564 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug-. 18, 1904. 



are kept secret as far as possible from all but those con- 

 nected with or employed in them. 



The artificial honey-combs are so nearly like those made 

 by the bees, in the chemical composition of the wax as 

 well as the cell formation that the two can not be told apart 

 even by experts. The idea of making them was suggested 

 by honey-dealers of the class whose " bees " produce more 

 of the sweet article than combs can be found for. It is as- 

 serted, however, that neither the empty nor the filled combs 

 find a market in this State, on account of the rigorous en- 

 forcement of the pure-food laws. 



We have already written the Pittsburgh Gazette con- 

 cerning this matter, and we trust that all of our readers 

 who can possibly do so will write at once, requesting a 

 prompt correction and retraction of the above miserable 

 stuffjabout comb honey. 



It is exceedingly exasperating that the Wiley so-called 

 " scientific pleasantry," or, really, the lie about comb honey 

 being manufactured without the aid of bees, should still 

 " go marching on " more than 23 years after it was first 

 started in the Popular Science Monthly. The truth will 

 never catch up, at this rate. 



It is really coming to be a very serious matter. It is 

 time the National Bee-Keepers' Association is taking a 

 hand in the proceedings. It has already tried to do some- 

 thing about it in one or two instances, but we believe that 

 it needs to begin a genuine campaign that means " war to 

 the knife, and the knife to the hilt," on the newspapers 

 that persist in republishing the Wiley comb-honey lie and 

 its variations. 



We hope this important subject will be taken up at the 

 St. Louis convention next month, and something tangible 

 result from the discussion. 



In the meantime, let every reader of every bee-paper 

 write to the Pittsburgh, Pa., Gazette, and demand an im- 

 mediate retraction of their libelous statements about comb 



honey and honey-combs. 



lyATER. — Since the above was put in type, we learn that 

 the Gazette for Sunday, Aug. 7, published a handsome re- 

 traction, one of the very best ever given by an offending 

 newspaper. In next week's issue we hope to be able to re- 

 produce it. 



Bees Marking Their Location. 



The action of a worker-bee in flying around in con- 

 stantly increasing circles when it wants to fix in its mem- 

 ory a given location is a more common occurrence than 

 many suppose. It occurs not merely when a young bee 

 takes its first flight. It will do the same thing after swarm- 

 ing, or when moved to a new location at a considerable dis- 

 tance, and may be especially noticed if a feed of honey be 

 given at a distance from the hive. After the first time 

 loading up, the locality is carefully marked, for it will not 

 do to forget where such a bonanza is located ; but future 

 visits to the same place are followed by no such precautions. 



How to Uncap Money Rapidly. 



In the Bee-Keepers' Review E. D. Townsend tells how, 

 by a single stroke of the knife, he uncaps the entire comb on 

 one side. With spacing IJ4 inches there is chance for so 

 deep a cut that no second motion is needed, but special 

 care is taken that the comb be not held at such an angle 

 that the cappings can fall back from the knife upon the 

 comb. This last point is the secret of rapid work. 



Bees Tabooed in Cuban Cities. 



L,. Maclean de Beers says in Gleanings in Bee-Culture 

 that in most of the small towns of Cuba there is a munici- 

 pal law forbidding the keeping of bees nearer to the town 

 than a distance of about one-fourth to one-half mile. A law 

 of that kind would not stand in this country. 





Miscellaneous Items 



] 



Clips a Leg. — in his article on rearing queens, on page 

 S34, Mr. Thos. Broderick calls attention to an error which 

 was quite naturally made in this office. He writes : 



In my article on queen-rearing, I notice a most serious 

 mistake, and one which makes the article entirely valueless. 

 In the first column and third full paragraph on page 535, I 

 am made to say : " Clip about j4 inch off one of the large 

 wings," while it should read : " Clip about '4 inch off one 

 of the large legs." The correction of that one word means 

 success instead of failure, as all bee-keepers who practice 

 clipping queens' wings know that it is very seldom that a 

 queen is superseded from this cause, but when a leg is 

 clipped it is altogether different. 



In order that the readers will better understand why I 

 practice what some may choose to call a cruel method, I 

 wish to add this : 



Years ago, while clipping the wings of a large number 

 of queens, I accidentally clipped a leg off of two or three 

 queens, with the result that they were all superseded im- 

 mediately afterward. When I learned what happened to 

 those queens it occurred to me that I might do the same 

 thing purposely, and get the same results, and I have suc- 

 ceeded. Later I will show a sample of the work I have had 

 done with such a colony. Thos. Broderick. 



The Apiapy of Silas Johnson, of Marshall Co. , W. 

 Va., appears on the front page. He wrote us as follows 

 when mailing the picture : 



I am sending a picture of my apiary which is in the 

 rear of my dwelling-house, and contains 69 colonies of bees. 

 It is not all shown, as I could not place the camera so that I 

 could get it all in. I am standing in front of a glass hive, 

 holding a swarm of bees that has jUst clustered on a limb. 



I make all of my own hives, and they take the standard 

 Langstroth frames. Some of them hold 8 colonies, some 3, 

 and some 2, but all are alike on the inside. 



This has been a poor season for honey. There was 

 plenty of bloom, but 1 think it was too wet to yield much 

 nectar. I have not taken the honey off yet, but I do not 

 think I will get over 18 pounds to the colony. 



I have had a good many swarms, but I put them all back 

 and caged the queens. 



The Apiary of Chas. G. Maeklin, an attorney bee- 

 keeper living in Whiteside Co., 111., is shown on the front 

 page this week. When sending the photograph he wrote : 



" In accordance with a request made by the editor of the 

 American Bee Journal in the issue of July 14, 1904, I here- 

 with send a photographic view of one corner of my apiary. 

 The other corners do not appear on account of the difficulty 

 in procuring a good light, principally due to the dense 

 foliage. My time being taken up largely with my profes- 

 sional duties, my assistant, who appears in the background 

 of the picture, has full, and complete charge and manage- 

 ment of the various colonies shown, as well as of almost 

 everything else around the premises. 



" I make my own hives of the Sframe pattern, and find 

 that by so doing it is a great saving over the prices asked 

 by the trust. My apiary is run solely for comb honey, and 

 as a means of relaxation can not be surpassed." 



American Bee Journal Convention Reports.— A 



straw in Gleanings in Bee-Culture reads as follows : 



Stenog speaks of the good work of the American Bee 

 Journal in convention reports, and of Gleanings leaving 

 that field free. What a blessing that is will be appreciated 

 by those who are familiar with European bee-journals. 

 After one of the big conventions, different journals will 

 have page after page of the same thing reported, and some 

 of the little fellows will tag along after, copying from the 

 others. Then, too, there is a big difference in the time of 

 getting out the reports. Mr. York will rush through a long 

 stenographic report in a very few numbers, while foreign 

 reports will string along for a year — sometimes longer I 



