Jan. 4, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



keeping, and mentioned that I had never seen the subject 

 toucht on in any writings, etc. Mr. Wagner then sent me 

 the first volume of the journal, in which he had explained 

 the same theory, almost word for word. I felt badly workt 

 up, and askt why he allowed me to go on making such a fool 

 of myself, etc. His reply was, that it was a great satisfac- 

 tion for him to know that we were both making the same 

 discovery, and at the same time, and each living in different 

 parts of the world — he in Germany and I in America. 



I find on reading Mr. Langstroth's book that many of 

 my articles read as if I had copied them from that book, but 

 that could not be, as I never had the book until about two 

 years ago, as a present from Mr. Dadant. 



Orange Co., Calif. 



Report of the Chicago Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



BY HERMAN F. MOORB. 



The fifth meeting of the Chicago Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion held Nov. 2, 1899, was one of the most interesting ever 

 held in Chicago. Tho the day was stormy and the attendance 

 small, every one who came was chock-full of enthusiasm 

 and ideas. 



Mr. George W. York was elected president for the en- 

 suing year, and Mrs. Stow and Mr. Moore were re-elected 

 vice-president and secretary, respectively. 



Mr. York, Mrs. Stow and Mr. Moore were appointed a 

 committee on the entertainment of the United States Bee- 

 Keepers' Association when holding their annual convention 

 in Chicago in 1900. 



The committee on resolutions reported the following : 



Resolved, That good work has been done in Chicago by 

 the associated bee-keepers in beginning prosecutions of 

 adulterators of honey. 



Resolved, That the said prosecutions should be pusht 

 vigorously until there is no fraudulent and illegal sale of 

 bogus honey in Illinois. 



Resolved, That we hereby invite all bee-keepers and 

 others interested in pure honey to subscribe to a fund for 

 the prosecution of the aforesaid offenses. 



Resolved, That we invite the public to aid us by sub- 

 mitting samples of impure honey, and reporting to the 

 Chicago Bee-Keepers" Association violations of the law. 

 George W. York, \ 

 Charles Clarke, [• Cotnmittee. 

 H. S. Jones, ) 



Mr. G. S. Crego, of this (Cook) county, not being able to 

 be present, the secretary read his paper, as follows : 



Wintering Bees in Nortliem Illinois. 



As I have been askt to present this subject before the 

 Association for discussion, I will briefly describe the method 

 which, so far, has carried my bees thru with the loss of only 

 one colony in four winters. 



Not having cellar-room for storing bees, I have adopted 

 the following scheme for taking care of them on the sum- 

 mer stands : Packing-cases are provided, in size some 

 three inches larger on all sides than the hives they are to 

 cover, a slot sawed in the front extending clear across the 

 hive. The passage-way between the cases and hive is care- 

 fully bridged over to allow the bees to go and come freely. 

 The space between the hive and case is closely packt with 

 dry leaves raked up on the lawn. In preparing the hives 

 for packing, I remove the cover and replace it with a pine 

 board % inch in thickness, thru which a few half-inch holes 

 have been bored for convenience in fall or spring feeding. 

 These holes are carefully covered with a small piece of thin 

 board at packing-time, then an empty super placed on the 

 board and packt as closely as possible with leaves, in fact, 

 heapt up and running over, and the regular hive-cover laid 

 loosely on top. This thin pine cover next to the frames 

 seems to act as a free conductor to the moisture of the clus- 

 ter while conserving the heat of the hive very fully. The 

 hand thrust into the leaves in the super in cold weather can 

 instantly locate the cluster by the slight moisture and 

 warmth of the leaves. 



When the entire hive, super and all, has been closely 



packt, a sloping cover of boards covered with tarred roofing- 

 paper is fitted over all, and the bees are left to enjoy their 

 stores in peace. 



So much for out-door wintering. 



But I have one colony which has been kept in the base- 

 ment of my house for three winters, and which has been 

 mentioned in the American Bee Journal once or twice. This 

 colony, kept in a temperature which never approaches frost, 

 and which is frequently maintained at 70 degrees for days 

 at a time, has been the most profitable of any colony in the 

 yard. The bees seem to keep up more or less breeding 

 nearly all winter, inspection on a warm day early in March 

 showing large patches of sealed brood, and, by the time the 

 soft maple and elm blossoms are out, the hive is boiling 

 over with bees. 



This colony has never attempted to swarm, and has not 

 yielded less than ISO sections of honey any summer since 

 being placed in the basement. The hive is located near a 

 west window, thru the bottom rail of which a slot is cut to 

 allow the bees to fly whenever the weather will permit, and 

 which is taken out entirely as soon as warm weather has 

 come-to stay. It is probable that the quality of the queen 

 is largely responsible for the large yields from this colony, 

 but I am inclined to give a large share of the credit to the 

 fact that the bees are always warm — very warm — in winter, 

 and reasonably cool during the hot weather of summer. The 

 consumption of stores is very small, as they are ready to 

 store surplus honey as soon as the dandelions are out plen- 

 tifully, having had cases of sections ready to remove as 

 early as June 20. 



My hives are all dovetailed 10-frames, and, for my 

 locality, are hardly large enough. The only colony I have 

 ever lost was last winter — one which I attempted to carry 

 thru in a 2-story 8- frame hive, the bees being all dead in the 

 spring with at least 30 pounds of sealed honey left in the 

 hive. No more 8-frame hives for me, thank you. 



My success in wintering one colony in a warm place 

 has given me an idea which I hope some time to put into 

 practice. I hope to construct one or more greenhouses, and 

 when I do I shall make a bee-repository under at least one 

 of them, placing the hives about level with the surface of 

 the ground, each hive being connected with the outer air 

 by a bridged passage-way, and the interior of the reposi- 

 tory being heated with one or more runs of hot-water pipes. 

 It may not work successfully, but at present I believe it 

 will. G. S. Crego. 



A very interesting discussion followed the reading of 

 Mr. Crego's paper, in which all present participated. Nearly 

 three hours was devoted to this topic, and justly so, for 

 wintering our bees troubles us more than all else. 



A number of those present took lunch at the Briggs 

 House cafe, where they divided their time between ideas 

 and food products. 



In the afternoon the following paper by W. C. Lyman, 

 of Dupage Co., 111., was read and discust : 



The Best Hive for Northern Illinois. 



That hive is best which will produce the best results in 

 honey and the health of the bees, and which is also conven- 

 ient for manipulation. 



Since honey in the flowers must precede honey in the 

 hive, it follows that the apiarist must first know the re- 

 sources of his location thoroly in order to know what course 

 of management to pursue during the season. The manage- 

 ment to be given applies principally to the brood-chamber, 

 for the apiarist can select that form of super which suits 

 him best, either for comb or extracted honey, without any 

 material difference in regard to the quantity or quality of 

 honey obtained, except that separators in some form should 

 be used for comb honey. 



The brood-chamber should be large enough to contain 

 honey to carry the bees thru the winter and spring without 

 having to fuss with or feed them in the spring. One of 10- 

 Langstroth-frame capacity will not be too large, but my 

 experience leads me to think that one of 10-Langstroth- 

 frame capacity, and yet not wider or longer than an 8- 

 Langstroth-frame, but deeper, is better than the 10-frame 

 Langstroth hive. This is partly because the supers of an 

 8-frame Langstroth hive are full large enough to practice 

 the tiering-up method to the best advantage. 



I have never been able to obtain better results than 

 where the bees are allowed to swarm once ; but I want to 

 hive the swarms in brood-chaiiibers of about half the capac- 

 ity of those from which they issued, until the close of the 

 white honey harvest, at which time I would give them the 

 same amount of room they had in the spring, and run them 



