ILLIXOIS STATE BEE-KEEPEUS ASSOCIATION'. 



67 



Iowa a large number of our most successful 

 bee-keepers using loose hanging frames, but 

 I am glad that the hive he sells, to the 

 ordinary purchaser who does not know 

 what he wants, is the Hoffman frame. I 

 have gone into the j^ards of people and I 

 have found that where they have Ioo.3e 

 hanging frames they jam them all together 

 in one side of the hives and on the other 

 side there is a wide space. The Hoffm9,n 

 frame gets away from that. Personally 

 I like the Hoffman frame because, in mov- 

 ing the hive, it is not so likely to slip to- 

 gether and cause the difficulty of having 

 to space it over again. I like a self spacing 

 frame. 



The Secretary — I just want to say a 

 word or two. If any members are here 

 who renewed their membership at the Fair, 

 they are entitled to a badge and we would 

 like to have them come and get it if the}' 

 have not done so. 



Another thing I want to saj', if you send 

 your fee to the Secretarj', do not expect 

 that j^ou will get your receipt by return 

 mail. Your Secretary is a very busy man 

 since labor, on the farm, got to be so 

 scarce, and I have been on the farm this 

 summer and am going to be in the corn- 

 field this winter, so you must consider the 

 circumstances. I often get letters asking 

 if the report is not out yet, and maybe it 

 will be in March or April, but they think 

 it is going ib- get out right away. Our 

 reporter this year is busier than she ever 

 was, she could ^lot be here and she sent 

 Miss Jacobson and T am told that she is 

 so busy for the next five weeks that we 

 cannot look for our copy for some time. I 

 think it will be March or April before we 

 begin our next report, so that the bee- 

 keepers must not be impatient. But some 

 times a man does not get his report thut^ 

 he is entitled to, like the man that sent 

 his dollar in, as I explained yesterday, and 

 not a scratch of. a pen to say where it 

 came from. After holding the dollar a - 

 year we have to find out by correspondence 

 whether he is the man or not. 



We have got to leave here to go and 

 have our picture taken, at 11 o'clock. 



The President — Just a few words in re- 

 gard to the paper that has just been read 

 and the remarks made. I readily can see 

 why Mr. Root has adopted the Hoffman 

 frame, but I cannot imagine how any 

 practical bee-keeper would use siich a con- 

 traption as that. (Laughter.) A man 

 who takes care of his apiary and his hives 

 as he should and lo6ks to details, certainly 

 would not have anything to do with that. 

 Mr. Pellett's idea that he can lift the hives 

 without tumbling the frames together: 



why, I have moved hives for miles and 

 miles on a hay rack without springs, with 

 hanging frames, never nailed them, and I 

 have never had any trouble in that way. 



Some of ^u who have visited my apiarj-, 

 last year and year before, looked inside 

 and saw conditions there. I do not see 

 how any practical bee-keeper who pro- 

 duces hone}' can get along without the 

 division board, unless his hive is so verj'' 

 small that he cannot use it to advantage, 

 but I would get rid of the hive before I 

 would get rid of the division board, get 

 something larger. You who had big crops 

 can afford to burn up the small hives and 

 get something better. I would not hesitate 

 to burn up my small hives, make a bon- 

 fire, and one season's crop would more than 

 pay for new hives. 



Now as to the spacing, I have always 

 used the inch and a half. Mr. Dadant 

 taught me 45 years ago and I have never 

 had an3'thing else, so I cannot tell of any- 

 thing different, but I know what the re- 

 sults have been with me. I know I have 

 had very little swarming. A year like last 

 year, if I did not get the supers on quick 

 enough, they swarmed, some times I had 

 them four or five high, but it is very sel- 

 dom that I have had svvkrms. It is only 

 on occasions like that, when we have an \ 

 extraordinarj' crop. Besides the spacing 

 you have fo have ventilation. I do not • 

 understand how any practical bee-keeper 

 can get along without removable bottoms. 

 I want to be able to raise up mj^ hive to 

 any height. I want,- so I can give them all 

 the under ventilation possible, according to 

 the requirements of the season, and when 

 you do that and give them plenty of super 

 room, I do not think there is any trouble 

 at all with swarming. I hardly have any. 



Mr. Dadant — I think perhaps there is 

 in the location a little difference in the 

 results. .1 think bee-keepers can make 

 money, in fact I know they can, by the 

 methods that have been advocated. In 

 the hives we are using there is a guide at 

 the bottom and we use the loose hanging 

 frames without any shoulders.' The Hoff-' 

 man frame is held so that it cannot shake 

 out. With a guide at the bottom holding • 

 the frames to keep them from shaking, 

 there is much less danger of their shifting 

 from one side to the other. That explains 

 whj" Mr. Baxter can. transport his frames 

 when most of you think he cannot do it. 

 ■ Another thing, I know we have, near the 

 river the lowlands lots of cotton-woods and ■ 

 trees producing gum, and there is a great 

 deal more propolis in the hives than in 

 places on the prairie where there are onh' 

 a few trees and white clover is plentiful ; 



