ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



71 



queens and good stores. The best bee- 

 keeper has occasionally a colony that 

 is weak, hardly enough honey, that has 

 no queen ; we go into winter quarters 

 with a certain number of colonies and 

 we don't sometimes know that the col- 

 ony is queenless, and we must figure 

 on a three or four per cent loss in that 

 way. 



I don't think you will find condi- 

 tions different from this if you go 

 among bee-keepers. There are some, 

 I suppose, like jewelers, who are keep- 

 ing bees, who look after every little 

 detail; you may 'find one^who will have 

 his colonies so uniform that there is 

 no chance of loss except big losses; 

 but as a rule every bee-keeper has 

 some worthless colonies, and, when 

 they report three per cent loss, you 

 must figure they have lost only Avorth- 

 less colonies. 



Question — What should be done with 

 sections of honey that have pollen in 

 them? Should they be put on with 

 fancy No. 1 honey? 



Doctor Phillips — The grading rules 

 put that in the cull. 



Mr. Coppin — I don't remember seeing 

 anything in the grading rules in re- 

 gard to pollen in sections. 



Question — Did any one ever sow 

 sweet clover in corn when laying by 

 corn and what was the result? 



President Baxter — Who has had any 

 experience in that? 



Mr. Hawkins — I have had experience 

 in sowing sw'eet clover on gravel beds 

 in the winter time on snow. 



Mr. Bender — I think the results 

 would show that the sweet clover 

 sown in corn would come up in ths 

 spring. 



Mr. Dadant — I think what the party 

 aims to find out is whether sweet 

 clover cannot be made to yield a crop 

 next year without losing a year. 



Mr. Coppin — They are sowing it in 

 our neighborhood sometimes. I believe 

 they have been sowing it before we 

 sowed the oats, I think in the winter 

 on thebsnow, probably. 



I asked one man this summer if he 

 hnd any sweet clover planted; he said, 

 "Yes, thirty-five acres." I said to him- 

 "Do you expect to grow a 'crop of 

 seeds or what?" And he said: "Yes, I 

 planted it for the purpose of growing 

 9, crop of seeds." I said: "I tell you 

 >vhat I think you had better do. I 



think it would be a good idea for you 

 to see Coppin and see if you could not 

 arrange for him to get some bees out 

 there." •' 



He replied: "You tell Coppin he 

 can put all the bees he wants out in 

 the sweet clover field." So I expect to 

 take bees to his place next summer 

 and to have the advantage of thirty - 

 five acres of sweet clover. 



President Baxter — We know that 

 sweet clover is sowed in wheat, rye, 

 barley or oats, now the question is — 

 can it be sown in corn? Will it grow, 

 that is the question. 



Mr. Kildow — There is no reason why 

 it could not be done. 



Mr. Hawkins — I don't believe it 

 would be a good plan. I think most 

 of the men Who raise alfalfa or sweet 

 clover will bear me out in the state- 

 ment that the more preparation we can 

 give the seed bed, alfalfa or clover, 

 the better crop you will have. 



Mr. Kildow — I want to differ. 



The better attention you give sweet 

 clover^ accordhig to my experience, 

 the worse you are off; if you sow it on 

 the roadside or^'in the field and let 

 the cattle tramp on it, it seems to be 

 the best way to do, in our neighbor- 

 hood. 



Mr. Heinzel — Two years ago, about 

 the Fourth of July, I had a pretty 

 stand of sweet clover; we had a dry 

 season that year; it bloomed the sec- 

 ond year. It came up after it w^':|S 

 sown the same year; it bloomed this 

 year. 



I got a good stand, only there was 

 not very much of it. Also sowed some 

 in. the rye this spring, after sowing 

 the rye, and got a good stand. I don't 

 know whether it would do any good in 

 corn or not. I sowed it last July a 

 year ago. 



Mr. Stone — Did you put in lime in 

 the soil? 



Mr. Heinzel — Xo, sir. 



Mr. Stone — Did you inoculate? 



Mr. Heinzel — Xo, sir. 



Mr. Hawkins — It was luck. 



Mr. Seastream — If you inoculate 

 sweet clover it will grow on lime- 

 stone. 



Mr. Heinzel — This soil overflows and 

 probably gets its inoculation that way. 



Mr. Kildow — In regard to inoculated 

 ground: Up through our country I 



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