320 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I 9rs for the Union. I may be mistaken, 

 I ut at least I hope may not be misun- 

 Jerstood 



THE 11.LINOIS CONVENTIOX. 



1 have been much interested in the 

 discussions in the Bee Journal, with 

 regard to the best location for holding 

 the proposed State Convention of Illinois 

 bee-keepers. As your broad Stato con- 

 tains so many advanced apiarists who 

 are deeply interested in the cause for 

 which you meet, it seems to me that you 

 should take all points into careful con- 

 sideration. 



Dr. Mason, of Ohio, is our Treasurer ; 

 not because he is noted as being honest 

 enough to faithfully guard a large sum 

 of money (say, from $4 to $8), but be- 

 cause we have come to look upon him as 

 one of us, and 5o far nothing has ever 

 occurred which made him a less worthy 

 member because he lived in Ohio. 



Now, there are a lot of us living in the 

 suburbs of Chicago, as it were — down 

 here in Michigan and Indiana, as well 

 as a lot more in Wisconsin and Min- 

 nesota — who would like to meet with 

 you. and we live in the same relation to 

 Chicago that about half of the State of 

 Illinois does. All this country may be 

 compared to a funnel; Chicago being the 

 point of discharge. No matter about the 

 distance ; everything readily seeks the 

 center 



Nearly every bee-keeper has some busi- 

 ness that calls him one-half, two-thirds, 

 or the whole of the way to this great 

 metropolis, and there is no question in 

 my mind in regard to the representation 

 of Illinois bee-keepers alone, to say 

 nothing of outsiders, if the meeting is 

 held in the city of the coming World's 

 Fair. Do you not think that is true, Mr. 

 Editor ? If you have expressed yourself, 

 I have not seen it yet. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



New Yorlf State Bee-Keeprs' ConTentlon 



GEO. H. K>"ICKERBOCKER. 



MORNING SESSION— JAN. 23, 1891. 



President Elwood called the Conven- 

 tion to order, and then announced the 

 following committees : 



Columbian Fair — I. L. Scofield, O. L, 

 Hershiser. 



State Fair — I. L. Scofield, O. L. Her- 

 shiser, G. H. Knickerbocker. 



Question Box— E. R. Root, W. L. 

 Coggshall, G. H. Ashby. 



Exhibits— Thos. Pierce, N. D. West. 

 Cluis, Stewart. 



N. D. West then read an essay on Shal- 

 low vs. Deep Brood-Chambers, Narrow 

 Spacing and Fixed Distances. 



P. H. Elwood — I was very much in- 

 terested in Mr. West's remarks, that if 

 they do not build up as readily in the 

 Spring, of what use are they ? 



I. L. Scofield — Where bee-keepers use 

 ?<-inch space, there will be burr combs, 

 and a honey-board is necessary, but if 

 only J^-inch (scant) space is used, there 

 will be onl\ a very few burr combs, and 

 no need for honey-boards. 



D. H. Coggshall — I started with the 

 Kidder hive, but afterwards made some 

 Langstroth hives. The bees in the 

 Langstroth hives came through the 

 Winter in better condition, and built up 

 much faster in the Spring ; they pro- 

 duced more comb-honey, and were also 

 better when I came to tier up for ex- 

 tracting. 



I. L. Scofield — I have never used a 

 larger frame than the Langstroth. My 

 bees winter well, and I get as good 

 yields of honey as my neighbors. Have 

 never felt the need of a larger frame. 



P. H. Elwood — We are using a large 

 and quite deep frame, but not as deep as 

 Mr. Hoffman, and some others, use. I 

 have observed that bees do not winter as 

 well in shallow frames. If I could get 

 them to winter well, I should prefer 

 them. 



W. L. Coggshall — Experience has 

 taught me that if you have a deep frame, 

 you will have more honey above the 

 bees, they will breed up better, and you 

 will have a stronger colony. The key to 

 it all is, there is not as much honey in 

 the small frame. 



P. H. Elwood — Many bee-keepers err 

 in having the bees too short of honey in 

 the Spring. They will not build up fast 

 unless you have plenty of early forage. 



O. L. Hershiser — Chaff hives are gen- 

 erally damp, and they do not dry out 

 very readily. I have noticed that they 

 winter better where they stand in the 

 shade. I prefer hives with a dead air- 

 space, or made as nearlv so as possi- 

 ble. 



B. E. Foster— I have kept bees 15 

 years, and prefer a shallow frame (Lang- 

 stroth size). The only drawback with 

 them is, that they do not hold enough 

 honey, so that the bees will build up 

 rapidly in the Spring. 



G. H. Ashby — Why winter out-of- 

 doors at all, when you can build a good 

 l3ce-cellar for what it would cost to get 

 outside cases ? The bees will not con- 

 sume more than half as much honey, 

 when wintered in the cellar, and this 



