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QBORQE W. YORK, Bditor. 



CHICAGO, ILL, SEPT, 22, 1904. 



Vol, XLIV— No. 38, 



c 



Editorial Commente 





Qo to St. Louis in Good Time. 



Not a bad plan, if you can arrange for it, to go in ad- 

 vance of the time for the bee-keepers' convention, next 

 week. That will give you a chance to take in the big show, 

 or ai least a part of it, beforehand, and then give your un- 

 divided attention to the convention. 



There's no disputing that it interferes no little with the 

 attendance at the convention to have such an attraction as 

 the big Exposition going on at the same time ; but there 

 are compensations. The low rates that can be had only in 

 connection with some other great attraction will bring bee- 

 keepers from a greater distance than if full fare had to be 

 paid. Also, they will come from greater distances and in 

 greater numbers to attend the big show and the convention 

 together than they would to attend the convention alone. 

 So, on the whole, we may expect a better convention than 

 we would have with no big show in the way. 



Don't Increase Number of Colonies Too Late. 



The beginner finds it so easy to make increase by arti- 

 ficial means that he is tempted to continue it late in the 

 season. To be sure, a nucleus may be built up by having 

 given to it a frame of brood and bees from each of several 

 colonies, and these colonies will scarcely feel the shock, re- 

 covering from it in a short time ; but if this be done quite 

 late in the season the shock will be greater and the recov- 

 ery not so perfect. Beginners will do better to keep on the 

 safe side. Better have one colony good and strong than 

 two so weak that one or both will succumb before spring. 



The Best Time for Superseding. 



A queen may be superseded at any time of the year 

 when bees are active ; but all times are not alike. It is a 

 sad interference with the honey crop, usually, to have a 

 queen superseded just before the beginning of the harvest. 

 The best time is toward the close of the main honey har- 

 vest. At that time an interim without any laying is not a 

 loss, for the bees resulting from that laying would be too 

 late for the harvest. There is an advantage, however, in 

 the laying a little later on, for that makes a lot of young 

 bees to winter well and have a sufficient span of life to do 

 good service the following spring. An old queen seems to 

 be somewhat tired out from her arduous labors during the 



season, and may stop laying quite early, much earlier than 

 a queen which has just been set up in business. 



What shall be done, then, to get the bees to supersede 

 their queens in the early fall ? Nothing ; fortunately 

 nothing. A wise providence seems to have ordered so that 

 nearly all the superseding is done at the very time when 

 the best interests of the bee-keeper require it. Let us be 

 thankful that those who think it best to leave to the bees 

 the matter of renewing their queens may also safely leave 

 to them the choice of the time for such renewal. 



The Different Kinds of Bees. 



The article, "Many Species of Bees ", on another page 

 of this number, contains statements that will be a surprise 

 to many. How many of us have ever noticed a dozen differ- 

 ent kinds, to say nothing of hundreds ? And is it not 

 strange that among so many there should not be a number 

 of them storing honey enough to be worth while? Still 

 stranger is it that the one kind stands so far off in that re- 

 spect from all others. 



Perhaps it is just as well that one species is all the 

 apiarist has to do with. So many puzzling problems are 

 constantly coming up in the study of that one species, that 

 if he had the 1877 or more other species to puzzle with, it 

 would make him go crazy- 



Shall the Bees or the Bee=Keeper Renew Queens ? 



This is a mooted question. Possibly that everywhere 

 prevailing factor — locality — may have something to do with 

 it. Some say that when bees are left to themselves there is 

 so much loss from failing queens at the very time when 

 their work is most needed, that it is better on the whole to 

 replace every queen at the close ot its first full season of 

 work. Others say that with them the rule is that when the 

 bees do not think it wise to supersede a queen somewhere 

 near the close of a season, such a queen may be relied on to 

 do as good, or even better, work the second season. The 

 beginner may do well to observe, and perhaps experiment, 

 for himself. 



Pure Food Laws Needed. 



On another page in this number will be found a com- 

 munication from Dr. G. Bohrer, whom the older readers 

 will remember as being a prominent bee-keeper many years 

 ago. It is a pleasure to welcome him back to our ranks. 

 His example of informing the people through the local press 

 is worthy of general imitation. If bee-keepers are not in- 

 terested to make the truth known, who are? 



He is also right in the idea that in every state there 

 should be rigid laws to safeguard the people against the 

 danger of buying under a honey-label anything other than 



