June, 1916. 



American Hee Journal k 



Bourguignonne " and the " Revue Fran- 

 faise d'Apiculture " appear as usual. 

 An occasional German bee journal 

 reaches us. In Russia also, the bee mag- 

 azines are continuing in spite of diffi- 

 culties. We have lately received from 

 Tiflis, Transcaucasia, a publication de- 

 scribing the gray Caucasian bees as 

 distinguished from the yellow bees of 

 Erivan or Persian bees, The former 

 are said to be much more hardy than 

 the latter. A map in three colors at- 

 tached to the pamphlet shows the 

 spots, between the Black Sea and the 

 Caspian Sea, in which the pure gray 

 Caucasian bee exists, as well as the 

 territory of the bee of Lenkoran and of 

 the crosses between the two. 



The Smoke-Distre.ss Method 



D. E. Lhommedieu writes: "In your 

 smoked-in queen, you forgot to give 

 the queen a puff or two as she goes in, 

 page 135." 



I gave on page 135 the latest direc- 

 tions, as given by Arthur C. Miller 

 himself. Gleanings, page 108. Whether 

 Mr. Miller thought that final puff un- 

 important, or whether it was omitted 

 by oversight I do not know. At any 

 rate it was a part of previous directions, 

 and I thank Mr. Lohmmedieu for call- 

 ing attention to it. c. c. m. 



Illinois Beekeepers aud the State 

 Fair 



The E.xecutive Committee of the 

 Illinois State Beekeepers' Association 

 and the committee appointed to try to 

 secure a special apiary building at the 

 State Fair Grounds met at Peoria April 

 15. The members present were E. J. 

 Baxter, president of the association, 

 Dr. A. C. Baxter, of Springfield, Aaron 

 Coppin, of Wenona, C. P. Dadant, of 

 Hamilton, and A. L. Kildow, State In- 

 spector of Apiaries. Messrs. Jas. A. 

 Stone and C. Becker were absent. 



Dr. Ba.xter reported to the committee 

 his interview with the secretary of the 

 State Fair as follows: 



"The Agricultural Fair Management 

 agree to give to the Apiary Department 

 for 1916 all the ground floor of the 

 northeast wing of the Dome Building, 

 at the Fair. They assure the commit- 

 tee that it will not be difficult to secure 

 a special building for bees and honey, 

 for 1917, if a good exhibit is made in 

 1916. Up to this time, they say, only a 

 limited exhibit has been made." 



The date of the Fair is Sept. 15-23. 



The committee decided that the State 

 Beekeepers' Association should make 

 an association exhibit, non-competing 

 and educational, and that the beekeep- 

 ers should be urged to contribute vol- 

 untary and educational exhibits aside 

 from the personal and competing ex- 

 hibits which may be entered by indi- 

 viduals. 



The beekeepers of the State are also 

 requested to send or bring combs of 

 honey to be publicly used in running 

 a honey extractor every day of the 

 Fair, as was done the past season at 

 the Minnesota State Fair. For further 

 information on this address Dr. A. C. 

 Baxter, 301 Leland Building, Spring- 

 field. 111., who will have charge of this 

 part of the display. Honey received in 

 this way will be fully accounted for 

 and the empty combs returned. 



The committee recommends to the 

 State Association at its next meeting 

 to apply for a bee and honey building 

 measuring 80x140 feet at the Fair 

 Grounds. The suggestion is made that 

 one long side of this building be next 

 to a grove of trees or a row of shrub- 

 bery and arranged with an upper gal- 

 lery to place hives of bees or nuclei, 

 with an outlet for their flight under 

 the eaves, the hives to be glass hives or 

 nuclei for observation and display. 



The committee voted to apply to the 

 State Fair Management, for 1917, for a 

 list of premiums amounting to at least 

 as much as is allowed by the State of 

 Minnesota, the amount of which is 

 $1168. A sub-committee is to be ap- 

 pointed by Pres. B?xter for that pur- 

 pose. 



The American Bee Journal urges the 

 beekeepers of Illinois to give their 

 hearty support to the State Fair move, 

 as the exhibit of honey and bees on a 

 large scale will be sure to increase the 

 demand for their product. 



Winteriug Bees by Speciali.st.s 



A very interesting statement comes 

 to us from the division of bee-culture 

 of the Minnesota University. Reports 

 received from 125 beekeepers show 

 that those who keep 50 colonies or 

 more have averaged only 5.3 percent of 

 loss, while those who own less than 50 

 colonies have suffered a loss of 11.2 

 percent average. It indicates that spe- 

 cialists are more successful than aver- 

 age beekeepers. It also shows that 

 many of the losses of wintering can be 

 avoided by proper methods. As In- 

 structor L. V. France puts it: "The 

 necessity for the average beekeeper to 

 take notice and secure the best infor- 

 mation on proper wintering conditions 

 is apparent." 



A Sugge.stion to Writer.s 



In current magazines we note the 

 advertisement of a new book entitled 

 " Cuban Cane Sugar," which is said to 

 be " an authoritative new book by 

 Robert Wiles, on Cuban cane sugar 

 and its development as an industry." 



There is a field which the honey pro- 

 ducers should cultivate as well. There 

 should be a good book on honey, not 

 for beekeepers but for general readers 

 and for a reference book. About the 

 only information on honey to be found 



in the libraries is such meager mention 

 as is to be found in the books on bee- 

 keeping. 



We need an authoritative book on 

 the subject which shall give only 

 enough of beekeeping to inform the 

 public as to how it is produced. Full 

 information as to the extent and value 

 of the industry should be included, as 

 well as extended and reliable informa- 

 tion about the sources of honey and its 

 various uses and the value of bees in 

 pollination, etc. The work should be 

 published by one of the leading book 

 publishing houses, to insure as wide a 

 distribution as possible. If necessary 

 to insure its appearance from such a 

 well known publishing house, the bee- 

 keeping interests should guarantee a 

 sufficient support to induce them to 

 bring it out. 



The material should be prepared in a 

 popular form in the best literary style 

 possible, in order to make it attractive 

 to tlie patrons of the libraries. There 

 are numerous hackwriters who employ 

 all their time in the preparation of 

 popular articles for newspapers and 

 magazines. Such writers would find it 

 difficult, indeed, to get material enough 

 concerning honey in the average 

 library to fill a half column in a news- 

 paper. 



Australian Bee Farming 



By the kindness of Mr. Geo. Nisbet, 

 we have received an Australian Gov- 

 ernment pamphlet entitled, " Bee Farm- 

 ing." It may be a surprise to some 

 American beekeepers to read the fol- 

 lowing passage: 



"In some States there are practically 

 no restrictions on the range of country 

 over which beekeepers may farm. In 

 others, bee farmers' leases, giving api- 

 arists the right to farm over a mile or 

 two of country, are to be obtained at 

 the rate of one cent an acre. 



" Victorian conditions make it nec- 

 essary for a bee farmer on Crown lands 

 to take out two licences, the one which 

 gives him sole permission to use one 

 acre of land as a site for his apiary, 

 and the second— what is known as a 

 bee-range— secures the exclusive use 

 of the bee-flora to the holder over a 

 radius of one mile. No other licence 

 is allowed at a lesser distance than two 

 miles. The first lease, that for the 

 apiary site, costs $0.24 per acre per 

 annum, and the second amounts to one 

 cent an acre, or approximately $20.60 

 per annum. Equally liberal conditions 

 are available in many of the other 

 States." 



No doubt a good many beekeepers 

 in this country would be glad to pay a 

 round sum to be assured that no one 

 else would plant an apiary within two 

 miles. Those Australians are up-to- 

 date people. c. c. M. 



