ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPEItS ASSOCIATIOX. 



51 



and we would like to have him tell us 

 something about what the plans are. 



Mr. Erbaugh — LacSes and Gentlemen: 

 Your President made a mistake. I am 

 not from the State Department, but from 

 the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. I was sent here as an emergency 

 field agent in bee-keeping. At the time of 

 the declaration of war by our country upon 

 Germany last spring, there came also 

 increased cooperation for the furthering of 

 agricultural pursuits, making an effort to 

 cope with the food situation. Of course 

 you have heard something about it through 

 ]\Ir. Root and Mr. Pellett M-ho went to 

 Washington and with their help we suc- 

 ceeded in getting an increased appropria- 

 tion. I am the result or one of them and 

 this is in addition to the inspection pro- 

 vided for by the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. Thej' sent me here to do 

 what r could in your State to help you out 

 in this proposition. I know something 

 about the condition of your flow and 

 conditions for the bee-keeping industry in 

 the State, coming from a neighboring 

 state, the state of Indiana and conditions 

 are similar, although not identical. I 

 know, also, that probably, as I have heard 

 stated before, the bee-keeping industrj' 

 is the most inefficient industrj"^ or occupa- 

 tion that one can think of or name. I 

 would shudder to think of what would 

 happen to the majority of our business 

 houses if they used no better business 

 principles, or no better manipulation or 

 procedure than those of the average bee- 

 keeper with his equipment. There cer- 

 tainly would be some cases of bankruptcy 

 in our financial system. 



There is a great deal of opportunity for 

 an inspection man when you consider the 

 thing along that line. The census reports 

 for Illinois I believe give you about 

 155,800 colonies. That is wrong. That 

 considers farmers onlj-. We have to take 

 into consideration the little fellow in the 

 town. It is probably nearer 170,000 

 colonies. 



The President — Double that. 



Mr. Erbaugh — ^Well, I believ^C' you are 

 right. Your report also shows that those 

 are averaging less than 10 pounds a colony 

 surplus a year; not making expenses, if 

 you consider j'our investment, consider the 

 time you spend, and so on. A man that has 

 been keeping bees or has studied a little, 

 can readily see the possibility of an increase 

 to at least 50 pounds on an ayerage per 

 colony per year. President Baxter would 

 laugh to speak of averaging only 50 pounds 

 a year, but we cannot all do what he can do. , 

 But we can produce at least 50 pounds. 



.It is not necessary to have years and years 

 of experience, although it is a most valuable 

 thing, but a young fellow can start out. It 

 is a good thing to study this winter, have 

 some plans in your head for next spring's 

 work. I would be very much interested to 

 find out how many people in this audience 

 really protect their bees. How many 

 winter in the cellar, will j'ou hold up your 

 hands?. That is encouraging. 



The Secretary— I have done it but quit. 



j\Ir. Erbaugh — How manj' winter out- 

 side and pack? Well, that helps. How 

 many winter outside and leave them in 

 single wall hives? What do you do it for? 

 Do you think it is the best idea? 



The President — Perfectly right and per- 

 fectly sane and safe, if you do it right. 



INIr. Erbaugh — How do you do it? 



The President — I protect the outside of 

 the hive with a foot of forest leaves, leaves 

 in the cap, leaves on the outside held in 

 place with a fence. Ladies and gentlemen 

 I want to make a few remarks to set 

 myself right. I claim to be a pupil of 

 Charles Dadant, whom I knew intimately 

 for forty years before he died. If you will 

 look over the reports of the National Bee- 

 Keepers Association, the North Western 

 Bee-Keepers Association and other asso- 

 ciations, you will see for the last forty 

 years I have been advocating certain thing.? 

 for which people made fun of me. These 

 things were advocated by Mr. Dadant. 

 One thing was the large hive. How many 

 tilts have I had with bee-keepers at Chi- 

 cago and other places, about the Dadant 

 hive, the shallow hive and the Langstroth 

 hive. I advocated a larger hive than the 

 Langstroth. As early as 18S3 I advocated 

 the absorbent packing on top of the col- 

 onies. They made fun of me, they said a 

 sealed cover was much better. I have been 

 trying it, I never knew what it meant 

 before, t had colonies star\^ed to death, 

 with a pane of ice as thick as a pane of 

 glass over the honey. But I never had 

 that trouble where I packed them properh\ 

 I used the chaff hive made by the late Mr. 

 Dadant, four inches of chaff. These hives 

 invariably winter ver^' well with the 

 absorbent packing on the top. I use a 

 mat made of slough grass laid over the 

 frames with a little stick of wood laid 

 across under it, so that when they go to the 

 top they can go from one frame to the 

 other very successfully. Then my caps 

 are not shallow or flat like they are in 

 other hives, they give about six inches 

 space. Now, after I have laid this mat 

 over the combs, I fill that cap full of dry 

 forest leaves and I invert it right on top 

 of this mat. I found out that in the 



