ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



129 



If you tell them they can save this 

 honey by boiling they are liable to 

 put it on and burn it and then feed 

 it to the bees. I found one m^n at- 

 tempting to save his honey and feed- 

 ing it back to his bees after treating 

 them for foul brood. The twenty col- 

 onies treated in this way were all dead 

 in a month. 



Mr. Hilton: Manager France has a 

 number of questions which were sent 

 for miscellaneous answers. I hope 

 someone will answer them as they are 

 read. 



Mr. France: There is a series of 

 them from John L. Sims, of Michigan. 

 The first question is: "Is there any- 

 thing which will make easy work of 

 cleaning off beeswax from dishes?" 



Mr. Hilton: Our President says 

 have the dishes warm and use common 

 newspaper to wipe it off and it will 

 come off very easily. 



Mr. Pressler: Use a rag soaked with 

 'denatured alcohol afterwards. 



Mr. France: Would it not be a good 

 plan to suggest some way to keep 

 it from sticking there in the first place? 



Question — Why do bees that have 

 swarmed and hived 31 days, swarm 

 out again without a sign of a queen 

 cell, leaving plenty of brood? 



Mr. J. H. Miller: That question 

 comes from myself. I experienced 

 that this last summer. I had 

 a swarm of bees on May 14th. 

 The 31st day after hiving^ that 

 swarm had clustered as usual, 

 and I r^de an examination of the hive 

 and foiAd neither a virgin queen or 

 any sign at all of a queen cell. They 

 were common Italians. I think they 

 had plenty of ventilation. 



Mr. Moe: They frequently swarm 

 for lack of ventilation. I had a case 

 of a swarm that clustered nicely on 

 the limb of a tree, and after an exam- 

 ination of the hive I got them down 

 and returned them to the hive, and 

 in a few days I gave them more room, 

 I gave them about 32 sections, I think, 

 and they partly fiilled those sections 

 and all was quiet after that. 



Mr. Hilton: Was the brood nest well 

 filled with honey when they came out? 



Mr. Miller: Tes. 



Mr. Hilton Don't you think the so- 

 lution would be that they swarmed 

 out for lack of room? 



Mr. Miller: It might be. 



Mr. Keenan: It might be possible 

 another small swarm went in there 

 that he didn't notice. 



Mr. Moe: If they were blacks I think 

 that would be an unusual thing. But 

 with Italians, especially those around 

 in the yard, and with fine weather and 

 with them in swarming condition, that 

 would not be an unusual thing, espe- 

 cially if he had the hive located in a 

 warm place and not sufficient venti- 

 lation. 



Question by Joseph Mason of Illi- 

 nois. How to prevent bees making 

 sweaty or watery looking comb honey. 



Mr. Cook: Use black bees. 



Mr. Hutchinson: Keep the honey in 

 a dry, warm place after it is finished 

 up. They don't make it ill the first 

 place that way. 



Mr. Klees: Does not honey get that 

 appearance when it is kept in a damp, 

 cool place? 



Mr. Hilton: Invariably. I think the 

 question is misleading. 



Mr. Darby: There are places where 

 you will find watery honey in the hive 

 in the warmest of weather. 



Mr. Fuller: While some races of 

 bees are more apt to place capping? on 

 the surface of the honey and produce 

 watery looking sections there are oth- 

 er races that will leave an air space 

 between the cappings and the honey. 

 I would suggest changing the race of 

 bees. 



"How will I prevent the bees from 

 putting burr combs between the top 

 frames and the super?" (Not answer- 

 ed.) 



Question by John Cline, of Wis. — 

 If by uncapping drone brood and put- 

 ting it back in the hive will it be likely 

 to cause foul brood or other diseases? 



Mr. France: That question is asked 

 by John Cline, of Darlington, Wiscon- 

 sin. I will say no. 



Prof. Surface: It ought to be put 

 down in the records that all diseases 

 come from diseased germs. There is 

 no such thing as spontaneous origin of 

 disease or no such thing as disease be 

 ing produced by conditions; it may be 

 augmented by conditions. 



Question by A. W. Tilson of Cal. — 

 Does famine originate foul brood? 



Prof. Surface: That comes under 

 the same heading. 



Mr. France: I answered him the 

 same thing. I replied you must have 

 a cause. 



Prof. Frank Benton: Merely as a 

 comment on that statement in regard 

 to the origin of disease I would say 

 the German bee-keepers have for a long 

 time had a strong prejudice against 



