41st YEAK. 



CHICAGO, ILL, APRIL 25, 1901, 



No, 17, 



\ * Editorial. ^ \ 



" The Man Who Reads is the man 



who succeeds," is the first sentence of an 

 editorial paragraph in the Bee-Keepers' Re- 

 view. To illustrate it, Mr. W. L. Coggshall, 

 of New York State, is referred to. He emploj's 

 quite a number of young men every season in 

 his bee-keeping work with nearly 1,500 colo- 

 nies, and he says that " the young man who 

 did not read never amounted to much in his 

 employ." It was a true statement, and will 

 apply in practically every calling in life. 



The man who would succeed certainly must 

 read. He must inform himself concerning 

 every detail of his business. He nuist find 

 out the principles by which others have won 

 success, and then adapt them to his own use. 



No man liveth unto himself, 'tis said. And 

 that is also a hard fact. We are all dependent 

 one upon another. Each needs the other's 

 help and encouragement, in order to do the 

 best work. And by reading we gain not only 

 helpful information, but a necessary enthusi- 

 asm. We thus learn how others have done 

 successfully, and we feel that we can do as 

 well it we make the effort. 



Honey by the Pailful. — Mr. Thomas 

 Slack, of Canada, tells in Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture, how he disposes of his crop of honey 

 by the use of tin pails, selling direct to fami- 

 lies. His price is $1.00 for eight pounds. He 

 thinks that when a family buys a pailful of 

 honey at a time they will not use it so spar- 

 ingly as when getting only a single section or 

 a small glass jar of it. That sounds reason- 

 able. And he says he can sell more honey at 

 eight pounds for SI. 00 than at 10 cents a 

 pound. No one would want to try to push 

 the 10-cent price if the other is a success. He 

 allows 10 cents for a returned pail. 



Mr. Slack covers with his market wagon 21 

 miles in three directions each week in the 

 summer. Liquid hoEiey sells as ten to one for 

 him as compared with candied. 



" Keep More Bees " is the advice some 

 of the leaders are giving " without charge " 

 to those who have not made very much suc- 

 cess at bee-keeping. The idea is that most 

 bee-keepers have not been in the business in a 

 sufficiently extensive way to make it pay. This 

 may be true in many instances ; in others, if 

 the locality is not suitable for succes.stul bee- 

 keeping, it would simply be folly to " keep 

 more bees." 



As a sample of what at least one Ijec-keeper 



is expecting to do in the expansion business 

 the coming season, we may say that he has 

 already contracted to furnish 12,000 pounds 

 of comb honey at 16 cents per pound. He is 

 in the sweet clover district not a hundred 

 miles from Chicago. We are not at liberty to 

 mention his name, as we are not certain that 

 he cares to have it publisht. However, what 

 we have given will do no harm. He is buying 

 bees " to beat the band,'" and expects to have 

 about 2.50 colonies, and all in one yard. He 

 will have an expert bee-keeper take full 

 charge of the bees, while he attends to other 

 business that requires his attention. 



Last year, we believe, this same bee-keeper 

 averaged 100 pounds of comb honey to the 

 colony, and had over 50 colonies in the yard. 

 We will be able to report next fall how it has 

 paid him to " keep more bees " this year. 



There is quite a good demand for bees this 

 spring, at least in this locality, and if any of 

 our readers have them for sale at right prices, 

 they should do well by offering them thru the 

 advertising columns of the American Bee 

 Journal. 



Spring Care of Bees.— Editor Hill gives 

 this paragraph in the April American Bee- 

 Keeper, which should be read, and its sugges- 

 tions followed, by every one who desires to 

 make bee-keeping a success: 



At no time of the year does skillful treat- 

 ment and care of the bees yield so great a 

 reward as that bestowed during the spring 

 months. Avoid handling unnecessarily at all 

 times, and under no circumstances do so while 

 the weather is cold. See that all colonies are 

 provided with queens and with ample stores. 

 Brood-rearing draws heavily upon the honey 

 which they may have. Protect the hives in 

 every possible way against the loss of heal. 

 Upon the number of eggs laid by the queen 

 up to the 37th day preceding the opening of 

 the bloom from which the nectar is to be 

 gathered, depends the bee-keeper's success. 

 All laid thereafter are iit a loss to the honey- 

 producer. Give the queen the benefit of every 

 advantage you are aljle to bestow, in order 

 that she may meet the honey-flow witli an 

 ample force of workers. 



Testing Barrels lor Honey,— In all 



probability wooden barrrls will be used for 

 holding honey, for many years to come. 

 Altno the tin can is fa^t becoming the more 

 generally adopted package tor shipping e.\- 

 tracted honey, still thire are localities and 

 purposes which demand the barrel. So we 

 say, every man to his liking or preference. 

 Pres. N. E. France, of ihe Wisconsin State 

 Bee-Keepers' Associalimi, is perhaps one of 

 the most extensive U6c^^ of barrels for hold- 

 ing honey. He is a veiy candid man, and can 

 not be induced to use a can for honey. But 

 he knows how to test a barrel before putting 

 honey into it. At the (invention in February 



he gave his method as follows, the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Review furnishing the paragraph: 



" Barrels may be tested as to whether they 

 will leak by blowing or forcing air into a hole 

 n the head ; but there is a peculiar knack in 

 doing this. One breath alone will not test the 

 matter. Put the lips or mouth close upon the 

 aperture, and blow in all the air that can be 

 expelled from the lungs ; draw in another 

 breath thru the nostrils, still holding with the 

 lips the pressure obtained by the first breath ; 

 blow in another breath ; hold this and draw 

 in another. Perhaps a part of the third 

 breath may be forced into the barrel, but that 

 is about all. Hold the pressure. If there is a 

 leak, the pressure will soon run down, and the 

 ear may detect the sound of the escaping air. 

 If there is no leak, the pressure will remain ; 

 and upon removing the mouth the air will 

 come out of the opening with quite a decided 

 explosion." 



■* 



Done at the Right Time.— G. M. Doo- 



little says this in the Progressive Bee-Keeper, 

 about doing things in the apiary at the right 

 time: 



Upon their being done at the right time 

 depends the success of many of the operations 

 of the apiary. From what we often see, it is 

 evident that all bee-keepers do not realize 

 this. The wise man said in the Scriptures, 

 when he wrote under inspiration, '^ To every- 

 thing there is a season, and a time to every 

 purpose under the heaven," and tho he was a 

 preacher instead of an apiarist, he could have 

 done little better had he been the latter; for 

 unless the manipulations and operations in 

 the apiary are done at the right time, and in 

 the proper season, our purposes, no matter 

 how good, will fail of the desired success. 



Weak Colonies In the Spring. — In 



the April Bee-Keepers' Review Editor Hutch- 

 inson has this to say about the treatment of 

 weak colonies in the spring: 



Weak colonies are something that, it is 

 almost universally agreed, are not worth fuss- 

 ing with in th'e spring. Uniting them does 

 not seem to help matters much. Several 

 times have I united two or three weak colo- 

 nies into one in early spring, taking out the 

 extra <iueens and selling them, only to find, a 

 few days later, tlie newly formed colony no 

 more populous than was one of the colonies 

 that were used in its make-up. Then I would 

 again unite two or three of these made-up- 

 and-run-down-again colonies, only to see them 

 again reduced in numbers. I believe that 

 once, when warm weather came, and the bees 

 finally began to liuild up, I had the remains 

 of a dozeu colonics all in one hive. There is 

 something about this matter that I don't ex- 

 actly understand. Here are three weak colo- 

 nies. We unite two of them. A week later 

 it is diliicult to say which is the colony that 

 was made up from the two, and which Is the 

 one left to itself. See that your weak colo- 

 nies have sulhciint food, tuck them up snug 

 and warm, and then let them alone — and that 

 is good advice to follow with strong colonies. 



The Necessary Bee-Supplies.— Have 



you them on hand, all ready fur use when 

 wanted '. It is very aggravating to be com- 

 pelled to wait for the arrival of supplies when 

 the bees are suffering on account of their delay. 



