41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, JANUARY 31, 1901, 



No, 5, 



\ * iditorial. * f 



Removal Notice. 



Beginning Ft^b. 1st. imr place of business 

 will be at 



144 & 146 Krie Street, 

 instead of 11?S Michigan Street. Our corres- 

 pondent.s, and customers who are in the habit 

 of calling at our oflice, will please note this 

 change in location. 



After our loss and general disturbance here, 

 caused by the lire in this building on Jan. 1st, 

 we concluded it would be best for us to seek 

 another location. We had Jittle trouble in 

 finding what we think will suit us exactl.v. 



The new place is on the first or ground 

 Hoor — so there will be no more stairs to climb, 

 as is the case here. Also, there will be no 

 need for a freight elevator at the rear, on 

 which we have had to load and unload all our 

 goods the past eight 3'ears. This will save 

 considerable handling. We will have a larger 

 Hoor space at our new location, so we will be 

 able to have everything on one floor, instead 

 of on two as has been the case here a part of 

 the time. 



( )ur new office — 144 & 146 Erie Street— is 

 just a few short city blocks — (about 100 rods) 

 — due north of the Chicago it Northwestern 

 Railway Passenger Station on Wells Street. 

 We will be just about midway between Wells 

 Street and Franklin Street on Erie Street. 



We think now none of our friends who 

 come to the city will experience any difficulty 

 in tinding us. 



t'ome and see us in our new business home 

 — after Feb. 1st. George W. York & Co. 



Bees and Fruit.— The editor of Green's 

 Fruit-Grower— Mr. C. A. Green— offers the 

 following testimonial to the value of bees to 

 the growers of fruit: 



■' But as regards bees injuring fruit, there is 

 no doubt in my mind that this is a fallacy 

 which should be corrected thru the agriciii- 

 tural and horticultural pre.ss thruout tlie 

 country. Make it plain to all enquirers that 

 bees do not injure fruit, but that they are in 

 reality the friends of the fruit-growers." 



We have no doubt that those fruit-growers 

 who have studied the subject will agree with 

 Mr. Green. We believe that most of the 

 ojiposition that has shown itself on the part 

 of fruit-growers in the past has liecu a result 

 of ignorance, or perhaps a desire to injure 

 bee-keeping. We are quite certain that at the 

 last analysis it will be shown that bees are of 

 the greatest possible value to all growers of 



fruit, and that when they endeavor to destroy 

 the bees or prohibit bee-keeping they are sim- 

 ply " killing the goose that lays the golden 

 egg'' for them. The trouble will likely be 

 that most of the opposition will discover their 

 error too late. 



We notice in Gleanings in Bee-Culture that 

 it is proposed to hold a joint meeting of bee- 

 keepers and cfruit-growers during the Pan- 

 American Exposition next sunmier at Buf- 

 falo, N. Y. — at least one day of a joint session 

 of the representatives of the two interests 

 mentioned. We believe this would be a good 

 thing, and every endeavor should be put 

 forth to bring it about. Of course, it is just 

 possible that the National Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation may hold its meeting at Buffalo, and 

 likely, if such should be decided upon, the 

 joint meeting referred to could be arranged all 

 right. It will be helpful if the representa- 

 tives of the two pursuits can come face to 

 face, and discuss questions which are of so 

 much mutual importance. We should be 

 pleased to be aljle to announce soon that an 

 arrangement has been made whereby the bee- 

 keepers and fruit-growers can luive the pro- 

 posed joint meeting at the Pan-American. It 

 would go far, we think, toward settling the 

 question permanently in regard to the value 

 of bees to fruit. 



Bees on Shares. — To the often recurring 

 and always troublesome question as to the 

 right share of products to be given by the 

 owner to the keeper of bees, the editor of the 

 Australasian Bee-Keeper replies in the follow- 

 ing sensible manner: 



"Of all matters connected with bee-keeping, 

 that of engaging another to look after the 

 bees on shares is the most difficult to arrange 

 satisfactorily, and I really think it is impossi- 

 ble to have an understanding on all points, 

 there are so many things to be considered. 

 Where the apiarist does the work for a share 

 of the products, he should be allowed what 

 might seem a rather large proportion, for he 

 has to take all risks of the season, and the 

 market rate, provide his own tins, etc. No, I 

 would rather diseom-age any such arrange- 

 ment, knowing it to be unsatisfactory. I once 

 had an ajtiary on similar terms, and tho we 

 were able to satisfy each other, there were so 

 many points cropt up that unless eacb made 

 up his mind to be lil.icral and not exacting, a 

 dispute w<:)uld liave arisen, and it seemed as 

 if each party must lie prepared to decide all 

 points in favor of the other to settle up and 

 remain good friends. If you wish to engage 

 a man the most satisfactor.v arrangement is 

 to pay him wages and retain all products, 

 when .vou can dictate the ainonni of inrn-ase 

 to have, and how tlu' apiary should be worUt. 

 You may think that if a man has an interest 

 in the concern he will be more attentive to his 

 work and do tjetter: such reas(ming is very 

 good, and the only way to make such an ar- 

 rangement is to p:i\ ilic pnicbii-er a price per 

 pound, nr per tin. fur 1 Ik, himti/ he produces. 

 The wax product \m.ii1iI have to be arranged: 

 if wa.\ is paid for in the same way tTiere 



would be an inducement to melt up conilis, 

 and yet if wax is not paid for uo attention 

 may be paid to its saving, and the apiary 

 made dirty with wax-scraps and bee-moth. 



" To engage a man for one season on these 

 terms he would not permit of increase, and 

 may rather decrease the number of colonies 

 at the close of the season to get the greatest 

 amount of honey ; also, unless each hive is 

 arranged to contain a certain weight of honey 

 they would be extracted too close for winter. 

 This was my experience under a similar ar- 

 rangement, and on the whole the only satis- 

 factory arrangement is to pay wages and re- 

 tain ail riglits and take all risks; then if the 

 apiarist is not doing his work satisfactorily he 

 can be dismist — not so under any other ar- 

 rangement." 



The Utter vs. Utter Case.— Dr. Miller, 

 in a Stray Straw in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, 

 has this to say about the double-Utter case 

 recently mentioned in these columns : 



■• That I'tter-Ctter decision is alone worth 

 more than all the money that has been put 

 into the National Bee-Keepers' Association's 

 treasury. So was the adulteration light in 

 Chicago. Now, ray friends' who are not yet 

 members, don't you think you can afford to 

 put in a dollar each to help on the good work? 

 A lot more good can be done by the Associa- 

 tion if it has a full treasury.'' 



Editor Root, in commenting on the above 

 paragraph, writes thus: 



" In my humble judgment the decision of 

 tlie Utter trial was worth more — vastly more — 

 than that of the celebrated Arkadelphia case, 

 important as that was. If the decision in the 

 first-named had been against us, and left 

 there, bee-keeping might have been wiped 

 out of many fruit sections of the United 

 States. The Arkadelphia case related only to 

 bees in towns and villages: and it that "had 

 gone against us it would have wiped bee-keep-» 

 ing out of the great centers of population only, 

 but would not have affected it in the least in 

 the great acres of country half a mile and 

 more from those centers. Why, it seems to 

 to me that the results of the Utter trial are 

 wortli thousands and thousands of dollars. If 

 the National Bee-Keepers' Union, the United 

 States Bee-Keepers' Union, or the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Association, now all 

 merged into one, had never done any more, 

 we could still feel that the money that has 

 been put into the several treasuries was well 

 invested." 



We agree most heartily with all the fore- 

 going. Of course, there are many bee-keepers 

 who think that they do not make a sufficient 

 business of bee-keeping for it to be worth 

 while for them to join the National Associa- 

 tion. We think, however, that they are mak- 

 ing a big mistake. No one can tell just when 

 he will have to meet the same kind of opposi- 

 tion as did Mr. Utter, the bee-keeper. It pays 

 to be prepared in advance for any such at- 

 tack. But even if it were unnecessary for you 

 to defend yourself, you would have the Satis- 

 faction of knowing that liy joining the Asso- 

 ciation you were doing good by helping 

 others who are unfortunate enough to be com- 

 pelled to defend themselves against envious or 



