228 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 24. 19C4. 



and it is a question whether it is injurious or not to the 

 health. The general opinion, I believe, is that it is, but the 

 manufacturers are forcing it on to you all the time. You 

 can hardly get pure cider vinegar made by fermentation, 

 and that's the advantage of honey-vinegar. 



Mr. Johnson — The matter of fermentation is by ferments 

 and germs, and it is the same way if you can a jar of fruit. 

 If no air gets into the jar it is impossible, but as soon as a 

 little air gets into the jar, fermentation takes place, because it 

 is the same as the oxygen that gets into the barrel. Tha 

 more surface you have the more microbes you get, and they 

 could be at work on that and fermentation would take place 

 much faster, and, besides, the degree of 98 Fahrenheit is the 

 •favorable degree for any kind of fermentation. 



Mr. Meredith — I would like to say that the cheap vine-- 

 gar, or white wine, as it is generally called, is given the 

 name of distilled, and I also understand that the pure grades 

 of malt vinegar are worth 40 cents, and they are also dis- 

 tilled, so that if they can manufacture one and both by the 

 same process — fermentation — why can't they by some other 

 means? 



Mr. Wheeler — One word of warning to you people. I 

 have used, I suppose, a barrel of honey trying to make vine- 

 gar, and I have taken the recipes I have read in the bee- 

 papers for making that vinegar, and I have wasted my honey. 

 If you want to try it, try it on a small scale, and find out 

 what you can do. 



Mr. Meredith — I accidentally made a gallon of vinegar 

 superior to any I ever had, and I tried making a quantity 

 and I couldn't get it as good. I sent it over to my brother- 

 in-law and he thought it was very good sour wine. 



Mrs. Stowe — Can you make vinegar with sour honey? 



Dr. Miller — Sure; it is that much on the way. 



Pres. York — I am sure this is the largest closing session 

 of the Chicago Northwestern Bee-keepers' Association I 

 have ever seen. I want to congratulate you on what I 

 think has been a successful meeting. It has been on ac- 

 count of the interest you have taken in it, and the prompt- 

 ness with which you have taken up the questions. I thank 

 you all for your courtesy in bearing with me as President. 

 I have tried to do my best, and it seems that everything 

 has worked so that we have had a grand time. I trust you 

 all feel that way. We now stand adjourned until the call 

 of the Executive Committee, probably in a year from now. 

 (The End.) 



The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



BY JA8. A. STONE, SEC. 



(Continued from page 198.) 

 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. 



The chairman of the Committee on Resolutions reported 

 the following resolutions : 



Whereas, The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 was instrumental in securing a foul brood law for the benefit 

 of th(! bee-keepers of the State at the last session of the Gen- 

 eral Assembly ; and, 



Whereas, Our sister associations, and especially the 

 Chicago-Northwestern, were very helpful in obtaining the 

 same ; and. 



Whereas, We believe that greater benefits will result to 

 members of the different associations of the State by a union 

 of the several societies ; therefore, be it 



Resolved, That members of other bee-keepers' organiza- 

 tions of the State be allowed membership in the State associa- 

 tion, through their secretaries, upon payment of 25 cents per 

 member. 



The above was signed by the chairman of the committee, 

 one member absent, and the third moved that it be laid over 

 to the next annual meeting, which motion prevailed. 



REPORT or FOUL BROOD INSPECTOR. 



Mr. Becker— We would like to hear a report from our 

 foul brood inspector. 



Mr. Smith— I traveled 3000 miles, and visited 30 api- 

 aries. Bee-keepers in the north part of the State all have the 

 large Danzenbaker hives ; in the south part of the State they 

 have old-fashioned hives, but they all take the American Jiee 

 Ooarnal. In the north part they raise a great many cucum- 

 bers, lots of whit3 and sweet clover, among the shaly hills. 



I ran across one man who had about 100 colonies of bees in 

 cracker-bo.\es, and all kinds of traps for his bees. He had 

 bees and honey enough to bo worth at least $1000, and I ven- 

 ture he could not get $1(J0 worth into shape for market. He 

 had one barrel that had been used to pick chickens in. This 

 man was in the central part of the State, and he did not take 

 a bee-paper, nor could he be induced to join any association. 



PROVIDING BEE-SUPPLIES A YEAR IN ADVANCE. 



Mr. Becker — Is it best to provide a year beforehand for 

 bee-supplies ? 



Mr. Baxter — It is not a wise plan to provide beforehand 

 for your bees unless a prospect for honey offers. I will pro- 

 vide for next year, and make arrangements for a big honey 

 crop, till I see white clover killed in the spring. I have never 

 seen, till this year, the clover yield with a northwest, north, 

 or northeast wind. This year the bees stored it with all 

 kinds of winds. 



TAKING OFF COMB HONET. 



Mr. Becker — When is the proper time to take off comb 

 honey ? 



Mr. Crim — I take it off as soon as filled, and put it up- 

 stairs in a warm, dry room, tiered up. 



Mr. Becker — That will do in this part of the country, but 

 up on the Illinois River the moths seem to be in it when it is 

 taken off. 



REQUEENING COLONIES. 



Mr. Miller — How shall we requeen our colonies ? 

 Pres. Smith — When possible requeen from your own best 

 queens. If you have none good enough be sure to send to 



.J. Q. SMITH, President. 



some bee-keeper that is responsible. One year I had 30 

 queens from a queen-breeder, got foul brood, and others who 

 had queens from the same place also got it. 



GETTING SWEET CLOVER SEED STARTED. 



Mr. Dowdy — How is the best way to get sweet clover seed 

 started ? 



Geo. Poindexter — The best way I have ever tried is to 

 skim off the surface of the ground where sweet clover has 

 seeded, and scatter it where you want it to grow. Any time 

 in the fall of the year. 



Secretary Stone made a statement of what Prof. Hopkins, 

 of the Illinois University, said at the Sangamon County Farm- 

 ers' Institute, in Mechanicsburg, in October last. He said : 

 "Three-fourths of the air being nitrogen made 12 pounds of 

 same to every square inch of the earth's surface. He told the 

 boys if they would figure that up they would find the value 

 of the nitrogen about one acre of ground to be a great many 

 millions of dollars. As nitrogen is the i)rincipal element that 

 enters into all the plant food, the great source of wealth is to 

 find out the way to get this nitrogen out of the air into the 

 soil. It has been discovered"that leguminous plants have 

 bacteria living on their roots.Jtlia't' f<'^'<l upon and bring the 



