118 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 



^i^3^3MeAJH[^^^ 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT 



Ist Nat'l Bank Bldg., Hamilton, Illinois 



Entered as second-class matter at the 

 Hamilton. Illinois, Post-office. 

 C. P. Dadant. Editor. 

 Dr. C. C. Miller. Associate Editor. 

 Frank C. Pellett, Staff Correspondent. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE 



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Copyright: igi7. by C P. Dadant. 



THE EDITOR*S VIEWPOINT 



The Goldenrofl as a Honey Pro- 

 ducer 



We have often made the remark that 

 the goldenrod yields no honey in this 

 part of Illinois. Many people of other 

 regions have said the same thing. We 

 thought it was a matter of climate, but 

 it is so indirectly only. It is a matter 

 of variety. At the Toronto meeting, a 

 large number of varieties of goldenrod 

 were shown, and I recognized our va- 

 riety Solidaffo canadensis. The report 

 was made that this variety does not 

 yield honey in Ontario either. 



I thought it might be well to give a 

 list of the different varieties of this 

 plant. But when I referred to the last 

 edition of " Gray's Botany'" I found in 

 it the description of 57 different Solida- 

 ffos. It makes me wonder whether I 

 have really recognized our local as 

 Canadensis. 



inches wide inside. Using only 9 

 frames would give each frame \yi 

 inches of space with a 3/ -inch space to 

 spare. So a regular factory-made 10- 

 frame hive may be used for 9 frames 

 and secure the wide spacing. But if 

 this wide spacing is beneficial, why not 

 make our hives a trifle wider and still 

 have 10 frames in them ? 



Mr. Chadwick is a beekeeper of ex- 

 perience and his statement is valutble. 



Beekeepiug iu Caruiola 



Mr. Frank Rojina, in his interesting 

 article on bee-culture in Carniola, calls 

 our attention to a fact that is too 

 much shadowed by the fame of Dzier- 

 zon. Mr. Langstroth, himself, reported 

 the fact that Jansa discovered that 



Wide Spacing of Frames 



The reader will remember that in our 

 December number the Editor called 

 attention to remarks made by Allan 

 Latham, of Connecticut, on the spac- 

 ing of frames V/i inches compared to 

 the IK spacing used by a few apiarists. 



Concerning this question of frame 

 spacing, P. C. Chadwick has the follow- 

 ing to say in Gleanings, page 125: 



"If short of combs in the extracting 

 season, go to the brood-chamber and 

 remove a frame from each 10-frame 

 colony. By the time the brood hatches 

 from them they would be of little value 

 as brood-combs unless the flow were 

 exceptionally long. Moreover, 9 frames 

 in a 10-frame body will often produce 

 more brood than 10 frames ; for unless 

 they are perfectly straight and evenly 

 spaced there is often a crowded comb 

 that will not be used for brood any- 

 way. Self-spacing frames are an ex- 

 ception ; but the majority of frames in 

 this State are not self-spacing. When 

 the flow is on, combs are a great asset 

 and add materially to the honey crop 

 if they are needed badly." 



A 10-frame hive the combs of which 

 are spaced V/t inches would be \Z% 



young queens leave their hives in 

 search of drones, long before Huber's 

 investigations. This is mentioned ofi 

 page 57 of our "Revised Langstroth.' 

 So we gladly insert and repeat the 

 statement which he makes that Anton 

 Jansa is called the first great beekeeper 

 and Dzierzon only the second by those 

 who have been acquainted with the 

 facts. This does not detract from the 

 fame of Dzierzon, for his discoveries 

 were original, and it was through him 

 that the facts became well known to 

 the mass of beekeepers. How few there 

 are who can really lay claim to an 

 original discovery may be realized 

 from this occurrence. 



Frank Roiina. 



Who is a son of the Editor of the Carniolan 



Bee Journal, is in America working as 



assistant to Prof. Jager at Minnesota, 



Honey Prices 



The beekeepers are themselves re- 

 sponsible for the low prices that pre- 

 vail so frequently. If they could be 

 persuaded to hold for reasonable prices 

 instead of selling at the first offer it 

 would bean easy matter to get a living 

 price. Too many sell at retail for 

 wholesale prices. One of the large 

 bottling concerns recently offered 10>^ 

 cents per pound for a carload of white 

 clover extracted honey and failed to 

 get it at that. As long as beekeepers 

 will peddle their honey around the 

 country at from 8 to 10 cents per pound 

 in five-pound lots there is little hope 

 that the big buyers will pay a decent 

 price. 



The man who retails his honey at 10 

 cents per pound as some even boast of 

 doing, has no argument to offer when a 

 bottling concern offers 7 cents in a 

 wholesale way. A buyer could not buy 

 a carload of honey at 7 cents, pay for 

 bottles, labels, packing, etc., and sell at 

 retail at 10 cents without losing money 

 on the transaction. 



The prospect for higher prices for 

 next year is very good indeed if only 

 the beekeepers can be made to see that 

 they should demand a living price for 

 their product. They should at least 

 have sufficient consideration for other 

 beekeepers to keep up the retail prices. 

 In the middle West not a pound of 

 honey should be retailed at less than 

 12>^ cents per pound in 10-pound lots, 

 or 15 cents per pound in smaller quan- 

 tities. If the beekeepers will exercise 

 business methods in disposing of their 

 crop, there is every reason to believe 

 that good prices can be obtained. 



We warned our readers not to get 

 scared because of the big crop last sea- 

 son, but many did. Some sold the best 

 white honey at h'A cents, when if they 

 had taken our advice and held on they 

 would have sold it for 9 or 10 cents in 

 large quantities. If we don't get a liv- 

 ing price let us put the blame where it 

 belongs — on ourselves. 



