ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



177 



large hive. Every pound of honey we 

 carry over beyond the requirements of 

 the colony is a nuisance. Even witli 

 the eight-frame hive many of my col- 

 onies carry too much, and in my ten- 

 frame hives it is a serious objection. 



After Mr. Chapman had concluded 

 his opening address on the debate a 

 short recess was taken for the pur- 

 pose of having a photograph taken of 

 the Convention. 



After recess the President called 

 the Convention to order and appointed 

 the following committees: 



Committee on Resolutions: Messrs. 

 Huber C. Root, Medina, Ohio; J. L. 

 Byer, Mount Joy, Ont. ; and O. L. 

 Hershiser, Buffalo, N. Y. 



Committee on Exhibits: Messrs J. 

 Hoffman, Wisconsin; R. L. Holecamp, 

 Missouri, and William McEvoy, On- 

 tario. 



The President — ^We will now take 

 up the program. Mr. R. F. Holterman 

 of Brantford, Ontario, will respond to 

 Mr. Chapman. 



Mr. Holterman — Mr. President, La- 

 dies and Gentlemen: — The subject we 

 are dealing with is one of principles, 

 not men,' and in a debate when you 

 admit a principle, then the one who 

 brings forward that principle has 

 scored a point, and in dealing with 

 the subject this afternoon I feel 

 strongly upon that subject becaause I 

 do consider it of very great impor- 

 tance to the bee-keeping industry, and 

 I will try to treat it in part at least 

 in that way. 



Now, it is not a matter of how we 

 present that subject, the tone in which 

 we speak, or anything of that kind; 

 it is a matter of whether we score 

 points or do not, and the gentlemen 

 who are judges, and you who listen, 

 I know from what has been said, will 

 try to free yourselves from all past 

 ideas upon that subject and simply 

 weigh what each one says. 



Now, if I were to present you with 

 a hive which consisted of twelve or 

 eight combs, one strung out behind 

 the other, there is^ not one in this 

 room who would accept a hive of that 

 construction; and if I would ask you 

 why, you would say, if you said rightly, 

 that the bees when clustered would 

 cover the least possible amount of 

 room, because in that way the largest 

 number of bees are presented to the 

 outside, and a cluster, if we can call 

 it a cluster, strung out in that way 



would be an extravagance, and the 

 moment you admit that principle you 

 admit the great principle that no hive 

 is rightly constructed unless it is a 

 square, because if your cluster is 

 longer than it is wide, and you admit 

 the principle which I have admitted, 

 you can't cover the greatest amount 

 of brood with the least number of bees 

 until your hive is as broad as it is 

 long. We find that in the twelve- 

 frame Langstroth hive it is almost a 

 square. If you space it in the ordi- 

 nary way it is a square, and if you 

 take an eight-frame hive you have 

 one longer than it is broad. 



Next, we all know that when a man 

 builds a house and he builds a square 

 house he has the greatest amount of 

 room for the least outlay of material; 

 and when we build our hives we can 

 house the largest number of bees for 

 the least money by having a square 

 hive. That is, if you take an eight- 

 frame hive, the length of it is the 

 same as a twelve, and w'hen you go 

 to the twelve frame, the question of 

 added expense is the added distance 

 of the bottom board and the added 

 distance of the cover, and therefore 

 you can with greater economy use as 

 squai-e hive. 



Now, my friend Mr. Chapman has 

 spoken of using the super to put brood 

 into. I thought that he would use 

 that argument, and I am inclined to 

 believe that that is the best possible 

 use that can be made of an eight- 

 frame hive. But when it comes to 

 economy, with a twelve -frame hive I 

 can retain my brood chamber and not 

 put a super upon that hive until I 

 have twelve combs covered by the 

 bees. In using an eight-frame hive, 

 just as soon as there are more bees 

 than can be kept in the eight-frame, 

 then the super has to be put on and 

 the added room has to be given, 

 which practically is sixteen combs. 

 So that up that stage I can have 

 twelve combs, but as soon as he re- 

 quires more than eight he has to put 

 on his super. 



Next, the normal or natural way 

 and the best way in which bees work 

 is to have the brood underneath and 

 the honey on top. I have spoken of 

 using the square hive. The natural 

 place for pollen and honey is above 

 the brood. The argument has been 

 used that by putting brood in the 

 super you can get your bees into the 

 super better. Ladies and gentlemen. 



—12 



