March 5, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



149 



was sorry, but I had no money, and I hadn't heard of a bee- 

 keeper disgracing^ himself by putting his hand down into 

 his pocket for any lobby money. We were there, and we 

 got it. 



Mr. Moore — How many bee-keepers have we in this 

 State? 



Pres. York — Several thousand. 



Mr. Moore — Suppose we have 3000 bee-keepers, what 

 would you do ? What must we do to get in a large number 

 of the 3000 bee-keepers to-day? That's the thing that's 

 needful. 



Mr. France — Ky the aid of the editors of the bee-papers 

 I had to lay a plan, and I learned that I must have the names 

 of the bee-keepers. They furnished me the names of the 

 bee-keepers, then I corresponded with them. I sent out 600 

 letters, and received 180 replies. That was the first re- 

 sponse. 



Dr. Miller — Now you are talking business. 



Mr. France — Then I sent out more, and by-and-by those 

 became interested, and by-and-by I had letters by the 

 basketful when the time came for the Legislature in our 

 State. I think that will be the way you will accomplish it 

 in this State. 



Pres. York — We ought to get Mr. France to move over 

 to Illinois for a while. We can employ him ! 



Mr. Niver — I was just asking Dr. Miller to give me a 

 name here for one of those endless-chain affairs; each one 

 who gets one of these letters is to write ten more. For in- 

 stance, we could get from the list of the bee-papers a cer- 

 tain number of Illinois bee-keepers, and send out a letter to 

 that effect, that the one who receives it write ten personal 

 letters to ten of his friends, and have each one write the 

 Legislature. In that way couldn't we get a big lot of 

 letters ? 



Pres. York — Do you wish the letters sent to the com- 

 mittee, or to the committee in the Legislature ? 



Mr. Niver — For one, L must know who is the represen- 

 tative of my district. I never did know yet. 



Mr. Hutchinson — We went so far as to publish them in 

 the bee-papers. 



Mr. Niver — As a rule, I think, very few bee-keepers 

 know who represents them in the State Legislature. I 

 don't think I ever knew that fact yet. That is as much of 

 a politician as I am. 



Mr. Moore — Ask the policeman on your beat ; he will 

 tell you. 



Mr. Niver — There is none. 



Mr. Moore — Or the postmaster. 



Mr. Niver — I know the postmaster. By getting a lot of 

 letters in that way to our comimttee at the Legislature — 

 whatever plan would be thought best — I think we would get 

 a large number of letters in a very short time on that plan. 



Pres. York — That letter can be considered when the 

 committee is appointed. 



Mr. France — I will say that I took the pains to corres- 

 pond in Washington with our representative, and got a 

 copy of the statistics on bee-keeping in the United States 

 Census. 



Mr. Moore — Can we get that by writing to our member 

 in Congress ? 



Mr. France — Yes, sir. 



Mr. Moore — What is the title ? 



Mr. France— United States Census Report of 1900, on 

 Agriculture. I could, by opening my grip, give you the 

 statistics for Illinois, if you want them. 



[Messrs. Herman F. Moore, Chas. Clarke, and C. F. 

 Kannenburg, have been appointed as the committee to co- 

 operate with the State Committee on Legislation, who are, 

 Messrs. J. Q. Smith, Jas. A. Stone, and Chas. Becker.— 

 George W. York.] 



(Continued next week. ] 



Honey as a Health-Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet (3'ix6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains "Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we arc using it ourselves. 



Prices, prepaid— Sample for 2 cts.; 10 for 10 cts.: 25 

 for20cts.; 50 for 35 cts.; 100 for 65 cts.; 250 for $1.50; 500 

 for $2.75 ; 1000 for $5.00. If you wish your business card 

 printed at the bottom of the front page, add 25 cts. to your 

 order. 



Big Honey Harvest Expected 

 of Bees. 



Spring Care 



BY C. P. Il.\D.\NT. 



I believe that, since I have been in the bee-business, the 

 prospect for a good honey crop has never been better 

 than it is at present — in this part of the world at least. 

 For ten years or more, the white clover has been an entire 

 failure. From different causes — drouth, hard winters, etc. 

 — it has failed to show up as it had done in former years. 

 In 1889, for instance, our crop, from white clover alone, was 

 upwards of 80 barrels. But at that time our pastures, our 

 meadows, were like a white carpet at the time of clover- 

 bloom. 



During the past wet season, young white clover has 

 come up in abundance. I can hardly pass a spot of pasture- 

 land without seeing the white clover leaf peeping out from 

 under the snow. The shelter made by snow has been good 

 so far ; the green grass and clover have suffered none from 

 the cold. There is a good harvest in prospect, unless some- 

 thing unexpected happens. 



The apiarist who is anxious to succeed ought to be well 

 prepared, if this crop comes, to take full advantage of it. If 

 the winter is mild, the bees may prepare themselves fully 

 and in good time, but there is quite a point to be gained by 

 helping them artificially. What they need is early breed- 

 ing, and plenty of warmth. Our hives must, therefore, be 

 well protected from the cold, especially from the keen 

 northern winds of February and March. If the hives are 

 populous the bees will begin to breed early and will consume 

 plenty of honey. One must make sure that none of them 

 are compelled to stint themselves for want of a sufficient 

 amount. The weak colonies should be reduced to the space 

 they can well cover and should be stimulated, whenever 

 there is mild weather, by a little feed given judiciously 

 where the bees can reach it easily, and where the robbers 

 will not be likely to get to it. The amount fed to colonies 

 for stimulating the breeding must not be large. In most 

 cases one or two teaspoonfuls of warm food will show bene- 

 ficial results for several days. Feeding small quantities, 

 and feeding often, is much better in spring than feeding 

 large amount of honey all at one time. It is also better to 

 feed diluted sugar than strong-smelling honey. The former 

 will give no smell, while the later, especially when warm, 

 will have a decided influence on robbing, inducing many of 

 the bees to lurk about the hives in which the colonies are 

 fed. 



A very warm situation for hives is not objectionable, in 

 spring, but on the contrary is conducive to good results. I 

 once established an out-apiary at the house of an old 

 Frenchman who had been a gardener, and owned a small 

 hot-house. This little building was established at the head 

 of a ravine which had washed away the soil to a depth of 

 about 6 feet, with a width of some 20 feet, close to the old 

 gardener's home. This ravine was a very ugly-looking 

 chasm and an eyesore till he devised this hot-house walled 

 in on three sides at the head of it. 



Not onlv the establishing of this building had effec- 

 tually stopped the enlarging of this ditch, but it had given 

 him a good place for raising early vegetables. The front 

 was all glass, being faced to the southward. When I 

 brought my bees to his place he had quit gardening, his hot- 

 house was useless, and he had hit upon a plan of putting his 

 six hives of bees side by side in this building for winter. 

 When the weather was very cold a wooden front was hung 

 over the glass front of the house so as to keep the bees quiet. 

 But it is astonishing how quiet they would keep even if the 

 front was open, whenever the weather was too cold. No 

 matter hew warm it might be inside, they would not sally 

 out, but would remain quietly at home. But it did not take 

 much to stir them up, and the least intrusion was resented 

 by them. 



Those hives were rich in stores. They began breeding 

 early in the season, and when I moved some 25 hives to the 

 same apiary, in the mouth of April, it was plain that either 

 of these six hives could have furnished four times as many 

 bees as my own which had been moved to this place from 



