ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



107 



not use anything 'but the Bingham 

 hive, with very shallow frames. Mr. 

 Heddon would not use anything but 

 a Heddon ihive. But they are experts. 

 But t'he average bee-keeper that 

 doesn't look into his bee-hives half a 

 dozen times in a year, would better 

 commence with a larger hive than the 

 eight-frame. I have advised them to 

 use the ten-frame Langstroth, for the 

 beginner. Mr. Dadant won't use any- 

 thing ibut something similar to the 

 "Jumbo" Ihive, and it is a good hive 

 if a man wants to winter bees out-of- 

 doors. But I would not advise a be- 

 ginner to commence with that, be- 

 cause if he ever wants to sell his 

 apiary he would have a lot of diffi- 

 culty in selling that hive, because they 

 are not in general use. There are 

 more Standard Langstroth hives than 

 all others combined. That is not say- 

 ing anything against the man who 

 wishes to use the divisible brood- 

 chamber hive, the Heddon hive, or the 

 Jumbo hive. I couldn't use, and would 

 not be satisfied with it; but if it 

 would suit you, use it. But for the 

 beginner who knows comparatively 

 nothing about bees, and the man that 

 doesn't handle his bees very much, and 

 just iwants a few colonies in his 

 ■orchard, he cannot get anything better 

 than that if !he wants to handle his 

 bees at all. If he doesn't, he would 

 better keep no bees at all, as that is 

 a cause of foul brood 'being scattered 

 over the country. We will have a 

 fight to get a foul brood law, but we 

 will get it. We are going to have 

 trouble in this State. One man of 

 some influence in the State Senate 

 thinks what we want is to pass a law 

 paying some one to go into our hives 

 and pick dead 'bees out of them. That 

 was the sum total of his logic in the 

 matter. That was my reason for ask- 

 ing that question, because I know 

 there are a great many persons be- 

 ginning, who don't know w^hat to be- 

 gin with. We will make no mistake, 

 and won't tell them any story, when 

 we say that there are more Langstroth 

 hives in use 'by the successful bee- 

 keepers than all others combined. 



Dr. Miller: There is just one objec- 

 tion to taking the advice that the 

 Langstroth is the one for a beginner 

 to commence with; if it is true that for 

 some, as I understood Dr. Bohrer to 

 say, it is better to have a hive of some 

 other kind, a shallow hive. If that is 

 better for him, it might be better for 

 that person to have begun with that. 



If he starts up with a whole lot of 

 Langstroth hives he cannot so easily 

 change to the other. My advice to a 

 beginner would be to begin with a 

 movable-frame hive. 



Dr. Bohrer: And one of the best. 



Mr. Kluck: I heartily agree with 

 what Dr. Bohrer ihas said with regard 

 to the hive. I would never advise a 

 lyoung man to keep bees in anything 

 smaller than a ten-frame Langstroth 

 hive. An eight-frame he will have to 

 watch. They will easily starve to 

 death, as there are too many bees for 

 the honey. If a wet, cold time comes 

 in the spring, you will find they are 

 starved to death. I have told the bee- 

 keepers in northern Wisconsin and 

 southern Illinois that I wished I had 

 never been to that convention when 

 they voted that the eight-frame hive 

 was the best hive for the bee-keeper 

 to have, and the hive you could make 

 the most money out of. Tou could 

 do it with the first swarm, but after 

 that you are out. 



Dr. Bohrer: If you understood me 

 to say I recommended the eight-frame, 

 you are wrong. I didn't recommend 

 it; I always recommend the ten-frame 

 hive. 



Mr. Kluck: I always tell the begin- 

 ner to get a ten-frame hive; but if 

 they can look through and tell about 

 the bees later, they can get an eight- 

 frame hive. 



Mr. Taylor: If a young man is 

 going to keep bees, he wants to learn 

 the business, and an eight-frame is 

 just as good or better to learn on 

 than the ten-frame. One thing he 

 wants to learn is that bees must be 

 looked after. It won't' do to set down 

 your hive and take what honey you 

 can get, and let the bees starve to 

 death if they have a mind to. Tou 

 must see if they have stores. There 

 is an advantage in eight-frame hives, 

 and that is, you get the honey in the 

 sections. Of course, you see the ad- 

 vantage of that. Tou get your honey 

 where you can sell it and get a good 

 price, and it is a montey-making busi- 

 ness to put in sugar stores for the 

 wintering of the bees, and a man be- 

 ginning to keep bees ought to knoV 

 that, and he cannot learn it any .better 

 than by keeping his bees in a hive 

 that is a litle too small some times 

 for the storing of sufficient honey for 

 wintering purposes. 



Dr. Bohrer: Mr. Taylor, do you 



