ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



83 



myself, on Saturdays, whenever I had 

 the time, with dry leaves. I lost only 

 two or three colonies out of eighty. 

 You could examine them at any time 

 during that winter and they were all 

 right. During January there were two 

 or three weeks at a time when the 

 mercury never went aibove zero; and 

 the same in February. Out in the 

 country, where my bees were not 

 packed, some I examined had sheets 

 of ice, just like a pane of glass over 

 the comb; with the result that where 

 I had sixty-ifive in one apiary, I had 

 twelve left in the spring. We had zero 

 weather for almost a month at a time 

 when the bees could not come out at 

 all; I don't believe they came out from 

 the January thaw until the beginning 

 of March; where I had them packed 

 in this way, they came out all right, 

 and they will do that anywhere where 

 they have good stores; the stores have 

 a good deal to do with wintering bees. 

 Packed in that way, perfectly dry, I 

 believe they would winter in Wiscon- 

 sin, in Minnesota, or anywhere where 

 they don't fly once in six or eight 

 weeks. 



Mr. Cavanaugh — It seems to me a 

 very important consideration is in hav- 

 ing upper ventilation. I have wintered 

 bees in Michigan; have tried to winter 

 them in Wisconsin and am novr 

 trying to winter them in Indiana. 

 There is one thing I feel sure 

 of, in any of the experiments I 

 have made, you have either got 

 to have tight, sealed covers and 

 plenty of packing about it, and keep 

 that moisture in the hive below, or you 

 have to have upper ventilation to car- 

 ry it off. We have a form of hive 

 down where I am located now, that 

 has an air space, a double wall and a 

 tight cap above, and several have re- 

 ported to me having filled that cap 

 with absorbent material, and the bees 

 died. There must be an outlet for 

 the moisture; even the hive-cover will 

 be wet underneath without it. 



Mr. Baxter — Right there I will say 

 that some of these hives that didn't 

 have a hole at the back, and that were 

 perfectlj' water-tight, the leaves were 

 as wet as they possibly could be when 

 opened up; those bees didn't winter 

 nearly so well as where there was 

 evaporation. You have to get the 

 moisture out of the brood chamber, be- 

 cause, if it condenses there, it will 

 condense on the comb, and it will 



freeze there, and your bees are going 

 to starve then, if nothing else. 



President York — The next thing on . 

 the program is the question of joining ; 

 the National Bee-keepers' Association 

 in a body. 



Mr. Baxter — I move you that we join ; 

 thei Illinois State and the National, as ,. 

 we did last year. 



The motion was seconded. 



President York — It has been moved 

 and seconded that we join as before, 

 which was 50 cents to the National ; 

 and 25 cents to the State. 



Dr. Miller — I move to amend this by 

 taking up each one separately for dis- 

 cussion. 



The motion was seconded and car- 

 ried. 



Mr. Kannenberg — From our Secre- 

 tary's report, we would hardly have ':'/■. 

 money enough to send anything to the 

 National, and to pay our dues here, ; 

 We would have to make a larger as- 

 sessment if we were to join the Na- 

 tional. 



President York^ — I might say, for the 

 benefit of those who have' come in 

 since the reading of the Secretary's re- 

 port, that we are about $12.00 short; 

 last year we also joined the Illinois 

 State Association. 



Mr. Baxter — A great many of us are 

 members of the National, anyhow ; it 

 seems to me that this meeting is the .: 

 mo(st interesting and instructive of 

 any held in the United States. Why ' 

 can we not use our funds for this so- 

 ciety? I think we owe our first duty 

 here, to this Society, and I, for one, 

 would vote against joining the Na- 

 tional as a body. I thing that our dues 

 ought to be kept for this Society; the 

 National will maintain itself. It is an 

 interest we have individually, to help 

 maintain the (National ; as a Society 

 here we must look after our self-pres- 

 ervation; as to the National, each one 

 should do it individually. 



Mr. Moore — I am going to cast aside ,. 

 any delicacy in discussing the ques- 

 tion. . am not a candidate for re-elec- 

 tion. This year I shall receive no 

 salary, which means six years I have 

 served this association for love. I am ■ = . 

 not a candidate for re-election; I am 

 going to talk to you on this subject :' 

 of finance. A number have referred 

 to the financial condition of this So- 

 cietyu There must be a reorganization 

 of the financial condition or this As- 



