THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



213 



about 100 pounds per colony, I am now pre- 

 paring to move my bees 125 miles for a fall 

 and wiuter crop. With proper management 

 and moving we can get three distinct crops 

 iu a year. 



• 



J. H. Laeeabee is no longer in the em- 

 ploy of the U. S. as an experimenter in api- 

 culture. Of course, we all know that his 

 dismissal was not from any fault of his : it 

 was bocauso of a large reduction in the ap- 

 propriation by congress to the entomologi- 

 cal division of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. Of course, bee-keepers will regret to 

 learn of this change. The Government is 

 doing very little for apiculture, and one of 

 the most important things that ought to re- 

 ceive attention at the next meeting of the 

 North American is " What the Government 

 Ought to do for Apiculture." I have asked 

 Mr. P. H. Elwood to introduce the subject. 

 At Washington will be an appropriate place 

 to do something in this direction. 



• 



Feank Benton, in a long article in the 

 Api., admits that there are a few yellow 

 bees in Carniola, but explains that they were 

 brought in, by a system of migratory bee- 

 keeping, from neighboring provinces. Mr. 

 Benton says that he regards Carniolans as 

 a distinct and well established type — one of 

 the dark races, and neither the history of 

 bee-keeping in Carniola, nor his observa- 

 tions while travelling and residing there and 

 breeding Carniolans extensively, would lead 

 him to think that pure Carniolans were 

 other than dark colored bees. As 1 said a 

 year or more ago, the so-called golden Car- 

 niolans get their color from the admixture 

 of yellow blood. 



GEADING AND CLASSIFYING HONEY. 



R. A. Burnett, in Gleanings, objects to the 

 use of the terms, " white, " " amber " and 

 " dark " in the grading of honey. Instead, 

 he would give the name of the honey: that is, 

 the source from which it is gathered. The 

 objections that have been made to this plan 

 are that there are so many kinds of honey 

 and the public in general knows so little in 

 regard to their characteristics, that cofusion 

 is feared on this score. After all, it is the 

 only exact way in which honey can be class- 

 ified, and as there are only a few varieties of 

 honey that find their way into any particular 

 market, and these particular producers and 



dealers well-know what these grades are, it 

 may be the best way. I think that I never 

 wrote to a dealer describing honey that I 

 wished him to handle, without telling him 

 that it was clover, basswood, or buckwheat. 

 This will continue to be the practice— why 

 not let it be the rule? 



• 



The Noeth Amebioan will not hold its 

 convention in Washington during the G. A. 

 R. Encampment. It is too early ; most bee- 

 keepers will yet be busy in their apiaries — 

 not a queen breeder could leave his busi- 

 ness. The weather will still be hot in Wash- 

 ington, and the uncomfortably large crowd 

 /ind many forms of excitement would work 

 against the interests of the convention. 

 Hotels will be over-crowded, accommoda- 

 tions difficult to secure and prices high. But 

 little honey will be marketed at that time, 

 and bee-keepers will not have the money 

 with which to go. These are some of the 

 reasons, for not holding the convention at 

 that time, that have been brought to the at- 

 tention of the executive board. I favored 

 this date at first because we must have re- 

 duced rates, but Mr. Frank Benton assures 

 me that there will be other Societies meet 

 in Washington near the end of the year, 

 when, by meeting in conjunction with one 

 of them, the desired reduction in rates may 

 be secured. 



A METAL VALVE FOE THE OEANE SMOKEE. 



I have just receivea a long, chatty letter 

 from Mr. .J. E. Crane. I should like to give 

 it entire, but there isn't room at this stage 

 of the " make up " of the Review. The best 

 that I can do is to make a few short extracts. 



Among other things he says " At last I 

 have succeeded in putting together a smoker 

 with a metal valve connecting the bellows 

 and air passage with the fire barrel. It is 

 what I have been trying to do for a long 

 time. The greatest objection to a wooden 

 valve is that it might get wet and swell. — By 

 the way, when Ernest Root was here, he did 

 not see one of my h<;o-valve smokers. I 

 called his attention to them and went to get 

 one, but found they were all at the out-apia- 

 ries. I think I will send him one presently. 

 — I feel that these later forms of my smok- 

 er ought to be thoroughly tested before be- 

 ing offered for sale on a large scale. If they 

 continue to prove satisfactory and are want- 

 ed, I will either make them or arrange with 



