ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



31 



Minutes adopted as read if there are 

 no objections. 



Minutes adopted as read. 



Secretary's Report for 1914. 

 During all the years (about 45) 

 that your Secretary has kept bees, he 

 cannot recall one in which the honey 

 crop was so poor the whole season 

 through as during the present year. 



In the beginning of the honey sea- 

 son we had a small surplus of dande- 

 lion honey, though no more than was 

 needed for brood rearing. 



The season was so dry that the 

 dandelions were cut short, and no 

 white clover appeared, and all through 

 the apple bloom and the linden bloom 

 the bees did not gather enough honey 

 from either to make it perceptible in 

 their hives. 



We did not put on a single surplus 

 case, as we saw the bees were gather- 

 ing nothing but honey-dew honey, 

 which they continued to gather all 

 summer, until we had a light flow 

 from heart's ease, which left our colo- 

 nies mostly in good condition. 



In a Farmers' Bulletin from the U. 

 S. Department of Agriculture, Septem- 

 ber 16, 1914, we get a report from all 

 the States. (The same was copied in 

 the last number of the Review.) 



There were but nine states which re- 

 ported a larger yield per colony than 

 in 1913, viz.: Maine, West Virginia, 

 North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, New 

 Mexico, Washington, Oregon and Cali- 

 fornia. Of these New Mexico stood 

 the highest — with 85 lbs. per colony, 

 while California stood second with 75 

 lbs. per colony. 



On the other hand Missouri stood 

 lowest — with but 5 lbs. per colony; 

 Kentucky next — with 8 lbs. per colony, 

 and Illinois stood third — with 12 lbs. 



This Last 

 Year Year 

 Our membership list this 



year numbered 234 205 



Those corning through Chi- 

 cago-Northwestern . . . ■ . 46 44 

 Those coming through 

 Northern Illinois and 

 Southern Wisconsin .... 16 14 

 This year a new list was 

 added from the Eastern 

 Illinois Bee -Keepers' As- 

 sociation, St. Anne, Illi- 

 nois — (Newly formed) . . 13 



The members direct this 



year were 172 147 



A gain of twenty -five. 



We are led to believe that the in- 

 crease in our membership is largely 

 the result of our having obtained our 

 Foul Brood Law; also aided greatly 

 by the blank applications for member- 

 ship that we send out the first of the 

 year. 



We had the usual number of reports 

 printed of last year's proceedings, viz.; 

 300 cloth and 100 paper covers — mostly 

 sent out. 



We also sent out the usual number 

 of blank applications for members 

 (1,000). 



When we were getting our last re- 

 port ready for the printer we received 

 letters from parties who had explained 

 the workings of their several patent 

 devices in the Chicago Convention, 

 asking permission for the insertion of 

 the cuts of their patents in our report. 



This is our answer to them: 



March 23, 1914. 



Mr.- 



Dear Sir: 



I agree with you in that I believe an 

 illustration of your SECTION FIXER 

 in our report would be desired by many 

 of the members of our Association, 

 and, speaking for myself, I would say, 

 yes. 



We have had several applications for 

 like insertions and we have answered 

 them along the same line as follows: 



Our .State Association has usually 

 made the Executive Committee the 

 Legislative Committee also, with power 

 to add to their number if they thought 

 it necessary. ' 



On one occasion we had with us Mr. 

 York of the American Bee Journal and, 

 when we introduced him to the House 

 Appropriation Committee as the Edi- 

 tor of the American Bee Journal, the 

 Chairman spoke out loudly, "If Mr. 

 York is here to advertise his paper 

 you don't get a dollar. We make; this 

 appropriation to the Illinois State Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, as the Bill reads, 

 and not to advertise any man's busi- 

 ness." The state approjpriation says 

 for the publishing of our report, and, 

 when we begin to let ads work in, the 

 Executive Committee (knowing what 

 I have stated above) cannot face the 

 legislature and ask continuation of the 



