American ISae Journal 



September, 1908. 



Be Careful to Whom You Sell Honey. 



The season for marketing lioney has 

 begun. While it may seem hke an un- 

 necessary repetition, we desire again to 

 caution you to be careful to whom you 

 send your honey. When you sell for 

 cash, be sure that your man is respon- 

 sible. If you can not learn anything 

 about him, you had better sell on com- 

 mission, for then he can be held liable 

 if he takes your honey without render- 

 ing you returns. But he may make 

 very meager returns, and delay making 

 payment. So we advise you not to 

 trust any one unless he has a good 

 rating and a reputation for dealing on 

 the square. Better take a little less 

 price, and deal with a man of known 

 reputation. — Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



Three Days' Apiarian Exhibition. 



The bee-keepers of the two Charentes 

 held in July an international exhibition, 

 lasting three days, of bees, bee-appliances 

 and honey, at Saintes, a town in France 

 of about 20,000 inhabitants. This gives 

 us a fair idea of the enterprising spirit 

 which characterizes many of the Euro- 

 pean bee-keepers' societies. It takes a 

 considerable amount of money and a 

 great deal of work to conduct such a 

 meeting; but it is worth it in the en- 

 thusiasm it creates. — Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture. 



Transvaal Bee-Keepers' Association. 



Johannesberg now has a full-fledged 

 bee-keepers' association with the above 

 name. Those at the top are the Earl 

 and Countess of Selbourne; the Minis- 

 ter of Land, the Minister of Agricul- 

 ture, and General Louis Botha. It is 

 intended to have branch associations in 

 the principal centers, and one is in 

 course of organization at Pretoria. The 

 conditions are suitable in South Africa, 

 and in time the land of Angora goats 

 and ostriches, diamonds, and gold will 

 probably figure largely in the bee-keep- 

 ing world. I note the colonists show a 

 decided preference for American bee- 

 supplies, in which they follow the ex- 

 ample of other British colonies. — Glean- 

 ings in Bee Culture. 



The Death of Zoubareff. 



The British Bee Journal recently an- 

 nounced the death of a famous Russian 

 bee-keeper, M. A. F. Zoubareff, at the 

 ripe old age of 87 years. He went to 

 school with Pobedonostseff, Procurator 

 of the Holy Synod of Russia, who died 

 last year. Readers of the newspapers 

 will remember it was PobcdonoslsefF 

 who inspired the Czar to resist all re- 

 forms. On account of his health Zou- 

 bareff went to Switzerland in 1883, and 

 there became acquainted with Mr. Ed. 

 Bertrand, who converted him to the 



Langstroth hive and system. Hitherto 

 he had advocated the Dzierzon-Berlepsch 

 system. He was largely instrumental 

 in inducing the Russian bee-keepers to 

 adopt the Langstroth hive. He wrote a 

 book with this end in view, chiefly to 

 instruct school teachers in our system. 

 He also translated Mr. T. W. Cowan's 

 Bee-keepers' Guide Book from French 

 into Russian, and otherwise worked 

 faithfully to help Russian bee-keepers 

 find the most profitable system of bee- 

 keeping. He lived close by Lake La- 

 doga, not far from St. Petersburg. — 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



Danger of Robbing — The Robber- 

 Trap. 



Now is the time to avoid robbing. 

 Nothing costs the bee-keeper more than 

 to let a bad case of robbing get started ; 

 for so long as these robbers exist at all 

 they will continue to annoy both the 

 bee-keeper and the weak colonies. We 

 do not nowadays intend to let robbing 

 get started; but if it does, we use the 

 robber-trap. This is nothing more nor 

 less than a common hive with a Porter 

 bee-escape so arranged at the entrances 

 that the robbers can pass into the hive 

 but not out again. Something more ef- 

 fective than the Porter for this purpose 

 is a long flat wire-cloth cone, the apex 

 of it reaching about to the center of the 

 bottom-board. The robbers will enter 

 this better; and the point of the cone 

 is so far from the entrance they do not 

 find their way back. This trap is put 

 on the stand of the robbed colony, when, 

 presto ! they are caught. When the 

 robbers are once trapped they should be 

 taken immediately to an isolated location 

 or brimstoned. Having once acquired 

 the stealing habit they will do tenfold 

 more damage in a bee-yard than .they 

 can ever do good, and it is "a mighty 

 good riddance" when they are removed 

 entirely. — Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



Bees in Imperial Valley. 



The Imperial Valley Press of Aug. i, 

 1908, contains the following in reference 

 to bee-keeping in that valley. 



Imperial Valley lioney is still in demand, 

 and this week two more carloads of honey 

 were sent out from El Centre by the Imperial 

 Valley Bee-Keepers' Association. 



A meeting of the association was held on 

 Wednesday at the office of the EI Centre Can- 

 taloupe Growers* Association, and four new 

 members were admitted. The association is 

 now composed of sixteen of the most exten- 

 sive bee-keepers in the valley, and it practically 

 controls all of the honey output here. 



At this meetinK 70 cases of honey were 

 pledged for the next shipment, and they will 

 he at once placed in storage in El Centro. 

 The shipments of this week were sent to 

 El Paso, and from there may be diverted 

 into smaller lots to eastern points. 



T. B. Whitaker secretary of the Imperial 

 Valley Bee-Keepers' Association, believes that 

 until there is a considerable increase in the 



acreage of alfalfa in the valley, the bee-keep- 

 ing industry cannot profitably expand further 

 than its present limits. He discusses the gen- 

 eral situation interestingly, and says: 



"Until the summer and fall of 1907, the 

 Imperial Valley attracted very little attention 

 as a bee country- The harvest of 1907 amount- 

 ed to about 1000 cases of extracted honey, 

 from about 700 colonies. 



"During the fall and winter of 1907, about 

 5000 colonies were shipped in from different 

 Southern California points, bringing the total 

 number up to 6000 colonics. The present s^- 

 son's crop of honey is estimated at about 

 4000 cases. 



"The apparent decrease in the average per 

 colony this year is due to several reasons. 

 In several localities over-stocking is in part 

 responsible for the shortage. The general opin- 

 ion is that alfalfa bloom louse is responsible 

 for the light crop. This almost microscopic 

 insect inhabits the alfalfa bloom and consumes 

 the nectar, with the result that there is little 

 left for the bees. Whether or not this para- 

 site has come to stay remains for time to 

 settle. 



"The Imperial Valley Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, formed for the purpose of handling the 

 honey crop, represents fully 90 percent of the 

 industry in the valley. Bee-keepers who con- 

 template moving their apiaries to Imperial Val- 

 ley should by all means first pay a visit to the 

 valley, or correspond with some bee-man lo- 

 cated here, before making up their minds. 



"Bees can be bought here as cheaply as else- 

 where, and until the country is further de- 

 veloped, the valley has every colony of bees it 

 will support with profit." 



Length of Bees' Tongues. 



Professor Kulyagin, of Russia, claims 

 to have found a very accurate method 

 of determining the length of a bee's 

 tongue; and after many measurements 

 he gives the following averages ex- 

 pressed in millimeters : Russian, 6.2i ; 

 American, 6.22 ; Italian, 6.25 ; Cyprian, 

 6.50. — Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



Slow Queen-Mating and Longevity. 



Who can tell why the queen daugh- 

 ters of some mothers are very slow to 

 mate? The writer had one queen whose 

 queen daughters never mated under fif- 

 teen days and most of them not until 

 older than that. The workers were par- 

 ticularly long-lived and the mother 

 queen did two years' marvelous service 

 in the writer's yard and was reported 

 as in her second year when he received 

 her. Is there any connection between 

 slow maturity and longevity?— Arthur 

 C. Miller, in American Bee-Keeper. 



Short Honey Crop in California. 



Speaking of California, particularly 

 Southern California, the New York 

 Fruit and Produce News says : 



"It appears to be destined that every other 

 year shall be a blank in the honey-deal, but 

 this is a year that is unprecedented in the 

 annals of beeolopv. Never have prospects been 

 poorer for a crop than they are today- The 

 tianner year produced 600 cars of honey. 

 i,ast year the production was 225 cars and the 

 average for the past 10 years has been over 

 150. This year, outside of the Imperial Val- 

 ley, the output for Southern California will 

 not be over 25 cars, according to the cstin'ate 

 of the largest honey dealer in Los Anecles. 

 This looks like high prices, as there w;:s very 

 little carried over from last seas->n, this all 

 being in the hands of one man." 



Dare to be Iruc' nothing can need 



a He: 

 A fault which needs il most, 



grows two thereby. 



— George Herbert. 



