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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



135 



Mr. Horstmann: I am making my 

 own hive-stands now. I have used 

 two by four, two by six, and the reg- 

 ular hive-stands. I am making flags 

 now of cement, ordinary torpedo sand 

 and cement, and I think a barrel of 

 cement will make about eight of those 

 slabs. I make them two feet and 

 eight inches long, and eighteen inches 

 wide. I will be able to put that slab 

 1% down. I make a slab and let it 

 dry about two days. I expect to 

 make them on an average of one a 

 day, and I want about fifty ready by 

 next spring, I will be able to put 

 them on the ground ansrwhere. The 

 flags will be long enough to set the 

 hive on. I have them on the slant, 

 so that the water will run right ofC 

 the flag, and I think it is going to be 

 all right. I will report on it next year. 

 Tou can use those flags to make 

 sidewalks or anything else, if you get 

 tired of keeping bees. You can lay 

 them lOut and use them for sidewalks 

 aJiy time, if you make them strong 

 enough. I think they will have a ten- 

 dency to keep the ants away some, 

 too. 



President York: IHow expensive are 

 they? 



Mr. Horstmann: They will figure 

 out about ten cents apiece, making 

 them myself. Anybody can make a 

 frame, an ordinary door, and take a 

 two by four and make a frame, and 

 after the cement gets dry you can 

 take the frame off and set the stones 

 aside. I have two, and I have taken 

 them out of the frames without any 

 trouble. I believe they are the best 

 stands. I have read about them be- 

 fore. Set them down on the ground. 

 If the ants bother you, lift the flag 

 and put kerosene or something under 

 it. I will he able to report on them 

 next year, after I have had a year's 

 experience. I don't like to be too 

 sure, unless I have some experience. 

 I believe it is a ibeneflt to all of us 

 to hear some one give their expe- 

 rience — not say something because they 

 think It is so, but give us the reason 

 why It is so. The hive question came 

 up here. Some of you claim the ten- 

 frame hives are the best, and others 

 that the eight-frame hives are the 

 best. Mr. Moore is a great ten-frame 

 advocate. I ibelleve he likes them 

 •because they look well. I want to 

 know the reason for everything. That 

 is what we are here for. If there is 

 a good hive-stand, we want to adopt 

 it and use It generally. 



Swarming. 



"Which is the better, natural swarm- 

 ing or shaken swarms?" 



Mr. Bodenschatz: I think the nat- 

 ural swarm is the 'better. If you clip 

 the queens' wings, you are sure they 

 cannot go. You get better selling 

 queens, stronger and more profitable. 



Mr. Whitney: As Dr. Miller would 

 say if he were here, this is a big ques- 

 tion. I have had a little experience in 

 artificial swarming, but if I want to 

 succeed in making a colony of bees 

 and place them out on a stand imme- 

 diately, I will wait until the colony 

 swarms, and when they come back 1 

 divide them, and I can put them any- 

 where I please, and they will stay. 

 A year ago I had a very strong col- 

 ony, twio stories and double walls. 

 There were nineteen frames in the 

 hive, and the upper story was as full 

 of brood as the lower story, all from 

 one queen. I went to work and made 

 artificial swarms from that colony 

 after they had swarmed. I watched 

 them come back, and I went to work 

 and divided that colfony and made four 

 colonies, and put three of them to 

 one side — left the old queen on the 

 stand, and they went right to work 

 just as though they had naturally 

 swarmed. On two of them I put supers 

 of frames for extracted honey, and on 

 one of them a section case, and I put 

 three section cases on the old colony, 

 and I had them nearly all filled. That 

 was artificial swarming after they had 

 swarmed, and I sold those colonies for 

 $10.00 apiece. 



Best Bees for Comb Honey. 



"What are the best strains of bees 

 for comb honey?" 



Mr. Bodenschatz: I think the best 

 strain for capping is the black bee, 

 what they call the German black bee; 

 but they are harder to handle, and 

 they will not go so far to carry the 

 honey as the Italians will. They are 

 as good a strain as any, and will do 

 the same in capping as the black bees. 



Mr. Wilcox: The question is, which 

 are the best strains. It does not in- 

 quire concerning races. We will first 

 choose the race of bees from some 

 good breed, probably the Italians, 

 When we have chosen the race, then 

 we may choose from that race the best 

 strains to breed from. Those which 

 have previously done the best give the 

 best results. We notice that we are 



