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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 25, 



) .'.OLDEST an PAPER 



-rWAMERICA - 



m 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. YORK & COMPANY, 

 118 aiic2iig-an St., - CHICAGO, ILL, 



REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS : 



Q. M. Doolittle, of New York. Prof. A. j. Cook, of California. 



Dr. C. C. Miller, of Illinois. Dr. J. P. H. Brown, of Georgia. 



J. H. Martin, of California. Rev. E. T. Abbott, of Missouri. 



Barnett Taylor, of Minnesota. Mrs. L. C. Axtell, of Illinois. 



Chas. Dadant & Son, of Illinois. 



$1.00 a Year — Sample Copy Sent Free. 

 (Entered at the PostOfflce at Chicago ae Second-Class Mail-Matter.] 



VoLfflVI. CHICAGO, ILL, JUNE 25, 1896. No. 26, 



Distributing^ Honey-Pamplilets. — The Buf- 

 falo County Bee-Keepers' Association, of Nebraska, at its last 

 meeting, resolved to purchase 100 copies of " Honey as Food 

 and Medicine," to be distributed by the members to their 

 friends, for the purpose of increasing the demand and con- 

 sumption of honey. This is a good move, surely. It is the 

 kind of work that will pay every member of that Association. 

 Others should " go and do likewise." 



We will supply the above pamphlet, by express, for §1.50 

 per 100 copies. Now is the time to "sow the seed" — just be- 

 fore the honey is ready to market. 



Sbippiug Queens Promptly.— Mr. W. P. Fay- 

 lor, on page 403 of this number, calls attention to what sooie- 

 times is an unbearable as well as wholly inexcusable evil on 

 the part of queen-dealers. This thing of not notifying the 

 customer when the dealer cannot send a queen promjMy, is 

 the cause of much annoyance, and often loss. 



About a week ago a Colorado subscriber complained to us 

 about two queen-dealers who advertised in the Bee Journal 

 about two months ago. One of them waited until the cus- 

 tomer^wrote to him, and wanted either the queen or his money 

 back. In a few days he got the money, but not a word why 

 the queen was not sent. From the other he has not yet had 

 even his money returned, let alone the queen. At least so he 

 reports to us. 



The result of the above experience was, that our Colorado 

 friend lost a colony of bees valued at So. 00. Of course, the 

 negligent queen-dealers should stand the loss, as it was en- 

 tirely their fault. For if they had answered promptly, that 

 they could not supply the queens, the buyer could have gotten 

 one elsewhere, and thus have saved his colony. 



We hope all queen-dealers who read this will be very 

 careful to see that they cause their customers no unnecessary 

 worry and perhaps needless loss. 



Beeswax and Its Aulterants— the article by 

 Prof. Kebler, on page 405 — is well worth a careful reading. 

 True, it is rather lengthy, but it is a big subject, and one that 

 needs attention. It is really alarming, the extent to which 



beeswax is adulterated in cities, especially in Chicago. We 

 know of at least two firms here that make a business of adul- 

 terating pure beeswax with cheap ceresin, and then placing it 

 on the market simply as " beeswax." 



When attempting to get laws against honey-adulteration, 

 we may as well include beeswax. We would like to see the 

 Bee-Keepers' Union try its heretofore invincible hand at get- 

 ting some anti-adulteration laws in the interest of the pro- 

 ducers of pure honey and pure beeswax. If only Illinois had 

 a good law on the subject, the American Bee Journal would 

 enjoy helping to see that it is enforced. So long as the adul- 

 teration business Is allowed to go on without any check what- 

 ever, just so long will the prices of honey and beeswax con- 

 tinue to decline. 



If our Government wishes to do something really helpful 

 to honest bee-culture, it probably could do no better than to 

 give us some good anti-adulteration laws, with severe enough 

 penalties attached so that one good enforcement would last 



awhile. 



^ I ■ 



L,ysol and Foul Brood.— In the May Review, 

 Editor Hutchinson says this about lysol as a cure for foul 

 brood : 



" Lysol and its value in cases of foul brood appears to me 

 in a different light after reading the article of F. L. Thomp- 

 son on that subject. It seems that the feeding of lysol may 

 cure foul brood ; but if there is infected honey in the hive, the 

 use of that honey at some future time will again bring in the 

 disease. In other words, foul brood can never be permanently 

 eradicated from a colony so long as its old combs of honey are 

 left in the hive. The use of lysol iu a region of country 

 where there are colonies of bees infected with foul brood may 

 be a good thing — it certainly would be if its use would prevent 

 the contraction of the dread disease, and Mr. Thompson seems 

 sure that it will. For this purpose I can see that the use of 

 some drug might be valuable. I suppose the philosophy of 

 the matter is that, if all of the honey is brought into the hive 

 in times of scarcity, at times when bees will rob, is tinctured 

 with lysol, any germs of disease that are brought in will come 

 in contact with the lysol, and thereby be killed." 



Honey Crop for 1896. — The American Bee-Keeper 

 for this month says : 



"It looks now as if the honey crop of 1896 will be the 

 largest for several years. The weather since spring opened 

 has, in this locality, been all that the bee-keeper could ask 

 for." 



Another editorial in the same paper, reads as follows : 



" The bee-industry in the Eastern States is pretty ' dead ' 

 this season, as is shown by the letters and small number of 

 orders received." 



Gleanings for June 15 starts off with this hopeful edi- 

 torial item : 



"The reports of the good times we hope arecomiug,or per- 

 haps already here, are just beginning to come in. Here is a 

 sample :" 



We are in the midst of the heaviest honey-flow I ever saw— rasp- 

 berry and other wild flowers. A. '^McKiBBEN. 

 Morrill. Minn., June 8. ^ 



" Our bees are just starting on the basswoods, and by the 

 myriads of buds now opening, we anticipate a good flow of 

 honey." 



Nearly all bee-keepers around Chicago report bees hard 

 at work now. Basswood is in bloom, and sweet clover soon 

 will be. We have heard it said that there is no better locality 

 for bees anywhere than right around this big city. So far as 

 we know, there is scarcely ever a crop failure. 



We have been surprised this year, to find that there are 

 so many keeping bees either in Chicago, or just outside of It. 

 It seems to us that there might be a fine Chicago bee-keepers' 

 association organized. Philadelphia has one. 



