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(Entered as second-class matter July 30. 1907, at the Post-Offlce at Chicago, 111., nnder Act of March 3. 1879.) 



Published Monthly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Company, 117 North Jefferson Street, 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor. 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Associate Editor. 



CHICAGO, ILL, JANUARY, 1911 



Vol. LI- -No. 1 



Editorial 



Comments 



Conflicting Teachings in Bee- 

 Keeping 



A beginner, sending in a batch of 

 questions, says : " You will see by 

 these questions that I am just a be- 

 ginner in bee-culture. And naturally 

 there are a great many things that puz- 

 zle me. I take 3 bee-papers, but one 

 sees so many conflicting statements 

 from men who are recognized as au- 

 thorities." 



Probably this voices fairly the 

 thought that at some time or another 

 is in the mind of every thoughtful be- 

 ginner who tries to inform himself. 

 How can it be that two of equal hon- 

 esty, intelligence, and experience 

 should express such different views ? 

 The answer is the old one, " Circum- 

 stances alter cases." 



For example, one man says, "Cellar- 

 wintering of bees is away ahead of 

 outdoor wintering," while another 

 says, "I can winter bees outdoors with 

 less loss than in the cellar." The dif- 

 ference of experience is easily under- 

 stood when it is learned that one man 

 is 4.5 degrees north of the equator and 

 the other only 'i'l. Even on the same 

 degree of latitude there often may be 

 a material difference. One location 

 may be an open prairie where the 

 wind has an unobstructed sweep, and 

 the other may be well sheltered by 

 timbered hills. 



One man says there is more profit in 

 comb honey than extracted, while an- 

 other says extracted is more profitable. 

 Both are right. The first has a market 

 which demands comb honey, and gives 

 extracted honey the cold shoulder, 

 while the market of the other has a 

 very kindly feeling for extracted honey. 

 Or, the first may be in a locality where 

 the honey is of a very light color, and 

 the other has honey which suits better 



5 for manufacturing purposes than for 



j» sections. 



■* Other examples might be given of 



differences in locality. 

 Again, two men might differ in views 



because having had experience with 

 bees varying materially in character- 

 istics. 



After all allowance has been made 

 for difference in locality, conditions 

 and circumstances, the fact still re- 

 mains that we are all in a sense begin- 

 ners in bee-keeping, for no one yet 

 knows it all. It is nothing so very 

 strange to find an experienced bee- 

 keeper changing the opinions that he 

 held ') years, or even a year, ago. 



So the beginner may as well settle 

 down to the fact that for one cause 

 and another there will always be more 

 or less conflict in the teachings of his 

 forerunners, and his must be the task 

 to weigh everything carefully and de- 

 cide as well as he may what best suits 

 his own case. 



After all, in this lies one of the 

 charms of bee-keeping. There is always 

 more to be learned. New problems are 

 always coming up, and no matter how 

 long one continues in the business 

 there nevercomes a time when it settles 

 down into the deadly monotony of 

 daily routine with no change of pro- 

 gram, and nothing new coming up 

 with which to grapple. 



The New Inspection of Apiaries 



When the first State law providing 

 for the inspection of apiaries was 

 passed in Wisconsin, several years ago, 

 a new era in the fight against bee-dis- 

 eases began. State after State has 

 fallen into line, until now we see 2.5 

 States and territories provided with 

 such laws. Some of these are good, 

 some ineffective, and some bad, but all 

 of them show a willingness on the part 

 of the legislatures to help the industry 

 in which we are so vitally interested. 

 The success of these 25 States and ter- 

 ritories should be encouraging to bee- 

 keepers of 14 States in which new laws 

 or changes in old laws are being re- 

 quested. 



Several different methods of inspec- 



tion have been tried, and since the plan 

 of inspection is so important in devis- 

 ing new laws, it may be well to take 

 stock of past experiences. 



The Wisconsin law, and those pat- 

 terned after it, provide for the appoint- 

 ment of a State Inspector of Apiaries 

 by the Governor or other State officer. 

 While we know of no per-^on who does 

 not recognize the good work done by 

 Mr. N. E. France, who has been in- 

 spector for Wisconsin since the law 

 was passed, or about 14 years, the fact 

 remains that there is a weak point in 

 the law, in that the position could be 

 used for political purposes. 



In some of the western States, and 

 under the former Ohio law, an inspec- 

 tor is provided for each county, to be 

 appointed by the county officials on 

 receipt of some form of petition signed 

 by a certain number of bee-keepers. 

 This form of inspection proved abso- 

 lutely worthless in Ohio, and many bee- 

 keepers in Colorado, California, Kan- 

 sas, and Nebraska, are with good rea- 

 son dissatisfied with the results ob- 

 tained. There are several fundamental 

 objections which may be raised to 

 such inspection : 



1. It is not always possible to get a 

 competent man in each county. 



2. It is better for an inspector not to 

 work the territory near his own api- 

 aries, if he has any, for fear the bee- 

 keepers may think that he is trying to 

 kill off their bees for his own benefit. 



3. The funds provided by each county 

 are usually not sufficient to do any 

 good. 



4. The various county inspectors 

 usually do not work in harmony, and 

 are often antagonistic to each other, 

 since there is no central office to which 

 they are responsible. 



With either of these forms of inspec- 

 tion there are certain objections which 

 show points of weakness : 



1. It is diflicult to get money enough 

 to employ a good man to do the work. 



2. It is impossible to induce bee- 

 keepers to leave their own apiaries 

 during the honey-flow — just when they 

 are most needed in the field. 



3. Records of the work are not care- 

 fully kept, and it is impossible for the 

 inspector to know, without such rec- 

 ords, whether he is doing any good, or 



