

$=ci)>!5!E^^°"^J^^ 



43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, JAN. 8, 1903, 



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^ Editorial Comments. ^ | 



A National Honey Exchange. — This is a subject to 

 which we have given some thought for several years. 

 Sometimes we feel that we have almost perfected, theoreti- 

 cally, a plan or plans by which it could be made a great 

 success. Then, after thinking some more, we don't feel 

 quite so certain about it. But we think we have about set- 

 tled, in our own mind, that if ever a successful honey ex- 

 change is formed, it will have to be done by those who have 

 had large experience in handling honey. Perhaps a few 

 extensive local bee-keepers can manage a local exchange, 

 but when it comes to organizing and conducting an ex- 

 change commensurate with the honey business of the whole 

 country, it will require the most experienced and most 

 level-headed business men to be found in our ranks. 



One of the first things, we think, is to get men of tinan- 

 cial and moral standing to undertake to form and manage 

 the organization. It will have to be men in whom bee- 

 keepers have full confidence, else they will never consent to 

 trust them with the handling of their crops of honey. 



It will take time to make a success of the work. Per- 

 manent and profitable enterprises do not develop in a year. 

 The first few years may prove discouraging. Things may 

 not proceed as anticipated. Quite likely the less determined 

 ones will want to drop out. But final success will depend 

 upon sticking together. Are bee-keepers ready to do that ? 



It is true, as Prof. Cook says on another page, that the 

 marketing of the crops in other lines have been profitably 

 managed in the interest of the producers. But it must be 

 remembered that in every case the products controlled were 

 those to be found practically in a single State, or even in a 

 single section of one State. Honey is produced everywhere. 

 Citrus fruits in Southern California. When New York, and 

 Michigan, and Ohio, and Pennsylvania, have large crops of 

 honey, where will the larger Western crops be sent to ? 



It's a big subject. It needs wisdom and experience in 

 order even to get started. But by discussing it, and get- 

 ting our best minds to work on it, it is possible that by the 

 time another crop of honey is ready to be marketed, plans 

 may be sufficiently perfected to begin the new honey ex- 

 change. We hope it may be so. 



The columns of the American Bee Journal are open for 

 the best ideas YOU have on this or any other subject of in- 

 terest to bee-keepers. 



Shpping Bees to Cuba.— The A. I. Root Co. report the 

 shipment of 500 colonies of bees to Cuba so successfully 

 that " not a colony was lost nor a single comb broken." 

 They were shipped in two fruit-cars to New York, thence 

 by steamer to Havana, and then 100 miles inland by rail. 

 Hot weather and poorly ventilated cars made the last 100 

 miles the hardest. 



Southern and Northern Bee-Keeping. —In general it 

 is known that in the South the winter problem does not 

 trouble ; that the season is perhaps three months earlier 

 than at the North ; but Editor H. E. Hill gives in the Bee- 

 Keepers' Review some striking differences not so generally 

 known. Comparing the location of J. B. Hall, in Canada, 

 with southern Florida, he says in part : 



Mr. Hall can store quantities of comb honey in the fall 

 without fear of deterioration. In the humid atmosphere of 

 South Florida it would most likely become worthless as a 

 merchantable product within a week after being taken from 

 the hive. Only continued artificial heat in a close room 

 would save it from " weeping " or "sweating." This is a 

 result of the well-known affinity of honey for moisture. 

 During a great part of the year extracted honey exposed in 

 an open tank, though sheltered, would become thinner in- 

 stead of increasing its body. In this respect the contrast 

 between the influence of the asmosphere in this country 

 and the arid West is most striking. 



Mr. Hall can store his extracting combs in an open shed 

 from season to season. In South Florida they would be 

 destroyed within a very few days by the moth-larvaj. Here 

 the webs of this destroyer may always be seen during sum- 

 mer, in combs that have remained off of the hive over 

 night ; as they sometimes do during the extracting season. 



Bees consume vastly more stores in Florida than in the 

 North ; hence, the increased item of "board " is consider- 

 able. This is a logical result of their continued activity. 

 For the same reason the period of a queen's useful life is 

 reduced about one-half. 



"The Disappearing Trick" is a term coming into 

 common use among Australian bee-keepers, and there's 

 nothing funny about it, either. The older bees of a colony 

 disappear in a sudden and mysterious manner, the strongest 

 colonies appearing to be the ones most afi'ected, causing 

 very heavy loss of colonies. The bee-keepers are asking 

 that government come to their aid by making investigations 

 looking to cause and cure. 



The Colorado Honey-Producers' Association is a 



great success, notwithstanding the fact that only about 20 

 percent of the Colorado beekeepers have entered it. This 

 offishness on the part of the majority is looked upon with 

 some degree of discouragement, but the Rocky Mountain 

 Bee Journal is inclined to be optimistic, and thinks there 

 are two good reasons why there has not been a more gen- 

 eral participation in the benefits of the Association. The 

 first is that " new ideas, no matter how meritorious they 

 may be, seldom attain popularity with the masses," so time 

 must be allowed. 



The second reason for apathy is one that may well be 

 considered in reference to what may be done by organiza- 

 tions elsewhere, and, indeed, with reference to an organiza- 

 tion taking in all. Editor Morehouse says : 



The ware-room of the Colorado Honey -Producers' Asso- 

 ciation is a long way from some of the honey-producing 

 sections of the State. Freight to Denver, in some instances, 

 is nearly as much as freight to the great centers of con- 

 sumption and distribution. So far as we remember, the 

 Association members have never publicly announced a plan 

 whereby members could ship through the Association and 



