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43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ELL, JAN. 1, 1903, 



No.l. 



^ Editorial Comments. ^ 



A Happy New Year to all the readers of the old Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal is our sincerest wish. May it also be, in 

 every way, the very best year of all the years you have 

 seen. 



Crediting New Queens Fairly.— In a thoughtful article 

 in the American Bee-Keeper, Arthur C. Miller calls atten- 

 tion to the impropriety of giving credit or blame to a queen 

 for the success or failure of a colony during the first year 

 of her introduction. Even if a queen were introduced as 

 early as May 1, and 60 days be allowed as the average life 

 of a worker, " it will readily be seen that from a third to a 

 half of the crop is all that should be credited to the new 

 blood." If Mr. Miller has made any error in his estimate, it 

 is probably on the side of allowing the new queen more 

 than her proper share of influence upon the crop. 



A Canadian Honey Exchange — Mr. Morley Pettit in- 

 forms us that at Barrie, Ont., Dec. 18, 1902, a number of 

 bee-men of the Province met to organize a honey exchange. 

 W. A. Chrysler was appointed chairman, and Morley Pettit 

 secretary, /iro /^)«. The Association is to be called " The 

 Canadian Honey Exchange," and the following officers 

 were elected : 



Directors — C. W. Post, W. A. Chrysler, Jno. Newton, 

 and H. G. Sibbald. 



Officers— President, H. G. Sibbald; Vice-President, W. 

 A. Chrysler ; and Secretary-Treasurer, Wm. Couse. 



The membership fee is $1.00. 



We wish the new organization every success. And con- 

 gratulate them on getting ahead of the United States bee- 

 keepers. But the latter will catch up later on. Large bodies 

 move in a less rapid manner. 



Bogie Man for Vicious Bees. — In the British Bee Jour- 

 nal there was a case reported in which some vicious bees 

 vented their spite upon a scarecrow or dummy dressed in a 

 man's clothes. The cross bees appeared to leave their 

 stings in the bogie man, and there was no trouble from 

 them afterward. One of the leading contributors of the 

 Journal, D. M. M., thinks the bogie man might do good by 

 familiarizing the bees with the presence of something in 

 the semblance of a man, but seems to feel almost positive 

 that there was some mistake about the bees stinging the 

 bogie man, arguing that bees are so discriminating that 

 they do not sting inanimate objects, and that if it should 

 sting anything like a felt hat there would be no loss of the 

 sting, which would be safely withdrawn by the rotary 

 motion of the bee. However, it maybe in England, "in 

 this locality " cross bees will attack a felt hat by the 

 hundred, leaving the hat well spotted with stings that they 

 have failed to withdraw. 



Liquefying Honey in Small Packages,— One way that 

 has been recommended is to set a case of small glass or tin 

 packages in the oven of a cook-stove, or in some similar 

 place, and allow gradual heat to bring the granulated honey 

 to a liquid conditiou. Mr. Greiner says in the American 

 Bee-Keeper that he has had very satisfactory results from 

 using a solar extractor whenever there is sufficient sunshine. 



BoxcHives are favored by a correspondent in the Farm, 

 Bee, and Poultry Review, who says " it is the hive in most 

 general use, and in the hands of an expert it is a good hive ; 

 for a brood-chamber I would ask for nothing better ;" and 

 Editor Colbourne adds, "I, too, am using a few box-hives 

 for brood-chambers, and find that I get the best results from 

 them." 



Australia must be different from " this locality." The 

 probability is that most bee-keepers in this country have 

 not for years seen a box-hive with bees in it. What one 

 would do " in the hands of an expert " of the present day 

 can not be told, for the probability is that no expert would 

 have one. 



Proportion of Honey to Wax. — F. Greiner says in the 

 American Bee-Keeper that he once melted 27 sections and 

 obtained 12!2 ounces of wax. If we assume that those 27 

 sections contained 25 pounds of honey, that would mean 

 that it takes a pound of wax to contain 32 pounds of honey, 

 or that it takes one-half ounce of wax to contain a pound of 

 honey. 



Shall the National Do flarketing?— There is in prog- 

 ress a healthy growth in the feeling that it is important for 

 bee-keepets to unite and organize for various purposes, and 

 gradually there will come crystallization of thought as to 

 the best things to be done, and the best way of doing them. 

 Not of the least importance is the matter of marketing 

 honey. Shall the National Bee-Keepers' Association take 

 hold of the matter directly without aid from any other 

 quarter? Shall the National have nothing to do with it, 

 and a separate organization be established ? Shall a par- 

 tially separate organization be formed, the two co-operat- 

 ing 7 These and other questions are open for considera- 

 tion, and careful thought should be given them. The fol- 

 lowing, bearing directly upon the subject, is from an edi- 

 torial in Gleanings in Bee Culture : 



Whether or not the National Bee-Keepers' Association 

 should establish warehouses at various points is a question. 

 The Association, as now organized, could not very well un- 

 dertake a vvork of this kind ; and it is doubtful in my mind 

 whether it should do so ; but it might work in harmony 

 with another organization kindred to it. For example, the 

 bee-keepers of Colorado have what is called the Colorado 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association — an organization that has 

 for its object the holding of conventions at certain seasons 

 of the year. Then they have also another allied to the first 

 one, known as the Colorado Honey-Producers' Association, 

 which has for its object the receiving of the crop of the 

 members and placing it on the market to be sold when the 



