®&,&&&&&&&^&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&(^^'&&&^&&&&&&&&&^&&'&&' 



Eniered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 



OEORaE W. YORK, Editor. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, MARCH 24, 1904, 



Vol, XLIV— No. 12. 





Editorial Comments 





The Third Double Number. 



Yes, this is the third douMe number of the American Bee Journal 

 for this year. It completes the report of the last Chicago-Northwest- 

 ern convention. We would like to continue these double-size copies 

 once a month, but the increased expense will hardly allow it, we fear. 

 But judging from the amount of copy we still have on hand we may 

 lie compelled to " double up " some more. However, it will depend a 

 good deal upon the way renewal subscriptions come in. Also new 

 subscriptions. If the financial end of the office can stand the extra ex- 

 pence, we will be glad to get out some more double numbers of the 

 Bee Journal. Will all those whose subscriptions expire please renew 

 promptly? And, it possible, get a new subscriber to send along with 

 the renewal. 



Queen's Duty to Lay Drone-Eggs. 



J. M. U. says in the British Bee Journal : " We have to recognize 

 the fact that it is part of the queen's duty to lay a certain number 

 of drone-eggs, and that we can not prevent her doing so, whether by 

 using full sheets of foundation or any other means.'' 



Falling Competition in Bee-Keeping. 



An item on this subject, which appeared on page 131, has called 

 forth the following from one of the Bee Journal family : 



Under the head of " Failing Competition," I see it is claimed that 

 it costs the farmer bee-keeper more to produce his honey than he sells 

 it for. As I consider myself to come under the head of " farmer bee- 

 keepers,'' I don't like the idea that I should lie producing honey ai a 

 loss; neither do I see why it should be so. I should like to see that 

 point explained, and, what is of more importance, a way shown to 

 remedy this state of affairs, if it is proven to be a fact. 



There are very few bee-keepers, or rather bee-keeping farmers, 

 here who use movable-frame hivfs and produce either section or ex- 

 tracted honey, and the demand for section honey is far in e.\cess of the 

 supply. Thechunk honey produced in the old-fashioned gum offers 

 practically no competition — I can get 15 cents a section by selling 

 direct to consumers, or Vi':^ cents from commission merchants; but so 

 far I can sell all I produce to private trade. C. H. Koentz. 



Notwithstanding our good friend says very properly, that he con- 

 siders himself in the class of farmer bee-keepers, notice is hereby 

 served on him that he is distinctly out of the class referred to on page 

 131, in which is the farmer " who takes his honey to the market and 

 •sells it for what he can get," meaning, thereby, that he sells it tor any 

 old price oflered, without regard to value. Moreover, the opening 

 sentence rules him out, which says, " the pity of it being that the very 

 ones who need them most will never see them," because they never 

 see a bee-paper. Not the least esteemed portion of the Bee Journal 

 family is that portion made up of well-informed farmers who use up -to- 

 date methods ia obtaining honey and secure up-to-date prices. I'n- 

 fortunately, however, there are too many like those our friend meu- 

 ions, and he is specially favored it their crude product chopped out 

 of gums " offers practically no competition." Elsewhere the competi- 

 tioa is real hard to meet, for with too many honey is honey, and when 



any kind of honey is put on the market at a 'way-down price, all other 

 kinds of honey are expected to meet that price. The best remedy, 

 perhaps, is the one that our friend has applied— educating the public 

 to understand the difference between the poorest and the best, thus 

 producing a demand for only the best. 



Slumgum for Rheumatism. 



In Praktischer Wegweiser a plaster of slumgum spread on cloth is 

 said to be excellent for rheumatism. 



Can a Bee-Keeper Afford to Do Without a Bee-Paper ? 



In these pages the necessity tor a bee-book or text-book on bee- 

 keeping has been frequently urged, the beginner being advised that it 

 there be any preference in the matter the bee-book should come before 

 the bee-paper. There is no desire to make any less emphatic the 

 necessity for the book, but it would be a serious mistake to suppose 

 tljat a book is all-sufficient. The book lays the foundation for a 

 thorough understanding of the paper, the latter supplementing the 

 instructions of the former, making clear the points not fully under- 

 stood by the beginner, and keeping both beginner and veteran fully 

 informed as to the constant progress being made from week to week 

 or from month to month. Getting the book and doing without the 

 paper would be just a little like getting a team and plow without a 

 man to drive. 



A letter lately received from a farmer with several colonies of 

 bees, says he would like to have a bee-paper, but he has so many agri- 

 cultural journals that he does not feel like spending money for a paper 

 devoted wholly to bees. Possibly the thought is, that if it contained 

 something besides bee-talk he could better afford it. But its exclusive 

 character is the thing that gives its value. The bee-departments of 

 most agricultural papers— if, indeed, they have any such department — 

 are, for the most part, presided over by some editor who knows little 

 about bees, and too often the information given is ludicrously mislead- 

 ing. The farmer is not in much danger of having too many agricul- 

 tural journals, but no matter how many he has, it he has no more 

 than two colonies of bees, he can not afford to do without a paper 

 specially devoted to their management. Even with no more than two 

 colonies, the difference made in his honey crop will keep up his sub- 

 scription — sometimes many times over. 



A Drone Caught Gathering Honey. 



It is possible that if the eyes of bee-keepers were more constantly 

 wide open some things that are generally considered outside the range 

 of possibilities would be foutid to occur, it infrequently, still fre- 

 quently enough to be placed in the category of things possible. There 

 is perhaps some hesitancy to mention exceptional occurrences lest 

 one's veracity be questioned. Yet it is not always the part of wisdom 

 to dispute a thing merely because it may not have come within one's 

 range of vision. For years it was the belief that under no circum- 

 stances would more than one queen be tolerated in a colony, which 

 belief might have continued to this day if clipping the queen's wings 

 had not made it easy to detect the presence of an intruding queen. 

 Now it is known to be so common that any bee-keeper of considerable 

 experience is pretty sure to have met numerous instances of a division 

 of maternal duties. 



Ordinarily, a queen will not demean herself to sting anything 



