ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



99 



near the bottom, which never has to 

 carry the load that the upper dozen 

 rows of cells have to support. 



A protracted experience induces me 

 to believe that the method of Doctor 

 Miller, to insert fine wooden splints in 

 the foundation, perpendicularly, is yet 

 better than wires, for wires are 'bound 

 to stretch a little, and although this 

 stretching is usually not sufficient of 

 itself to cause an undesirable elonga- 

 tion of cells, the wooden splints are 

 certainly much stifter and more sub- 

 stantial. 



This is a very good question to dis- 

 cuss and I trust it will be fully de- 

 bated at the imeeting. 



Tours truly, 



C. P. DADANT. 



iThe President: I might state in con- 

 nection with the answer given by Mr. 

 Dadant, that bees, when pressed for 

 drone cells, will cut down the work- 

 ers to within an eighth inch of the 

 base, and diverge them from the com- 

 mon center, thereby getting cells 

 large enough for the production of 

 drones, although they are not quite 

 normal at the base. 



Question — How many pounds syrup 

 fed late in fall will make ten pounds 

 gain in the combs? 



Mr. France: The other day when I 

 was telegraphed to come home on ac- 

 count of my father's serious accident, 

 I was in a bee yard where a man was 

 feeding for winter stores, and he was 

 one who was going at it, not by guess, 

 but iby weight, and <he was putting a 

 twelve pound or gallon friction top 

 can full of syrup right on top of the 

 brood frames where it was carried 

 down, inside of twenty-four hours, and 

 stored for winter feed. He was feed- 

 ing sugar syrup. He had the hive on 

 the scales when he added the syrup, 

 and he had the weight of the gallon 

 of syrup extra, balancing it there. In 

 twenty-four hours the hive had chang- 

 ed its weight until there were only 

 two pounds gained; the rest of it 

 seemed to have gone in worker food, 

 or evaporation. After that, as the 

 bees had 'become so filled w:ith honey 

 themselves, and as he had got a gain 

 after the first gallon was used, he 

 considered in late fall feeding the first 

 gallon was a waste to get ready for 

 sealed stores. I would like to see in 

 the near future our Association, and 

 all of its members as individual com- 

 mittees, making some careful experi- 

 ments, not fby guess, so that when the 



year went round we would 'be able to 

 get the returns ifrom different locali- 

 ties, with different conditions, veri- 

 fied; and it is only by continued effort 

 in different places upon the same sub- 

 ject that we can realize something of 

 value. We are trying that to some ex- 

 tent in Wisconsin. At the last winter 

 annual meeting we appointed twelve 

 committees during the season to try 

 some definite experiments upon differ- 

 ent lines, and the results of them we 

 will have at our next winter meeting. 

 I hope the Local Association and the 

 State Association will take this 

 thought and pass it on. 



(1) Are drones raised in worker 

 comb good to fertilize queens? (Dr. 

 Whitmore, Gardner, 111.) Reply by 

 Dr. C. C. Miller. 



iThat depends upon what is meant by 

 the word "good." If you mean can 

 queens be fecunded by such drones, 

 yes. If you mean is it desirable to 

 have queens fecunded by such drones, 

 most emphatically no. A drone cramp- 

 ed in a worker cell so that it can get 

 only a part of its growth is no more 

 fit to use than a scrub bull stunted in 

 its growth. 



Mr. Holterman: As to that question 

 of feeding I would like to say a little. 

 Dr. Miller has dwelt upon the impor- 

 tance of certain things. One was the 

 amount fed. Perhaps the majority of 

 us know that in answering that ques- 

 tion there has to be a good deal con- 

 sidered. First of all, I think there are 

 better methods of feeding than that 

 one which Mr. France speaks of. I 

 believe that this is accounted for be- 

 cause the method of feeding is not the 

 right method. I find by bottom feeding 

 you can get colonies to take up 

 syrup much better, under more ad- 

 verse conditions, and with a better 

 average gain than any top feeding I 

 have ever seen. This fall I made up 

 my mind I would again return to feed- 

 ing, and the reason why I did so was 

 because the stores which the bees got 

 last year were not satisfactory in a 

 number of cases; and I attributed the 

 poor yield I have this year, compara- 

 tively some 20,000 pounds in all, to 

 that. I remember what Capt. Heth- 

 erington said once, that he never win- 

 tered successfully until he fed sugar 

 syrup to his stocks. I have 370 stocks 

 ready for winter quarters. I fed ev- 

 ery one of them. They are in twelve 

 frame hives, and they will average be- 

 tween 85 and 90 pounds. I have had 



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