Publislied IVeekly at 91-00 a Year by C>eorg;e W. York & Vo., 3S4 Ikearbom St. 



Entered at the Post-Ofl5ce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 



OBORae W. YORK, Editor. 



CHICAGO, ILL, NOV, 10, 1904, 



VoL XLIV— No, 45. 



The Annual Convention Season. 



Perhaps it has been observed by others also that the 

 convention season among bee-keepers usually begins each 

 year with the meeting of the National. But the majority 

 of the apiarian conventions are held between Nov. 1 and 

 the following March. It is the best season of the year for 

 most bee-keepers to get away from their homes and their 

 other work. It pays any wide-awake bee-keeper to go to 

 the convention. It's a good thing to meet others who are 

 engaged in the same kind of business as yourself. So at- 

 tend all the bee-keepers' conventions you can, and, like a 

 sponge, not only soak up some of the good things that are 

 said, but allow yourself to be " squeezed " a little and give 

 out something helpful when you can do so. 



Order Odd-Size Bee-Fixtures Now. 



Beekeepers who use odd-size sections and other appli- 

 ances will do well /o have them made now. Almost all 

 manufacturers absolutely refuse to make anything of this 

 sort during the honey season. They are lucky if they are 

 able to fill orders for regular goods at that time, let alone 

 those which are out of the ordinary. Manufacturers can 

 now devote their time to getting out these odd goods, and 

 the bee-keeper is not only sure of having his stuff on hand 

 when he wants it, but he is also allowed an early-order cash- 

 discount which pays him interest on the money invested. 

 The apiarists who use such supplies can readily see the 

 wisdom of ordering now. 



Drawing Conclusions Hastily in Bee- Keeping. 



The novice is in danger of drawing conclusions without 

 sufficient data, or without taking into account all the cir- 

 cumstances. If he gets a booming crop in his first year's 

 experience, it does not follow that he has a first-class loca- 

 tion ; neither does a failure in his first year prove that his 

 location is poor; that first year may be an exceptional 

 year, others averaging very different. A trial of a certain 

 plan a single year with a single colony may prove little ; 

 the same thing tried for a series of years with a large num- 

 ber of colonies may show an entirely different result. 



Comparison, side by side, is important, and in some 

 cases absolutely essential. A beginner has good success 

 with a large or a small hivL-, and concludes that the size 

 he has been using is the b< st for him, although he may 

 never have tried anything different. If he should try a 



different size side by side with the size he has been using 

 he might come to a different conclusion. 



Even the experienced are sometimes caught napping. 

 A case, apparently in point, occurs in the Bee-Keepers' 

 Review. As a testimony in favor of feeding sugar syrup 

 for winter, the following is given : 



"I fed 10 pounds to each colony, last fall, at the Pine 

 Lake yard, and this apiary produced almost twice as much 

 honey this year as the Eldred apiary produced, which was 

 fed no sugar, yet both apiaries were in the same condition 

 last fall. How is that ?" 



How much does that prove as to the effect of the sugar- 

 feeding? Something might be proven by the comparison 

 of two sets of colonies in the same apiary, but the differ- 

 ence in the foraging ground of two different apiaries might 

 be enough to account for the difference in crops, sugar or 

 no sugar. 



Special Postal Cards for Bee-Keepers. 



In Europe some of the bee-keepers' societies have got- 

 ten up illustrated postal cards that are beautiful, although 

 probably expensive. Our National Association could fur- 

 nish something of the kind at cost to its members. It would 

 help at least a little as an advertisement of honey. Why 

 not have it ? 



Publicity of Foul-Brood Cases. 



British bee-keepers are still in the throes of an effort 

 to get proper foul-brood laws, and the British Bee Journal 

 gives side by side the proposed bill of 1896 and that of 1904. 

 The latter contains a clause not contained in the former, 

 which reads as follows : 



" Where a person having in his charge any bees, hive, 

 or hives, has become aware that such bees, hive, or hives 

 are, or is infected, he shall forthwith give notice in writing 

 thereof to the local authority ; and if he fails to give such 

 notice he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding, for the first 

 offence, two pounds ; and for the second or any subsequent 

 offence, five pounds." 



It is said this clause is not necessary, as another clause 

 gives the local authority power to make by-laws covering 

 the case. Is it certain that the local authority would do so 

 in every case ? Would it be thus done in any better way 

 than to have a general law covering all cases ? Of course, 

 " it's none of our funeral " what our British cousins may 

 want, but it seems that the general good requires very 

 great pains to be taken to compel any man whose bees have 



