41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, NOVEMBER 21, 1901, 



No, 47. 



i * Editorial. 



A Dr. 31iller Xuniber is what might be 

 called this week's issue of the American Bee 

 Journal. When we visited him recently we 

 discovered the original photographs of the 

 pictures shown, and decided to use them in a 

 single number, as we now have done. 



As we have described quite fully each 

 illustration, no extended write up by us will 

 be necessary. Still, if there is anything about 

 the pictures our readers would like to know 

 more of, they can easily send in their proper 

 questions to Dr. Miller, when he will reply to 

 them in these columns. 



We wanted very much to show a picture of 

 Mrs. Miller, but she said "No "in such a 

 kind, yet decided, way that we felt we must 

 respect her wish. She is a most lovely 

 woman, greatly interested in all the Doctor's 

 work and writings. Of course, you'd expect 

 Dr. Miller to have just such a wife. 



As our readers know. Dr. Miller is past his 

 ?Oth birthday, and yet no one would suspect 

 him of being nearly that age. He retains his 

 youth in a wonderful manner. But that 

 comes from the Spirit that dwells within, 

 and that shines forth in his daily lite. It 

 keeps him 5'oung and happy. May it also 

 keep him with us yet many years, to bless and 

 to cheer all who are so fortunate as to meet 

 him or read his helpful words. 



The HA International Congress is to 



be held Sept. 9, 10 and 11, 1902, at Bois-le-duc, 

 Holland, and ihe program is already pub- 

 lished. Among other topics are : The role 

 of bees in fertilizing grain and grape-vines; 

 increase of bee-pasturage ; causes of swarm- 

 ing; influence of food upon the tjrood; 

 length of bees' tongues; foul brood legisla- 

 tion in different countries; adulteration of 

 honey and wax ; suppression of fumigation 

 of bees sent from one country to another. 

 The last topic is to be in the hands of our 

 esteemed countryman, Mr. Dadant. 



Sampling Honey in the best way is a 

 matter of considerable importance. At fairs 

 or other exhibitions it is important thai noth- 

 ing untidy shall be done, and it is Ijy no 

 means a pleasant thingto have a spoon passed 

 from one person to another or dipped into 

 honey after having been in the nioulh. The 

 luatler is perhaps more strongly accentuated 

 in the case of selling honey by samples, for a 

 prospective customer, on being handed a 



sample of honey in a spoon, has no means of 

 knowing who the preceding taster has been, 

 and in some cases he will piumply say he 

 wants no honey rather than to put in his 

 mouth that which may previously have been 

 in a mouth that was filthy or diseased. The 

 best way to have no suggession of unclean- 

 ness is to avoid the use of anything the sec- 

 ond time — in other words, to throw away 

 immediately whatever has been used once. 

 A common wooden toothpick serves a fair 

 purpose, and for sampling comb honej' there 

 may be nothing better, for with a toothpick 

 there is no need to break open more than one 

 cell. For extracted honey something a little 

 broader than a toothpick would be better. 

 Some have splints specially prepared, and it 

 might be interesting to learn from those of 

 experience what is the best and most con- 

 venient thing. 



Spraying Fruit-Trees in Bloom. — 



An editorial in the Farmers' Review, after 

 speaking of the harm to bees, says : 



It has also been discovered that the poison 

 is equally destructive to the life of the pollen, 

 even when the amount of poison is only 9 to 

 10 parts in 10,000. Even two parts in 10,000 

 has been frequently found fatal to the pollen. 

 The danger to the pollen is, however, greatly 

 lessened by the fact that the blossoms do not 

 all open at once, but the process extends over 

 several days. In a clump of five apple-blos- 

 soms the central one opens first, and spraying 

 at that time kills the pollen in only these 

 open blossoms. 



Crate, Rack, or Super.— Something of 

 a controversy is now on in the British Bee 

 .lournal as to the proper term to use for the 

 receptacles on the hives that hold sections. 

 The supply catalogs and some of the corres- 

 pondents have it " crate," while the journal 

 insists it should be " rack." They might do 

 worse than to compromise by using the word 

 in almost universal use in this country — 

 '•super." Unfortunately, while there is 

 unanimity in this country as to the written 

 word, the spoken word is by no means always 

 the same. It is just as much out of the way 

 to say '•sooper"in place of ''super "as it 

 would be to say " coor" in place of "cure." 



Moving Bees. — The distance bees can 

 safely be moved— that is, without danger of 

 their returning to the old location unless 

 special precautions aie taken — is a matter 

 that depends upon circumstances. It may be 

 two feet, or it may be two miles, much 

 depending upon the timeofyear. After bees 

 stop flying in the fall, and up to the lime 

 when they begin to ^rather in the spring, they 

 may be moved any number of inches or feet, 

 and there will be little danger of any return- 



ing to the old place, because each time they 

 fly out they do more or less marking of the 

 location. 



At a time when they are gathering daily, 

 if forage iS so plenty that they do not fly as 

 much as a mile from home — providing such a 

 supposition is admissable — then a removal of 

 a mile or more from home would not be likely 

 to be followed by the return of bees to the 

 old location. If they should be working 

 upon basswood five miles away, then a re- 

 moval of two, three, or five miles in the line 

 of that flight might be followed bj' the return 

 of a considerable number of bees to the old 

 place, for after working on the trees with 

 which they are already acquainted, it will be 

 in accord with their former habit to make a 

 bee-line for the old home. 



Late Feeding of Sugar Syrup — as 



late as the present date, or at any time dur- 

 ing the winter — should only be mentioned to 

 be condemned. If, unfortunately, a colony 

 is still short of stores, supply the deficiency 

 either by means of combs of honey or of 

 "Good" candy. If the work is carefully 

 done, a hive may be opened and a comb of 

 honey placed close up to the cluster of bees 

 /without seriously disturbing them. If you 

 ffhave no surplus combs of honey, take an 

 " empty frame and fill it with sections of 

 honey, trimming off enough to make them fit 

 in the frame, then hang the frame of sections 

 in the hive. If the bees of the colony extend 

 below the bottom-bars, combs or sections 

 may be shoved under for their use, providing 

 there is a sufficient space under the bottom- 

 bars, as there is in many cases at the present 

 dav in winter. 



Honey Jimcracks. — ''The following is 

 recommended in Progres Apicole," says 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture. "For want of a 

 better name we will call them ' honey jim- 

 cracks.' They are doubtless good in both 

 French and English:" 



Mix together one quart of honey, one quart 

 of powdered sugar, one quart of fresh butter, 

 and the juice of two oranges. Incorporate 

 with this, slowly, a little fine wheat flour, and 

 make a dough of it thick enough to be rolled 

 out ; knead it, and beat it for several minutes, 

 and Anally roll it out with a rolling-pin in 

 layers about half an inch thick. Cut out 

 round cakes, like biscuit, and bake them on a 

 light plate, greased with butter, with moder- 

 ate heat. 



Do Bees Pierce Grapes '?— Mr. Gerloni 

 relates in the Austrian Bee Journal that being 

 in a region where grapes are largely culti- 

 vated, his neighbors charged his bees with the 

 destruction of grapes. He invited them to a 

 test. Clusters of grapes of 28 varieties were 



