41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, MARCH 21, 1901, 



No, 12, 



^ Editorial Comments. ^ i 



Ijarge Yields of Honey. — Mr. Frank Benton says: " Mr. 

 Doolittle is n'listaken regarding wliat he saj-s in the last four or five 

 lines over his name, on page 14T. Cyprian bees were sent to America 

 in ISSO. The yield of 1,000 pounds, in 1S81 or 1S83, in Te.xas, was by 

 B. F. Carroll, from Cyprians I sent over." 



Honey Prospects in Southern California. — Prof. A. J. 

 Cook, of Los Angeles Co., Calif,, writing ns March 8th, had this to 

 say regarding the prospects for a honey crop : 



"The bee-keepers all thru southern California are pleased with 

 the prospects tor the coming season. We have had a generous rain- 

 tall, and may assuredly e.xpect a bountiful honey crop. The Stale and 

 three county associations have held meetings within a few days. All 

 are rejoicingly expectant." 



Bee-Glue or Propolis in I»aint.— Dr. J. M. Ross, of Clearfield 

 Co.. Pa., wrote us as follows recently: 



Editor York: — Enclosed find two samples of painting from 

 bee-glue colored with dry paint — bee-glue dissolved in wood-alcohol. 

 I befieve it will stand the weather better than oil paints. 



(Dr.) J. M. Koss. 



This is decidedly interesting, and perhaps well worth following up. 

 The paint seems to have a fair body, and is with difficulty scraped oft 

 the wood. It is possible, and indeed probable, that for some purposes, 

 at least, this paint may be ahead of other paints. If so, there Is a pos- 

 sibility of a boom for Tunisian bees. At any rate, it propolis should 

 become a merchantable article, the scraping it off will not be considered 

 the same drudgery that it now is. 



Bee-Kecping Within City Ijiniits. — Last week we received 

 the following from Mr. J. C. Wallenmeyer, of Vanderburgh Co., Ind. : 



EiiiTOR Americas Bee JorR?rAL: — A bee-keeper of Evansville — 

 Mr. Buhmeir — was fined $5 and costs, March 6th, for violating a city 

 ordinance, which forbids the keeping of bees in the city, or one-half 

 mile from the city limits. The ordinance went into effect Jan. 1st, 

 and many bee-keepers delayed moving their bees until they saw whether 

 the city authorities intended to enforce the ordinance. The passing 

 of the ordinance was a result of Mr. J. J. Cosby's bees soiling his 

 neighbor's washings, when taking cleansing flights, and also stinging 

 a horse, altho he made good all the damage done. The above suit 

 was brought about by a relative, who got the worst of a will, and so 

 took advantage of the bee-ordinance to retaliate. More suits to fol- 

 low. J. C. Wallexmeyek. 



I'pon receipt of the above communication we wondered how 

 many bee-keepers in and about Evansville are members of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association. If they are not alreadj- members they 

 should join at once, before getting into any further trouble. 



We would like to suggest that the Board of Directors of the Asso- 

 ciation look into this matter, and see what they can do to have the 

 city ordinance declared null and void. We see no reason why such 

 should not be done, and done immediately. There is no reason why 

 bees should not be kept within the limits of any city on the globe. 

 Of course, there may be special cases where they might possibly be- 

 come troublesome, but any reasonable bee-keeper would not continue 

 to keep bees where they were a source of real annoyance to his neigh- 

 bors. 



There are many small apiaries in (|Uite thickly settled portions of 

 Chicago, and there are also a number of quite large apiaries further 



out, but 3'et within the city limits. So far as we know, they cause no 

 real trouble to any one, while they are a source of considerable revenue 

 and enjoyment to those who own them. 



We hope Mr. Wallenmeyer will take up this subject with General 

 Manager Secor, with a view to seeing what can be done to put an end 

 to the •' more suits to follow." 



The " Cotton " Controllable Bee-Hive Fraud.— Mr. C. 



S. Blake, of Middlesex Co., Mass., has sent U3 the annual circular for 

 1901 of "The Controllable Bee-Hive and New System of Bee-Keeping. 

 invented by Mrs. Lizzie E. Cotton, about 1878, now owned by C. B. 

 Cotton." Referring to it, Mr. Blake says: 



" It must be all fraud. Would it not be well to expose it in the 

 American Bee Journal '. Some 23 years ago a lot ot us were bitten by 

 this same Lizzie E. Cotton, now under the name of C. B. Cotton." 



Yes, it may be well once more to occupy a little of our space in 

 warning bee-keepers against this old fraud. In 1837, one of our sub- 

 scribers sent us a similar circular dated 18116. In it we found a testi- 

 monial which reads as follows: 



Hon. Robert W. Furnas, Governor ot Nebraska, says: 

 Having ueed the " New System of Bee-Keeping " and found it a 

 success, I recommend it cheerfully to others. 



Robert W. Furnas. 



Upon receipt of the circular we immediately wrote to the Hon. 

 Mr. Furnas, under date of April 311, 18117, saying that we had noticed 

 his testimonial in a circular sent out by Cotton, and askt him to let us 

 know the extent ot his experience with the Cotton ' hive and system ; 

 also, whether he still recommended it. The following is his reply : 



Brow'xville, Nebr., April 20, 1807. 

 George W. York & Co. 



Nin ; — I have no remembrance of giving the testimonial referred 

 to. Nor do I call to mind " The New System of Bee-Keeping " named. 

 Very truly, Robert W. Firxas. 



There you have pretty good proof of the fraudulent character of 

 the Cotton outfit, and all bee-keepers will do well to beware of it. 



With the Cotton circular of 1806 there was offered a full colony of 

 Italian bees in the " Controllable Hive " ((! movable frames), with full 

 set of 85 one-pound boxes with starters of foundation, feeders ready 

 for feeding, and also a book giving full instructions how to manage 

 bees by the wonderful new Cotton system of bee-keeping! — this whole 

 outfit was offered for only ?30, f. o. b., the express office in the State 

 of Maine! 



In the 1901 circular we find the entire outfit is offered for ?(!, and 

 95 boxes instead of 85 are included with each hive. This is getting 

 down more nearly to business in price, but the inducements held out 

 to prospective bee-keepers to invest are somewhat remarkable. For 

 instance, read the following paragraph : 



"Two of the largest yields ot box-honey I ever obtained, and 

 which I think hard to excel, were as follows, viz. : I selected one of 

 my best swarms in early spring; I fed them and treated them with 

 the object of obtaining the greatest possible yield ot box-honey. I 

 arranged to have no increase in numher of xuxinw. but to employ all 

 the bies nUiriiiij hoiin/ hi the tiuxex. They gave me a little over ;J80 pounds 

 of nice honey in boxes. Another, a young swarm hived in the Con- 

 trollable Hive July 1st, yielded in 10 days one hundred and four pomuh 

 of nice honey in boxen." 



Our Cotton friend also has the folloviug paragraph in bis circular, 

 referring to "bee-journals and other publications," which is (|uitc 

 intei;esting : 



beware of COfXTERFEITS. 



Please remember, if you want the Controllable Hive with book, 

 giving full instructions for the management of bees, send your order 

 direct to me. Hewnre of that class who are slandering and lying against 

 me and the Controllable Hive. They do this thru the bee-juurnnh ami 

 oitieT publications that tht-ij can cmilrot ; believe them not. They are 



