41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, MAY 9, 1901, 



No, 19, 



^ ^ Editorial. ^ I 



strenuous Queen-Kearing is the sub- 

 ject written on by Mr. J. H. Martin, as willbe 

 seen by the report of the California conven- 

 tion in this number. The paper treats upon a 

 new phase in queen breeding and distribution. 

 We understand that the plan was almost 

 unanimously endorst by those present at the 

 meeting. Mr. Mclntyre made an estimate 

 that if a bee-keeper could definitely depend 

 upon supplying a larg-e number of bee-keepers 

 with queens, and without advertising and the 

 uncertainties of the present method, that 

 queens could be reared for 15 cents each. The 

 members present were willing to pay 25 cents 

 each, 'and upon that basis the few present 

 were ready to place an order for 1,000 queens. 

 Upon this basis Mr. Mclntyre would probably 

 receive orders in his own county, and in Los 

 Angeles county, for over 5,000 queens; but 

 not being prepared for such extensive queen- 

 rearing just at present, the matter is under 

 advisement, meanwhile others are thinking of 

 entering the field and working upon this plan. 



Now the questions before the fraternity, or 

 rather before the queen-breeders, are. Can 

 good queens, such as Mr. Martins paper calls 

 for, be bred for 25 cents each ? Can a queen- 

 breeder rear from 5,000 to 10,000 good queens 

 per year ; Or, Mr. Queen-Breeder, how much 

 will you charge per month for your services 

 while rearing queens for from 50 to 100 bee- 

 keepers ? 



The object in adding the foregoing is that a 

 healthful discussion of the matter may be 

 brought out. Mr. Martin thinks his plan is 

 the right one for improving the working 

 qualities of a large number of colonies of 



Are Old Combs Objectionable ?— It 



is a fact that fashion seems to have at least a 

 little to do with practices of bee-keepers in 

 (litfereut parts of the world. In this country 

 it is the fashion to continue to use brood- 

 combs when many years old. while in other 

 countries they are considered oljjectionable 

 when ten, five, and in some places three years 

 old. The rejection of old brood-combs comes 

 from the belief that the cocoons left by suc- 

 cessive generations of young bees make the 

 cells so small that bees reared in them can 

 not attain their full size. A few in this coun- 

 try have said that they found liees reared 

 from old combs were a third .smaller than 

 others, but others say they can see no diller- 

 ence when the combs are 20 years old or oldei-. 

 One writer in Gleanings in Bee-Culture 



argued that bees must necessarily be smaller 

 because the cocoons left from year to year do 

 not leave room for full development. But if 

 that proves anything it proves too much. Old 

 combs may be found in which the septum 

 measures ^s of a" inch, and it was shown in 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture that if the amount 

 of cocoons left on the cell-walls was the same 

 as at the bottom, the inner diameter of such 

 cells would be so reduced that instead of 

 measuring 5 to the inch it would take 13 of 

 them, and it would take &% of the bees reared 

 in them to weigh as much as an ordinary 

 worker. No one pretends that such dwarf- 

 ing ever takes place. 



Some worker-comb 25 years old was meas- 

 ured by E. R. Root, and he found that while 

 the septum was 'g of an inch thick the cell- 

 walls were not materially thickened. It 

 seems that while the bees leave the bottoms 

 of the cells undisturbed they continually re- 

 move the cocoons from the side-walls, so that 

 by drawing out the cell-walls a little the cell 

 is made as large as ever. From this drawing 

 out of the cell-wall it happens that very old 

 comb measures an inch in thickness, while 

 comb newly built measures only %. 



Another item that should not be disregarded 

 is the preference of the bees themselves. 

 Give them their choice between an old black 

 comb 20 years old, and a fresh comb in which 

 little or no brood has ever been reared, and 

 they will promptly choose the old comb, 

 whether it be for the rearing of brood or the 

 storing of honey. It is also claimed that 

 bees winter better on old than on new combs. 



Honey-Adulteration in Illinois. — 



From the First Annual Report of the State 

 Food Commissioner of Illinois — 1S99-11-IU0 — 

 we take the following as written by State 

 Analyst E. N. Eaton last December, which 

 bears directly on this subject . 



Pure honey may be defined as the nectar 

 of rtowers, transformed, and stored in the 

 comb by the honey-bee. Extracted or strained 

 honey is the same article removed from the 

 comb by man, usually by centrifugal force. 

 Comb honey can only be adulterated by the 

 bee which seems to lia\e a patent on capjung 

 the cells. Extracted honey, next to vinegar, 

 is more universally adulterated than any 

 other staple fond products. 



In Minnesola. Iiefure the honey clau.se was 

 added to tlie Food Statute, about ;-B',; percent 

 of extracted honey proved to be adulterated. 

 In Ullinois about the same ratio of ad\iltera- 

 tion was proven to 'exist. Last year a com- 

 mittee acting for the National Bec-Keei>ers' 

 Association, secured a large number of .sam- 

 ples in Chicago. Bciri^'at the time employed 

 in conuuercial work. I examined the samples 

 for the Assoc iiiiini). iind found that more 

 than ."ill |.(iv,.|it uii' I'lulteratcd. The pres- 

 ent munili iiii.l> cMiirii.il honey au-uin seek- 

 ing the winter tnicl' Inspector Mrs. Frank 



Hubbard has visited many stores in Chicago, 

 and rejiorts very much less extracted honey 

 offered than the year before. This is owing 

 to the enforcement of State law requiring the 

 labeling of adulterated honey, thus driving a 

 dishonest competitor from the market. 

 While none of the samples taken thisiwinter 

 have as yet been analyzed, many of them are 

 of those brands which proved genuine in 

 former analyses. 



The most common adulterant of honey is 

 glucose, altho adulteration with cane-sugar 

 and invert sugar is possible and sometimes 

 practiced. The adulteration thus far discov- 

 ered on the Illinois market has been of the 

 cheapest and most gross kind — glucose 

 flavored with a small slice of honey in comb.i 



The Illinois Food Commission is doing a 

 good work for everybody in this State. There 

 are still some weaknesses in the present law 

 under which the Commission are working, 

 which, when removed, will tend to make 

 their efforts still more effective in the future. 

 We hope the. strengthening amendments will 

 be approved during the present session of^the 

 State legislature at Springfield. 



A Woman AVith 500 Colonies.— 



Gleanings in Bee-Culture has a report from 

 Lydia Crawford Harris, who last year from 

 an apiary of 16ti colonies obtained 160 60- 

 pound cans of extracted honey, and in 

 cases of comb honey. She also has two other 

 apiaries — in all 500 colonies. If something is 

 not done to stop this sort of thing there is no 

 telling to what it will lead. Instead of being 

 the down-trodden, submissive creature that a 

 properly constructed woman is expected to 

 be, Mrs. Harris boldly declares her inde- 

 pendence of the " lords of creation " by say- 

 ing; 



" As we women in Colorado enjoy all the 

 rights of voting, from the lowest county 

 otiieers to the President of the United States, 

 I propose to operate these yards with women 

 help." 



As a comment on the above. Editor E. R. 

 Root adds this : 



•■ If the right of franchise has this effect on 

 the gentler sex. let's give the women a 

 chance. If the women of the land could vote 

 there would be less of jobbery and wicked- 

 ness in high places. I'll risk the women, 

 every time." 



A Smoker AVith Double Bellows has 



been shown in Gleanings in Bee-Culture 

 which operates so that a puff is given as 

 usual at the pressing together of thumb and 

 fingers, and another puff as they separate ; 

 but the two puffs give no more smoke than a 

 single puff of the ordinary smoker. A Stray 

 Straw suggests that a smoker could lie 

 made to give a iierfectly continuous blast by 

 having bellows after the fashion of a nielo- 

 deon, allowing no possible sucking of smoke 

 into the bellows. I)ut there would be a loss in 

 the streii'Tth uf the blast. 



