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1861 



Kuiered at the Post-OfBce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 

 Piiblisilied Weekly at tSil.OO ;i Veai- by <jJeoi-ge W. York & Co., 3:tl l>earborii St. 



QBORQE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, tt.L„ AUG, 25, 1904. 



Vol, XLIV— No, 34, 





Editorial Comments 





Revised Report of the 1904 Honey-Crop. 



Gleaning^s in Bee-Culture, as in other years, has been 

 endeavoring to get at the size of the honey crop for 1904 in 

 the United States. It is an exceedingly difficult matter to 

 get anything reliable about it, but they particularize the 

 subject as follows, in the light of reports received so far : 



The yield in parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michi- 

 gan vrill be from one-fourth to one-half a crop ; in Iowa, 

 Illinois, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, from 

 the best information we can gather, the yield will be fair, 

 but the aggregate amount of honey will not be as heavy as 

 last year, owing to the aforesaid winter losses. Buckwheat 

 in New York promises well. In the New England States, 

 the yield has been light to fair. 



Reports are lacking from Colorado, but the few received 

 indicate that the crop will not be as large as was antici- 

 pated ; yield in Nevada will be good ; in Utah will be largely 

 a failure. We have not heard from Canada, but the pros- 

 pects so far as we can gather are good. 



Odd-Size Cases of Comb Honey. 



C. C. Clemons & Co. , one of the quoters of the honey 

 market for the American Bee Journal, write us as follows 

 on the variety of sizes of cases used for holding comb 

 honey : 

 American Bee Journal : — 



We note an increasing desire in bee-culture to put 

 honey up in odd-size shipping-cases — 15, 20, 24, 28 and 32 

 sections to the case. The price of honey for years has been 

 based on 12 and 24 section-cases, and it is almost impossible 

 to get any more for a 28-section case than you can for a 24 

 section. You have to open each case and show the buyer 

 that there are 28 sections, and sometimes count them over 

 two or three times to convince them that there are really 28 

 sections in the case. 



We think that this matter should be taken up with the 

 bee-papers, and a 24-section case advocated in all localities, 

 and the bee-papers, from our standpoint, can't impress this 

 idea too strongly. We would be pleased to have an expres- 

 sion from you on this subject. 



Yours truly, C. C. Clemons & Co. 



We are of the opinion that only two sizes of shipping- 

 cases are ordinarily necessary. We refer to what have been 

 known for years as the 12-pound and 24-pound cases. But, 

 really, we do not see that the size of case has any special 

 bearing when honey is sold by the pound. And we are 

 just old-fashioned enough to believe that comb honey 

 should be bought and sold by the pound instead of by the 

 case. We think that most of our readers know our views 



on this matter. Come to think of it, we believe we have 

 seen it stated somewhere that in a certain locality in the 

 West, the bee-keepers declined to patronize the American 

 Bee Journal any longer because we dared to express our 

 honest opinion on this subject. But that action would not 

 change the fact any, that it is better to buy and sell honey 

 by the pound. 



Still, we think it would be a good thing if there were 

 more uniformity in the size of cases. And we believe that 

 those commonly known as 12-pound and 24-pound would be 

 all right, regardless of how many sections each holds. 



We invite expression on this subject, both on the part 

 of honey-dealers and honey-producers. We are quite sure 

 the bee-keepers desire to use such cases as will give the 

 most satisfaction to the dealers. 



The Bee-Papers of the World. 



How many bee-papers do you suppose there are in the 

 world ? The probability is that your guess will be some- 

 what under the mark. That unique publication , Trade Press 

 List, gives a list of 87. France leads with 22. Next comes 

 Germany with 11. Russia and the United States of Amer- 

 ica have 9 each. Little Belgium has 8 ; Bohemia, 6 ; Italy, 

 4; Algiers, Australia, Holland, Spain, 2 each; Canada, 

 Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Roumania, 1 

 each. Most of them are monthly, 4 are semi-monthly, 4 bi- 

 monthly. The only other weekly bee-paper in the world 

 besides the American Bee Journal is the British Bee Journal. 



So-Called "Manufactured Comb Honey." 



There is likely to be some discussion on this subject at 

 the St. Louis convention, and there is little doubt that the 

 reporters will be on the watch for some warm stuff. Editor 

 Root thinks it would be a good plan to offer $500 or SIOOO to 

 them if they can find two sections that are exactly alike in 

 filling and capping. That would rouse their interest, surely. 



Ordering Queens by Mail. 



We find that there are a few bee-keepers who need a 

 word of caution, or a few " don'ts," about ordering queens 

 by mail. 



When desiring to requeen, don't make the colony 

 queenless before receiving the new queen. Wait until after 

 the new queen has arrived. 



Don't form a nucleus, to take a new queen, before the 

 queen is received. It will be time enough after she comes. 



These two " don'ts " are suggested by the fact that we 

 have known bee-keepers to unqueen a colony, and also form 

 a nucleus, before ordering the queens for them. This might 

 be all right if one were certain that he would receive the 



