May, 1!)13. 



American Hee Joarnalj 



it may l)e wortli while to take some 

 plan that may take more time, yet be 

 more sure as to result. In that case 

 here is a good plan given by H. Harley 

 Selwyn, in Gleanings in Bee Culture: 



" Take two ordinary deep supers; and, 

 after placing a queen-excluder between, 

 fasten well together with shipping-staples. 

 Place this before the hive lobe operated on. 

 then remove one frame at a time, and, after 

 a quick glance over each to sight thetjucen 

 if possible before the bees become badly 

 excited, shake into the empty super. Repeat 

 tliis iierformatice with each frame, placing 

 them either in an additional super designed 

 for that purpose, ov leaning them against the 

 hive. Now ply the smoker on the mass of 

 bees lying on the excluder, and see them 

 vanish through the perforations until none 

 Ijut fraiuic drones remain; and, unless for- 

 tune is against you, there you will find the 

 tiueen trying with all her might to reach the 

 heart of the uuderlianging cluster. A mo- 

 ment's glance will decide the question; and 

 if no queen shows up. transfer your atten- 

 tion to the interior of the empty hive, and 

 the chances are yon will find her somewhere 

 on the walls or in the corner of the hive." 



Mr. York'.s Valedit-tory 



In another column of this number, 

 the reader will find the announcement 

 of a change in the management of the 

 American Bee Journal. The writer of 

 this article, tired of life in a large city, 

 will now locate in Sandpoint, Idaho, 



In making my retiring bow, with 

 most heartfelt thanks to my thousands 

 of constant readers for the 20 years 

 that have just passed, I wish to give the 

 reasons which have prompted me to 

 select Mr. C. P. Dadant as future edi- 

 tor-in-chief of the oldest bee-paper in 

 America. For this purpose I will for 

 a few minutes take the reader back into 

 the early history of the American Bee 

 Journal. 



.•\s far back as 18(58, Mr, Chas. Dadant, 

 a practical bee-keeper and a scholar, 

 who had arrived from the Old World 

 only a few years before, wrote a num- 

 ber of articles entitled, " How I Be- 

 came an Apiculturist." These contri- 

 butions were published in this Journal. 

 They were well liked, and he became a 

 regular correspondent. 



In 1872, just 40 years ago, a very 

 heated controversy took place, upon 

 the invention of the movable-frame 

 hive by Mr. Langstroth. This inven- 

 tion, which revolutionized bee-keeping 

 and placed Ainerica at the head of the 

 list of honey-producing countries, was 

 decried by opponents who infringed 

 upon it. They held that Berlepsch, 

 Munn, Debeauvoys, Propokovitsch,and 

 other Europeans, had invented it long 

 before our .American pioneer. In the 

 American Bee Journal for March, 1872, 

 Mr. Chas. Dadant came to the rescue, 

 and averred (with proofs) that none of 

 these inventions were practical, as none 

 had the movable ceiling combined with 

 the air-space all around the frames ; 

 that the American invention was posi- 

 tively novel and the most practical of 

 all. He was speaking with absolute 

 knowledge, since he had used those 

 hives in 1-lurope, and was now using 

 the Langstroth frame in America. 



Krom that time a strong bond of 

 friendship was formed between the 

 American champion of apiarian prog- 

 ress and his foreign-born supporter. 

 But Langstroth was not only a capa- 

 ble in\entor, he was also a keen ob- 

 server and a splendid writer, as all who 

 have read his book, " The Hive and 



Honey-Bee," can testify. This work 

 was christened " the classic in bee-cul- 

 ture," and Langstroth himself, "the 

 Father of American Hee-Keeping." 

 When, after some iiO years, his book 

 needed revising, and infirmities pre- 

 vented him froin doing it, he turned to 

 Chas. Dadant, and since 1888 "The 

 Hive and Honey-Bee " has been the 

 " Langstroth-Dadant " book. The Da- 

 dants — Chas. and C. P., father and son- 

 were active men. In addition to re- 

 writing this book and translating it 

 into French, they kept some 5fl0 colo- 

 nies of bees, produced hundreds of 

 tons of honey, imported Italian bees, 

 manufactured comb foundation, and 

 contributed to the bee-papers of differ- 

 ent countries. 



Father Langstroth died in 1895, Chas. 

 Dadant in 1902— both at the age of 85. 

 Since they had been joint stars in the 

 apiarian field, it was natural for the 

 .'\merican Bee Journal to place their 

 likenesses at its mast-head, where they 

 are still. When leaving the field of 

 bee-publishing, it seemed natural to 

 turn for a successor to the son who 

 had continued the work of the pioneers 

 after their demise. 



Mr. C. P. Dadant is well-known to 

 the readers of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal as one of its oldest contributors. 

 They know that he is president of the 

 Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, and that he has served at dififerent 

 times as secretary, director, and presi- 

 dent, of the National .Association. But 

 perhaps only a few know that his writ- 

 ings are not confined to the English 

 language. He has been for years a 

 contributor to European bee-papers in 

 foreign lands — in Paris, Lausanne, 

 Milan, etc. He has again revised the 

 "Hive and Honey-Bee," both English 

 and French editions. This book has 

 had four Russian editions, and is now 

 translated and about to be published 

 in Barcelona, Spain. At my request, 

 he dismantled and rebuilt, with addi- 

 tions and corrections, the " First Les- 

 sons in Bee-Keeping," or " Bees and 

 Honey," by Thomas G. Newman, a 



former editor of the American Bee 

 Journal. Being retired from active 

 apiary practice, Mr. Dadant has enough 

 leisure to give the American Bee Jour- 

 nal his undivided attention, and the 

 benefit of his extetisive experience 

 with bees. 



While I would like very much to 

 mention all who have aided me in 

 making the American Bee Journal 

 what it has been the past 20 years, 

 space forbids referring to more than 

 two others. 



Miss Mattie C. Godfrey, who came to 

 set type on the American Bee Journal 

 in 1883, and who continues with it still, 

 deserves praise for her faithfulness 

 and excellent work during the nearly 

 30 years of her loyal service. No one 

 could have rendered more efficient and 

 devoted service than has she, and I am 

 glad to make this acknowledgment. 



And Dr. C. C. Miller — how can I ever 

 repay him for his fatherly counsel, his 

 sincere and unselfish help to me during 

 the past 20 years ? The American Bee 

 Journal would not possibly have been 

 so interesting and valuable in its con- 

 tents had not Dr. Miller's half-century 

 of bee-keeping and genial good-nature 

 been back of it. He has been ever 

 ready to render any and every assist- 

 ance possible when called upon. To 

 Dr. Miller I owe more than perhaps to 

 any other man I ever knew, except it 

 be my own father, who passed to his 

 reward some 10 years ago. Bee-keep- 

 ers do not value Dr. Miller now as 

 they will some day. The present gen- 

 eration is too near to him to get his 

 apiarian proportions in exactness. But 

 some future time will estimate him 

 correctly, and then he will occupy the 

 true position which he has achieved 

 during the many years of his varied 

 labors. He will be 81 years old — no, 81 

 years young! — next month (June 10) — 

 may he live yet another score of years, 

 to continue his beneficent services to 

 all mankind, and especially to bee- 

 keepers in this and other lands. 



Again I thank you, one and all, and 

 wish you happiness and success. ^^ 



George W. York. 



Miscellaneous m) News Items 



Calitornia and the National. — .-As some 

 inquiry has come from the East re- 

 garding the action of the California 

 bee-keepers in passing resolutions in 

 different parts of the State, withdraw- 

 ing from the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association as a body, I will try to give 

 our reasons so that our friends in 

 other parts of the country will under- 

 stand that our action is not intended 

 to be permanent or taken with a feeling 

 of hostility. 



In the first place, the National de- 

 serted us by changing the organization 

 and raising the dues, thus forcing us 

 to change our constitution. We can 

 see no reason for joining the National 

 in a body if by so doing we have no 

 advantage over coming in singly; for 

 that reason we decided to let each one 



judge for himself; but most of us feel 

 that we need the money in California 

 for this year, more than we do in the 

 East, where we have less recompense 

 and little to say as to the way it is 

 used. 



When the Finance Committee re- 

 ported to the State Association, recom- 

 mending withdrawal from the .N'ational 

 as a body, the action was not taken 

 without opposition. L. L. Andrews, of 

 Corona, and M. H. Mendleson, of Ven- 

 tura, with some others, protested, but 

 were voted down. The secretary then 

 announced that he would still receive 

 dues for the National and send them 

 on at any time, and the offer still holds 

 good. 



The bee-keepers of California are 

 getting acquainted with each other as 



