192 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



June 



j^fi^^^IO,^.^ 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT 



1st 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 



THE SUBSCRIPTION PRICE of this 

 Journal isli.oo a year in the United States 

 of America and Mexico; 3 years. $2.25; s 

 years. Jj.oo: in Canada, 10 cents extra, and in 

 all other countries in the Postal Union. 25 

 cents a year extra for postage. Sample 

 copy free. 



THE WRAPPER-LABEL DATE indi- 

 cates the end of the month to which sub- 

 scription is paid. For instance, "deci?" on 

 your label shows that it is paid to the end 

 'of December. 1Q17. 



SUBSCRIPTION RECEIPTS.— We do not 

 send a recept for money sent us to pay sub- 

 scription, but change the date on your 

 address, which shows that the money has 

 been received and credited. In case of 

 errors, please write us. 



Copyright: IQ17 by C. P. Dadant. 



THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



The Sugar Situation 



The condition of the sugar market 

 has a great influence on the honey 

 market, as every one knows. The 

 Bureau of Crop Estimates at Washing- 

 ton furnishes a report of sugar condi- 

 tions, production, imports and exports. 

 It is too lengthy to find place in our 

 columns, but a few facts gleaned from 

 it will be of interest. The consumption 

 of sugar in the United States from 1913 

 to 1916 inclusive, has been 80.7, 90, 84.4 

 and 81.2 pounds per capita. During 

 that time, the production and imports 

 have steadily increased from 0,590,000,- 

 000 pounds to 7,(318,000,000. But the 

 export in 1916 over 1915 is .584,000,000 

 pounds greater. So the stock on hand 

 is reduced. Besides there is a prob- 

 ability of great demand in Europe, and 

 unless submarine activities make the 

 exports unsafe, there will continue to 

 be an increased demand. 



We can conclude safely that, although 

 no shortage of sugar need be feared, 

 the price will probably remain firm and 

 the demand good. Firm prices in sugar 

 will make firm prices in honey without 

 doubt. 



New Bee Book.s 



Two new bee books have recently 

 been issued from the American Bee 

 Journal press. "First Lessons in Bee- 

 keeping," by C. P. Dadant, editor of 

 this Journal, was issued early in the 

 year. Although the book retains the 

 same title as the old book published by 

 George W. York & Co., of Chicago, 

 several years ago, it is in fact entirely 

 new. This is entirely rewritten and is 

 not a mere revision. Some of the 

 larger volumes go into detail with so 

 many different methods of doing the 

 same work as to confuse the novice. 

 This book, which contains 167 pages, 

 is nicely bound in cloth, is designed to 

 give the fundamentals which every be- 

 ginner is bound to know in order to 



be successful. There are 178 illustra- 

 tions which explain the text fully. 



The book begins with the natural 

 history of the bee. After describing 

 the bee family and outlining the part 

 played by the different members in the 

 economy of the hive, the products, 

 honey, wax, propolis, pollen, etc., are 

 described. 



The reader is led along easy stages 

 from the bee family to the establish- 

 ment of an apiary, care of the bees and 

 the selection of equipment. No impor- 

 tant part of the beekeeper's program is 

 overlooked. Simple directions for har- 

 vesting the crop, wintering the bees 

 and detection and treatment of disease 

 are given. 



The second book is " A Thousand 

 Answers to Beekeeping Questions," by 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, associate editor of this 

 Journal. All our readers are familiar 

 with the Question and Answer Depart- 

 ment conducted by Dr. Miller for more 

 than 20 years. The novice and man of 

 experience have alike brought to this 

 department their most perplexing prob- 

 lems with the result that a wonderful 

 fund of beekeeping information has 

 accumulated in the files of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. Since the back num- 

 bers are accessible to but few, and to 

 find the right number to reach a spe- 

 cific problem is not easy even to those 

 having the files, it seemed desirable to 

 rearrange this material in convenient 

 form. The task of covering all the 

 issues since 1895, and sifting out the 

 questions most frequently asked, to- 

 gether with all others of general in- 

 terest fell to Maurice G. Dadant. Some 

 questions have been answered dozens 

 of times, and the answer covering the 

 ground most completely has been 

 chosen. Some subjects are discussed 

 from several different angles, thus cov- 

 ing the ground very fully. The subject 

 of increase occupies eight pages, an- 

 swering 22 questions. In addition sev- 

 eral more pages are devoted to swarm- 



ing and swarm prevention. 



One is surprised to find the amount 

 of information that has been crowded 

 into this book. It is not designed to 

 supplant the text books but to supple- 

 ment them. The beginner would hardly 

 find it just the book to read through, 

 consecutively, to learn the fundamentals 

 of beekeeping, but after reading the 

 " First Lessons in Beekeeping," he will 

 find it just the thing to answer the 

 questions that will present themselves 

 daily. 



Doctor Miller's "Thousand Answers 

 to Beekeeping Questions " is a cloth- 

 bound book of 276 pages. The two 

 books will make a capital combination 

 for any beginner, and every beekeeper 

 young or old will find the answer book 

 of everyday service. f. c. p. 



Getting Crop Rei>ort.s and Prices 



We call the attention of our readers 

 again to our crop and market page in 

 the back part of this magazine. The 

 general trend of all food prices is 

 upward and the price of honey is bound 

 to advance with them. 



The collection of prices and price 

 ideas on honey is sometimes a puzzling 

 matter, since some few reporters tend 

 to make the situation look roseate or 

 glum, to suit selfishly their own ends. 



For instance, in our last reports we 

 had two from beekeepers announcing 

 that prospects were the brightest ever 

 that the crop would be phenomenally 

 large and the prices of honey corres- 

 pondingly low. Both of these reporters 

 suggested 7 cents as a liberal price for 

 white extracted honey. Had we not 

 known that both of these parties were 

 in the market .for many cars of honey, 

 the influence on our summary would 

 have been greater. No doubt that there 

 are many also who will report when 

 they have good crops, but neglect to 

 report when the crop is a failure. 



We have had some suggestions that 

 we publish reports from individual 

 sources instead of a summary. How- 

 ever, for the reasons given above and 

 also because many will give more full 

 reports when they are assured that no 

 names will be mentioned, we believe 

 the summary, if conducted properly, is 

 better. 



A Legal Service Department 



For some time past we have been 

 considering the establishment of a 

 Legal Service Department of the 

 American Bee Journal. There are many 

 ways in which such a department may 

 be of service to our readers. We can- 

 not of course offer free legal services 

 except advice, but we hope that our 

 readers will consult us freely in regard 

 to any legal problem that confronts 



