ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



45 



amount of air you would not have had 

 them hang out. A prosperous bee- 

 keeper must see that his bees are in 

 the right condition at all times and he 

 must make them so. 



Mr. Coppin — You have to have a cer- 

 tain temperature or the bees will not 

 hatch; if you do not assist the bees 

 by raising the hive and giving them 

 ^ entilation, and the weather gets very 

 hot and they are exposed to the sun, 

 they have got to get out to reduce the 

 temperature; they have to regulate 

 the temperature or the young bees 

 won't hatch. 



Mr. Bowen — I think there are one or 

 two things wrong with this gentleman's 

 bees — not ventilation enough, or not 

 enough nectar. 



Pres. Baxter — Lack of nectar would 

 not make them stay out. 



Mr. Bowen — When there is no nectar, 

 there is bound to be loitering, and when 

 loiterers are there there is no room 

 for them. 



Pres. Baxter — I never saw a hive yet 

 where there was not room enough for 

 the bees where the bee-keeper knew his 

 business. 



Mr. King — I had bees propped up 2 



inches or so this summer, where no 



■^ honey was coming in, in the real hot 



y -^'eather they were standing out on the 



outside of the hives. 



Mr. Bowen — The bees didn't under- 

 stand their business, then. 



Mis ^King — I had supers on and they 

 were -not working in the supers. 



Pres. Baxter — That does not matter; 

 there may have been a dense colony of 

 bees. 



Mr. Stone — I think in such a case as 



that he ought to divide his swarm. 



, Mr. Coppin — Where there are so 



_ many bees clustered all around the hive 



/it is very often at a time when there 



^s not much in the field. A lady stated 



to me one day that she had been having 



trouble with her husband because he 



/ \ accused her of letting the bees swarm. 



' ' She said to him — "It seems to me I 



have lieen watching them all day and 



I have not seen them swarm." Be 



cause he saw the bees clustered on the 



outside of the hives he accused her of 



letting the bees swarm. I told her to 



tell him — "The flow of honey has come 



and the bees have all gone to work." 



Mine were in the same fix; the hives 



were all covered and they had not 



swarmed. 



Pres. Baxter — This year we have not 



\^ 



had any honey. There was a time when 

 I could go out in my apiary at home 

 even in the dense shade and find every 

 hive was clustered on the outside, and 

 I experimented by giving these hives 

 more air; gave them ventilation. Those 

 that I tried that way, inside of an hour 

 you could hardly see a bee around, 

 while those that were treated in this 

 way were clustered on the outside as 

 before. 



Mr. Moore — The next topic — "A 

 bicycle wheelbarrow to use in carry- 

 ing supers of honey or combs; also the 

 ideal way to carry hives of bees into 

 and out of the cellar." 



I don't know what the idea is, unless 

 it is pneumatic. 



Mr. Stone — Do you suppose it is a 

 wheelbarrow with two wheels. 



Mr. Moore — That would not be a 

 wheelbarrow; that would be a cart. 



Mr. Moore — I think, from what I have 

 heard, this bicycle wheelbarrow has a 

 pneumatic tire. 



Mr. Coppin — Would not a spring 

 wheelbarrow be as good? 



Mr. Moore— That is the kind I use 

 and have had very good success with 

 it; an ordinary wheelbarrow is too 

 small and too low; it pitches ahead too 

 much. It should be at right angles 

 with the floor and so arranged that 

 when you lift the handles the floor will 

 be very nearly level. It would be bet- 

 ter to have as little pitch as possible. 



In putting on a bicycle wheel it 

 would bring it up considerably higher 

 than the ordinary wheelbarrow. 



Pres. Baxter — I don't think that 

 makes much difference. I have a 

 wheelbarrow I have used for 30 years 

 and never had any trouble. 



Mr. Moore — You say you never used 

 anything else? 



Pres. Baxter — I don't believe I would 

 have had a drop more honey. 



Mr. Moore — You don't know what a 

 convenience it would be to use another 

 kind. 



His idea of "apiary in rows with the 

 alleys easily reached from beehouse. 

 Apiary on slightly sloping ground, 

 preferably towards southeast. Bee- 

 house below apiary for easy wheeling." 



If your ground is sloping, have apiary 

 slope up from beehouse with rows lead- 

 ing down to honey house. 



Mr. Coppin — If you have bees on 

 lower ground that would be an advan- 

 tage to the bees. 



