41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, AUGUST 29, 1901, 



No, 35, 



I ^ Editorial. ^ f 



The Buffalo Convention opens a week 

 from next Tuesday evening, Sept. 10, in the 

 Lecture Room of tlie Buffalo Library Build- 

 ing:, at the corner of Washington and Clinton 

 Streets, near the business center of the city. 



■We are looking forward to the largest 

 gathering of bee-keepers ever held in the 

 East. Chicago has set the pace, there being 

 about 500 in attendance at one evening session 

 last year when the National convention met 

 here. There never had been anything like it, 

 we believe — at least not during the past eight 

 years, as we have attended every national 

 meeting during that time. 

 • There are to be no papers read at this Buf- 

 falo convention. All the time is to 1» con- 

 sumed in the discussion of questions. Such 

 an impromptu program often proves to be 

 one of the most interesting and profitable, 

 when properly conducted. At least, the Chi- 

 cago Bee-Keepers" Association has found it so. 



But the main thing just now is to begin to 

 get ready to go to Buffalo. 



Pictures of Apiaries. — Some time ago 

 we called for photographs of the apiaries of 

 our readers, and quite a number have been 

 sent to us. They will be used as time goes 

 on. But we want more of them. If you 

 have a picture of your apiary, why not send 

 it to us ? If it is not good enough to make a 

 creditable engraving, we will tell you so, and 

 return it, if j'ou so request. 



When sending, please remember to write 

 your name and address on the back of the 

 photograph, to avoid mistakes after we get it. 

 Sometimes we receive several at one time, 

 and desire to use every precaution to prevent 



errors. 



■• 



Tot» Mu<-h Room in Spring has made 

 sad tlie heart of H. H. Hyde, as he relates in 

 the Progressive Bee-Keeper. It is the custom 

 in his part of Te.\as to leave all the extract- 

 ing bodies on the hives during the winter, as 

 the easiest way to take care of them. He 

 says ; 



I had been drifting along like the lialanee, 

 giving the (|uestion very little thought until 

 this spring, which was a very late, cold, back- 

 ward spring — the bees being very laic and 

 dilatory in breeding up. I very soon noticed 

 that the single-story colonies, or such as had 

 only as much room as they could occupy as 

 needed, were outstripping those tiiat had a 

 large surplus in room. Single-story colonies 

 soon built up strong and ready for the honey- 

 flows, while the others were dragging along, 



and for a good part of the time only holding 

 their own, the result being that when the 

 honey-flow came on they were weak and in 

 no position to harvest the honey crop. I 

 think that this has taught me a valuable les- 

 son, and it should teach a lesson to every one 

 else in this part of the country. 



It is not difficult to understand why a col- 

 ony should not do well In winter or early 

 spring with a large empty space above it. It 

 is too much like being outdoors. Heat rises, 

 and in the winter time a thermometer will 

 show the upper part of a living-room several 

 degrees warmer than near the floor. If it is 

 thought desirable to have vacant room in 

 cool or cold weather, let it be below and not 



above. 



♦^ • — 



Some Big Reports are assembled iu The 

 Pacific Bee Journal, including just a little to 

 discourage bee-keepers in regions less favored 

 than California. Emerson Bros, increased 

 from S35 to 1,000 colonies, and took 40 tons of 

 honey. C. A. Pyle increased TO colonies to 

 103, and took 14 tons (400 pounds per colony.) 

 J. B. McClure started in the spring with 230 

 colonies, and took 45 tons. A. Jopliri with 

 225 colonies took 24 tons. G. Dombrowsky 

 took 14 tons from 170 colonies, spring count. 

 Mercer it Son, 50 tons from 525 colonies. 



The Price of Honey is something that 

 the bee-keeper sometimes finds it hard to set- 

 tle upon. He is at a loss to know what price 

 he should put upon his product when selling 

 to a grocer or a private customer. It is a clear 

 case that if he is to hold the trade of the gro- 

 cer it will not do to sell to private customers 

 as low as to the grocer, and it may be the bet- 

 ter way to sell at retail at the same price as 

 the grocer. But what shall determine the 

 price to the grocer? (1. M. Doolittle, in a con- 

 versation in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, dis- 

 cusses the matter very sensibly as follows: 



'•Find the quoted price for each grade of 

 honey which you have, in the city to which 

 you would send your honey, did you ship any 

 away, and then figure the expenses for freight, 

 cartage, and commission out, and you will 

 have what it is worth at your nearest railroad 

 station. For exanqik'. the rates on comb 

 honey from Skaneatch-s to New York City is 

 50 cents per 100 pduiids. As this is gross 

 weight, we find by a lilllc figuring that about 

 55 cents per 100 pounds is what the freight 

 will cost, and the cartage will bring it up to 

 60 cents. Quotations during the months of 

 July and August urc generally little more 

 than nominal; but fiuni them we will guess 

 that fancy honey will luiiig from IHto 15 cents 

 this year. But unless your honey is excep- 

 tionally fine I should not put it above 14. 

 Then as most commission men charge 10 per- 

 cent for selling, we have S1.40 as the cost of 

 selling 100 pounds. This, added to the tiO 

 cents freight and i-iir;iige. makes a cost of 

 about 2 cents per pouu.ito get our product to 

 market, and the cash f"r it in .our possession, 



so that, on the basis of these figures, if you 

 can not sell the honey you have in Skaneateles 

 and surrounding towns at 12 cents per pound, 

 you had better send it to New York." 



"Well, I had never thought of reasoning it 

 out in that way. I thought I ought to have 

 13 cents for it, or only one cent less than New 

 York quotations." 



" It is an old saying, that ' a nimble six- 

 pence is better than a slow shilling;' and X 

 fear you will find that your honey will go 

 very slow at 13 cents, while it would sell rap- 

 idly at 12 cents. Then there is a possibility 

 that, when the market comes to be established 

 this fall, honey may go still lower than the 

 nominal prices we have used, in which case it 

 would be better to move it off rapidly by put- 

 ting the price at \l]:, cents, where a party 

 would take a whole crate." 



One phase of the case, however, Mr. Doolit- 

 tle does not touch upon. In some places and 

 in some years it happens that the local supply 

 is so short that grocers send to the large cities 

 for their supplies. In that case the bee-keeper 

 would be foolish to follow the same rule as in 

 years of full supply. It may be that grocers 

 in Skaneateles never send to New York for 

 honey, but it is certain that grocers within 

 100 or 200 miles of Chicago often send to Chi- 

 cago for their supply. For the sake of illus- 

 tration suppose the same thing should occur 

 at Skaneateles^ The crop is short, and the 

 bee-keeper, following the general rule, sells to 

 the grocers the few hundred pounds he has at 

 12 cents, the New York price being 14. When 

 these few hundred pounds are exhausted, the 

 grocers must send to New York for a further 

 supplj', paying 60 cents per hundred freight, 

 making the cost a little more than 14^. _. cents 

 per pound. By what rule of right should the 

 bee-keeper sell to the grocer for auy less than 

 this price? If he sells at 12 cents he is losing 

 2'i' cents on every pound he sells. So when 

 the crop is so short that part of the grocers' 

 supply must be secured from the large cities, 

 the rule should be. not to deduct freight, com- 

 mission, etc., from the city price, but to add 

 to the city price the amount for freight. 



Foundation SpIintfS (instead of wiring 

 brood-frames) have been warmly advocated 

 by some bee-keepers. Splints about one-six- 

 teenth of an inch thick are soaked in hot wax 

 for the purpo.se. B. F. Averill says in Glean- 

 ings in Bee-Culture that he does not find it 

 necessary to have the splints coated v\ith wax. 

 He merely presses the wooden splints into the 

 foundation, having them lon;fer than the 

 inside depth of the frame so that the ends of 

 the splints rest in saw-kerfs in the top and 

 bottom-bar. fhcy are put alternately on 

 opposite sides of the foundation, six or seven 

 to a frame, and no other fastening for the 

 foundation is needed. Ooe advantage is that 

 the foundation is built right down to the bot- 

 tom-bar. 



