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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



41 



Sugar Candy for Bees. 



Dr. Bohrer said scorching the feed 

 rendered it poisonous to bees. 



Dr. C. C. Miller said creamed candy- 

 will stay soft. 



Mr. Taylor asserted that if soft the 

 ^bees will use it all, and there will be no 

 less waste, while if hard and grainy 

 there will be a waste. 



Mr. Dadant advised pouring candy 

 over coarse paper and then break it up 

 before too hard. 



, Dr. Miller asked Mr. Dadant why 

 they had made no candy for a long 

 time. Mr. Dadant replied that the bees 

 had not needed very much latelj''. Bees 

 go to the water-trough a great deal 

 when fed on candy. Candy is an 

 emergency food. 



Dr. Miller said that he had fed honey 

 to the bees in winter, and prefers it to 

 candy. 



Protecting Bees for Winter. 



Mr. "Wm. M. "Whitney stated that he 

 winters bees out-doors, with double- 

 •w^all hives and planer shavings be- 

 tween. 



Secretary H. F. Moore said he uses 

 cork-dust in an empty body set over 

 the hive. 



Mr. Baxter declared the Dadant hive 

 a success always; with a niat over the 

 top of the hive, and double packing of 

 leaves all around. 



Dr. Miller said that paper has been a 

 success usually, but a Canadian claim" 

 ed it was always a failure with him 

 and all his acquaintances. 



J. C. Wheeler said leaves h4(i been a 

 failure with him. He thinks the sun- 

 light helps the bees. ^^ 



Mr. Whitney told the conve'ntion that 

 he would keep the packing on during 

 May in his locality (Southern Wiscon- 

 sin), with the double- walled hives. He 

 said that bees in double-walled hives 

 build up sooner in the spring than 

 those in single-walled hives, because 

 the former are warm all the time, but 

 the single walled-hive gets too cool 

 part of the time. 



Mr. Taylor said he had made a care- 

 ful experiment with a number of 

 swarms. He set the hives close to- 

 gether and surrounded them with 

 boards and then packed with sawdust 

 Ijetween. He left them until June, and 

 found that the bees not protected had 

 wintered the best. The main point is 

 to have sound stores of honey. 



Mr. Baxter claimed that it is not the 

 stores. In 1884 and 1885 he had a 

 very severe winter. He had 3 yards. 



Mr. Taylor said he winters bees alto- 

 gether in the cellar; that those in sin- 

 gle-walled hives do better out-doors 

 than in chaff hives. Sound stores are 

 the most important thing. 



Mr. Whitney asked whether fall 

 honey is bad. 



Mr. Taylor replied that fall honey is 

 poor and thin, and mixed with pollen. 



Dr. Miller said locality is very im- 

 portant. 



Mr. Dadant also said that locality is 

 very important. He said that he win- 

 tered bees out-of-doors. The weather 

 in his locality is warmer than in 

 Northern Illinois. Out door wintering 

 has been better 4 out of 5 years. 



Mr. Whitney said that Mr. Taylor 

 should use planer-shayings instead of 

 sawdust, out- doors. 



Cellar-Wintering of Bees. 



Dr. Miller asserted that bees should 

 be put into the cellar the day after the 

 last day that is fit for them to fly in 

 the fall. 



Franklin Wilcox said he has put his 

 bees into the cellar from the 10th to 

 the 25th of November. He has carried 

 them into the cellar with a falling tem- 

 perature. 



Mr. Taylor wants no breeding in the 

 cellar. Rearing of brood runs down the 

 strength of the bees. He said he put 

 his bees into the cellar Nov. 21, on a 

 cloudy day, and leaves the bottom- 

 boards on the summer stands. 



Dr. Miller declared a flight is very 

 necessary before putting bees into the 

 cellar. 



Mr. Wilcox said a flight is very nec- 

 essary immediately before putting them 

 into the cellar. 



Twenty reported that bees breed in 

 February. 



Mr. Dadant agreed with this. 



Dr. Bohrer said that the cellar should 

 be as dark as a dungeon all the time. 



Dr. Miller said his cellar is light 

 most of the time. He believes that air 

 and light together, and ventilation are 

 necessary. There is a furnace in his 

 cellar. 



Mr. Wheeler has had experience with 

 bees in the cellar with no furnace, and 

 also with a furnace. He claims bees 

 winter well even where combs are 

 mouldy. 



