41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, FEBRUARY 28, 1901, 



No, 9, 



I ^ Editorial. ^ I 



Joiniug the Xatioiial in a Botly. — 



Several local associations have already taken 

 advantafje of the provision in the constitution 

 of the National Bee-Keepers" Association, 

 which reads as follows: 



'' Whenever a local bee-keejiers' associalion 

 shall decide to unite with this Association as 

 a body, it will be received upon payment by 

 the local secretary of .50 cents per member })er 

 annum, provided that the local association's 

 membership dues are at least SI. 00." 



Referring to this matter in a recent letter to 

 this office, Dr. A. B. Mason said : 



Editok York: — I have just forwarded a 

 draft to General Manager Secor for the amount 

 of I'ees re(|uired to make the members of the 

 C'ayufja Co., N. Y.. Bee-Keepers' Society 

 members of our National Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation. Also, I have just received a letter 

 fruiu the Worcester Co., Mass., Bee-Keepers' 

 Society, making enquiry as to the terms on 

 whicli their organization of 40 members can 

 join the National. 



Won't you just suggest that all the local 

 bee-kceiiers' societies on this continent " go 

 and do likewise f Alsc.adil that it is neces- 

 sary to .^ciid rlicnanic and ]ii>st-oHice address 

 of eiich iiiemlier with the membership fee. 

 A. B. Mason. 



L.1TER. — I have just received a letter from 

 • ieneral Manager Secor, saying: " New m^i- 

 bers are coming in all the time, and the 

 Hnances are in a healthy condition.'' That's 

 the kind of a ■■ring" to have, and to hear, 

 and to belong to. A. B. M. 



We are indeed glad to learn of more bee- 

 keepers" societies taking advantage of the low 

 membership fee when joining the National 

 in a body. Vfe believe the Wisconsin State 

 Bee-Keepers' Association was the first thus to 

 join, and was followed liy the Chicago Bee- 

 Keepers' Association a month or two later. 

 At the recent meeting of the Wisconsin Asso- 

 ciation the memberships were renewed for 

 both the State and the National associations. 

 This is just as it should be. 



The fact that more organizations are " en- 

 i|uiring the way"' is a healthy sign, and 

 should ultimately increase very largely both 

 the membership and the treasury of the Na- 

 tional. It will be surprising to all, what can 

 be done in many ways when bee-keepers once 

 unite, not only to defend themselves, but to 

 |)ush their interests on every occasion when to 

 do so is both proper and right. 



We have been greatly encouraged during 

 the past month or twoon account df receiving 

 so many membership fees at this office, all of 

 which have been duly forwarded to (ieneral 

 .Manager Secor, who doubtless has pronii)tly 

 mailed individual membership receipts. We 



are ready and willing at all times to receive 

 such dues and send them to Mr. Secor. 



We wish there might be more local societies 

 organized under the provision of the National 

 constitution, as before quoted, and that all 

 such local organizations might see their way 

 clear to elect say two delegates to the Na- 

 tional convention each year. This would not 

 only be an honor conferred upon those dele- 

 gates, but would furnish the kind of represen- 

 tation in the National that every local associa- 

 tion should have. Suppose there were 50 

 local associations scattered over the United 

 States and Canada, each one of which should 

 send two of their best men to represent them 

 in the National Association. If the represen- 

 tatives would attend the National there would 

 be an assured attendance' of 100 of the best 

 bee-keepers in all the country. This of itself 

 would insure a great convention, to say noth- 

 ing of the attendance of bee-keepers residing 

 within 100 or "200 miles of the place of holding 

 the National convention. Of course, there 

 should be more than .50 local societies in the 

 United States alone 



What we would like to see is this; Let 

 there be county and district associations hold- 

 ing an annual meeting, and sending one or 

 two delegates each to the annual State con- 

 vention : and each State association send two 

 delegates to the National. This would give 

 representation to the humblest members of 

 the pursuit. Membership dues of $1.00 in the 

 county or district association should be suffi- 

 cient to make each bee-keeper a member of 

 all three organizations. Twenty-five cents of 

 the SI. 00 cau be retained by the local associa- 

 tion ; 25 cents to be sent to the State organi- 

 zation ; and 50 cents to the National, just as 

 is provided for now. 



We fully believe this scheme is entirely 

 workable, and that some arrangement ought 

 to be made at the next National convention 

 providing for this plan or something similar. 

 We are ready to co-operate along any line that 

 will give promise of unifying the bee-keepers, 

 and building up an organization that will be 

 able to take care of their interests. 



The Anti-Bee-Legislation, as recently 

 proposed in the Wisconsin Legislature, has | 

 received its deserved quietus. Mr. N. E. 

 France, president of the State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, wrote us as follows about the 

 matter, Feb. !)th : 



" This morning the Legislative Agricultural 

 Committee at Madison, reported for indrjhiile 

 puntjiuiierneitt, on KM laSA— to assess and tax- 

 bees, also to license moving bees to any other 

 town than owner's residence." 



Mr. France has been working almost night 

 and day since the Slate bee-keepers' meeting, 

 Feb. .5th and fith, to accomplish the above 



action. We knew he would be successful, for 

 there was rank injustice in the bill referred to. 

 For instance, the great poultry industry of 

 Wisconsin is not taxt. Why, then, tax bees, 

 which are so much more uncertain stock than 

 is poultry f Personally, we think bees should 

 be taxt at a small value per colony, but not 

 before poulti'y is put on the property list. 



Again, the bill proposed to tax those bee- 

 keepers who desired to practice migratory bee- 

 keeping. It provided that any bee-keeper 

 who desired to move his apiary to another 

 field where the bees might take advantage of 

 a better honey-flow, must pay a license fee of 

 $1.00 jier cohmy per rnoHtli before being allowed 

 to move into another township. That is, if 

 he had 100 colonies which he wisht to move to 

 another field for four months, he would have 

 to pay a license fee of S400 ! 



No sane legislators would favor such injus- 

 tice, we are very certain. 



The Apiary of Mr. F. M. Wagner is 



shown in two views on page 135. No. 1 pre- 

 sents it with the revolving roof in a horizontal 

 position to shade the hives from the noonday 

 sun. No. 3 shows the roof on a slant to pro- 

 tect from the afternoon summer sun, or from 

 chilling winter blasts. 



In a letter accompanying the photographs, 

 Mr. Wagner says: 



The hives are the 10-frame, with an all-wool 

 blanket lietwecn the tirood-chamber and the 

 super. l)ut held up frnni the frames so the bees 

 can jiass u\,t truni frame to frame. The 

 super is then tilled lightly with short straw. 

 The ventilation seems to be enough for this 

 climate [Adams Co,, III.], under a trial of 

 four winters — south of the 40th parallel, and 

 three miles east of the Mississippi River. 



A'alue of Bees to Alsike Clover. — 



Secretary Couse. of the Ontario Bee-Keepers 

 Association, said at the last convention that 

 the nearer a field of Alsike clover is to an 

 apiary the better the yield of clover seed. He 

 had applications from two men who wisht 

 him to locate bees near them. The value of 

 bees to fruit-growers and farmers is being 

 proven over and over as time goes on. Ignor- 

 ance is a hard thing to overcome, but it's 

 yielding more and more. 



Tin ("ann vs. Barrels.— Mr. .1. 11. Mar- 

 tin, in (ileanings in Bee-Culture, offers an- 

 other argument in favor of tin cans for ship- 

 ping honey. He says: ■■Freight rates on 

 honey in tin cans cased, from California to 

 the East, are .Sl.lO per 100 pounds: on honey 

 in barrels. ■*1.H0 per 100 pounds; on honey in 

 glass. SI. :!0 I>cr 1(H) pounds. Observe honey 

 in barrels and glass is in the same class. The 

 railroad conipanies evidently know where the 

 greate.-t ^i^ks arc." 



Conuiient is unilecessary. 



