ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



139 



give them to me. They will warp. In 

 the spring, you can put your finger 

 under the hive, and the bees can 

 crawl out all around. I would rather 

 "have a plain board cover of good 

 thickness. 



Mr. "Whitney: I .bought thirty or 

 forty colonies of bees when I went up 

 to Lake Geneva, of a gentleman who 

 toad an old hive, and he had a cover 

 that was made of zinc, that is, the 

 outside was zinc. How long he had 

 them, I don't know. They are ever- 

 lasting. There is no rust whatever; 

 nothing to be done to them. Whether 

 they cost more than tin, I don't know. 

 I suppose they do. But he must have 

 had them at least twenty years; just 

 as good, so far the zinc cover was con- 

 cerned, as when they were first made; 

 and when I sold my bees, they wer* 

 just as good as they ever had been. 

 For that kind of a hive, I concluded 

 that they were the very best cover to 

 be used. There was no necessity for 

 painting at all. The cover that I use 

 on a double-wall hive is entirely dif- 

 ferent. It is like the gable of the 

 roof to a house, and I never had any 

 trouble with that cover at all. 



Mr. Arnd: The "Colorado" and 

 "Acme" covers I spoke of are made 

 out of good, heavy material. This 

 "Colorado" cover will weigh twice as 

 much almost, with the inner cover, as 

 the "Excelsior" cover. It is good, 

 heavy lumher, and ipeople who have 

 used them for years would not have 

 anything else. 



Mr. Horstmann: I would say that 

 I use covers of my own make. I have 

 a cover that telescopes aibout two 

 Inches over the hive-body, and the 

 ridge-iboard of that cover Is loose — it 

 is not nailed ion at all. It is made 

 with a groove, so that when the 

 ridge-board Is on top of the gable 

 cover It prevents the rain from coming 

 in, and the hive is always ventilated 

 by using the cover. When It Is nec- 

 essary, I use a small, thin cover right 

 over the hees. In the spring I use 

 this hair felt cover that I use in the 

 winter time, putting it on the cover so 

 that it will keep the bees warm. It 

 always acts as a good shade-iboard. 

 There is a space ibetween the thin 

 cover and the main cover at all times, 

 and I have never had a colony of bees 

 overheated with that cover, and al- 

 most everybody who has seen that 

 cover has used it themselves. Any- 

 body can have the privilege of using 



that cover. There is no patent on It. 

 I had about one hundred and twenty- 

 five of them made several years ago, 

 and they are. just as good now as the 

 day I got them. Mr. Duff uses them 

 also. I made some of them. I think 

 they are the best covers, not hecause 

 I made them. I would be glad to 

 show the cover, and if anybody likes 

 them, let them go ahead and make 

 them. • 



Keeping Empty Extracting Combs. 



"How should emptyy extracting 

 combs be kept when not In use?" 



Mr. Wilcox: I don't know how they 

 should ibe kept. I have kept them a 

 great many years, and am keeping 

 them now. The most important thing 

 Is to keep them away from the mice. 

 But you have to look out for the 

 moths also. To prevent that, I keep 

 them on the bees a little later in the 

 fall than is really necessary, and then, 

 taking them off at the approach of 

 cold weather, no more moths cut 

 them. After I had completed my ex- 

 tracting, which I finished only about 

 two weeks ago, I left the extracting 

 combs outside, and let the bees clean 

 them out. Then I put them away, and 

 I have to place poison and traps 

 around to keep the mice and rats 

 away. They will keep free from moths 

 if you will place them in a rack In a 

 light place, spaced an inch apart. A 

 great many bee-keepers keep them, 

 and they are perfectly safe. It is well 

 to have them thoroughly cleaned up 

 /by the bees in the fall, otherwise there 

 will be granulated honey in them in 

 the spring. I do not care how cold 

 it is, the freezing will do no 'harm. 



Comb or Extracted Honey. 



"Which is considered the most profit- 

 able to produce, comb or extracted 

 honey?" 



President York: How many think 

 comb is? Raise your hands. (Eigiht.) 

 How many think extracted is? (31x.) 



Mr. Wilcox: I was going to say, I 

 don't vote either side, because that 

 doesn't answer the question. Ex- 

 tracted is the more profitaWe under 

 certain circumstances. Comb is th6 

 more profitahle under other circum- 

 stances. What they wish to Imow is 

 when and where comb is the most 

 profitable, and when and where ex- 

 tracted. If I were in a locality where 

 the honey flow, when there was a 



