Au?. 3 IWS 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



551 



Mr. Colburn — What is the present membership of tlie 

 Illinois Society? 



Mr. Smith — The present membership of the Illinois Slate 

 Association is over 150. 



Mr. Wilcox — How many bee-keepers' societies are there 

 in the Slate of Illinois? 



Mr. York — I think there are two besides this, outsidi- 

 of the State organization, that is, the Northern Illinois and 

 the Western Illinois. 



Mr. Whitney — I want to ask the Treasurer as to v. hat 

 effect taking 25 cents for each member joining the State 

 would have upon our balance in the Treasury? 



Mr. Moore — There would not be enough money left in 

 the Treasury to support our Association if we paid out 7.j 

 cents on each dollar, that is, 50 cents to the National and 25 

 cents to the Illinois State, The actual expenditure for mem- 

 bership if this motion is passed, under our Constitution, will 

 be about $20 out of our treasury. 



After a long discussion Pres. York put the motion that 

 this Association join the Illinois State Association in a body 

 by paying 25 cents a member, which, on a vote having been 

 taken, was declared carried. The necessary amount to pay 

 same was secured by passing the hat. 



ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 



The President appointed as tellers Messrs. Fluegge, Jncob 

 and Dadant. Ballots were taken and the officers were all 

 re-elected as follows: President, George W. York; Vice- 

 President, Mrs. N. L. Stow ; and Secretary-Treasurer, Her- 

 man F. Moore. 



queen's wing and LEG GROWING. 



"Does a queen's wing ever grow again after being 

 clipped?" 



Dr. Miller— No. 



Mr. Criggs — Does a queen's leg ever grow where a leg 

 has been pulled out? 



Dr. Miller— No. 



Mr. Criggs — I was clipping a queen's wing one time with 

 gloves on, and I didn't have a very steady hand, and in some 

 way pulled off one of the large legs right to the bottom. I was 

 sorry at the time, but I thought they had so much brood and 

 eggs they could rear another queen. However, I kept c'ose 

 watch and they didn't rear another queen to take her place, 

 but this queen in the course of another two weeks had another 

 leg. 



Mr. Wilcox — Did her progeny have a missing leg, too? 

 [Laughter.] 



Mr. Criggs — I didn't find any that did. 



Dr. Miller — I would rather believe a clipped queen got 

 into that hive from another hive than to believe the wings or 

 leg would grow on again. That has sometimes happened. A 

 clipped queen has gone from one hive into another. 



Mr. Criggs — I should say not. This was a pure Italian 

 queen and all the other queens within two rods were dark. 

 I had only half a dozen Italian queens in the whole apiary 

 of about fiO or 80 colonies ; the rest were all dark bees. 



Mr. Whitney — Was that a queen of your own rearing? 



Mr. Criggs — No. 



OUTDOOR WINTERING OF BEES. 



"In outdoor wintering is water running out of the en- 

 trance of the hive an indication of poor winlfin" •" 



Mr. Wilcox — I should say not, but it indicates poor prep- 

 aration for wintering. There ought to be absorption enough 

 so that it wouldn't condense and accumulate. 



Mr. Snell — That has been my experience. If the ventila- 

 tion is proper, and the preparation is proper for wintering, 

 there will be no water running out from the entrance. 



STARTING WITH BEES. 



"Tell a few good ways for beginners to get a start iii 

 bees and a first-class experience at one and the same time." 



Dr. Mdler — Buy a colony of bees, buy a bee-book, or 

 several of them, and subscribe for a bee-paper, or several of 

 them, and then go on and get your experience. 



Pres. York — I noticed that the Doctor didn't say he could 

 buy his experience, too. 



Dr. Miller — He will buy it and pay for it. 



EFFECT OF MARKET REPORTS ON HONEY PRICES. 



"What effect has market reports on the price of honey .■"" 

 Mr. Burnett — I don't know that I ought to answer or en- 

 deavor to answer that question. I make some market repor' 



What effect it has, has to be problematic. I think, however, it 

 is in general alignment with all other reports on prices. Peo- 

 ple are guided by what they find to be a price in a certain 

 market. It gives you an idea of what goods can be obtained 

 for there. It is also a guide for those seeking a market. 

 I should think it had a good deal to do as a matter of fact 

 with the general business of the country. 



Mr. Colburn — I am a resident of Chicago and I asked 

 that question because I wanted to find out if there is any dif- 

 ference, or if it had any appreciable effect ; and the reason 

 I asked it is, I have been on South Water Street a good 

 many times and I always found on enquiring there that the 

 prices of honey were invariably greater than these market 

 reports give us to understand. Why that is so I don't just 

 know. I think I know the South Water Street houses pretty 

 well. I was a grocer here in Chicago for a number of years 

 and went all around the streets with my market wagon on 

 every day in the summer, and every other day in the winter, 

 and I found things down there were quite peculiar. This fall 

 I examined up and down the street on one or two days and 

 I found at that time five different firms reported honey as 

 selling at 15 cents a pound in one-pound sections. At that 

 time our market quotations — the nearest was within seven 

 days — gave us prices at 12 to 14 cents. This is what I don't 

 understand, and I want to understand it. Every bee-keeper 

 within 300 miles of Chicago who sends his honey here, if he 

 takes these papers, naturally is enquiring and looking at these 

 reports, and these reports ought to be reasonably accurate. 

 At the stock yards, with which I was familiar for a number of 

 years, the market reports give the actual sales as they are. 

 They don't say, "We quote so and so." They say, "Armour 

 bought so and so, such and such a kind of stock, and it sold 

 for so much." I think our market reports ought to be under 

 the control of this Association, on account of the fact that 

 there is such an apparent discrepancy between the reports in 

 the papers and the actual condition on the street. We as 

 individuals who are bee-keepers are interested in having prices 

 at a reasonable figure, and we don't want any market reports 

 which show the prices of honey to be less than it is generally 

 sold at. Whether they are, or not, I can't say, but I think 

 they are. In every investigation I have made I have in- 

 variably found a difference of one or two cents in the reported 

 price of the honey from the price on the street. In the quo- 

 tation from Milwaukee it is from one to two cents higher than 

 the Chicago market, and yet Milwaukee is 200 miles nearer the 

 great center of honey-production than we are. I brought this 

 up because I think the bee-keepers will lose two cents a 

 pound on every pound they send to Chicago unless they get 

 straight market reports. 



Mr. Wilcox — The question is. What effect do market re- 

 ports have on the honey market? If they be timely and truth- 

 ful they tend to steady the market, to prevent fluctuations, 

 and are highly profitable to all. 



Mr. Moore — There isn't any use in allowing any preju- 

 dice to enter into the discussion of these questions. I know 

 a good many people think that all lawyers are thieves, and all 

 commission men in the same class. They are very much like 

 the rest of us : they are all honest and all dishonest. But 

 according to Mr. Colburn's own statement there is no dis- 

 crepancy. He said the market report gave 12 to 14 cents. 

 Twelve meant the lower grade, 14 meant the highest grade. 

 Understand that those quotations mean some considerable 

 sale. You go along and ask a man what is the price and he 

 says 15 cents. He thinks, to look at you at first, you are a 

 suburbanite, come to carry honey home under your arm. If 

 you say, "Here, I want five or ten cases," he gives it at 14 

 cents, according to the quotation that you say was quoted. 

 There are different circumstances. Quantity and quality of 

 purchase make a difference as to quotations, as you state it, 

 and are .fair. 



Mr. Burnett — As to difference. I would like to have him 

 change the word invariable to variable. It seems to me it is 

 hardly fair that it should be invariably higher than the quota- 

 tions. As a matter of fact we all know that is not the fact. 

 That buying honey, as he buys it — perhaps he met a man who 

 buys from the receivers. The majority of the houses on 

 South Water Street that sell honey in a small way or keep a 

 few cases, buy it from some of t' e receivers, and they need 

 to get a cent a pound as a mare'n over and above what they 

 pay. The purpose, as I have uiidi rstood for many years, of 

 market reports, is to give as nearly as may be the actual value 

 of honey sold as received. A lot "i honey sold consisting of 

 25 or 100 or 1,000 cases is the price that the purchaser must 

 be guided by. Allow him to sen 1 the honey here and get a 

 cent a pound less than the quotations are for that gradi; of 



