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[Entered as second-classmail-matter at the Chicago, 111., Post-OUice.j 

 Published Monthly at 50 ots. a Year, by George W. York & Co., 118 W. Jackson Blvd. 



GEOKGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL,. JUNE, 1908 



Vol, XLVni— No, 6 



Editorial ^©fes 

 and Coimnenis 



■■V 



Optimism of an Irish Editor 



Rev. J. G. Digges of the Irish Bee 

 Journal is nothing if not an optimist. 

 He even finds occasion to rejoice in the 

 invasion of foul brood, since "the neces- 

 sity for combination against the great 

 enemy has led to the formation of as- 

 sociations which will assuredly benefit 

 the industry in more ways than one." 



Again, at the opening of the 8th vol- 

 ume, as if fearful of being reproached 

 with youthfulness, he says: "We do not 

 regret that our years are but 7. It is 

 better than to be venerable and stupid, 

 with our future behind us, so to speak." 

 And if he lives to see the semi-centen- 

 nial of his beloved Journal, a thing most 

 ardently to be desired, he will doubtless 

 say, with the same cheerful optimism, 

 "Better mature vigor at 50 than senile 

 decay at 100." 



The Future of Bee-Keeping 



Within the past 50 years, great 

 changes have occurred in almost every- 

 thing connected with bee-keeping. Con- 

 spicuous among these changes stands 

 the matter of specialization. Fifty years 

 ago there were a great many bee-keep- 

 ers, but no one kept many bees. To- 

 day, among the perhaps smaller number 

 of bee-keepers, quite a goodly number 

 are found who count their colonies by 

 the hundred, some of them making a 

 sole business of bee-keeping. What of 

 the future? Is the present tendency to 

 continue, or will the pendulum swing 

 back in the old direction? 



E. W. Alexander, in Gleanings, proph- 

 esies that "the same change will continue 

 to go on until there will be compara- 

 tively few men engaged in the business, 

 and these few will be located in the 

 exceptionally good locations, keeping 



their thousands of colonies, and having 

 the best of every thing connected with 

 bee-keeping that money can buy." 



Certainly that does not seem an un- 

 reasonable forecast, especially consider- 

 ing the present tendency in all kinds of 

 business. Why should not the general 

 laws of business that make specialization 

 and centralization profitable and desira- 

 ble apply to bee-keeping as well as to 

 other callings? And then why should 

 not some trust, some Rockefeller, gob- 

 ble up the whole buisness? 



There are, however, certain objections 

 to centralization in bee-keeping that do 

 not apply to the oil business and other 

 kinds of business. If the few men left 

 in the business occupy only the excep- 

 tionally good locations, the regions of 

 moderately good and of poor bee-pas- 

 turage will be left beeless, and the nec- 

 tar over much the greater area of the 

 land will be allowed to go to waste. 

 Surely that will be a bad thing, unless, 

 indeed, the few exceptional locations 

 furnish all the honey the nation ought 

 to consume or export — a supposition 

 hardly to be entertained. 



There is another phase of the affair 

 much more serious than the loss of nec- 

 tar. We are told that the most im- 

 portant work of the bee is not the 

 gathering of nectar, but fertilizing the 

 flowers. If blossoms are to be fertilized 

 only in specially good honey-regions, it 

 would mean a loss of millions to the 

 country. Surely, to avert such a disas- 

 ter, it would be better to go back to the 

 conditions of 50 years ago. 



Keeping Down Grass in the Apiary 



Where grass is allowed to grow in an 

 apiary, a lawn-mower keeps it down 

 nicely where the ground is level with 



no obstructions, but it can not do good 

 work close to hives or trees. Where a 

 flock of sheep is available, it will make 

 short work of cutting all grass short, 

 even in the places inaccessible to the 

 lawn-mower. But some have reported 

 serious damage from the sheep knock- 

 ing over the hives ; so it is well to keep 

 a close watch. If sheep are let in at 

 night, and any misplaced hives righted 

 in the morning, the result will be good. 

 Even horses and cattle are thus used 

 by some for night-pasturing. Where no 

 animals are available, a sickle and a 

 jack-knife may serve. 



Some keep down the grass at the en- 

 trance by administering common salt. 

 Copperas or blue vitriol may also be 

 used. 



Comb-Honey Colonies Short of Stores 



Quinby gave the rule that a colony 

 that had stored in supers could be count- 

 ed on to have sufficient stores for win- 

 ter. It has been found since that this 

 can not be taken as a rule applying uni- 

 versally. A colony that has stored in 

 extracting-combs may be short of stores 

 when it would have had plenty if it had 

 stored in sections. Whether or not there 

 is a late flow makes a difference. Size 

 of hive makes a difference. J. E. Crane 

 says in Gleanings : 



"Stray Straws quotes Doolittle as say- 

 ing that, in his locality, a colony which 

 has stored comb honey is rarely short of 

 stores for winter, but thinks it not true 

 at Marengo with 8-frame hives. It is 

 not true here, even with lo-frame or 12- 

 frame hives. There is a great difference 

 whether we have only clover for sur- 

 plus, or clover, basswood and buckwheat. 

 Clover usually fails in July with the hive 

 full of brood and scant stores." 



Buying Old Hives with Bee-Disease 



Mr. John H. DeLong, of Pennsyl- 

 vania, sends us a warning that perhaps 

 is not necessary to the older bee-keep- 

 ers, but to those just beginning, it cer- 

 tainly is worth heeding. It is to the 

 effect that no one should buy old hives, 

 nor anything else that has been used in 

 the bee-business, unless purchasing from 

 some one whom he knows is entirely 

 honest and reliable. Mr. DeLong bought 

 a lot of old hives and bees that were 



