<^ 





41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, MAECH 7, 1901, 



No, 10, 



I ^ Editorial. ^ I 



The National Convention Report is 



omitted this week on account of more copy 

 not being received in time from the secretary. 

 We regret this second tirealc in the long 

 "continued story," as we desire to complete 

 it as soon as possible. 



A Glucose Te.st.— Editor E. R. Root said 

 at the Wisconsin convention that adding an 

 equal amount of wood-alcohol to honey, stir- 

 ring well, and then letting it stand say ten 

 minutes, is a good test for glucose in honey. 

 If adulterated the compound would show a 

 milky appearance, and remain clear it pure. 

 This is a simple test, but we presume the 

 wood-alcohol must be absolutely pure itself to 

 start with. 



Bee-Keeping at the Pan-American. 



— At the last Ontario County ( N. Y. ) Bee- 

 Keepers' convention. Mr. <). L. Hershiser, 

 superintendent of the apiarian exhibit at the 

 Pan-American Exposition, said that it was 

 proposed to have a commodious building for 

 the accommodation of bee-keepers ; that bees 

 alive were to be exhibited in regular yards as 

 kept in different lands; and also that there 

 would be shown articles from bakeries in 

 which honey is used as an ingredient. The 

 New York bee-keepers will he allowed to ex- 

 hibit at least .5,000 pounds of honey, about 

 equally divided between comb and extracted. 

 The extracted is wanted in bulk, the State to 

 furnish the packages in which it is to be ex- 

 hibited. The State will also furnish the cases 

 for the comb honey. All bee-keepers in New 

 York, who have any honey suitable for exhi- 

 bition, should address Mr. Hershiser. He will 

 buy the honey outright, which, however, he 

 will not do until next season, when the new 

 crop comes in. No exhibitor will have to pay 

 any freight charges. On request the honey 

 will be returned to the exhibitor, or such dis- 

 position made of it as he may desire. Mr. F. 

 Greiner furnishes this information for the 

 American Bee-Keeper. 



Big Yields of Honey. — The Twentieth 

 Century Farmer has been telling a whopper 

 on the 19th century bee-keeping. Here is 

 what it publisht recently: 



cyi'KIANS UOLD W'OHI.IIS liECORl). 



The next breed of bees imiiorled came from 

 the island of C yprus. They arc called Cyp- 

 rians, a name not always used for bees. The 

 Cyprians hold the world's n-iord for the 



amount of honey gathered by one colony in a 

 single season. Mr. Doolittle, of New York 

 State, a well known apiarist, took 1,000 pounds 

 of extracted honey from one colony of Cyp- 

 rian bees one year. They have one serious 

 fault they are very nervous, and will defend 

 tlu-ir stores of honey to the death. They can 

 not lie subdued by siuoke. When aroused the 

 only way to comiuer them is with a mild dose 

 of chloroform. On account of their disposi- 

 tion they have not become popular. 



Upon receipt of the Farmer containing the 

 above paragraph, we dipt it out and sent it 

 to Mr. Doolittle, to show him what was being 

 credited to him. And here is what Mr. D. 

 says about it : 



The above reminds me of the " man who 

 puked up three black crows.'' of ancient time, 

 while the truth was that " he threw up some- 

 thing as black as a crow', and told his neigh- 

 bor so." 



My greatest yield of extracted honey from a 

 single colony of bees was in 1877, when one 

 colony gave me the large yield of 566 pounds, 

 besides producing enough to winter on— or 

 about 3.5 pounds more. So that the total 

 gathered by this colony was not far from 600 

 pounds, nil told; that is, above what they 

 consumed while gathering, or during the 

 summer inonth.s. But this was before any 

 Cyprian bees were imported into this country, 

 the bees doing the gathering of this 000 

 pounds being those best of all bees, all tliwyx 

 considered — the Italians. 



But this record of 566 pounds has been out- 

 done several times. E. Gallup, while in Iowa, 

 went considerably above 600, and P. H. 

 Elwood, of this State, produced 640 pounds 

 from one colony, if I am cerrect; while a 

 Texas bee-keeper obtained 1,000 pounds, or a 

 little over, from a single colony in the spring 

 and its increase. This latter I have spoken of 

 in print several times, always crediting the 

 matter to the State of Texas. It would now 

 appear that it has grown, like the crow story, 

 till / myself produced the 1,000-pound yield, 

 and did it with Cyprian bees. But the Cyp- 

 rian part is wholly " manufactured," for, it I 

 am right, this l.oilO-pound yield was produced 

 before any Cyprian bees ever came to this 

 country. G. M. Doolittle. 



Onondaga Co., N. Y., Feb. 20. 



That " Utter "-ly Glorious Victory 



won down in New York State last December 

 grows more glorious all the time. Editor 

 Root, in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, has a para- 

 graphic editorial with this quoted heading, 

 ■' But 'Twas a Glorious Victory."' Then right 

 under it he gives the following from .losh 

 Billings; 



" Sum people that go to law fordanimiges 

 sumtimes get more than thawant." 



After that comes this paragraph referring 

 to the final settlement of the Utter vs. Utter 

 suit: 



Just as this form is going to press I have 

 received information that the plaintiff, or, as 

 be is called, Fruitnian Utter, has decided not 

 to carry his chm' to a higher court, and lie has 

 settled liv iiMviii/ all the costs, which can 

 hunlly lie lc>^ iliMu .*.50O or SfHKl. Thanks to 

 the National Bee-Keepers' Association, the 

 defense was so strong that the other side 



knew there was absolutely no show for them. 

 We met the enemy, and whipt him so hard 

 that he knew there would be nothing left of 

 him if he attempted to put up another fight. 

 "Tis well. Hip. hip, hurrah for the Associa- 

 tion ! Such a victory ought toappeal to every 

 one of our !-iiliMiilper> who is not a member. 

 Send in a dollar to (ieneral Manager Secor, 

 Forest City, Iowa, and have a hand in this 

 glorious work. There are more battles to 

 fight, and we need your help, and — you may 

 need ours. 



Yes, Manager Secor ought to be kept busy 

 now taking in the membership dollars. Surely, 

 every bee-keeper should desire to belong to 

 an organization that does such effective work. 



If it is more convenient for the readers of 

 the American Bee Journal to send their mem- 

 bership dues to this ofHee, we will be glad to 

 receive them and forward to Mr. Secor. We 

 would like to see every one of our subscribers 

 get into the National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion. You can't help in a better way for the 

 uplifting and defense of bee-culture. 



The Production of Comb Honey. — 



Mr. F. Greiner reports in the American Bee- 

 Keeper some notes from the Ontario County 

 (N. Y.) Bee-Keepers' convention held last Dec. 

 13th and 14th. Referring to an address by W. 

 Z. Hutchin,son, he gives the following impor- 

 tant point: 



As soon as it is advisable to put on the 

 honey-boxes or supers, give a super full of 

 drawn comb. This will keep the honey out of 

 the brood-chamber, and start the bees right. 

 Empty sections, or such filled with founda- 

 tion, do not fill the bill here. When the bees 

 once get in the habit of storing their honey 

 above, they are apt to continue thus thruout 

 the season; when they form a habit of filling 

 the brood-chamber with honey at the begin- 

 ning of the season, they then are slow to en- 

 ter the sections any time after. Mr. Hutchin- 

 son had observed that by giving supers full 

 of drawn comb a case of honey was gained 

 above what other equally as good colonies 

 had made supplied with empty sections. 



The swarms are treated according to the 

 Heddou plan. Mr. Hutchinson had done a 

 good deal of experimenting with swarms, 

 hiving them alternately on C(mibs, foundation, 

 and starters. The combs always gave the 

 poorest results with him, and the foundation, 

 aside from insuring perfect combs, proved a 

 total loss. No young swarm is allowed more 

 than five I.angstroth frames, or one section of 

 the Heddon hive. Contraction is practiced 

 only on the swarms. 



He has come to the conclusion that it is 

 not always profitable to supply the bees with 

 foundation. During a good fiow he claims 

 wax is produced anyhow, and if there is no 

 opijortunity to use it somewhere a large por- 

 tion of it is lost. And, after all, be exprest 

 his opinion that good, straight worker-combs 

 were not too dear at the expense of the foun- 

 dation. 



♦ 



A Ijooking-Glass plaeeil before the hive- 

 entrance is advised in the I,eii)/.iger Bienen- 

 /.eitung. to scare away robl>er-becs. Perhaps 

 it is thought that if the robbers could "see 

 themselves as others see Hutu." they'd " i|Uil 

 their meanness." 



