JSsTABt,5 



^^^^;g&fERICAi^ 



43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, JAN, 15, 1903, 



No, 3. 



^ Editorial Comments. ^ | 



The International Exposition of BeeoCulture, to be 



held at Vienna, in Austria, April 4 to 26, bids fair to be an 

 event of much importance. There will be on exhibition 

 from the dififerent nations colonies of living' bees, hives, 

 implements, products of bees, direct and indirect, etc. In- 

 terest is added by the fact that the Government Apicultural 

 School, with rts large apiary, is located at N'ienna. It is 

 the intention to have the groupings such that the status of 

 bee-culture can be studied by countries. Living or pre- 

 served specimens of the enemies of bees will be displayed, 

 from the bee-louse to the great bear. Honey-plants in 

 great variety, so far as possible in bloom, will appear. Not 

 the least matter of interest will be the opportunity to meet 

 face to face bee-keepers of all lands. 



Exhibitors and others may obtain desired information 

 by addressing Ausstellungs-Komitee, Wien, 1, Schaufler- 

 gasse 6. 



The Knotty Problems of Bee°Keeping. — From an es- 

 teemed correspondent comes the following : 



" I like the American Bee Journal, and enjoy reading 

 the communications of the various contributors, yet I am 



somewhat disappointed Can't you get some of your 



many bee-men to roundup each long-discussed subject, like 

 shaken sivarms, with a plain, practical digest of the whole 

 matter ? and give us little, young fellows some practical 

 facts that we can understand and put in practice ?" 



Sometimes you may see hanging up in a store a sign 

 with the legend, "If you don't see what you want, ask for 

 it." Same here. The department of " Questions and An- 

 swers" is open "at all hours" for those who desire informa- 

 tion. In the editorial department will be found from time to 

 time epitomized views upon important subjects, and more 

 or less in the same line from experienced correspondents. 

 Yet with all this there will be times when conflicting views 

 will be expressed, especiall}- upon matters more or less new, 

 and so long as the testimony is not all in it is not an easy 

 thing to give anything like a summarized opinion. 



Taking the matter of shaken swarms referred to : A 

 summary would add nothing that has not been given, and 

 no one would be competent to say that such and such testi- 

 monj- is reliable, and such and such is to be disregarded. 

 Indeed, there may be conflict of the most emphatic charac- 

 ter between two witnesses without any deviation from the 

 strict line of truth on either side, the difference to be ac- 

 counted for by difference in conditions or locality. So each 

 one having the vrhole facts before him must judge for him- 

 self what will best fit his own case. 



More than one writer has already given in these col- 

 umns a summary of his procedure in the matter of shaken 

 swarms. What our correspondent probably would like to 



have would be something like an authoritative statement as 

 to what will be the very best thing to suit his own case. It 

 would, indeed, seem a most desirable thing to have implicit 

 instructions given as to all the different things pertaining 

 to bee-keeping. So far as that is possible, it is done by 

 means of text-books and bee-papers ; but when all is done 

 that can be done, there will always be still left much for 

 the judgment of the individual bee-keeper. Therein lies 

 the charm, and at the same time the despair, of bee-keep- 

 in_g — the constant solving of problems that arise, only to be 

 followed by others as fast as solutions are found for those 

 already on hand. 



It will be, in the future as it has been in the past, the 

 pleasure as well as the duty of this journal to help so far as 

 possible each one, especially the beginner, to solve the 

 difficulties met with, and to this end questions as to those 

 difficulties are always in order. 



" If you don't see what you want, ask for it." 



Cleaning Smokers F. L,. Thompson says in the Pro- 

 gressive Bee-Keeper that he burns them out, and also 

 cleans them "by soaking in water for 24 hours or more, 

 when the creosote flakes off easily with the assistance of a 

 knife." Of course, the metal part is separated from the 

 leather and wood before being put to soak. A good kink. 



Advertisements of Sugar for Bees, either in the form 

 of sugar or candy, are quite common in English and conti- 

 nental bee-journals, which seems a little strange to Ameri- 

 can readers. One reason for the difference in this respect 

 between this and other countries lies in the fact that in this 

 country little is thought of the difference in sugars, the 

 general belief being that granulated sugar made from 

 beets is just as good as that made from sugar-cane. On 

 the contrary, in other lands there is held to be an important 

 difference. Especially in England is beet sugar strongly 

 objected to as bee-food, being considered entirely unfit for 

 winter food. So bee-keepers of that country look carefully 

 to the source of their sugar. The latest number of the 

 British Bee Journal to hand contains one advertisement of 

 cane-sugar and five of bee-candy, the price of sugar being 

 much the same as in this country, and the candy from 10 to 

 18 cents a pound. 



Defense of the Kingbird. — The Florida Times-Union 

 claims that the harm done by the kingbird or bee-martin 

 to the bees is largely outweighed by the good it does in 

 driving away hawks. It says : 



When the hawk appears the king calls to his mate and 

 the two rush to the attack with the directness of Schley's 

 ships, and almost with the swiftness of a shell from the 

 Brooklyn. They attack on opposite sides, and each tries 

 to rise above the other — the female distracts the attention 

 of the enemy while eluding blows from beak and talons by 

 sudden turns and quick rushes to get in. But woe to the 

 hawk that delays to strike at her — her mate has rushed 

 above and then down — he clutches the feathers at the base 

 of the skull and strikes straight for the eyes while beating 



