370 



AMERICAN BEE jOUENAL. 



June 13, 1900. 



GEORGE W. YORK COMPANY 



144 & 146 Erie St., Ghicago, 111. 



Entered at the Post-Offlce at Chicago as Secoud- 

 Class Mail-Matter. 



BOITORIAL STAFF. 



George W. York, - - Editor-in-Chief. 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, ) T^ 

 E.E. Hasty, ' I Department 



Prof. A. J. Cook, ) Editors. 



IMPORTANT NOTICES. 



The Subscription Price of this Journal 

 is 81. UO a year, in the United States. Can- 

 ada, and Mexico ; all other countries in the 

 Postal Union, 50 cents a year extra for post- 

 age. Sample copy free. 



The Wrapper-Label Date of this paper 

 indicates the end of the month to which 

 your subscription is paid. For instance, 

 "decOl" on your label shows that it is 

 paid to the end of December, 1901. 



Subscription Receipts. — We do not send 

 a receipt for money sent us to paj' subscrip- 

 tion, but change the date on your wrapper- 

 label, which shows you that the money has 

 been received and duly credited. 



Advertising Rates will be given upon ap- 

 plication. 



National Bee Keepers' Association 



OBJECTS: 

 To promote and protect the interests of its 

 members. 

 To prevent the adulteration of honey. 

 To prosecute dishonest honey-dealers. 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 



E. Whitcome, 

 W. Z. Hutchinson, 

 A. I. Root, 

 E. T. Abbott, 

 P. H. Elwood, 

 E. R. Root, 



Thos. G. Newman 

 G. M. Doolittle, 

 W. F. Marks, 

 J. M. Ha.mbai-gh, 

 C. P. Dadant, 

 Dr. C. C. Miller. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

 Ernest R. Root, President. 

 R. C. AlKlN, Vice-President. 

 Dr. a. B. Maso.n, Secretary, Toledo, Ohi( 



Eugene Secor, General Manag-er and Treas- 

 urer, Forest City, Iowa. 



Membership Dues, $1.00 a year. 



ItW If more convenient. Dues may be sent 

 to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 when they will ha forwarded to Mr. Secor, 

 who will mail individual receipts. 



A Celluloid Queen-Button is a very 

 pretty thing for a bee-keeper or honey-seller 

 to wear on hiscoaHapel. It often serves to in- 

 troduce the subject of honey, 

 and frequently leads to a 

 sale. 



Note.— One reader writes: 

 *' I have every reason to be- 

 lieve that it would be a very 

 ^ood idea for every bee-keeper 

 to wear one [of the buttonsl 

 as it will cause people to ask 

 questions about the busy bee, and many a con- 

 versation thus started would wind up with the 

 sale of more or less honey; at any rate it would 

 give the bee-keeper a- superior opportunity to 

 enlig-hten many a person in regard to honey 

 and bees." 



The picture shown herewith is a reproduc- 

 tion of a motto queen-button that we are fur- 

 nishing to bee-keepers. It has a pin on the 

 underside to fasten it. 



Price, by mail, 6 cents; two for 10 cents; 

 or 6 for 25 cents. Send all orders to the office 

 of the American Bee Journal. 



I Weekly Budget. I 



Mr. W. J. PicKARD, of Richland Co., Wis., 

 called on us recently, and reported quite dis- 

 couraging prospects at present in his locality. 

 Their 400 colonies require feeding to tide 

 them over until the basswood How. 



.Mr. Ht'BER Root, who so faithfully and 

 siiecessfully managed the stereopticon at the 

 Chicago convention last fall, will have charge 

 of the exhibit of the A. I. Root Co. at the 

 Pan-American E.xpositlon. He is the youngest 

 of the A. I. Root family, we believe. 



The W. T. Falcoxer Co. and the A. I. 

 Root Co. will have exhibits at the Pan-Ameri- 

 can Exposition, in the Agricultural Building. 

 These exhibits will be conspicuously placed in 

 the gallery, this gallery being reached by 

 means of a traveling sidewalk. The two ex- 

 hiljits are placed^together in the same booth, 

 as it were, facing each other. — Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture. 



Opposers of Long-Toxgue Bees. — One 

 of our subscribers writes that it is a " silly 

 ttitemenf that some bees' tongues are longer 

 than others, but it may turn out to be a very 

 important thing for bee-keepers, and then 

 there may be some unpleasant eating of crow. 

 One curious thing is that the bitterest opposi- 

 tion to long tongues comes from the same 

 quarter where the most frantic efforts have 

 been made to get bees from India j ust because 

 they have longer tongues. Long tongues 

 may not lie of any consequence, but then they 

 mav. Let us wait and see. 



Mr. R. G. Haun is one of our far-away 

 Washington subscribers. When sending us 

 the nice picture of his apiary, shown on the 

 previous page, Mr. Haun wrote us as follows; 



I am TO years old, and have always led an 

 active and laborious life. Several years ago I 

 gave up the ranch to my two sons, and that 

 left me nothing to do, which I consider a bad 

 thing, even for old people. In looking 

 around for some sort of employment suited to 

 age and acquired habits of life, bee-keeping 

 seemed to be the thing. First, because I 

 dearly love it, and, second, because it would 

 make me financially independent. 



Several attempts had been made to intro- 

 duce bees into this (Kittitas) valley, but 

 each had proven a failure, and I was the first 

 one to succeed in getting them to winter all 

 right, and in securing a fair yield of honey. 

 Our honey is of the finest quality when one 

 knows how to secure it. Our first yield in 

 the spring is mainly pollen from willow, then 

 we have fruit-bloom and dandelion, and our 

 surplus comes from white clover. After that 

 there is not much to be gathered, unless one 

 has long-tongued bees that can work on red 

 clover. 



I aim to keep from 40 to 50 colonies, in S- 

 frame Simplicity hives, and get an average 

 yield per colony of lietween 4(1 and CO pounds, 

 spring count. There are three drawbacks to 

 the bee-business here, namely, excessive 

 swarming, dampness and mould in winter, 

 and a poor market for our honey, our market 

 Iwing flooded with cheap honey from outside. 

 When I first started in the business I pro- 

 duced chunk honey, then I changed to section 

 honey, and now I am producing extracted 



honey, which candies almost immediately 

 after being extracted. 



I believe that swarming can be partially 

 checked by giving plenty of ventilation. I do 

 this by inserting blocks between the hive- 

 body and bottom-lioard, making the space 

 one inch to begin with, and enlarging it as 

 the season advances, until sometimes there is 

 a 3-inch opening in front. Then in real hot 

 weather I give ventilation at the top. 



I extract before the combs are all capped 

 over. Honey from fruit-bloom and dandelion 

 is a little strong, and somewhat bitter. This 

 honey, when extracted, soon candies, and I 

 let it candy as hard as it will, then melt it by 

 setting it on the stove in a vessel of water, 

 heating it pretty thoroughly, then set it away 

 until it again candies, when I repeat the 

 operation, and set it away in open cans cov- 

 ered with netting to keep out the files, and it 

 is not long until I have a very fine quality of 

 honey that sells readily, and gives good satis- 

 faction. I peddle my honey in the home 

 market. At first I had trouble in selling it, 

 as nearly everyljody was afraid of adultera- 

 tion. But as soon as people came to know 

 me, and that I produced the honey in my own 

 apiary, the adulteration scare helped me to 

 sell it. 



One day I opened a jar of honey for a lady 

 to sample, and found a bee's leg in it. Several 

 children were standing by, and I said, jocosely, 

 ■' You see this is genuine honey because there 

 is a bee's leg in it.'* I made the sale. I went 

 up the street a little further, and when going 

 to one house a little girl from the group came 

 running into the yard, screaming, "O mamma, 

 come quick ; here is the man with genuine 

 honey with bees' legs in it !" R. G. Hacn. 



The Bee-Keepers' Society of Erfurt, 

 Germany, will hold its 50th anniversary this 

 summer. An interesting exhibition is planned 

 in connection with this convention or celebra- 

 tion. Bee-keeping of a hundred years ago is 

 to be shown. One hundred and fifty colonies 

 of bees will be on the ground, which will be 

 prepared and started for the heath in Thur- 

 ingia at the close of the festivities. A por- 

 table apiarj- of 30 colonies (wanderwagen) 

 will also be on exhibition. 



Mr. F. Greiner reports this in Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture. The oldest bee-keepers organi- 

 zation in America is only about 30 years old, 

 and it has had its name changed several times 

 though only "married" once, we believe. 

 The nest meeting will be held in Buffalo, 

 Sept. 10. 11 and 12. Are you going to attend ] 



Mrs. Geo. Jacksox, in the Bee-Keepers' 

 Review, speaks thus about boys and girls 

 taking up bee-keeping : 



■'I, too. believe that bees combine best with 

 bees ; therefore, get more bees. If you have 

 children to help, keep iimre bees. Bring up 

 your boys and girls in the business. Have 

 them work, study and think, the same as they 

 would do in preparing for any other profes- 

 sion or trade ; for it is distinctly a business of 

 itself, and a paying one, too. Then, why let 

 your young folks leave home ? Have plenty 

 of out-apiaries; plenty of profit. I believe 

 there is a better opening in bee-culture to-day 

 for a young man or woman than in almost 

 any other line. It is equally good for girl or 

 boy.'' 



Advanced Eggs. — An amusing mistake 

 occurs in the Progressive Bee-Keeper. A sub- 

 scriber asks how soon after a swarm has 

 issued it will be advisable to take away the 

 queen to let the colony rear a queen. The 

 editor replies not to disturb the old queen till 

 four frames are filled with eggs, that in this 

 case some of the eggs will be far advanced ; 

 that some think that such advanced eggs as 

 the bees would choose will not make the best 

 queens, etc. f)f course, larva; were meant in 

 place of " advanced eggs." 



