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Entered at the Post-Offlce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 

 Publislied Weekly at $1.00 a. Year by Gieorg-e W. Vorlc & Co., 3:t4 Dearborn St. 



QBORQE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL, MAY 12, 1904. 



Vol, XLIV— No, 19, 





Editorial Comments 





The Dally Use of Honey— "Pass It On." 



For several years we have been contending that the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association should do something for bee-keeping in the line 

 of advertising the use of honey, so as to increase the demand. But up 

 to this time, so far as we cm recall, nothing whatever has been done 

 about it. 



We don't like to be considered pestiferous, but, even at that risk, 

 we do feel that the National could, if it would, do something worth 

 while about increasing the general consumption of honey. 



Since giving up the bee-supply business we have occasionally had 

 a little " time to think '' — " spells of thinking," we may say — and here 

 is one of our " thinklets :" 



Let the National offer a prize of say $25 for the best contribution 

 of about 3000 words, on " Honey and Its More General Use as a Daily 

 Food." Then let the Board of Directors be the judges, and after 

 selecting the very best contribution, publish it in a small illustrated 

 booklet form — say S pages, and about 3x.5 inches — so as to slip into 

 almost any ordinary envelope. At the top of the first page we would 

 have in fairly large type, " Pass It On— After reading." 



Our idea would be to have the National furnish these booklets to 

 the bee-keepers at actual cost. They would be sent out with every 

 letter that is mailed either by individual bee-keepers, honey-dealers, 

 or by bee-supply dealers, queen-breeders, etc., and also handed out as 

 occasion offered. Every one connected at all with bee-keeping or 

 honey-selling should be glad to help in thus attempting to popularize 

 the use of honey. By remailing such leaflets "after reading," they 

 could be "kept going" until literally worn out. 



We would have no special advertising matter on the leaflets what- 

 ever — simply all devoted to creating a demand for honey. Of course, 

 there should be in small print at the bottom of the last page, 

 "National Bee-Keepers' Association, I'latteville, Wis." We would 

 omit the General Manager's name, although using his post-ollice 

 address, so that in case there were a change of General Manager, all 

 that would be necessary would be to notify the postmaster at Platte- 

 ville to forward all the National's mail that might be received there^ 

 to the new post-office. The General Manager's personality and own 

 correspondence should not be mixed up with the work and busint-ss 

 of the National. The National Bee-Keepers' Association and its bubi. 

 ness should be greater than any one man or his business. 



We believe that the National Association can not do anything 

 that would be more helpful to bee-keeping than to prepare for distri- 

 bution such a booklet as we suggest. It ought to be done. It could 

 be prepared in time to be of service in moving this season's crop of 

 honey. 



If our suggestion meets with the approval of the membership of 

 the National, why not write to General Manager N. E. France, Flm ' e- 

 ville. Wis., who could take up the matter with the Board of Directors, 

 and thus, if they deemed it wise, get started on the proposed bool at 

 as soon as possible! 



Why not? 



No Great Harvest with Great Increase. 



There seems to be in the minds of some beginners an idea that 

 they can learn some way by which they can secure a large increase 

 without in any way interfering with the harvest of surplus honey. It 

 may be as well for them to learn plainly that the old proverb applies 

 here, " You can't have your cake and eat it, too." As a rule, increase 

 costs honey, and in most places the largest harvest can probably be 

 obtained by having no increase whatever. The exception is in those 

 places which have a very heavy fall Bow ; and in these places it may 

 be advisable to increase as much as possible early in the season, tru st 

 ing to the larger late harvest to be obtained by the larger number of 

 colonies. Even in these places the largest possible harvest will be 

 secured where there is no increase, provided the number of colonies at 

 the start Is sufficient fully to occupy the field. 



Suppose a man has 50 colonies in the spring. He may increase 

 these to 200 colonies, and by thus increasing them lose his chance of 

 an early harvest ; but if he has a heavy fall flow he may more than 

 make it up with the increased numlier of colonies on the late crop. 

 But he will do still better without any increase, if he has the 200 colo- 

 nies to begin the season. 



Teaching Bees to Steal. 



Mr. S. T. Crim, of Sangamon Co., 111., sends the following clip- 

 ping taken from the Decatur Review, his only comment being, " Bee- 

 keepers better look out :" 



"Trenton, N. J., April 20. — Enoch P. Eppoek, of Hunterdon 

 County, has been held to await the action of the grand jury on a 

 charge of having trained a flock of honey-bees to steal." 



It seems that down in New Jersey they have flocks of honey-bees 

 instead of colonies. It may be that this expression comes from their 

 familiarity with the " flocks of mosquitoes '" that we have read about 

 as being very plentiful in that State. If we may judge from reports, 

 their mosquitoes are on a par with birds, in size, and so it would be 

 quite proper to speak of them as " flocks." 



But just think what a wonderful trainer Mr. Eppoek must be if 

 he is successful in teaching bees to steal I And then to think of 

 arresting this " Eppoek "-making man for doing such a thing ! It is 

 unfortunate that some of us can not be members of that grand jury. 

 It would be so " grand " to serve on it, and perhaps learn just how 

 those honey-bees were taught to steal! 



But let us not all hold our breath until we hear the decision of the 

 jiu'y, in this wonderful New Jersey case. 



Care of Unoccupied Combs. 



Losses were unusually heavy diiring the past winter and the fol- 

 lowing spring, and there will be mure than the usual number of be- 

 ginners inquiring whether the old cumbs left by the departed colonies 

 can again be used. Most assuredly they can ; and they should be care- 

 fully preserved. If left untouched on its summer stand throughout 

 the season, a hive filled with such combs will be found by fall to be a 

 mass of worms and cocoons. 



The beginner is likely to say, " I'll fix that; I'll close the hive up 

 so tight that no moth can get in, ami if the moth can't get in to lay 

 the eggs, there can be no worms biitched from them." But when he 

 comes to open it in the fall, he (jcids it a solid mass of cocoons, with 



