March, iQio. 



American Bgc Jonrnal I 



law, are to go before the 47th General 

 Assembly, which does not meet till 

 next winter (the present session is a 

 special of the 46th Assembly). 



These petitions were sent out at the 

 time of sending the membership blanks, 

 in order to save extra postage. But we 

 advise getting them filled early, while 

 there is no rush in work— and before 

 they are forgotten. 



The copy for our Ninth Annual Re- 

 port is beginning to go to the printer, 

 and we hope to get it finished by the 

 last of March (depending upon how 

 much the printer is rushed). We will 

 also place the list of members and 

 statistical report in the back of the Re- 

 port, so it will include all the members 

 who send in their $1.00 fee till the time 

 the Report is finished. We will also 

 name, in the end of the Ninth Annual 

 Report, the senatorial district that leads 

 in number of signatures sent in (or 

 perhaps the highest 3, in order); and 

 also the name of the three persons who 

 send in the greatest number of signers. 

 (N. B. — They musf sign their own 

 names). A list of names does not 

 count — they must be si's^ners. If you 

 are not sure about the number of your 

 senatorial district, never mind it, for 

 we are getting so many that are wrong. 



We will go over the whole list and 

 make corrections. 



Our next Report will cost, with the 

 postage for sending out, as nearly as I 

 can estimate it at present, an even one 

 hundred cents per copy. Those who 

 do not get their names in pretty soon 

 may have to take a paper-covered copy. 

 J AS. A. Stone, Sec. 



Route 4, Springfield, 111. 



California State Couveiitiou 



We had the best attendance at the 

 recent meeting of the California State 

 Bee-Keepers' Association that we have 

 had for years. We could not get 

 through with our program, and more 

 was accomplished than in many of the 

 previous meetings. We assembled one 

 day longer than usual. 



We were honored with Eastern talent 

 at our convention. Mr. Harrington, of 

 Ohio; Mr. Coggshall, of New York; 

 and other experts from New York and 

 other States, were present. 



We have not had a good rain for 

 over two weeks, and the prospects are 

 not bright for honey. If we do not 

 soon have rain many colonies will have 

 to be fed. H. M. Menuleson. 



Ventura, Cal., Feb. 21. 



iiir 

 «e- Keeping 



Conducted by EMMA M. WILSON. Marengo, 111. 



Sweet Miss Honey-Bee 



No one's makiii' speeclius 



'Cept de honev-bee; 

 De principles slie teaches 



Sounds right sensible to me. 

 .She says: " Keep lookin' fo' de sweets 



Dat s growin' eb'r.vwhere. 

 .A.n if some no-count weeds you meets. 



Pass on. an' don't you care " 



As she comes a-bringin' 



De goods f um roun' de farm, 

 she says: "A little singin' 



Ain gwineter to do no harm." 

 I tells you, lots of us would get 



Mo joy f'um life if we 

 Kep' follerin' de sample set' 



By sweet Miss Honey-Bee. 



— Washhwlon Star. 



"Honig-Lebkuchen" 



Some time ago a friend in Germany sent 

 mean excellent recipe for making honey- 

 cakes, or Honig-Lebkuchen, " as the Ger- 

 mans call them. The cakes are so good that 

 1 thought perhaps the readers of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal would like a copy of the 

 recipe, and I send it herewith as follows- 

 .1^ lu '^ extracted honey one yuart: sugar, 

 c 'OS- ;,Pastry flour, y, lbs.; almonds chopped 

 nne. >4 lb.; citron chopped fine. !4 lb.; can- 

 died orange peel chopped tine, Ji lb.; rinds 

 ot 2 lemons chopped fine; powdered cinna- 

 mon, iJi oz.; powdered cloves, Jk oz. ; fruit- 

 juice. I wine-glassfull; bakingsodaj pinches. 



In making the cakes, first make thu honey 

 hot. then put the sugar into it. then the finely 

 chopped almonds, citron and orange or 

 etnon peel. Alter this has cooled put two 

 knife-points full of baking soda in it then 

 one wine-glass full of any kind of fruit-juice, 

 and then mix in the flour. Mix everything 



light and careful, and roll out somewhat like 

 thick ginger-cookies, and bake in a good, hot 

 oven. 



These cakes improve with age. and will 

 keep any length of time. They should be 

 made at least ,1 or 4 weeks before the time 

 desired for use. 'Wlien first made they are 

 hard, but after a while they are delicious 



In making they can be cut into squares or 

 fancy figures or shapes. Before putting 

 them in the oven they should be brushed 

 with a syrup made from sugar and water. 

 t lie oven must have a steady, even heat- 

 neither too hot nor too cold. The pans in 

 which they are baked should be buttered 

 and dusted with a little flour before the 

 cakes are put in for baking. 



Many families accustomed to eating these 

 cakes think they could not properly cele- 

 lirate Thanksgiving or Christmas without 

 "iSr'' . ^, „ F. D. Clum. M. D. 



Cheviot. N. Y. 



These honey-cakes are said to be 

 quite an institution in the father-land, 

 especially at fairs and on other public 

 occasions, much as gingerbread is said 

 to have been an institution formerly in 

 parts of this country on training and 

 election days. It is quite possible that 

 some sister whose early days were 

 spent in Germany will be vividly re- 

 minded of the past upon reading over 

 the recipe so kindly sent by Dr. Clum. 



A Sister Tells How to Produce Chunk or 

 Bulk-Comb Honey 



I riotice nearly every one is telling how to 

 produce section and extracted honey, and 

 now I want to tell how we produce " chunk " 



or rather, bulk honey, and its advantages 

 over the other kinds. 



As to hives, we have the shallow, lo-frame 

 supers from top to bottom, and the Hoffman 

 frame. We place c frames in each, and use 

 no excluders. 



"Why, the queen will go up into the supers 

 and lay." you will sav. Well, what if she 

 does? So many more workers; and farther 

 along I II explain why it makes no difference 

 to us. 



The reason we prefer to place only 

 frames in the lo-frame supers all the way 

 through, is because we believe that in the 

 brood-chamber the young bees are some- 

 what larger and better, the cells being 

 deeper, and in the supers the combs being f' 

 thicker are more easily uncapped for ex- v< 

 trading, and the bulk honey looks so much 

 more appetizing in both jars and other ves- 

 sels. The g frames are spaced so as to have 

 the same distance from either side as be- 

 tween each and every frame, and so when 

 filled are .;// uniform in size. The old way 

 (or at least old to me) causes that side of the 

 frame next to the super on either side to 

 have no honey at all. There you have the 

 equal to one unused frame anyhow, and with 

 twice the manipulation and the rest of the 

 frames of honey so very thin. Then the 

 spaced frames have an even surface, while 

 the 10 tight-fitting frames are decidedly 

 bulged and difficult to uncap. 



W^hen takingoff the honey we remove each 

 and every frame separately, shake off all the 

 bees and remove to the honey-room. All 

 those with brood are carefully uncapped 

 and extracted, and then returned to the su- 

 per nearest the brood-chamber, and if there 

 are not enough to fill it, frames with combs 

 are added; another super with 6 or 7 frames 

 with starters, and i or 2 (as the case may be) 

 frames of combs for baits. We like to use 

 all combs when we have an ample supply. 

 Frames with old combs, or rather combs 

 that have been appropriated by her ladyship, 

 are used either for running for extracted 

 honey in the future, or used to help build 

 up a weak neighbor, or placed in a hive 

 when catching swarms, or in preventing 

 swarming. 



Now we will return to those in the honey- 

 room. There we have light, dark and indif- 

 ferent frames of solid honey and some ex- 

 tracted. The very whitest combs are cut 

 out in slabs just wide enough to be placed in 

 Mason jars, which are then filled up with 

 white extracted, sealed, washed and dried, 

 and an attractive label placed upon them. 

 The dark and indifferent but tender ones 

 are cut out in convenient squares, gen- 

 erally somewhat larger than tiie ordinary 

 section, and placed in buckets, cans, pails— 

 anything that is scrupulously clean and has 

 a lid to it. Then we have recourse to the ex- 

 tractor, and each vessel is filled nearly to 

 the top, the lid is put on, the vessel washed 

 over, dried, and labeled. The frames, which 

 should have but very little honey in them, if 

 they have been cut closely, are washed off 

 in a tub of water and hung out to dry. In 

 odd times they are placed, a few at a time, 

 in a warm oven with the door open, and 

 when warm are easily scraped, the groove 

 carefully cleaned out with an 8-penny nail, 

 and starters secured in them with melted 

 wax on one or both sides. The nail is 

 bent up at the point the least little bit. You 

 then grasp the whole nail, place the point in 

 the top corner of the groove, and pull it 

 down to the end. The nail acts as a plow, 

 throwing the old wax to one side. 



The honey in the 60-pouiid cans is sold to 

 our customers who buy in large quantities, 

 and the smaller ones to those vvlio buy in 

 small quantities, so that the honey in the 

 large cans is never disturbed except by the 

 consumer, and as our smallest vessels are 

 baking-powder cans, we can supply our very 

 poorest customers without getting sticky 

 or tearing up the combs in the larger ones. 



We hardly ever sell to grocers, preferring 

 to sell direct to consumers, unless we ex- 

 change in trade. Customers either pay in 

 cash what the vessels cost us. or give us a 

 counterpart in exchange. In selling to the 

 consumer we get the full value of our honey. 

 and build up a name that could not other- 

 wise be obtained. Many of our customers 

 wait until we can come around, and buy of 

 us rather than buy of the groceryman. or 

 come all the way to our place and buy it out 

 of the honey-room or from the liives. There 

 are so many different caprices, some like 

 what they call "warm " honey, some just like 

 to see it taken from the hives, and. not a 

 few. just for the sake of contrariness. But 

 we like to please them all. regardless of in- 

 convenience to us— a customer pleased is a 

 customer forever. 



The frames with very tough combs are ex- 

 tracted and placed in those new supers 



