to me, "Mr. Root, you know 

 my hives; I appear in your Journal 

 as one of your special correspondents. 

 My hives never were painted; they 

 are old odds and ends." I said to him, 

 "The bees can get out through the 

 cracks. You are like a good many 

 people who are successful producers — 

 you have eight inch frame hives — 

 Jumbos and Buyer hives and Lang- 

 stroth." 



I said to him, "I want to see how 

 you winter bees." 



Mr. Buyer said that he had no par- 

 ticular way — that he used chaff hives, 

 winter cases — two in a case. 



I asked him, "Have you four in a 

 case?" 



"No, they are too bulky." 



I found a medley of hives. I came 

 to what I should call a Jumbo. I told 

 him about Dadant's method of swarm 

 control, and the seven specific funda- 

 mentalg. 



Mr. Buyer said to me — "I have a 

 large hive and wide spacing. I do 

 not believe in drones; I have got lots 

 of room. Come to think about it, I 

 have not had much swarming. 



"When I buy real hives I shall adopt 

 that Dadant plan; it works out so 

 well." 



I said to him — "You have more 

 swarms than the Dadants report, don't 

 you think the smallness of your en- 

 trance has got something to do with 

 it?" 



He replied, "I have not thought of 

 that." 



" I told him I thought it had very 

 much to do with it. 



One of the points on which we had 

 controversy was this: I -like to have i 

 a colony of bees go in w^ith winter 

 nest; I want that winter nest near the 

 entrance. Mr, Buyer mentioned to 

 me: "My bees are on solid slabs of 



