41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, JULY 25, 1901, 



No, 30. 



\ ^ Editorial. ^ \ 



One of a Thousand. — Are you one of a 



thousand members that the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association ought to have before 

 the convention to be held in Buffalo, in Sep- 

 tember ; Last week we reported the names 

 of four persons who had sent us their mem- 

 bership dues. This week we record the fol- 

 lowing: 

 ■John Baluss. John S. Dowut. 



New names will have to be sent in more 

 rapidly than during the past two weeks if we 

 are going to secure the necessary 300 among 

 the readers of the American Bee Journal. 

 That was what we thought could easily be 

 done. And it can be — if only 200 among all 

 the thousands who are not yet members of 

 the Association would simply send in the one 

 dollar each. 



Of course, it is not necessary to send your 

 dollars to us — send them direct to General 

 Manager Eugene Secor. Forest City. Iowa, if 

 you prefer. But we can publish the names of 

 only those who send to us. We will then for- 

 ward the money to Mr. Seeor. 



Now, can't we have a long list of new 

 names next week ; 



Grading Honey.— Mr. I). W. Working 

 has an article on this very important subject 

 in this number of the American Bee .Journal. 

 Every bee-keeper ought to read it, and then 

 heed it. We have handled enough honey to 

 know that most bee-keepers know very little 

 about the grading business. Of course, each 

 l<nows that no other bee-keeper ever pro- 

 duced as fine honey in every way as his '. And 

 no one grades as honestly as does he ! It's 

 always the "other fellow" who puts the 

 finest and whitest sections of honey in the 

 front row, next to the glass, and then fills in 

 back of them with ■• any old thing 1" 



One needs only to see the promiscuous lots 

 of honey that are received by a honey-dealer, 

 to be convinced that on the subject of grad- 

 ing there is much to be learned by most bee- 

 keepers. And uniformity of grading— well, 

 you might almost as well talk of controlling 

 breeding so that all calves or colts will be of 

 the same size and color! 



But it will pay to continue to call attention 

 to this subject that really does mean so much 

 to honey-producers. 



Read Mr. Working's article, and then see if 

 jou can't hereafter do better work along the 

 line of grading honey. 



Bees Superseding Queens. — G. M. 



Doolittle says in the American Bee-Keeper 

 thai fully three-fourths of his queens super- 

 seded by the bees are so superseded during 

 the three weeks immediately following the 

 linden flow. So any queen that he wishes to 

 replace at that time is disposed of. and a ripe 

 cell given a day later, unless a cell-protector 

 is used, in which case the cell is given at the 

 time of removing the queen. A plan not 

 generally known he further gives : 



Another plan which I have often used since 

 my apiary became very much improved be- 

 yond what it formerly was, is to rear a lot of 

 cells from my best queen at the time given 

 above, and 24 to 48 hours liefore they are booked 

 to mature, give one to each colony having a 

 queen more than one year old, using a cell- 

 protector for each one. and placing this pro- 

 tected cell in one of the sections on the hive, 

 or anywhere I best can where the bees 

 can cluster about it, without hunting out the 

 old queen at all: when, if the bees have any 

 notion to supersede their queen, they will 

 accept of this young one and destroy the old 

 queen. If they destroy the young queen I 

 allow the old one to remain, thinking that the 

 bees know what is right, and in 19 cases out 

 of 20 where the bees decide on keeping the 

 old queen, I find she proves par excelleitre till 

 after the houey-fiow of the next year is over. 

 This is something which does not cost much 

 labor, and which I iiractice often to my satis- 

 faction. 



-*^ 



In-Breeding is generally supposed to be 

 a thing that should in all cases be avoided, 

 and bringing evil and only evil in its train. 

 Those who are well-informed tell us that 

 some of the best results in breeding have been 

 obtained through the very closest breeding, 

 and this has been emphasized so strongly that 

 some might be led to think that no care what- 

 ever is needed to avoid in-breeding. A very 

 wide gulf lies between the two teachings. On 

 one side lies the teaching : in-breeding must 

 never he allowed. On the other side lies the 

 teaching: pains must be taken to practice in- 

 breeding if the best results are to be obtained. 

 The truth in such cases is generally to be 

 found in middle ground. In this case the mid- 

 dle ground would be very welcome to the lazy 

 breeder, who would interpret it as being: 

 take no pains to avoid in-breeding, and take 

 no pains to practice it, but let nature take its 

 own course. In this case certainly the mid- 

 dle ground so interpreted is not a safe ground. 



We are told that iri-hreeding is not a bad 

 thing per if. Perhaps. How can in-breeding 

 be a bad thing when such grand results have 

 been obtained throuL'h its practice ; But 

 were the results obtaiiii-d because o( in-breed- 

 ing or in spite of it ; Darwin says there is no 

 mysterious evil in the mere fact of the nearest 

 relatives breeding to--<-ther. but the evil fol- 

 lows from ihecircuiii.-iaEices of near relatives 

 generally possessing a closely similar consti- 



tution, and that however the fact be ex- 

 plained it seems a fact that for the most vig- 

 orous progeny there must be a certain differ- 

 entiation between sire and dam. That sounds 

 like saying there is no evil in in-breeding 

 per se, but it comes perilously near it if at- 

 tendant circumstances are so commonly such 

 that evil results. It would be unwise to dog- 

 matize with none too much knowledge on the 

 subject, but there may be no harm in asking 

 a few questions: 



Did those breeders who obtained such good 

 results from in-breeding breed from near rela- 

 tives because they were near relatives, or be- 

 cause they possessed, in common, qualities 

 desired to be perpetuated I Would a father 

 ever have been bred to a daughter as sire and 

 dam it another than the father could have 

 been obtained posessing the same qualities as 

 the father without at the same time being 

 nearly related to the daughter < Is it not the 

 safe thing for those who do not take great 

 and special care, that they shall take all the 

 pains possible to avoid in-breeding * Is it 

 not well that more should be known about 

 the laws of breeding, so that a goodly num- 

 ber of the craft could be engaged in an intel- 

 ligent attempt to improve our bees* 



The Saw Palmetto is an important 

 honey-plant. That same remark about white 

 clover would perhaps elicit a smile of ])ity. 

 for every one is supposed to know .white 

 clover honey, yet saw palmetto is to the 

 Florida bee-keeper, the editor of the Ameri- 

 can Bee-Keeper says, what white clover is to 

 the Northern producer of honey. "Hun- 

 dreds of thousands of acres of Florida sand 

 are covered with a scrub growth of it. while 

 in moist and richer localities it grows in im- 

 penetrable jungles, and is one of the most 

 beautiful of our sub-tropical palms," so .says 

 .Mr. Hill. 



In the same journal, W. S. Hart says it is a 

 tree whose trunk may lie under the surface of 

 the ground or upon it, or it may rise 10 or 12 

 feet high in the air. .It is one of the cheapest 

 and best sources of tannic acid for tanning 

 leather. The pinnated leaf is used to make 

 paper, especially of finest quality, and capable 

 of holding oil and other liquids. It also 

 makes a very clean and springy filling for 

 mattresses. The bloom is composed of small, 

 cream-colored /lowers on racemes from one to 

 three feet long, and the honey is of a fine 

 light-amber color, heavy in weight, and of 

 good flavor. Another grade of honey is ob- 

 tained by the bees from the juice which oozes 

 through the sliin of the berries, which are 

 from the size of an olive to twice that, and 

 seem to be a wholesome food for hogs, cat- 

 tle, bears, and jieople. ' 



