ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



33 



sealed is sometimes found in such con- 

 dition that the ripening process does 

 not improve it. 



Mr. Kluck: That may be the case 

 where a man lives close to a cider 

 mill. 



Mr. Dadant: I am really ashamed to 

 speak so many times, but I wish to say 

 that the sealing of the cells by the bees 

 is not always evidence that the honey 

 is ripe, neither is its not being sealed 

 always an evidence that it is too thin 

 and unripe. The quotation which I 

 have read from Mr. Greiner in the 

 American Bee Journal evidences the 

 fact that honey is sometimes sealed by 

 the bees when it is still unripe, espec- 

 ially in the case of basswood honey is 

 *this true. Some grades of honey is 

 evidently much slower to ripen than 

 other grades. But bees are very much 

 like human beings, they are not in- 

 fallible and their judgment errs. They 

 may seal unripe honey and may leave 

 ripe honey unsealed. There may be a 

 heavy flow of honey, suddenly stopped 

 at the end of a season by a storm and 

 a frost. Much unsealed honey is in the 

 combs. But from that time on the bees 

 find nothing and the production of wax 

 is stopped as suddenly as the produc- 

 tion of honey. So the bees leave the 

 remainder of the honey unsealed 

 though it will be after a few days just 

 as ripe as any sealed honey they may 

 have. But there is no doubt in my 

 mind that in this State, honey which is 

 left on the hives to ripen will be much 

 better than artificially ripened honey. 



Question No. 4. 



Should we extract honey from the 

 brood chamber at this time of the 

 year when bees have plenty to spare? 



Mr. Kluck: Some advocate extract- 

 ing honey from brood chambers, but I 

 don't believe it will pay. 



Mr. Baxter: I have done it, but I 

 don't do it any now more. I have five 

 or six hundred combs of honey laid 

 away for use next spring. I think it 

 will pay to keep it. 



President Smith: I have done ii 

 when there was a very heavy flow and 

 they would have them filled again in 

 a few days. 



Question No. 5. 



What is of more importance to bee- 

 keepers at present than a foul brood 

 law in Illinois? 



Mr. Kildow: As it is almost time 

 to adjourn I move that the considera- 

 tion of that question he left until to- 



morrow morning and that we now ad- 

 journ to nine o'clock a. m. tomorrow. 

 "Which motion was carried and the 

 meeting adjourned. 



MORNING SESSION, NOVEMBER 20. 



President Smith called the conven- 

 tion to order as per adjournment of 

 the previous day and said that the 

 first matter to be taken up was the 

 discussion of the question as to what is 

 of more importance to the bee-keepers 

 of Illinois at present than a foul brood 

 law in Illinois. 



"Lena, 111., Nov. 28, 1907. 



"Mr. President: -There is nothing that 

 I know of at the present time that is 

 of more impo'rtance to the bee-keepers 

 of Illinois than to have a foul brood 

 law passed similar to or like the Wis- 

 consin foul brood law. There is no 

 foul brood in my vicinity that I know 

 of but in the eastern part of the ter- 

 ritory of the Northern Illinois and 

 Southern Wisconsin there has been 

 complaint for the last few years of 

 something ailing the bees and it may 

 come to my place. There are some 

 persons who keep a number of colonies 

 who only get honey every three or 

 four years who never tend or look 

 after their bees, who would do nothing 

 to cure foul brood and no persuasion 

 or coaxing would avail anything. I 

 would then be just as these brethren 

 here, who have foul brood and neigh- 

 bors have it but will not clean up. It 

 is very expensive for a bee-keeper to 

 clean up every year and get any sur- 

 plus of honey or bees as long as his 

 neighbor, who don't care, is not com- 

 pelled' to clean up too. Now, we want 

 a law that the foul brood inspector has 

 police or constable powers to go in on 

 a man's premises and inspect his bees 

 and, if he won't clean up, that the in- 

 spector has power to clean or compel 

 him to clean up. We, as bee-keepers, 

 must go before the legislators till we 

 can get them to see the necessity of 

 a foul brood law just the same as glan- 

 dered horses or quarantine for small 

 pox, scarlet fever or diptheria. or any 

 otJher contagious diseases. I have been 

 working and lending my influence for 

 some years for the law. When foul 

 brood comes in the neighborhood it is 

 a very late hour to get interested in 

 a foul brood law. Let us all put our 

 shoulders to the wheel to turn out a 

 foul 'brood law when we go home. 

 Make it a point to personally see our 

 representatives of our respective dis- 



—2 



