January, 1910. 



American Hee Journal 



it met in Chicago, in IW'i. It was 

 made by a son of Mrs. J. J. Glessner, a 

 Chicago lady bee-keeper, the wood 

 having been taken from a tree planted 

 bv Father Langstroth perhaps a half 

 centurv ago in Oxford, Ohio. Mrs. 

 Glessner presented it to the Association, 

 as she did also a similar gavel to the 

 Chicago - Northwestern Bee-Keepers' 

 Association at the same time. 



It is needless to say that as president 

 of both of these honored associations, 

 we shall keep the gavels most carefully, 

 so as to turn them over, some day, un- 

 tarnished and undishonored. 



Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, editor of the 

 Bee-Keepers' Review, sends these as- 

 suring words : 



Ki.iNT. Mich., Dec. 7. I'»q. 

 Bro York:— I am glad to congratulatf yoii 

 on your election to the presidency of the 

 National. I shall be more than glad to stand 

 with you and lielp in every way to make a 

 success of the .A.ssociation. 



Fraternally yours. 



W. Z. HtTCHINSON. 



We shall hope to have the hearty co- 

 operation of every bee-keeper, whether 

 a member of these organizations or 

 not. in trying to lift American apicul- 

 ture, as expressed in these two leading 

 conventions, to a little higher level, if 

 that may be, during 1910 — the new year 

 upon which we all have just entered 

 with such high hopes and inspiring re- 

 solves. 



Keeping Bees Without a Bee- 

 Paper 



The following paragraph is taken 

 from the December Bee-Keepers' Re- 

 view : 



Most of the subscriptions to the bee-jour- 

 nals expire with the year; and there are 

 alwavsmoreor less of these subscriptions 

 ordered discontinued. Sometimes reasons 

 for this step are given. The one most fre- 

 quently given is: " I can't afford to take it 

 another year." When a bee-keeper can't 

 afford to take a bee-journal there is some- 

 thing radically wrong. If he hopes and ex- 

 pects to succeed he can't afford «(>/ to read 

 all of the bee-journals published. It is 

 knowledge of his business that helps a man 

 to succeed; it is from ignorance that he 

 often fails. A man can't know too much 

 about his business. The successful bee- 

 keepers, poultrymen. farmers, gardeners, 

 etc., all read the leading journals devoted to 

 their businesses. The man who drops his 

 bee-journal because he thinks he can't afford 

 it. is almost as foolish as the sailor who ven- 

 tures out to sea without a compass. I am 

 not writing this so much because I hate to 

 lose subscribers, as because I know it is //-//(■, 

 and that some men have not given it suffi- 

 cient thout/ht. 



Editor Hutchinson is right. We 

 have large opportunity to learn the 

 "reasons "why some bee-keepers dis- 

 continue their subscriptions to bee- 

 papers. Some say they " haven't time 

 to read a bee-paper!" Then they 

 haven't time to keep bees at all. No 

 man who desires to be successful can 

 afford to get along without at least one 

 good bee-paper and one good bee- 

 book. Life is too short to learn every- 

 thing by experience. 



Then, again, what is $1.00 for a year's 

 copies of a bee-paper — less than 10 

 cents per copy if a monthly! There 

 must be something radically wrong 

 with the man, or bee-keeper, who can't 

 get at least 10 cents worth of helpful 

 information out of a s'ingle copy of any 

 real bee-paper that was ever published. 



The last census showed something 

 like 700,000 persons keeping bees in the 

 United States, And there are perhaps 



not many over o |)ercent of that num- 

 ber who read a bee-paper. Why, one 

 would think that at least one in 10 bee- 

 keepers would be regular subscribers. 

 And yet it is only une in 20! 

 There are now just 3 bee-papers pub- 

 lished in the United States. At the 

 fidl subscription price they can be had 

 for $3.00 a year. (/IV will furnish the 

 3 for $2..i)0.) In what other way can 



the would-be bee-keeper better invest 

 $2.50 each year. We don't know. 



The bee-papers are certainly cheap 

 in price. And, without fearing the 

 accusation of being egotistic, we think 

 we can say they are gooil in quality of 

 contents. At any rate, we know at 

 least one bee-paper whose publishers 

 are trying to give good value for the 

 subscription money that is asked for it. 



01 iscel laneousi 



Death of Counts Barbo and Bor- 

 romeo 



Two noted Italian apiarists died re- 

 cently. The first one is Count Gaetano 

 Barbo, one of the fmmders of the Xa- 

 tional Association of Bee-Keepers, and 

 of the journal I'Apicoltore, in 1867. He 

 was for a number of years vice-pres- 

 ident of the National Italian Associa- 

 tion. His greatest claim to faine, how- 

 ever, was the excellent set of micro- 

 scopical studies which he prepared of 

 the anatomy of the bee, and which were 

 inade into lithographic pictures by the 

 noted artist, F. Clerici, in the seventies. 

 The most eminent of these studies is 

 reproduced in the latest edition of the 

 Langstroth-Dadant "Hive and Honey- 

 Bee." 



Count Barbo was a little under 70 

 years old. He died September 13, 1909. 

 He was not only a noted apiarist, but 

 also an up - to - date agriculturist. 

 Wealthy though he was, he did not hesi- 

 tate to take a hand in agriculture, him- 

 self directing the work of a large, pro- 

 gressive farm, in which the country peo- 

 ■ pie were educated to the most advanced 

 modern methods. 



The other death is that of Count 

 Eniilio Borromeo, who was also one of 

 the founders of the Italian Association 

 of Bee-Keepers. He died a few days 

 after Count Barbo, It was through the 

 efforts of these men that modern api- 

 culture found its way among the farm- 

 ing classes in Italy. 



The picture on the first page shows 

 the apiary of Count Borromeo, in 1870, 

 at his country home. 



We are indebted to Mr. C. P. Dadant 

 not only for the facts as given above, 

 but for the picture on the first page 

 and the two used in his article on page 

 14. 



Cure for Bee-Stings 



Bee-keepers, as a rule, have little faith, 

 in the thousand and one remedies for 

 stings that have been lauded. Here 

 comes a cure, however, that is given by 

 a veteran, who ought to know something 

 about stings, and it may be worth trying, 

 at least in cases where persons not bee- 

 keepers are stung, for a regular bee- 

 keeper would hardly feel that he could 



afford to stop in his work 4 or 5 minutes 

 for each sting received. This is what 

 Elias Fox says, in Gleanings : 



Get the best proof alcohol, and carry a little 

 vial of it in the vest or shirt pocket; and 

 when a sting is received, simply remove the 

 cork from the bottle and place the mouth of 

 it over the wound after removing the sting, 

 and reverse the bottle and hold it over the 

 wound for about one minute, and keep mov- 

 ing it slightly over the wound; then remove 

 and rub the alcohol into the skin; then apply 

 the bottle again, and do this three_ or four 

 times, and the pain is gone, and it will be but 

 a few minutes before the swelling will also be 

 gone. I have never had any swelling left 

 after 15 minutes, and the pain is gone almost 

 instantly. Don't be afraid to make a thorough 

 application. 



Sectional vs. Langstroth Hives 



Jas. A. Green, in the Bee-Keepers' Re- 

 view, says that his experience differs 

 from that of E. D, Townsend. Mr. 

 Townsend thought bees built up better 

 in Langstroth than in the shallower sec- 

 tional hives. Mr. Green has had the 

 two kinds side by side, in large numbers, 

 for some years not less than a hundred 

 of each kind, and says : 



Almost invariably my experience has been 

 that the bees breed up better in sectional hives 

 than in the Langstroth. My earliest and 

 largest swarms are always from the sectional 

 hives. 



Honey in Switzerland 



Among the Swiss laws regarding 

 honey, as given in Prak. Wegweiser, are 

 the following : 



Art. 87. Under the designation 

 "honey," may be brought into trade only 

 the pure, unadulterated bee-honey. 



Art. 88. Honey which is produced 

 through artificial feeding of sugar, or of 

 substances containing sugar, must be 

 labeled "sugar-honey." 



Art. 89. Foreign honey may be offered 

 only under declaration of the country 

 of its origin. 



Orange-Blossom Honey 



It has been generally understood that 

 not much honey from orange-blossoms 

 has ever been produced. If a report in 

 Gleanings is to be credited, there are at 

 least localities where the reverse is true. 

 R. Powell says that after 15 years' ex- 

 perience with basswood in Wisconsin, he 



