ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEiEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



115 



States Represented. 



"How many States are represented 

 :at this meeting^ of bee-keepers?" 



President York — ^We find by the 

 membership list that we have Illinois, 

 Michigan, Nevada, Wisconsin, Indiana 

 •and Kansas. 



Dr. Miller and European Foul Brood. 



"Does Dr. Miller know anything 

 about black foul brood?"' 



President York — I think he explained 

 himself this afternoon, and we will re- 

 fer that questioner to that answer 

 when it is published. 



Dr. Miller — It is barely possible that 

 in all soberness that question was 

 asked, and it is barely possible, it 

 would be nothing strange, if thei'e 

 might be some here who thought black 

 brood was identical with Europ^in 

 foul brood. The black brood in New 

 York State was called black brood for 

 a number of years, and the Europeans 

 • objected strenuously to our naming 

 those diseases as we did. 



Feeding Sugar Syrup in the Spring. 



"If bees are fed sugar syriip in the 

 . spring for stimulation, will any of it 

 left in the brood-chamber be carried 

 into the super?" 



Dr. Miller — It may and may not. If 

 the combs in the brood-chamber are 

 filled pretty full, then the room is 

 needed for brood when supers are on, 

 you may count pretty safely on some 

 of it being carried up. 



Mr. Huffman — Dr. Miller's explana- 

 tion then would be: Would it be ad- 

 visable, then, to feed very heavily in 

 the spring of tihe year, sugar syrup, 

 for fear of it being carried into the 

 L super ? 



Dr. Miller — No, it Tvould not toe — I 

 would not say that. 



Mr. Baxter — It is not often necessary 

 to stimulate them. 



Mr. Huffman — Some times they are 

 pretty near starving; then, what? 



Mr. Baxter — You would not have to 

 'feed again. The object in feeding in 

 the spring is to keep the bees in a 

 ■good, healthy condition, for breeding, 

 and you -don't fill' the hives for that 

 purpose. That is, between the bloom 

 of the fruit and the white clover. 



Mr. Brown — I would like to say, as 

 a general rule, I don't think any syrup 

 would get into the super, for the rea- 

 son about the time the bees enter the 

 •section, they crowd down and put more 



honey into the brood-chamber, and re- 

 duce the amount of brood at the same 

 time, so that unless the bees are very 

 much overfed, there would be no dan- 

 ger. I don't believe anybody would 

 go to the trouble and expense of over- 

 feeding bees, for it would be a useless 

 expense. 



Refoundationing Brood- Frames. 



"Is it practical to remove the wedges 

 from fbrood-frame top-bars to put 

 foundation in the frames after the 

 first time?" 



Mr. Baxter — It is. Where I had 

 foundation in last year, and the bees 

 gnawed holes in the foundation, and 

 there was danger of their building 

 drone-comb in those places, I took the 

 wedges out and put new ones in. 



Bottom Starters in Sections. 



"Does it pay to use bottom-starters 

 in sections? If so, in what way?" 



Dr. Miller — I think it is important. 

 Possibly I am prejudiced, for I think 

 that is my own idea. I am not sure 

 about it, but I don't know of anybody 

 using' ibottom-starters (before I did; 

 but since coming here I have learned 

 one reason for using bottom-starters 

 I had not heard of before, and that 

 was, it made the section more saleable. 

 TIhe whole section not being built down 

 to the bottom, the customer would 

 say, "That section is not full," but 

 where they use a bottom-starter, it 

 would be full nearly down to the bot- 

 tom. The reason that I began to use 

 bottom-starters for fastening the sec- 

 tion at the bottom was, first, to make 

 it safer for shipping, Thit alone is 

 sufficient reason for me using the bot- 

 tom-starters. 



Mr. Kannenberg — I have used the 

 ■bottom-starters, also, but those bot- 

 tom-starters I had, or, I don't know 

 whether it was my fault or not, but 

 the bees built the bottom down too 

 far, and it got a kink in the section, 

 and it looked worse than if there was 

 no bottom-starter. So I gave it up. 



Dr. Miller — How large did you use it? 



Mr. Kannenberg — Just about half an 

 inch. 



Dr. Miller — How near together were 

 the two starters? 



Mr. Kannenberg — Just about an 

 eighth of an indh". 



Dr. Miller — I should say you had 

 your bottom- starter rather shallow, 

 Five-eiglhths of an inch is better; and 



