ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



47 



were alive. Those with no leaves and 

 sealed covers were all gone. 



I did not believe in this way, but I 

 had accepted a school that fall (1884-5) 

 and the man with whom I had made 

 a contract to pack did not come, so 

 that some of my apiaries were not 

 packed. In the niiddle of winter when 

 I examined my hives I found a sheet 

 of ice had covered the honey and the 

 bees had actually starved to death be- 

 cause they could not get the stores. The 

 stores could be easily reached by those 

 that were packed with leaves and they 

 were as dry and nice as could be. A 

 space had been left so that the bees 

 could go over from one frame to the 

 other when they came to the top, and 

 the stores could be easily gotten in the 

 coldest weather. Not more than 2 per 

 cent should be lost in wintering out of 

 doors if you have a good colony of 

 bees and good honey. 



Mr. Stone — "When brother Bowen said 

 what he did — I thought he struck the 

 key note. I believe that air space is 

 necessary; it doesn't make any differ- 

 ence whether there is anything in that 

 space or not. The bigger space you 

 give, the less chance you will have for 

 moisture that occurs in the hive. I do 

 not believe there would ever be any ice 

 there if you left the whole bottom open. 



By being stopped up so tight, the bees 

 get hot in there, and it being cool out- 

 side is what causes the moisture. 



I have wintered out of doors for 10 

 years. Two years ago when we had 

 such a hard winter I lost 80 per cent 

 of my bees and those that were saved 

 did not have any mats on; it was my 

 mistake, leaing the mats off. I left 

 the case of extracting frames on the 

 light ones for fear of want of honey, 

 and they all came through all right; 

 and those that did not have all this 

 dead air space died, with plenty of 

 honey outside the clusters. 



Mr. Bowen — And that is the year that 

 you lost nearly all" of yours and I lost 

 none. 



Mr. Bowen — Your assertion may be 

 all right but I am telling what my 

 practical experience has been; of course 

 my hive is air tight, but it has plenty 

 of good circulation. If you have 

 studied the matter of circulation, we 

 know we have got to have a chance 

 for the hot air to escape or the cool 

 air will not come in. If you lay that 

 cover down tight on the frames, it will 

 not do when it comes cold weather and 



the ice forms, but this other way, where 

 you have the board lifted, you have 

 a chance for cross ventilation; your 

 bees will have plenty of air and will 

 pull through all right. 



Mr. Stone — May I ask for a question 

 of privilege for a few minutes? Mr. 

 Bell represents the Legislative Refer- 

 ence Bureau. The law has been 

 changed so that our appropriation that 

 we are going to ask for next winter will 

 not go in the Bill as it has been going. 

 Mr. Bell is here and will explain the 

 new law if you will give him the floor. 



Mr. Bell, Secretary of the Legislative 

 Reference Bureau: 



Mr. Bell — Mr. President, Ladies and 

 Gentlemen : 



Twenty-four or twenty-five Associa- 

 tions are obtaining money in the Bi- 

 ennial Appropriation from the State of 

 Illinois, including the Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation. Last June the Assembly saw 

 fit in its wisdom to create in this state 

 what is known as the Legislative Ref- 

 erence Bureau. 



How does it affect your organization? 

 It may affect it if you so elect. The 

 functions of the Bureau are four, 

 mainly. 



We collect material from all over the 

 nation; we often extend our research 

 to Europe in matters that affect legis- 

 lation, political economy and sociology. 

 We gather material from newspapers. 

 We follow the meeting of the Assembly 

 and get reports of Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciations; we as an Association take in- 

 terest in eevrything that the members 

 of the Legislature may want informa- 

 tion on. We gather information from 

 the Universities and from every con- 

 ceivable source so that the members 

 of the Legislature may know what is 

 going on. 



If there is some measure that has been 

 enacted in some other state that is bene- 

 ficial to Bee-Keepers, if you would wish 

 such measure adopted in this state and 

 you would come to some member of 

 the General Assembly he would have to 

 write to other states. 



Our purpose is to have that informa- 

 tion for them so that when they come 

 here they can get the information; it 

 is already prepared and on hand for 

 their information. 



We anticipate legislation and have 

 data on hand in Springfield for that. 

 We are not the Library but we work 

 very close with the Library. We indejc 

 material in the Library. We index 



