244 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Decembe: 



Hewitt in a three-frame nucleus. By 

 May, 1904, this stock covered twenty 

 frames. By July it covered thirty 

 frames. In August I took fifty pounds 

 of honey from it, and made two 

 strong nuclei with the empty combs. 

 In these I mated two more of Mr. 

 Hewitt's queens. These nuclei are 

 now two ten-frame stocks. So that 

 within a year from a three-frame nu- 

 cleus I get fifty pounds of honey, a 

 twenty-frame stock and two ten-frame 

 stocks. Another three-frame nucleus 

 in which I mated one of Mr. Hewitt's 

 Funics I sold in May of this year, as 

 a twenty-frame stock, for the sum of 

 two guineas. 



Some day the bee-keeping world will 

 discover Funics and go wild over the 

 discovery, for if there is anything that 

 I am convinced firmly of, it is that 

 Funics are the bee of the future, and 

 Mr. Hewitt's system of queen-rais- 

 ing is the system of the future. Will 

 someone find me the bee-keeper who 

 on three days' notice will pack ofif 

 thirty-six sprightly little virgin queens 

 by one post, all arriving safely? When 

 I get to know that man, I will share 

 my worship of Mr. Hewitt with him. 

 From fifty stocks kept on Mr. Hew- 

 itt's lines, two swarms issued this 

 summer. 



Agincourt, Vicarage Road, Wat- 

 ford, England, Nov. 3, 1904. 



CONVENTION ECHOES. 



Something from the Western Illinois 

 and the National Meetings. — A Sen- 

 sible and Seasonable Letter. 



By J. E. Johnson. 



THE WESTERN Illinois Bee- 

 Keepers' Association met Sep- 

 tember 20th, at Galesburg, Ills., 

 and we had a very good meeting, well 

 attended. Several bee-keepers from 

 quite a distance were there, whom we 

 had not met before. Many new mem- 

 bers were added, and we had a very 

 profitable, pleasant time together. 



I will not try to give in detail what 

 was said and done, except that several 

 questions concerning the manipula- 

 tion of bees were discussed, also plans 

 of selling honey advantageously. The 

 diflferent members expressed their in- 

 tention of attending our next meeting 



arid of urging neighbor bee-keeper 

 to attend. Now, while we had a gooc 

 harmonious, profitable time, I want t 

 tell the readers of The American Bee 

 Keeper some of the things we did nc 

 do. There are a few bee-keepers wit 

 from 100 to 300 colonies of bees withi 

 30 to 40 miles of Galesburg who di 

 not attend our meeting; nor do the 

 attend any bee-keepers' associations 

 but we heard from them later, as 

 shall relate. The bee-keepers aroun 

 Williamsfield agreed to hold the 

 comb honey at 14 cents. So we ai 

 getting 14 cents for our honey in cas 

 lots. At Galesburg the merchants we; 

 offering i2yz cts., but the bee-keepe 

 were holding for 15 cents per poun 

 and some were getting their pric 

 when along came those fellows wl 

 did not attend our meeting and le 

 700 to 800 pounds in several of t) 

 stores at 10 cents per pound — gO( 

 comb honey at that. Well, that ju 

 "knocked the stuffing" out of that ma 

 ket for the time being, but the me 

 chants know that honey is not nea 

 ly so plentiful as last year, and a 

 keeping the retail price up, and t 

 wholesale price will soon recover. 

 I made it a point to visit one 

 these bee-keepers, and found that ; 

 though he had 160 colonies of bC' 

 he took only one bee paper and c 

 not read that very thoroughly, and ; 

 ways sold his honey for 10 cents f 

 pound, whether he had a good or 

 poor crop. His crop last year w 

 12,000 pounds. This year, only abc 

 3,000, but it was the same price. 1 

 did not know that we met in Gal< 

 burg nor anything about our assoc 

 tion. I had a pleasant chat with h 

 and invited him to attend our ne 

 meeting. He seemed very interest 

 and agreed to attend our next met 

 ing. I also find that another prel 

 extensive bee-keeper, about 40 mi! 

 away, sells his honey at home for 

 fair price, but sells at towns furtli 

 from home for 10 cents, seeming n 

 to realize nor care what the effect w 

 to other bee-keepers. At first ^ 

 thought that surely the fool' kill 

 had failed to call on these bee-keepe 

 or if he had called he had failed to 

 his duty; but upon further investig 

 tion we found that when they vi 

 the larger towns the merchants p 

 up such a great talk about honey b 

 ing so plentiful and a drug on t 



