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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



division-board is composed. If this 

 room was cold, and we wished to divide 

 it into two apartments, with a view to 

 warming one of them, a division made of 

 buffalo robes might be more desirable 

 than one of cotton cloth, even though 

 the latter fitted the walls snugly, while 

 around the edge of the former was an 

 open space of a few inches. 



President Miller — The thermometer 

 should settle these matters. Very care- 

 fully conducted experiments indicate 

 that a comb, even with a space around 

 ii, is better than a division-board of 

 wood that fits the hive closely. 



J. A. Green — When closed-end frames 

 are used, they do away with the space 

 around the frames. 



J. H. Larrabee — I have tried experi- 

 ments with a lamp and thermometer in 

 a hive, to decide which were preferable, 

 combs or division-boards, and a dry 

 comb, or one full of honey, is as good as 

 a division-board. 



E. T. Abbott— Space around the edge 

 of a frame amounts to but little in this 

 matter. The bees between the combs on 

 the outside of the cluster keep in almost 

 all of the heat ; the comb that is on the 

 outside of the cluster, yet with which the 

 bees are in contact, is a better non-con- 

 ductor of heat than an inch-board. 



Consolidation of the Northwestern 

 with the Illinois State Society. 



It was thought desirable that the 

 Northwestern Society should have the 

 benefit of the $500 granted by the State 

 of Illinois to the Illinois State Bee- 

 Keepers' Association. The Northwestern 

 has a good membership and attendance, 

 but no money to work with except what 

 little comes in as fees. The Illinois 

 State Association is a new Society, but 

 it has money to work with. It was 

 thought desirable for the two societies 

 to be united, and combine their forces, 

 hence it was decided by vote that the 

 Northwestern be merged into the Illinois 

 State Sotiety, provided that the Illinois 

 State Association will accept of the 

 Northwestern, and will agree to hold one 

 meeting more if necessary every year in 

 Chicago. If the Illinois State Association 

 accepts these terms, then the election of 

 officers of the Northwestern will be void. 

 All the old officers were re-elected. 



The North American Convention. 



C. P. Dadant, Secretary of the North 

 American Society, urged bee-keepers to 

 attend the coming meeting at Albany, 

 N. Y. There has probably never been 

 such a gathering of notables in the bee- 

 keeping ranks as will assemble at 



Albany. Several important questions 

 are to be brought up. Cheap sugar 

 stares us in the face, and at Albany the 

 question of securing a bounty on honey 

 will be thoroughly discussed. It was 

 surprising, the Secretary said, how few 

 men worked for and secured the appro- 

 priations for the Illinois State Bee- 

 Keepers' Society. 



The Bounty on Honey. 



A. I. Root said that if bee-keepfers had 

 a bounty on honey, the farmers would 

 want a bounty on wheat and potatoes. 



J. H. Larrabee — If the lowering of the 

 price of sugar effects the price of honey, 

 then honey producers are just as much 

 entitled to a bounty as are the sugar 

 producers. 



R. A. Burnett — Honey is a commodity 

 of itself. It is used for the purposes of 

 which sugar will not answer. I cannot 

 see that lowering the price of sugar has 

 effected the price of honey at all. 



J. A. Green — I have frequently heard 

 grocerymen say that the low price of 

 sugar has had an effect on the price and 

 sale of honey. Consumers say : " We 

 can't afford to pay so much for honey 

 when we can make a syrup so much 

 cheaper out of sugar, and we like it 

 nearly as well." 



C. P. Dadant — There are jellies and 

 other sauces in the manufacture of 

 which sugar is used, and these sauces 

 come into competition with honey. 



Honey Exhibits at the World's Fair. 



Dr. Mason said that he had visited the 

 Chief of the Agricultural Department of 

 the W^orld's Fair, and had been told 

 that about ten feet square was as much 

 space as could be given to each State 

 for making an apiarian exhibit. This 

 would put us on our metal to do our very 

 best in a small space. 



J. M. Hambaugh — The part of the 

 appropriation for making an apiarian 

 exhibit at the World's Fair has not yet 

 been allotted by the Illinois State Board 

 of Agriculture. It is really important 

 that this Society should take action, or 

 express its wishes in this direction. 



Dr. Mason moved that a committee be 

 appointed to bring the matter before the 

 Board. Carried. 



J. M. Hambaugh was appointed as 

 that committee, and drew up the follow- 

 ing petition : 



To the Honorable Board of Agriculture 



of the State of Illiiiois: 



The members of the Northwestern 

 Bee-Keepers' Society, in convention as- 

 sembled, do hereby respectfully petition 



