41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, JULY 4, 1901, 



No, 27, 



\ ^ Editorial. ^ \ 



lOOO Members in the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association ! Are you one of ttiat 

 "ten hundred r' If not, now's your chance 

 to be counted in the firat thousand. Read on. 



The National Association of bee-keep- 

 ers meets this year at Buffalo, N. Y., Sept. 10, 

 11 and 12 — only a little over two months from 

 now. We have just learned that the Associa- 

 tion at present has a membership of about 

 800. We have long felt that it ought to have 

 at least 1000 good and true bee-keepers on its 

 membership roll. Why not make it that 

 number by the time of the Buffalo conven- 

 tion ; It could very easily be done, and in 

 this way ; 



Let each of over 200 of the host of readers 

 of the American Bee Journal who are not 

 now members, send to us his or her dollar be- 

 fore Sept. 1, and the thing will be done. 

 Don't wait until the last week of "August to 

 do that, but send the dollar to us now. Upon 

 its arrival here we will forward it to Mr. 

 Secor, the treasurer, who will mail you a re- 

 ceipt therefor. 



It seems to us that this ought to be done. Is 

 it impossible to have a national organization 

 of bee-keepers in this country with a member- 

 ship of 1000 ; If so, we are done with the 

 whole thing. But we believe it can be done. 

 We are certain that with the matter placed 

 properly before the readers of the American 

 Bee Journal alone, at least 2000 of theui 

 would be glad to join the National Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, and thus aid by their influ- 

 ence and dollars the cause in which they are 

 so much interested. 



We will begin to publish a list of nanus o( 

 all who send us their membership dues, be- 

 ginning next week (provided any come in by 

 the time our next issue goes to press), and 

 will continue to do so until the 1000 member- 

 ship is secured, or at least until the time of 

 the Buffalo convention. We have faith 

 enough to believe that there are i)leDty 

 among those who read these lines to raise that 

 membership roll above the 1000 mark. Is our 

 faith too strong? Wait and see — ajlrr yun 

 have sent us your dollar. 



Of course, the foregoing applies only to 

 those who are not now members of the 

 National Bee-Keepers' Association. All such 

 are hereby invited to send on their dues to «« 

 at oiu-e, so we can begin to publish that list of 

 names next week, or at latest in two weeks. 



Hurrah for 1000 members! 



Pan-American Apiarian Kxhibit. — 



We have received the following from Superin- 

 tendent 0. L. Hershiser, which he desires to 

 have read by the New York bee-keepers espe- 

 cially : 



NEW TORK STATE APIAKIAN EXHIBIT AT THE 

 PAN-AMERICAN. 



Nearly al! the honey in the New York api- 

 arian exhibit is to be replaced by honey of 

 this year's productiou, as soon as the latter 

 can be obtained from the bee-keepers of this 

 State. A goodly number of New York bee- 

 keepers are now represented, but it is desir- 

 able that many more participate. Let all bee- 

 keepers of this State, who are so fortunate as 

 to be favored with fine honey, both comb and 

 extracted, correspond with the superintendent 

 of the New Y'ork Apiarian Exhibit, with a 

 view to sending in an exhibit. There will be 

 absolutely no expense to the exhibitor further 

 than the extra pains he takes -to produce fine 

 exhibition honey, and in the extra care taken 

 to ship the same in a manner to minimize 

 danger of breakage. 



Orel L. Hershiser, Superinteudmt. 



1106 D. S. Morgan Bldg., Buffalo, N. Y. 



Mr. Hershiser writes us that everything 

 points to a good convention for Buffalo. The 

 use of the lecture room, committee rooms, 

 etc., of the Buffalo Society of Natural Science 

 has been tendered for the use of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, so they are there- 

 fore ready with a good hall. He believes that 

 entertainment will be reasonable, and looks 

 for a very large attendance. We hope there 

 will be even a larger gathering than met here 

 in Chicago last August. But that was a 

 record-breaker. Will Buffalo equal it ': Hav- 

 ing the extra attraction of the Pan-American 

 the Buffalo convention ought to equal the 

 one held here in 1893, during the World's 

 Fair. 



Fat and Lean Bees. — W. W. Case talks 

 about this in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, ex- 

 plaining how it is that a bee-keeper may be 

 mistaken about the bees of a certain colony 

 being larger or smaller than the average. He 

 says that bees get tat or thin according to 

 food conditions, although the fattening pro- 

 cess does not enlarge the thorax. He might 

 also have added that a bee may increase per- 

 ceptibly in size within a few minutes by fill- 

 ing its honey-sac. He says : 



In going through my apiary when honey 

 has not been gathered for a month. 1 have 

 often been struck with the thought, ■■ Are my 

 bees degenerating i" they seeming smaller in 

 apijearance than usual ; but after a week's 

 run of honey I am struck with the thought, 

 ■■ What fine, large, sleek-looking bees they 



Strong Colonies for Big Yields.— 



More than one reason can l)e given why strong 

 colonies should be kept, liut it is a very hard 

 thing for a beginner to get away from the 

 thought of the numlicr (if hives he has with 



bees in them rather than the total number of 

 bees in his apiary. Give him his choice be- 

 tween 10 colonies of 40,000 each, and 18 colo- 

 nies of 20,000 each, and it is quite possible 

 that he may prefer the latter. The 18 colo- 

 nies look more to him from the outside. It is 

 true that in the latter case he will have eight 

 more colonies, but he will have 40,000 less 

 bees. 



Even some with more experience might 

 make the mistake of thinking that 20 colonies 

 of 20,000 bees each would store just as much 

 honey as 10 colonies of 40,000 each. Without 

 thinking, he may say, "There will be just the 

 same number of bees in either case. 400,000, 

 why will they not gather the same amount of 

 honey ?" Let us figure. Schachinger's ex- 

 periments showed that when 



20,000 bees stored daily Ja pound of honey, 



30.000 •• ■■ l',< " 



40,000 •• •• 4 '' 



According to that, a colony of 40,000 bees 

 will not merely store twice as much, but eight 

 times as much ! That does not mean that 

 doubling the size of the colony will in all 

 cases give eight times the stores, for a colony 

 of 80,000 bees would not be likely to store eight 

 times as much as a colony of 40,000, and the 

 ratio would vary as the size of colonies would 

 vary, but the general rule will hold good, that 

 in all cases there is great economy in having 

 a large number of bees in each colony rather 

 than to have them divided up into a number 

 of smaller colonies. 



This matter will appear less strange when 

 it is remembered that a certain number of 

 bees are needed at home to keep up the heat 

 and take care of the brood, and the proportion. 

 of these will be less in a strong colony. It 

 can easily be seen that it will not require 

 twice as many bees to protect two frames of 

 brood as it will to protect one. 



It is especially commended to beginners to 

 give this matter careful consideration, and lo 

 remember that their success does not depend 

 on the number of hives with bees in them, 

 but upon the number with a strong force in 

 each. 



Placing Combs on a Wagon.— Con- 

 siderable discussion has occurred, especially 

 in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, as to the proper 

 way to place combs to prevent breaking in 

 hauling. All agree that on a car the frames 

 should be placed parallel with the rails, the 

 ends of the frames pointing to the engine. 

 As to hauling on a wagon, however, there 

 was not entire agreement. But a great deal 

 of testimony is to the effect that cither on 

 suiooth or rough roads the greatest joling is 

 sidewise, and that the frames shouhl be cross- 

 wise, with the ends pointing toward the 

 wheels and not toward the horses. 



