ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



183 



V. 



they intend to study their, habits and 

 management properly. I don't want 

 to 'be dogmatical about this matter 

 and only state matters as they really 

 exist. I want to find out if other bee- 

 keepers do not find it a good deal 

 that way? 



Mr. Morgan — There are just about 

 three classes of bee-keepers that ought 

 to be recognized, the one who keeps 

 bees for a profit, the one who keeps 

 them for scientific research, and the 

 ones who make a nature study of them. 

 Aside from that we want to discourage 

 the keeping of bees by the ordinary 

 one frame hive people. I don't know 

 of any way to prevent them; I don't 

 know of anjr way we can pass a law 

 to discourage them keeping them. 



Mr. Darby — I just want to say a 

 word or two. I find the class of peo- 

 ple that give me the most trouble in 

 my work of inspection in our State 

 are those ^that get the least benefit 

 from their bees, those that have a few 

 colonies in old boxes or some old 

 buckets or barrels, or something of 

 that kind, that they never get any 

 honey from, or scarcely ever, and let 

 them stay there and act as hot-beds 

 for spreading the disease of foul brood 

 in the neighborhood. If we discour- 

 age anyone from keeping bees, we 

 should discourage those that will not 

 take an interest in it. I find it very 

 difficult to go out and tell people in 

 my ^^ork that they should not keep 

 bees, \ but I do tell them this, if they 

 keep bees they must keep them right; 

 they must take interest enough to 

 look after .. them and keep them prop- 

 erly. If we can discourage that class 

 of people we are doing some good 

 and helping the cause. 



Mr. Miles — I agree with what has 

 been said, but there is one little 

 phase of it that has puzzled me. I 

 have a nearby neighbor who thinks 

 he can raise honey cheaper than he 

 can buy it. I have had him come to 

 me and say, I have got a swarm of 

 bees down there, can't you fix it up, 

 I am a little afraid of it. A person 

 hates to tell that neighbor that he 

 should not keep bees, that he ought 

 to buy his honey; but we should dis- 

 courage those kind of cases. 



Question-^Has a bee-keeper a legal 

 Tight to kill birds which are killing 

 bees? H. D. Davis, of South New- 

 "bury, Vermont, is under arrest for kill- 

 ing pee-wees. Also bees are killed 



in great numbers at a cider mill in the 

 fall. Has the bee-keeper any redress 

 or remedy? 



Dr. Bohrer — No, he has no redress. 

 I am a great friend of the birds, but ; 

 there is the bee marten which I shot 

 every time. I have an orchard of 

 over 600 apple trees, two or three 

 hundred peaches, and as many cher- 

 ries, and they built in trees of that 

 kind, and you can hear them about 

 among the trees; they are darting all 

 through the air; and if you have got 

 a large apiary every once in a while 

 you will lose a queen. I shot prob- 

 ably fifty of them last season. I 

 don't keep it a secret. If they want 

 to prosecute me we will try it out. 

 I don't think there is anything in 

 the law of our State that prohibits 

 the shooting of birds of that kind that 

 you can demonstrate are a positive 

 nuisance. 



Mr. Kretchmer — It depends to some 

 extent on the wording of your State 

 law. In Iowa the birds are prohibited 

 to be shot except birds of prey or 

 migratorial birds. The birds of prej^ 

 may include those that kill our bees. 



Mr. De Jong — Last summer while 

 the alfalfa was in full bloom and I 

 had my shot gun with me, and I was 

 watching for the bee marten, I saw 

 her take bees. Then I shot her and 

 opened her up, and she was full of 

 bees from one end to the other. Then 

 there is a little gray bird that does 

 the same thing. 



Mr. France — I think it is what is 

 called the Shrike — the Loggerhead 

 Shrike. 



Mr. Goddard— ^I would like to sug- 

 gest that the bee marten has a beau- 

 tiful red flower tinged with yellow 

 in the forehead; yoti con't see it un- 

 less you open the brown feathers, and 

 the proposition to me is whether 

 that is not put there entirely for a 

 decoy for the purpose of decoying 

 the bee near to it. I was taught that 

 when I was a boy. My father kept 

 bees. It was discussed through the 

 Literary Digest. I see now it was 

 discussed through the Bee Journals, 

 and I took a bee marten's head and 

 sent it to the editor of the Literary 

 Digest, and he said he had never heard 

 of that before. I would like to know 

 if the members of this Association 

 know whether they do use that blos- 

 som as a decoy. 



Mr. De Jong — I would rather think 



-_i". 



