AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



249 



Illinois Bee-Keepers are par- 

 ticularly interested in the following 

 circular issued by the efficient Secretary 

 of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation : 

 To Bee-Keepcrs of Illinois : 



You are especially interested in the 

 completeness and character of the infor- 

 mation to be published in the First 

 Annual Report of the Illinois State Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, now in course of 

 preparation. 



It is important that the bee-keepers 

 residing in all portions of the State, 

 furnish information concerning this in- 

 dustry that will be of value and interest 

 to the readers of the report, which will 

 contain papers by prominent authorities 

 on various subjects relating to the 

 apiary. 



Your are respectfully requested at 

 your earliest convenience, to send an- 

 swers to the questions following. Please 

 send replies on foolscap paper, written 

 on one side, and write your name and 

 post-ofQce address so plainly that no 

 mistake can be made, and be kind 

 enough to give the number of the ques- 

 tion at the beginning of each answer. 



You are also respectfully requested to 

 send the names and addresses of all the 

 bee-keepers in your county to the un- 

 dersigned. Jas. a. Stone, Sec. 



Br^dfordton, Ills., Jan. 30, 1892. 



1. How many years have you kept 

 bees? 



2. Do you make bee-keeping a spe- 

 cialty ? If not, what else do you 

 follow ? 



3. How many colonies, on an average, 

 have you kept each year ? 



4. Do you use box or movable- frame 

 hives ? 



5. If you use the latter, what are the 

 dimensions of the frame, and how 

 many to the hive ? 



6. Do you work your bees for comb or 

 extracted honey. 



7. If for both, please give the propor- 

 tion of each. 



8. In working for comb-honey, what 

 sized sections do you use ? 



9. Do you use either wood or metal 

 separators ; and if so, which do you 

 prefer ? 



10. What are your chief resources for 

 honey ? 



11. How many pounds of comb-honey 

 ^ have you produced from each col- 

 ony, on an average. Spring count, 

 each year, during your experience 

 in bee-keeping ? 



12. Ditto of extracted honey ? 



13. Do you sell your honey at home or 

 in foreign markets? 



14. What has been the average increase 

 of the colonies run for comb-honey? 



15. Ditto of the colonies run for ex- 

 tracted-honey ? 



16. What has been the average price 

 you have received fqi- comb-honey ? 



17. Ditto for extracted-honey ? 



18. Will bees store honey in sections 

 with separators as readily as with- 

 out? 



19. Have you had any experience with 

 Alsike clover, alfalfa, or any other 

 plants specially cultivated, and do 

 you consider them good honey 

 plants ? 



20. Do bees in your locality work to any 

 extent on red clover ? 



21? If so, what conditions are most 

 favorable for getting honey from 

 that plant in paying quantities ? 



22. What strain or strains of bees have 

 you, and which is your preference? 



23. Please give reason for prefei'ence. 



24. Do you winter your bees in the cel- 

 lar, or upon the summer stands ? 



25. In either instance, what per cent, 

 of loss do you sustain ? 



26. In your locality what do you con- 

 sider the proper time, on an aver- 

 age, for putting bees in the cellar ? 



27. Ditto for taking them out? 



28. Do you know of any foul-brood in 

 your locality? 



29. Have you ever suffered any loss 

 from the poisonous spraying of fruit 

 trees ? 



30. If so, what time was the spraying 

 done? 



31. In your home apiary, to get the 

 greatest profit, averaging one year 

 with another, what is the greatest 

 number of colonies you think it 

 advisable to keep ? 



32. How can exhibits of honey and api- 

 arian appliances at County and 

 State fairs be managed to advance 

 the interests of bee-keeping ? 



33. Miscellaneous remarks. 



[Under this head you are kindly re- 

 quested to make such suggestions as 

 will tend to increase the interest in bee- 

 keeping, and promote the industry in 

 Illinois.] 



The answers to the foregoing ques- 

 tions are important, in order to give the 

 industry its proper status and influence, 

 and we hope that each Illinois reader 

 will sit down as soon as this is read, and 

 answer each question by number as 



