June, 1908. 



American Bee Journal 



during the present season. The local so- 

 cieties should do all in their power to 

 help in this matter by, if necessary, com- 

 bining their season's surplus product so 

 that the Secretary of the Provincial As- 

 sociation could inform intending pur- 

 chasers where a carload lot or more 

 could be procured from one neighbor- 

 hood. 



By working the present season in this 

 small way it was felt that perhaps it 

 would develop into something more 

 elaborate during the coming years, as 

 has been the case in the co-operative 

 handling and selling of fruit. 



P. W. HoDGETTS, Secretary. 



May 6, 1908. 



More Government Aid for the Bee 

 Industry 



Much as the busy bee has been extolled in 

 poetry, prose and proverbial lore, it is a re- 

 markable fact that the bee-keeping industry has 

 seldom received from Governmental offices the 

 encouragement and support which its own im- 

 portance and its immense incidental benefits to 

 other phases of agriculture unquestionably war- 

 rant. Perhaps this is partly attributable to the 

 limited numbers and unaggressive attitude of 

 bee-keepers, but more particularly, we surmise, 

 to the woeful lack of general knowledge con- 

 cerning the great value of bees in pollenizing 

 fruit, clover and buckwheat blossoms. Indeed, 

 bee-keepers are frequently anathematized by 

 neighbors who really owe them a deep debt of 

 gratitude for many an extra barrel of fruit 

 or bushel of alsike seed. That orchards yield 

 best, other conditions being equal, in the neigh- 

 borhood of apiaries, is a matter of repeated 

 comment among observant horticulturists. And 

 yet, scores and hundreds of orchardists and 

 farmers deny this, and berate the innocent 

 apiarist, simply because they are uninformed 

 regarding natural history, and too narrow and 

 prejudiced to believe the statements of experts 

 who have investigated the subject. There is 

 great need for educational work in spreading 

 knowledge of the value of bees to agriculture, 

 as well as assisting bee-i<eepers by freely-en- 

 dowed investigation and experiment in the 

 various phases and difficulties of modern apiary 

 practice. 



The value of the bees as an object-lesson 

 for nature study, and of honey as a food, 

 cormnends it. It displaces no other stock, with- 

 holds not a foot of ground from cultivation, 

 outside the limited quarters of the apiary, and 

 abstracts nothing from the fertility of the soil. 

 France, which utilizes every resource, encour- 

 ages bee-keeping liberally. In Northern On- 

 tario, honey is one of the first crops a farmer 

 can take. Canadian honey has won high lau- 

 «Is. wherever exhibited. At the Centennial 

 Exhibition, in 1876, Ontario honey took first 

 prize. At the World's Columbian Exhibition 

 in 1893, Ontario Province received 17 awards, 

 and the whole United States 28. At the Pan- 

 American Exhibition in 1901, Ontario with 

 21 exhibitors, secured the only gold 'medal 

 and 3.3 diplomas of honorable mention. Medals 

 of distinction have also been won at St. Louis 

 Mo., and Paris. France. ' 



These considerations emphasize the propriety 

 of a couple of recent resolutions passed by or- 

 ganizations of apiarists. The National Bee- 

 Kcepers Association of the United States, at 

 their last annual meeting at Harrisburgli Pa 

 recorded a strong expresson of opinion' that 

 all Federal, State and Provincial Departments 

 of Agriculture give bee-keeping encouragement 

 and the same help that other branches of agri- 

 culture receive; that complaint had been made 

 that incompetent men had frequently been ao- 

 pointed in the position of lecturers on this 

 subject. " 



At a recent convention of the Bee-Keepers' 

 Association of Ontario, a resolution was passed 

 unanimously -.sking that exhibits be mide at 

 Toronto Lon.i,„, Ottawa and other exhibitions. 

 Riving dcmc" • . - - ..u.ia, 



honey, tlie 



if iH^judg^g-anyikrii^g fori;;;;:e;^ a!^ "nZ 



A^,;£u'"'"'T ""',' ,P'-o^i"<:i->l Department of 



h„*^n , ^ " "•''"' '" Kivc bee-keeping the 



help and cncourac. ment that othc '• 

 agriculture arc receiving. 



• ment of bees, showing forth 

 nd instructing the pub- 



lines of 



is ground for expecting greatly-increased De- 

 partmental attention and aid to bee-keeping, 

 and there is no reason to believe that, so far 

 as Hon. Nelson Monteith, Ontario's Minister 

 of Agriculture, is concerned this will be forth- 

 coming. In this connection, it may not be 

 amiss to note that Dr. Robertson has inti- 

 mated his intention of instituting a strong 

 apiary department in the Macdonald College 

 at Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Que., and the 

 O. A. C. must not lag behind. It is now a 

 moot question, whether it would not be ad- 

 visable to establish, either at'Jordan Harbor or 

 Guelph (probably at both, with provision for 

 interchange of colonies and demonstration fa- 

 cilities), a strong, well-equipped experimental 

 and demonstration apiary department, in charge 

 of an expert apiarist employed the year round. 

 At present, there is but a fall-term course at 

 the O. A. C. by a non-resident lecturer, and 

 it is not conducted in a way to exalt the bee- 



keepers, art or occupation in the mind of the 

 average student. Development of this depart- 

 ment is clearly required, and any reasonable 

 expenditure will be well repaid. — Farmer's Ad- 

 vocate. 



The Farmer's Advocate is the leading 

 agricultural paper of Canada, and the 

 foregoing article is a fair criterion as 

 to how the better-informed agricultur- 

 ists regard the .jee-keeping industry. 



Regarding Government aid, no ques- 

 tion but that apiculture, as compared 

 with other kindred pursuits, has been 

 greatly neglected, but as is pointed out 

 in the article referred to, the signs are 

 hopeful for more attention in the fu- 

 ture. 



'^eedoin 



Conducted by LOU 1^ H. hCHi.iLl^. New braunie 



We t,ikc It tha the spirit of these resolu- 

 10ns docs not call for monetary appropriation 

 to the same extent as accorded, say, the dairy- 

 ing industry, for instance, but there certainly 



The Texas State Convention. 



The 8th annual meeting of the Texas 

 Bee-Keepers' Association takes place at 

 the Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 

 lege, College Station, next month, dur- 

 ing the meeting of the Texas Farmers' 

 Congress. The exact dates are not yet 

 named, and will be made known as soon 

 as obtained. 



There will be a more interesting con- 

 vention of bee-keepers this year than 

 heretofore, as many topics of special in- 

 terest are to be discussed, and many 

 new features will be brought out at this 

 convention. There are several impor- 

 tant subjects that will be brought up 

 before the convention this year that the 

 bee-keepers of Texas are interested in, 

 so that the attendance should be good. 



A new feature will be the demonstra- 

 tion work of real, practical value, in 

 place of the long papers that have here- 

 tofore been the main feature of the pro- 

 gram. Those on the program this year 

 will use this instead of reading long pa- 

 pers. 



Besides these things the social feature 

 of a bee-keepers' gathering should not 

 be forgotten, and for information as to 

 how to "rub up" with us, how to get 

 there, and any other questions, just ad- 

 dress myself, Secretary-Treasurer of the 

 Association, and I shall be glad to in- 

 form you. 



The program follows : 



Call to order. Prayer by a member. 

 President's annual address. Reception 

 of new members. General business. 



Selection of Location of Apiary — W.C. 

 Conrads and W. E. Crandell. 



Preparation of Apiarv for the Honey- 

 Flow— D. C. Milam and Willie Atchley. 



Foul Brood in Texas, and What to do 

 with it — Louis H. Scholl. 



Prevention of Swarming and Increase 

 — F. L. Aten. 



Best Methods of Queen-Rearing, and 

 Success with Babv Nuclei — W. IT Laws 

 and J. W. Pharr. 



Production of Extracted Honey — T. P. 

 Robinson and Otto Sueltenfuss. 



Marketing Honey — Udo Toepperwein. 



Is It Profitable to Have Apiaries in 

 Another State? — W. O. Victor. 



Comparative Profit in Production of 

 Extracted, Bulk Comb and Section Hon- 

 ey — A. H. Knolle and Hugo Sattler. 



Bee-Keepers' Exhibits at Fairs — Dr. 

 C. S. Phillips and J. M. Hagood. 



Question-Box to be taken up at each 

 session. 



The Value of Hives made of Texas 

 Pine— W. H. White. 



Prof. Ernest Scholl's Report on tlie 

 College Apiary. 



Report of Committee on awards of 

 premiums, etc. 



Election of officers, and completion of 

 all business that should come before the 

 Association. 



F. L. Atex, Committee on Program. 



Later. — Since writing the foregoing, 

 I have learned that the meeting of the 

 Farmer's Congress will be held July 8, 

 9 and 10. 



There will be exhibits of bee-keepers' 

 products and other things, as usual, for 

 which special premiums will be arranged. 

 All who have anything to send are 

 asked to do so, and thus help make the 

 exhibit a success. Write for any fur- 

 ther information, if desired, to me at 

 New Braunfels. 



Louis H. Scholi.. 



Distribute Your Apiaries. 



More than ever have I found the great 

 difference in localities since I have as 

 many as 16 apiaries now. These are lo- 

 cated in half a dozen entirely different 

 localities, where the flora and the sources 

 of honey are very different. And just 

 so different arc the conditions of the 

 bees in these localities. Some of the 

 yards are where very little honey was 

 obtained last year, so much so that the 

 average bee-keeper might have moved 



