ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



77 



liquid is sprayed on the blossoms or 

 when trees are in bloom. I under- 

 stand that the Bordeaux imixture does 

 not poison bees even if it is sprayed 

 on the trees while in bloom; in other 

 words, that the Bordeaux mixture does 

 not poison at all. 



Prof. Surface: That is true, but 

 fruit growers who have adopted it do 

 not spray while in bloom; it is almost 

 sure to result in the weakening of the 

 crop, and often times you will have a 

 one-sided fruit. For instance, you will 

 see an apple practically half developed, 

 and that may he due to just such 

 causes. Sometimes a cold wind strik- 

 ing one side of the undeveloped pistil 

 will do it. 



Mr. Moe: Will bees carry this ar- 

 senical poison and store it in the honey 

 so that there is any danger from that 

 source? 



Prof. Surface: I think not. 



Mr. Miller: In our section of the 

 country we have great crops of buck- 

 wheat, and years ago people never 

 thought of sowing it until along about 

 the 4th of July. Since the bees have 

 got into that country they sow from 

 the 1st of May, and they get good 

 crops unless they have a wet time dur- 

 ing the bloom. This year the buck- 

 wheat season did not yield. During 

 that season we had a continuous rain 

 and the bees did not fly well. I am 

 convinced that the bees are a great 

 help to buckwheat and no injury at all. 



Mr. France: In our state of "Wis- 

 consin, at our state conventions, which 

 are held in the Capitol building, there 

 are all the way from five to fifteen 

 state organizations meeting at the 

 same hour in different parts of the 

 building, and repeatedly one of the hor- 

 ticulturalists, who has been for sev- 

 eral years President of our State Hor- 

 ticultural Society, has come in per;5on 

 down to the Bee-Keepers' convention 

 making it a 'free offer to anyone vrho 

 would bring twenty or more colordes 

 of bees to either of his apple orchards 

 that he wonld give them a permit to 

 put them anywhere in the orchard; he 

 even went so far two years ago as to 

 state that if any person would furnish 

 bees for five years he would furnish 

 them a hou.'se for a year cfree of re^nt. 

 He wanted the good of those ibees to 

 fertilize the apple bloom. It is A. D. 

 Barnes, of Wapaca, Wis. 



Mr. Hummel: In regard to bees do- 

 ing damage to fruit, 'bees certainly will 

 do no dams.ge to fruit that is perfectly 



healthy and well. You can put sound 

 and solid fruit in a hive and they will 

 not attack it, but as soon as it is 

 punctured or stung by the hornet or' 

 the yellow-jacket of any other pest, 

 just that soon will they destroy it. 

 In regard to fertilization, we know we 

 have different varieties of fruit and if 

 it is not pollenized from insects it will 

 not bear. So we must acknowledge 

 that bee;; are a benefit in regard to 

 fruit cuHure. 



The President: We will now take 

 up a lef.ter to be read by Mr. York 

 from Mr. E. W. Alexander. 



Mr. Ycirk read letter fro.-n Mr. E. W. 

 Alexand<.T as follows: 



Delanson, Oct. 28th, 1907. - 

 To the OfHcers and members of our 

 National Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 convered at Harrisburg, Pa. 

 Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentle- 

 men — In accepting your complimentary 

 invitation to address this important 

 associat:ion, let me assure you that it 

 is with jnany thanks for your kindness, 

 in giving me an opportunity to briefly 

 call your attention to several import- 

 ant matters connected with our busi- 

 ness. The many advantages derived 

 from a plurality of queens in a colony 

 is a subject well worthy your atten- 

 tion. 



We must not expect that this new 

 departure from natural law will be 

 crowned with perfect success all at 

 once, :.t may take some time to per- 

 fect this plan, so as to derive its whole 

 benefit, but we have certainly made a 

 good start, and the fruits of our labor 

 in this line are already being realized. 

 We can now have with but little 

 trouble our colonies as strong in work- 

 ing force at the commencement of the 

 harvest as we wish. We can also su- 

 persede any undesirable queen without 

 the colony ever becoming queenless, 

 and we can have a surplus of laying 

 queens in nearly every colony, ready 

 to use in making our increase instead 

 of cells or virgins, and if we can keep 

 these queens as safely through the 

 winter season as through the summer, 

 then surely we can make an almost 

 unlimited increase during the season. 



A yery important part of early sum- 

 mer management is in removing all 

 (;aped honey from the brood nest. This 

 is one thing that is sadly neglected 

 bjr many of us, and frequently before 

 we are aware of it the brood nest is 

 so reduced in size that the colony be- 



