ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



89 



about honey being taught in the Nor- 

 mal Schools at Charleston, 111. 



President Baxter — All in favor of 

 the motion, say Aye. 

 Motion carried. 



President Baxter — It is so ordered; 

 a committee will be- appointed. 



Question — What is the better of the 

 £wo, wood or tin separators? 



Mr. Bender — Wood, certainly; it is 

 the cheaper and I think it is the bet- 

 ter. 



Mr. Beaver — I have used galvanized 

 iron for the last 15 years. I have used 

 wood; I prefer the galvanized iron; 

 it is high to start with but I never 

 have a break or have it wear out; the 

 bees never eat holes in it as quite 

 often occurs with wood separators. 



President Baxter — Would tin be as 

 good as galvanized iron? 



Mr. Beaver — It is aptrto get out of 

 shape. ; 



Doctor Baxter — I had two supers, 

 one wood and one tin; the one with 

 wood above the tin and it was filled 

 and finished first; the one with the tin 

 seemed to be too cold for them; they 

 could not hang on to it. 



Mr. Dadant — Tin for the bees to 

 climb on is worse than glass. 



Mr. Diebold — I am the one who 

 asked the question. I spoke to some 

 one about this and he said I was 

 twenty years behind time when I 

 spoke of tin. 



I know that tin has been recom- 

 mended by some Convention gather- 

 ings, largely preferring tin to wood. 

 I have used tin and I have used wood 

 and I prefer the tin; the bees will 

 get to the section all right without 

 climbing on the tin very much. 



Question: How many colonies do 

 you think it profitable to keep in one 

 location in this state? 



A member — Seventy-five. 



Mr. Kildow — It would be well 

 enough to state the locality first. 



President Baxter — The man who 

 asked the question could state the 

 localitj-; it all depends upon locality. 



Mr. Kildow — In our state at one 

 time you might keep a dozen very 

 profitably and, the next j-ear, one hun- 

 dred. 



Mr. Bender— An average of opinion 

 of this Convention, what they think is 

 the case. 



Mr. Seastream — I tried that ques- 

 tion several times for my own bene- 

 fit, in several places. For myself, it 

 seems like, 75; 70 or 75 in most any 

 place that I have tried, would about 

 suit; would be right. Not over 75 

 hives. 



Mrs. Kildow — It depends a great deal 

 upon how many your neighbors have. 



Mr. Seastream — I don't count on 

 neighbors. 



Mr. Hawkins — You would count 

 them when they get American foul 

 brood, 



Mr. Pyles — It depends entirely upon 

 locality; some places a dozen would be 

 as much as could be kept any year 

 profitably; and, other places, 200 could 

 be profitably kept; it depends on lo- 

 cation most years. 



I am sure that Mr. Kildow will bear 

 me out: That this man we were talk- 

 ing of, north of us — he keeps from 160 

 to 200 in the same locality every year 

 and it is always a profitable matter 

 with him every year — and some years 

 quite profitable. •., 



Now I would hardly know another 

 place in the state of Illinois where it 

 is quite as good as that, yet, in any 

 of the white clover districts where 

 there is growing a quantity of sweet 

 clover, 200 is not too much. 



Mr. Diebold — In localities where it is 

 situated along a large stream, good 

 timber, good low land, and plenty of 

 sweet clover, I think 100 or 200 col- 

 onies would not be out of the way in 

 an ordinary season. In dry years, and 

 away from any stream or timber, why, 

 very few colonies would exist, profit- 

 ably. 



President Baxter — You would prob- 

 ably qualify that by saying, not too 

 large rivers, along the Mississippi 

 would not do at all. 



Mr. Diebold — Low lands where you 

 are back from the river a mile or 

 two. 



President Baxter — I have been hav- 

 ing large apiaries now for a number 

 of years, for about thirty-five years, 

 quite a number of them, and in our 

 locality, Hancock County, where w^e 

 have to depend solely on sweet clover 

 and sometimes on heartsease, why, 

 from 50 to 75 colonies in one location 

 on the average is about right, al- 

 though I have seen seasons when 200 

 would not overstock the region. 



If you had conditions such as Mr. 



