^IMIERICA^ 



41st YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, NOVEMBER 28, 1901, 



No, 48, 



I % Editorial. ^ I 



The Chicago Convention is to be held 

 next week Thursday — Dee. 5 — beginning at 

 U) a.m., at the Briggs House, northeast corner 

 of Randolph St. and Fifth Ave. There will 

 also be an evening session. 



We are expecting a large attendance, as 

 there are many bee-keepers in Chicago and 

 vicinity, and we have received notice from a 

 number from a distance who expect to be 

 present. 



Come, and bring with you as many ques- 

 tions as you would like to have answered. 

 Dr. Miller has promised to come, and bring 

 with him a good supply of answers, which, 

 with the other able experts that are expected 

 to be present, there ought to be' no difficulty 

 about taking care of several boxes of ques- 

 tions. There will also be a few papers on 

 practical topics, that will help start interest- 

 ing discussions. 



Come along, and help make this meeting 

 of the Chicago Bee-Keepers' Association 

 equal to the best " Northwestern " ever held. 



(^oinb Honey by Weight or Case, — 



On another page Messrs. R. A. Burnett tt Co. 

 write on the subject of selling comb honey by 

 the case or by weight. We agree entirely 

 with them. In our opinion there can hardly 

 be any valid reason advanced in favor of sell- 

 ing comb honey try the case to wholesale 

 dealers, or to retailers. We have handletl 

 quite a good deal of comb honey, but have 

 never bought any by the case, excei>t in one 

 instance where we had it sold before getting 

 it ourselves, and our buyer being willing to 

 take it by the case. For our own grocery 

 trade? we do not think that we could be in- 

 duced to purchase honey by the case. We 

 would have to sell it out by weight to the 

 retail grocers. 



Sometimes selling by the case jiroves a 

 great loss to the producer. We remember 

 once he.iring of a carload of comb honey that 

 was sold to a certain firm by t/n' i-n.ie, on 

 which they cleared beyond a fair profit tlie 

 sum of .S400; and just because they sold it out 

 Ijy till- jiuhihI, the car of honey averaging 

 enough more pounds per case to ecjual that 

 anjount, or enough to pay the freight. Had 

 that car of honey been sold by weight in the 

 first place, as it should have been, the pro- 

 ducers would have Ijcen about .*4U0 better off. 

 So much for the producers standing in their 

 own light. 



We hope that bee-keepers will see that it is 



to their best interest to deal squarely, and not 

 encourage a kind of buying and selling that 

 can not well be defended as honorable and 

 upright. Gains gotten by any other than 

 straight dealing can be only of temporary 

 benefit. The linn or individual whose policy 

 is even tainted with deception, or by what is 

 known as "smart dealing," has its days 

 already numbered. •■ What shall it profit a 

 man if he gain the whole world and lose his 

 own soul ?" There are some things of more 

 value than dollars— their worth can not be 

 estimated in money. A man is really worth 

 what he i.v, not what he hus. True character 

 and a good reputation are everything in this 

 life, and a "blessed assurance ■' of the higher 

 and better life that is to come. 



A Good Hive-Cover is a thing that is 

 not in universal use, and the interesting dis- 

 cussion reported on page 725 of this journal 

 shows that the demand for a satisfactory cover 

 is becoming so insistent that manufacturers 

 can hardly afford to ignore it. One trouble 

 has been that the matter of cost has eut too 

 large a figure. A plain board with cleat on 

 each end can be had for a small sum, and in 

 some respects it makes an excellent cover; 

 but no matter how many good qualities it may 

 have, a single bad quality, if bad enough, is 

 sufficient to condemn it. The plain board 

 cover has more than one bad quality, but one 

 that is sullicient alone to condemn it is that it 

 will twist. Cleats, if strong enour/h, may pre- 

 vent warping, but cle.its of cast iron can not 

 prevent twisting, if a board is inclined to 

 twist. Unfortunately too manj' of them have 

 that inclination, and when a cover twists so 

 that one corner lies a fourth inch or more 

 above the hive, the days of satisfactory service 

 for that cover are over. 



Pcrhajjs the easiest way to secure a non- 

 twisting cover is to have it consist of two 

 layers of wood, the grain of the two layers 

 running in opposite directions. A dead-air 

 space between these two layees will make the 

 cover cooler in the hottest weather, and 

 warmer when the outside temperature is lower 

 than that in the liive. Such a cover covered 

 with tin and painted might he furnished at a 

 cost not beyond reach, and it is possible that 

 some kind of painted paper might do nearly 

 or quite as well as tin. Now that attention is 

 so strongly turned in that direction, the right 

 thing will probably be in sight before long. 



The Minnesota Convention is to be 



held Wcdiu-s(l;iy anil Thursday, Dec. 4 ami .">, 

 liWl, in Plyiiiuuih Church, corner Sth St. and 

 Nicollet Ave. .Minneapolis. The first session 

 is at 9:30 a.m., on Wednesday. A really 

 good program has been published in corimi-- 



tion with that of the Slate Horticultural 

 Society. This is a good arrangement, both 

 organizations meeting on the same dates. 



Besides the question-bo.\ and usual business 

 of the sessions, we find the following special 

 features on the bee-keepers" program : 



Song — " The Honeysuckle and the Bee " — 

 Miss Edith Dexter. 



" Should We, or Should We Not, Join the 

 National Bee-Keepers' Association ?" — C. 

 Theilmann. 



Song— Wm. Renter aud Miss Mary Reuter. 



" Some Facts in Favor of Joining the Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Association "—J. P. West 

 and Mrs. H. G. Acklin. 



President's Address— Wm. Russell. 



Song — " Buckwheat Cakes and Honey" — 

 Master Eddie Holmberg. 



"Some Problems and Queries in Practical 

 Bee-Keeping" — J. W. Murray. 



Song — Miss Julia Mondeng. 



Bagpipe Selections — Wm. Russell. 



Scotch Dance — Miss Maggie Russell. 



Music, Songs, etc., by Students of State 

 Experiment Station. 



Stereopticou Lecture — W. Z. Hutchinson. 



" Large Hives and Prolific Queens " — W. J. 

 Stahmann. 



"Queen-Rearing" — G. R. Frye. 



" Some Experience iu Keeping Bees Fifty 

 Years" — Wm. Cairncross. 



Song — " Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree 

 Bloom" — Little Miss Ethel Acklin. 



" Disposing of the Honey Crop to the Best 

 Advantage'' — A. D. Shepard. 



"Shade and Ventilation"— Walter R. An- 

 sell. 



" Wintering Bees" — J. B. Dexter. 



"Bucking Against Nature with Bees" — 

 John Collins. 



Please do not forget to buy your tickets for 

 the Horticultural meeting, and take certifi- 

 cates for them to get the reduced railroad 

 rate. 



Surely, that is a lively program, and ex- 

 ceedingly musical as well. But why shouldn't 

 the bee-keepers during tho summer imbibe 

 the happy hum from the bees, and then pour 

 it out for convention enjoyment in the win- 

 ter-time i Those Minnesota folks are coming- 

 up, and the Colorado people must look well 

 to their laurels, else the greatest State con- 

 vention of bee-keepers will he no longer out 

 near the great " Rockies." Hurrah for Min- 

 nesota! May its bee-keepers have a glorious 

 time, Dec. 4 and n. 



Nominations for the National.— Edi- 

 tor Root, in commenting on our suggestion 

 about having the annual national convention 

 make nominations for the election of general 

 manager and three directors each December. 

 suggests that it might be unwise to change- 

 general manager very often. All right; then 

 re-nominate him among the three candidates;, 

 and also re-nominate among the nine the- 

 three directors whose terms expire, if thought, 

 best. 



See page (191 for our former editorial on 

 this subject. It is a matter worthy of earnest 

 consitlcralion. 



