Aug. 3. 190S 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



545 



want to ask this fall for either five or ten thousand dollars. 

 In this State there are 102 counties. The State, in its cen- 

 sus, has iormally said that there are 35,000 bee-keepers in 

 Illinois. If there were inspectors enough to cover that 

 ground it would take 50 to 60 working six months. Vou 

 can see how far five or ten thousand dollars would go. I 

 had a conversation with the Hon. Mr. Austin, who got our 

 last Bill for us, and he saw the point; he saw a thousand 

 dollars wasn't a beginning for this great State of 102 coun- 

 ties with that number of bee-keepers. So that we want 

 tjiis fall $5,000 from the Legislature to spend in the in- 

 terests of the bee-keepers in this State, and it is a question 

 of judgment whether to ask for $10,000 and give them a 

 chance to cut it in two, or ask outright for the $5,000 we 

 want. . If you don't ask for anything you won't get any- 

 thing, and in order to get anything we must have the help 

 of all the bee-keepers in the State. I would like to hear 

 from Mr. Kannenberg, who is a member of this committee, 

 and has some things to say. 



Mr. Kannenberg — I am one of the committee and we 

 did pretty good work last year. I do not know whether we 

 can do it this year or not. But one thing I think I must 

 say, if we want to strive for that law we must have a 

 compulsory clause in it or else it is no good to us what- 

 ever. 



Dr. Miller — Hear, hear. 



Mr. Kannenberg — That is right. Doctor. We v.ant 

 about $10,000, that is about the only thing; and they will 

 give us only half, the same as in damage suits, if the bee- 

 keepers don't join in with us; I think we won't get much 

 out of it if they don't help us the way they did last year. 

 Last year I wrote hundreds of letters to all the Senators ; 

 I hope it did some good. As far as I know, the Hon, Mr. 

 Austin IS again elected to the Legislature with a large ma- 

 jority. I have not spoken to him this year, personally, be- 

 cause he is on his honey-moon trip. As soon as he comes 

 back I am going to speak to him. 



Mr. Wheeler — I would like to ask who the other Com- 

 mittee man is? 



Pres. York — Mr. Clarke, I think was the other member 

 of the Committee, but he has not served on the committee 

 at all. 



Mr. Wheeler — I would like to ask how manv colonies 

 of bees Mr. Kannenberg has? 



Mr. Kannenberg — 82. 



Mr. Wheeler — How many has Mr. Moore? 



Mr. Moore — I have never kept a large number; I have 

 less than 35 now. My family keeps about 400. 



Mr. Wheeler — What I was getting at was, we want rep- 

 resentative bee-keepers on this committee ; we want people 

 interested, and that have thousands of dollars invested. 



Dr. Miller — I have more bees than Mr. Moore and I 

 don't believe that I could influence Mr. Austin as much as 

 he has done. A man may represent a body of people with- 

 out himself being one of those people. Possibly it would 

 have its weight; at the same time if he can present the 

 thing the right way that is more than to say he has the 

 bees. 



Mr. Colburn — A man has a thousand colonies of bees 

 and he goes to our Legislature and he says, I want this and 

 that, and the fellows say, you are selfish. If I have but 

 very few bees and I go there for somebody else it will be 

 two to one I will get what I ask. 



Mr. Whitney — My experience with politicians is that 

 the man who has some influence in the community is the 

 man who will get some help from the Legislature, not the 

 man who may possess perhaps a thousand colonies of bees, 

 or any other interest that he may represent. I know in- 

 dividuals who haven't a single colony of bees that I think 

 would make good committeemen for that very purpose. It 

 seems to me the point is well taken. 



Mr. Becker— On behalf of Mr. Moore I will say that 

 he is tlie right man in the right place. I have had r-ome 

 experience with Mr. Moore in the Legislature. Mr. Smith 

 and I were before the Legislature when they tried to get 

 our law passed and I know what efforts Mr. Moore made 

 in that direction, and we never left until we had the guar- 

 antee that the law would be passed, as far as the Committee 

 on Appropriations goes. We couldn't wait until the Hmise 

 debated on it and the Senate, but we had the promise ofthe 

 Committee; and they passed it in the House and in the Sen- 

 ate before they left. 



Mr. Wheeler — I don't like to be misunderstood. It 

 wasn't in regard to getting that appropriation I was speak- 

 ing, and getting the Bill through; it was in regard to ths 



committee's work afterwards. You must not lose sight of 

 the fact that people are interested that have money invested, 

 and it must be looked into a little and we must see that we 

 do not take men who are not interested financially in bee- 

 keeping and who are not interested in the welfare of bee- 

 keeping. 



Pres. York — As I understand it, it does not make any 

 difference after the law is secured. This committee has 

 nothing further to do. The inspector is then appointed on 

 the recommendation of the State Association, and the money 

 is turned over to the State Association. 



Dr. Miller — I move that the report be accepted and the 

 committee continued. 



Mr. Smith — Has that vacancy been filled on that com- 

 mittee? 



Pres. York — Not yet. 



Mr. Smith moved, which motion was duly seconded, 

 that the chair fill the vacancy. 



Pres. York— I think we might as well consider it a 

 vacancy because Mr. Clarke has never served on the com- 

 mittee. 



Mr. Wheeler— I object to that. I don't believe that is 

 fair. 



Pres. York — Then we had better have a motion to de- 

 clare the vacancy. 



Mr. Moore moved, which motion was duly seconded, 

 that a vacancy be declared in the office of third committee- 

 man of the Foul Brood Committee. [Carried.] 



Pres. York then put a motion to fill the vacancy which 

 on a vote having been taken was declared, carried. Mr. 

 Horstmann was then appointed as third committeeman on 

 the Foul Brood Committee. 



Pres. York then put the motion to accept the report and 

 continue the committee, which, on a vote having been taken, 

 was declared carried. 



Pres. York — Before we take up some of the questions 

 which have been handed in we will have a talk by Mr. 

 Ernest R. Root, of Ohio, on 



BABY NUCLEI AND MATING QUEENS-BRICK HONEY 



(Mr. Root exhibited before the convention a baby- 

 nucleus box, illustrating his remarks as he went on by 

 pointing out various features of the little outfit. We have 

 since obtained a series of illustrations, and think the reader 

 will have no difficulty in understanding Mr, Root's explana- 

 tions if he will keep before him the illustrations.— Editor s 



Note.) , , 



Perhaps those of you who devote your whole attention 

 to the production of honey, may think that what I am now 

 about to say on this subject will be of no particular interest 

 to you for the reason that you can better afford to buy your 

 queens than to rear them yourselves. This, I believe, is a 

 mistake, as the honey-producer should properly inform him- 

 self as to the latest method of rearing queens so that he can 

 rear his own stock as a matter of economy. I hope to show 

 you, therefore, that you can afford to rear your own queens 

 to a very great extent after having purchased one or more 

 breeding queens, or having selected something from your 

 own stock which shows an unquestioned superiority over 

 other stock in the yard. 



The business has been developed to a very pretty science. 

 Indeed I know of nothing in all the realm of bee-culture that 

 is more interesting or more fascinating than watching the 

 baby queens develop into full-fledged mothers. 



It will not be necessary for me to explain how queen- 

 cells may be reared in wood'en cell-cups in quantity, nor how 

 the eggs of one or two breeding queens may be used for all 

 the cell-building work. This iiart of the operation has been 

 usually regarded as simple and easy; but the problem of get- 

 ting the young hatched virgins mated— aye, there has been 

 the rub. I desire to show you .i method whereby even this 

 part of the work can be acconiphshed simply and easily, and 

 at a trifling expense in bees and brood. 



Until within the last year or so, full-sized two and three 

 frame nuclei using standard Langstroth frames have been 

 employed for mating the virgin^. To make such, it has been 

 necessary to break up a good many otherwise strong colonies 

 for honey-production. As a .cciu-ral rule, only three or four 

 nuclei could be made out of one colony. This made the 

 question of mating somewhat expensive. Mr. Pratt, Mr. 

 Laws, and others who have worked at this problem, have 

 now demonstrated that a small t.-acupful of bees and one or 

 two sections of comb will serve as good a purpose as a large 



