ILLIXOIS STATE BEE-KEEPEES ASSOCIATION. 



97 



weather is required, but plenty of mois- 

 ture. Clover on the other hand requires 

 warm weather. When it is so hot you can't 

 sleep, it is good clover weather. You want 

 an abundance of moisture to ma,ke a 

 splendid growth, and then get the kind of 

 weather we need, so hot we can hardly 

 sleep for the heat. If you can get that 

 kind of weather you will know exactly what 

 the prospect is. So far as the rest of it 

 goes, I am not so sure about it. Bee- 

 keepers tell me that the rlover requires one 

 year's growth to start. The next season 

 of growth is the first season for honey. 

 You will not get any honey the first season, 

 but the next season you get the honey. I 

 believe that is generally true. It is that 

 way with red clover, because the seed only 

 commences the second year. That would 

 be the first year that the nectar would be 

 ■feecreted in that case. 



I would like to say something in regard 

 to cellar wintering and outdoor wintering, 

 and, by the way, I am tempted to say so 

 now, if you will permit me. It is like 

 the weather prophet, it is purely a guess, 

 and one's guess is as good as another's. 

 And I think most of us bee-keepers are 

 no different from other people — we guess. 

 We are excusable for those things, but at 

 the same time the interesting thing to me 

 is to use some of these things, if possible. 



It is human nature that scientific facts 

 are more interesting than fiction. We all 

 know a great deal about fiction, we know 

 how interesting it is. The most wonderful 

 thing is that some of those scientific facts 

 are far above anything in the line of fiction; 

 and if Di-. Phillips' experiments at Wash- 

 ington of late years are of any value, that 

 surely should throw a great deal of new 

 light on this subject of wintering bees. Dr. 

 Phillips maintained that bees do not hiber- 

 nate. Of course, if bees hibernate like the 

 bear or woodchuck, or anything of that 

 kind, that is different; if the bee simply 

 hibernates and comes out in the spring 

 like the woodchuck or bear, fat or lean, 

 but they come out. Now, if Dr. Phillips 

 is correct — Dr. Phillips has said that bees 

 do not hibernate. I said to him, up in 

 Wisconsin, once, "I want to find out a 

 little more," and I took the ground, and 

 I had Mr. Root back of me, and other 

 great bee-keepers, that bees hibernate, 

 and Dr. Phillips maintained that he would 

 convince Mr. Root that they did not. If 

 you go up through Wisconsin, you know 

 that is a gi-eat dairy state, you know the 

 country and what it is up there, a lot of 

 fine bams and fine buildings; if there is 

 anything to those things, it means that the 



— 7 B A 



farmers find it important to protect their 

 stock, and I don't think you will convince 

 anj'body that they should do that differ- 

 ently. If that is correct, the bee nature is 

 not different from that of any other live 

 stock. If bees are alive and active all win- 

 ter, they have either got to have a great 

 de.nl of food to maintain warmth and a 

 warm condition, either that or they are 

 going to suffer terribly. 



Some of us that know pioneer conditions 

 in this country know that a great deal of 

 fine stock at one time was wintered out of 

 doors, and done successfully, simply 

 because the feed was abundant, but that 

 is not the condition to-day, and for that 

 reason in the case of live stock the farmers 

 see the importance of protecting the stock, 

 and expecially the cattle, keeping them 

 warm. Now, if that is true with live stock, 

 isn't it equally important that we should 

 protect our bee hives? You all readily 

 understand that I am a cellar winterer, 

 i know they can be wintered out of doors. 

 I have tried it, but if I am going to winter 

 out of doors I will have to provide my bees 

 with a great deal of honey. Some bee- 

 keepers maintain that it takes twice as 

 much honey to winter them out of doors as 

 it does in a cellar. Assuming that I can 

 winter my one hundred colonies in the 

 cellar for fifteen pounds, I have to have 

 at least thirty pounds to winter them 

 outdoors. 



Some of you know what a little extra 

 winter clothing will mean to you, and how 

 you suffer sometimes. If the bee is of a live 

 nature as we are, you can readily see that 

 while they may be able to stand 6old 

 weather they no doubt suffer greatly, 

 and we therefore ought to protect them. 



Mr. Stewart — Mr. President, I used 

 to think I knew how to pack bees as 

 well as the average run of peotile; I 

 thought I had a cellar, and I think I have 

 yet, about as good as the average run, but 

 I frequently go out among the farmers 

 and buy bees in the spring. When I see 

 how they are wintered and the condition 

 in which they come out, I have made up 

 my mind that I know darned little about 

 v/intering bees, and I don't know of a 

 man that does (laughter). 



The President — I have always been in 

 favor of cellar wintering and winter mj' 

 bees that way entirely. I don't like the 

 outdoor methods. My losses are very 

 small, averaging about one-half of one per 

 cent per year. A very important thing 

 in wintering is to see that they are in proper 

 condition beforehand. See that there are 

 plentj"^ of stores, plenty of bees, and a good 



