September, 1908. 



American Hee Journal 



)>^^^ m^} 



program that is published in all of the bee- 

 papers, sent out in pami>hlet form to all of the 

 members, as well as distributed and used at 

 the convention. 



1 am now making up the program, and take 

 this public method, that none may be over- 

 looked, of asking dealers to write and let me 

 know what they can contribute in the way of 

 premiums. I would suggest that premiums be 

 offered something as follows: 



Best and largest display of single-comb nuclei 

 of different varieties of bees, accompanied by 

 queens; condition of bees, purity of race, and 

 beauty of hives, to be the competing points. 



Best 10 sections of comb honey, complete- 

 ness of filling of section, evenness of surface 

 of comb, completeness of capping, freedom 

 from travel-stain, and general neatness and ap- 

 pearance, to be the competing points. 



Best !o pounds of liquid extracted honey, 

 quality and manner of putting up for market to 

 be considered. 



Best 10 pounds of granulated honey, quality, 

 including tineness and smoothness of grain, 

 and manner of putting up for market, to be 

 considered. 



Best 10 pounds of beeswax, color, texture, 

 and beauty of the cake or cakes in regard to 

 shape, to be considered. 



^ The most important, late apicultural inven- 

 tion that has not before been awarded a 

 premium. 



If there is some other object upon which 

 a dealer would ratner offer a premium, he is 

 at liberty to do so. If you prefer, you 

 can siinply say what you can offer, (and please 

 make it as liberal as 'you can, that we may 

 have a big display), and then allow me to place 

 the premiums as seems best. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



Advertising Queen Bees 



Much of what we have said in another 

 item about advertising honey for sale, 

 applies equally to selling queen-bees. 

 Undoubtedly there are many who rear 

 their own queens, and have some very 

 superior ones, whose bees are won- 

 derful nectar-gatherers, that never have 

 thought of offering them to their fel- 

 low-bee-keepers. 



The qifeen-business is getting to be a 

 very important one — more so every 

 year. There are many every season 

 who feel the need of improving their 

 bees by introducing new blood. They 

 will be glad to purchase something good, 

 if they only know where to get it, and 

 also be assured that it is good. 



We would not urge everybody to go 

 into the queen-rearing business, any 

 more than we would urge everybody to 

 go into bee-keeping. But there must be 

 many who now are rearing good queens 

 on a small scale, that would find it 

 profitable to enlarge their capacity, and 

 go after the business that they could 

 have by making a sincere, legitimate 

 effort to get it and to give satisfaction. 



Northern Illinois Convention 



The annual meeting of the Northern 

 Illinois Bee-Keepers' Association will be 

 held in the Court House in Rockford, 

 111., Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 20 

 and 21, 1908. All interested are invited 

 to attend. B. Kennedy, Sec. 



Cherry Valley, III. 



Illinois State Convention 



The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will meet Nov. 19th and 20th, 

 at the State house in Springfield. We 

 may have no program except what will 

 be made up by the best of our bee-keep- 

 ers — which is always better than a set 

 program, if those present are alive to 

 their opportunity. 



The Illinois State Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation has made arrangements with 



the State Board of Agriculture to have 

 bees handled in cages at the State Fair. 

 In one cage, for the purpose, a foul- 

 broody hive will be shown up. Louis 

 Werner, of Edwardsville, will do the 

 manipulating. Jas. A. Stone, Sec. 

 Rt. -1, Springfield, 111. 



Western Illinois Convention 



The Western Illinois Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will hold their annual meeting 

 in the County Court room at Galesburg, 

 111., on Friday, Sept. 18, 1908. All in- 

 terested in bee-keeping are earnestly re- 



quested to attend, and help make this a 

 rousing meeting. 

 Altona, 111. W. B. Moore, Pres. 



Kansas State Convention 



The annual meeting of the Kansas 

 State Hce-Keepers' Association will be 

 held in Hutchinson, September 16 and 17, 

 during the State Fair. It will be an im- 

 portant meeting for all who arc interest- 

 ed in bees, and those who attend can also 

 see the biggest fair ever held in Kansas. 

 P. R. Hobble, Pres. 



Dodge City, Kan. 



Conducted by EMMA M. WILSUN, Marengo, HI. 



Death of Mrs. Amos. 



When Mrs. A. L. Amos was men- 

 tioned so short a time ago as one of 

 the leading introducers of yellow sweet 

 clover, there was little thought that the 

 announcement of her death was so soon 

 to follow. But her important place in 

 the ranks of the sisterhood is thus soon 

 made vacant, her death occurring July 

 25, 1908. In a future number we hope 

 to say more about our departed friend. 



It is not necessary to cover with oil- 

 cloth for home consumption or any 

 other consumption. Whether oilcloth or 

 any other covering of a cloth kind is 

 needed depends upon how hives and cov- 

 ers are made. Formerly more than at 

 present there was a considerable space 

 under the hive-cover, and some kind of 

 a sheet or quilt was needed to keep the 

 bees from occupying this space. Often- 

 er, nowadays, there is only about a quar- 

 ter of an inch between top-bars and 

 cover, and no oilcloth is needed. 



Buying Queens — Removing Honey 

 from Hives. 



Is it too late to order a queen-bee? If not, 

 ought I to get a colony with it to insure suc- 

 cess? If I just get a queen and put her into 

 a hive, will it do? 



When should I remove the honey from the 

 hives — what time in the day ? Is it necessary 

 to put oil-cloth on top of the frames for pro- 

 ducing for home consumption — before putting 

 boxes or frames on, and afterwards to prevent 

 sticking to the cover? A friend does this, 

 but some here do not. 



(Mrs.) E. P. Day. 



Bloomington, III., Aug. 14. 



It is a very good time of year to get 

 a queen now. You will have the ad- 

 vantage of having her thoroughly estab- 

 lished for a full year's work next year. 



It will be safer and less trouble to 

 buy a queen in a full colony, but it will 

 cost a good bit more. If you desire the 

 additional increase, or if you do not care 

 for the expense, better get the full col- 

 ony. But if you have a colony with an 

 undesirable queen, it will cost no more 

 than a dollar to get an untested queen 

 to introduce, and 9 times out of 10 

 your untested queen will be found all 

 right. 



We remove honey from hives at any 

 time in the day when bees are flying. 

 They resent interference least when they 

 are busiest at work in the field. On 

 some accounts a beginner may prefer to 

 operate rather late in the day, but while 

 bees are still at work in the fields. 

 Then if any trouble occurs, as a start in 

 robbing, night will close the scene. 



Lady Queen-Breeders — Introducing 

 Cells and Virgin Queens. 



I was much interested in Mrs. Bacon's 

 article on page 202. I happen to know that 

 she is not the only lady engaged in rearing 

 queens. Some little time ago, while correspond- 

 ing with some queen-breeders, one who had 

 only given initials, wrote the whole name, be- 

 cause I was a woman and also I was writing 

 to a lady. I cannot give her full name here 

 as she does not give it, but the name with 

 only the initials appears regularlv in the adver- 

 tising columns of Gleanings. I do not know 

 why she does so, but the reason why / have 

 done so is, that I shrink from being the only 

 lady advertising queens, and I have a feeling 

 that most men would think I could oot rear 

 queens as good as a man could. What do you 

 think. Miss Wilson? Some people think women 

 succeed better than men in raising chickens, 

 because they pay greater heed to details, and 

 certainly in rearing queens it is the details 

 that count. 



I have reared my own queens for a good 

 many years, and I like the business better than 

 honey-production, for it is not so heavy, and 

 I am not very strong. Notwithstanding, I have 

 one yard about 10 miles from home that I run 

 for honey. In my home yard I rear queens, 

 and I have another yard in a different direc- 

 tion that is my oueen-mating yard. Pasturage 

 for bees in scarce, and there are no bees there, 

 so I am sure of getting the queens purely 

 mated. Of course, I have to feed the drone- 

 rearing colonies. 



I cannot understand why Mrs. Bacon should 

 have any trouble with her caged queens, for 

 I like better to introduce cells than virgins to 

 queen-mating nuclei, and use shallow extract- 

 ing frame boxes that I make myself for mating 

 certain queens, and I like to have them pretty 

 strong in bees. 1 do not have much trouble 

 with robber-bees. Perhaps it is because of the 

 wav I manage. When honey has not come in, 

 I have a hive away from the apiary arranged 

 so that only two or three bees at a time can 



