ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATjpN 



61 



the loss was four colonies out of 80; 

 in the country I had twelve colonies left 

 out of 65 in one place and 75 in an- 

 other; and when I examined those bees 

 there was a sheet of ice on both sides 

 of the frame; they had plenty of honey 

 but could not get at it. Now where; this 

 - moisture could escape and be absorbed 

 by the leaves, or go out of -the hive 

 above, the bees wintered well; where 

 . it could not they all died. 



Those are not exceptions; that is the 

 rule. 



I have had that occur since and I am 

 satibfied that where you have good 

 honey, where your bees are strong, es- 

 pecially in young bees, and are proper- 

 ly packed so that they will keep .dry 

 and keep up a certain amount of neces- 

 sary heat required, they will winter 

 well. 



If I have a very strong colony of bees 

 I will leave ten frames; if weaker, 

 eight, six, down to five, and have had 

 five frames go through the winter just 

 as well as ten. I put in a division 

 board and the bees are well covered. 



Mr. Diebold— In 1884-85 the results 



were most disastrous; more disastrous 



f than any year I have ever known; 



probably the greatest losses up to that 



time or since that time. 



Mr. Bowen — This spring my bees 

 came out of winter quarters with too 

 much honey, if there is such a thing. 

 The outside combs are always ftill and 

 I think that probably helps to insulate; 

 I always leave a chance for this cross- 

 ventilation over the frames. I keep the 

 cloth down tight, solid, and keep a 

 board over that. 



President Baxter— Throughout ■Illi- 

 nois last fall, and probably the whole 

 of the Mississippi Valley, many colonies 

 bf bees did not makg^enough to winter 

 on until half of them had to be fed, 

 but where they made plenty of stores 

 to be wintered on they also brought up 

 a lot of young bees . and were strong 

 and went into winter quarters in good 

 shape. There is a big difference'wheth- 

 er they have to be fed for the winter 

 > or get natural stores. 



Mr. Bowen — I started out by saying 

 a while ago my bees had plenty of 

 honey; for that reason I may have got- 

 ■ ten through better than some of those 

 would have gotten through tliat had 

 their bees packed. Last year it so 

 happened that our bees in our out 



apiary put up more honey per colony 

 than any bees iijithe state. 



Mr. Hawki'hs^I would like to ask: 

 He spoke of those five frame colonies 

 going through vt-fte winter well; would 

 you think that, if you had combs of 

 honey on hand, combs of honey would 

 be as good insulation as to fill up with, 

 leaves ? * 



President gaj^ter — Yes. 



The time is getting late and we have 

 about finished our program for this 

 afternoon; what is your further pleas- 

 ure ? 



Mr. Stone — There is one thing that 

 is not on the program, and that is the 

 election of officers. 



President Baxter — "We have' a paper 

 from Mr. France. Doctor Baxter, AVill 

 you please read it? 



Platteville, Thanksgiving Evening, 

 November 25.* 

 Brother J. A. Stone: 



I am sorry at the last moment to 

 find it impossible to be with "The 

 Boys" and not time now to properly 

 prepare a paper, but will just outline: 



As a large majority of bee-keepers' 

 are farmers or . interested in same, I 

 wish to outline a subject which to me 

 is of great importance in bee-keeping. 



YOUNG QUEENS FROM BEST OF 

 STOCK. 



What would you think of me as a 

 farmer if I never changed the head of 

 my farm stock, be it horses, cattle, 

 sheep or hogs? Kept same sire so long 

 as he lived, then his son to cross with 

 his own relation. We would soon find 

 lack of vitality, sickness and scrub 

 stock. 



I dare say this condition has been 

 the true situation of many bee-keepers, 

 and, dare I say, of some at the Con- 

 vention? 



I have been keeping careful records 

 of the apiaries with European foul 

 brood, and to a great extent this in- 

 breeding has been going on for genera- 

 tions. 



In an apiary where exact age of each 

 queen is kept, I fipd no disease, hives 

 over-running with jtoung bees in the 

 fall, which have the energy to main- 

 tain heat when needed during the win- 

 ter; also this apiary, which is re- 

 (iieened largely every summer, has no 

 spring dwindling, but has young hatched 

 bees in abundance, are the hives 

 which are full of brood in early spring, 

 first to prepare for swarming, and the 



