Tilly, lOio. 



2.^1 



American Hee Journal 



Increased over what I get, could I but have 

 the time to spend with thi; bees. 



I have not arrived at these conclusions 

 hastilv. as I have been much interested in 

 bees for more than ;o years, and have 125 

 colonies stored away in tlieir winter quar- 

 ters at the present time. 



I have never produced over ; tons of 

 honey in one season, so I do not claim that I 

 know it all. by any means. 



I want to add that I have never had any 

 high-priced queens, just the dollar kind; 

 this may make all the difference. Now, if 

 there is any other man that can say a I'ood 

 word for the down trodden native, or black 

 bee. let him say on. , , , 



In closinc. I will tjive an experience I had 

 with queen-bees a few years ago. as it seems 

 a little out of the ordinary; that is. it was a 

 new experience to me. I had been cutting 

 out queen-cells, and as I worked I laid them 

 on top of a near-by hive. When I had hn- 

 ished my work I noticed one queen had just 

 emerged from her cell. I gathered up all the 

 ceils, some 8 or 10. in my hands, and started 

 for the bee-house a few rods away; before 

 reaching it a second queen emerged, and 

 the two were crawling over my hand and the 

 other cells; as they neared each other they 

 made a quick rush and clinched in mortal 

 combat, reminding me very much of two 

 dogs. N'o serious consequence followed the 

 sharp tight until one seemed to gain the 

 mastery for a moment, when she quickly 

 dispatched her rival by inserting her sting 

 in the neck. The stung queen instantly 

 ceased all effort except for a slight motion 

 of the legs, but lived for several minutes, 

 perhaps 15 or 20, before life was extinct. 



While the conflict was in progress the 

 third queen hatched and crawled about my 

 hand and wrist, and then on a block where I 

 laid them. Very soon these came together 

 in the same manner, and after a struggle of 

 the same duration of time. she. in her turn, 

 " got it in the neck," the same queen coming 

 out the victor. As a referee, I at once de- 

 clared her champion, and returned her to 

 the hive where she remained for some time, 

 at least ready to meet all comers in the 

 arena. I could not see that one queen pos- 

 sessed any advantages over the others, ex- 

 cept that the victor was the oldest by per- 

 haps 30 seconds. O. B. Griffin. 



Aroostook Co., Maine, March 8. 



'A ounce of water to a bottle of honey, and 

 tested that. I made sugar syrup i to t. 2 to i. 

 and 1 to I. and tested them. I also tested 

 honey at temperatures of 50. bo. 70 and go, 

 and labeled each bottle. I will keep them 

 for using in this test. 



You should wash and dry the instrument 

 you are using before you change it to the 

 other bottle, so it will be level full when the 

 liydrometer is in. J. F. DiEMKK. 



Liberty. Mo., Feb. 26. 



Improvement in Caponizing — Poultrymen 

 throughout the country are very much in- 

 terested in the canonizing instrument illus- 

 trated herewith on which recently there was 

 issued by the United States patent-office a 



Knowing When Honey is Ripe 



How to tell when honey is ripe has always 

 been a hard question for me to solve, and I 

 think there are others in the same fix. I 

 have read everything I could find, including 

 E. D. Townsend's article in Gleanings, page 

 307— it was good, but by no means sure— 

 didn't go far enough; then I read Physical 

 Science and learned some more. 



I had never seen a hydrometer; didn t 

 even know where to get one; but I had a 

 floating thermometer, and thought of testing 

 honey by comparison, having kept a sample 

 of each year's honey since i8q7. I took a i- 

 pound jar of vmH honey that I knew was ripe 

 and good, and a i-pound jar of looo that fer- 

 mented and was as green as I was, when I 

 extracted it. I put the 2 jars in a bucket and 

 warmed them up to go degrees, Fahr., then, 

 as the thermometer wasn't heavy enough at 

 the bottom to balance, I punched a hole 

 through a rubber cork and slipped it on the 

 bulb; then it stood straight up when in the 

 honev. Then I tested those 2 jars of honey 

 and it showed a difference of 6 degrees, or 3 

 marks on the thermometer, which showed 

 beyond a doubt that the igo3 honey was 

 heavier than the igoo honey. 



A small piece of round wood the size of a 

 lead-pencil, with weight enough to make it 

 stand up when put in the honey, will show a 

 difference between ripe and green honey. 

 As simple as this test is. I would never have 

 thought of it if it hadn't been for the mess of 

 green honey extracted in vion. Lids would 

 pop off the buckets and go to the ceiling, and 

 they would as soon pop off in a store when 

 some one was ordering a bucket as at home ; 

 I think they didn't know it was hurting the 

 business, but I did, and I brought them all 

 home, and stopped selling. Xow. what do 

 you think of that, and I in the business ig 

 ,ears 'r But this was the first time, and will 



e the last time. But igoo was very wet and 

 damp. Testing honey by comparison is 

 quite sure, if you have the old honey to com- 

 pare with the new. 



But. having found out this much, the next 

 thing to do was to get a hydrometer. So at 

 the physicians' supply house in Kentucky I 

 got one and tested the specific gravity of 

 alfalfa from southwest .\rizona; sage from 

 California; white clover from Illinois; Mis- 

 souri white clover loos. igoS and loog; added 



& 



patent to Geo. P. Pilling & Son Company, of 

 Philadelphia, Pa. With this instrument it 

 is claimed that caponizing is much easier 

 done The demand for capons is so rapidly 

 increasing that every poultry raiser should 

 caponize all his surplus roosters. It is a 

 well-known fact that capons bring nearly 

 double the price per pound of the uncaP9- 

 nized fowl; also by caponizing the fowl it 

 becomes nearly double in weight. 



Caponizing is easily learned by little prac- 

 tice. The beginner must go slow at first and 

 learn it just like the use of any other iniple- 

 ment. A professional caponizer in New- 

 Jersey operated on nearly sixty thousand 



The S^meAmoi/ni^ 

 Of Feed Wi// 

 Raise Each, 



agent, ask for our terms and some sam- 

 ple copies. Address the American Bee 

 Journal, 146 W. Superior St., Chicago' 



III. 



♦ 



Couvention at KeyuoUtsville, Pa. 



The bee-keepers of Armstrong, Clar- 

 ion and Jefferson Counties, Pa., will 

 hold their annual convention at Rey- 

 iioldsville, Tuesday, .'\ug. 2, 1910. Hon. 

 S. B. Klliott, Prof, H, A. Surface, Edi- 

 tor E. R. Root, and possibly Dr. Phil- 

 lips, with others, will take part. All 

 are cordially invited to attend. 



.A. M. AprLEG.\TE, Sec. 



Reynoldsville, Fa. 



fowls last year. People who saw him capo- 

 nize say that with an assistant he can capo- 

 nize a fowl in half a minute. This is most 

 unusual, but it is very easy for all to learn 

 how to caponize, and do it in a reasonable 

 time. 



We advise all our readers to write to Geo. 

 P. Pilling & Son Company. Philadelphia. Pa., 

 mentioning the American Bee Journal, for 

 their caponizing pamphlet. It will be sent 

 free of charge to all of our readers who re- 

 quest it. 



Getting Xew Sub.scriber.s 



We believe we are succeeding in pub- 

 lishing a bee-paper that is valuable to 

 every bee-keeper. And so we want 

 very much that every bee-keeper shall 

 subscribe for and read it. Is there a 

 bee-keeping neighbor of yours that 

 does not now receive the American 

 Bee Journal? If so, won't you try to 

 secure his subscription? We will gladly 

 mail free sample copies either to the 

 those desiring to distribute them, or 

 direct to any names and addresses of 

 prospective subscribers that may be 

 sent to us. If you wish to act as an 



National at Albany, Oct. 12-13 



.•\ letter from Vice-Pres. W. D. 

 Wright, says that he has made arrange- 

 ments for holding the next meeting of 

 the National Bee-Keepers' .Association 

 at Albany, N. Y., Oct. 1'2 and 13, 1910, 

 in the Common Council Chamber of 

 the City Hall. Other details will be 

 furnished later. It ought to be a great 

 convention. Will yon plan to go .' 

 ^ 



Souvenir Bee Postal Cards 



We have 4 Souvenir Postal Cards of 

 interest to bee-keepers. No. 1 is a 

 Teddy Bear card, with stanza of poetry, 

 a straw bee-hive, a jar and section of 

 honey, etc. It is quite sentimental. 

 No. 2 has the words and music of the 

 song, "The Bee-Keeper's Lullaby;" No. 

 3, the words and music of " Buckwheat 

 Cakes and Honey;" and No. 4, the 

 words and music of "The Humming 

 of the Bees." We send these cards, 

 postpaid, as follows: 4 cards for 10 

 cents, 10 cards for 20 cents ; or 10 cards 

 with the American Bee Journal one 

 year for $1.10. Send all orders to the 

 oflfice of the American Bee Journal, 146 

 W. Superior St., Chicago, 111. 



" Langstroth on the Honey-Bee " 



This is one of the standard books on 

 bees. It tells in a simple, concise man- 

 ner just how to keep bees. It was 

 originally written by Rev. L. L. Lang- 

 stroth, who invetited the movable- 

 frame hive in 18.51. The book has been 

 brought right down to date by Dadant 

 & Sons, than who there are no better 

 or more practical bee-keepers in this 

 or any other country. It contains 

 nearly 600 pages, is fully illustrated, 

 and is bound in cloth. Every topic is 

 clearly and thoroughly explained, so 

 that by following its instructions no 

 one should fail to be successful with 

 bees. Price, postpaid, $1.20; or with 

 the American Bee Journal one year — 

 both for $2.00. Send all orders to the 

 American Bee Journal, 146 W. Superior 

 St., Chicago, 111. 



The Happy Bee-Man 



There was a happy bee-man who gave him- 

 self a hug. . 



For he crossed a nice Italian queen with a 

 big drone lightning-bug. . 



" So now." he said. " those bees of mme will 

 work with all their might 



Not only in the_ daytime, but through the 

 dreary night. ■ , en j 



In dreams he saw the honey-barrels filled 

 right up to the bung: , , , ,, 



But when the season ended, the poor old 

 man was "stung." - , 



—SelccteJ. 



