Jan. 4, I'JOO. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



The Hive Question will not down. Nor need it so long- 

 as it is an important one and not fully understood. U. 

 Stachelhausen discusses it in Gleanings in Bee-Culture in 

 what appears to be an able, pholosophical manner. He is 

 led to the conclusion that for extracted honey a larg-e hive 

 is best, and for comb honey a small one. The aim is to 

 have as many ffatherers as possible for the harvest, an<l ;is 

 few consumers as possible when no honey is coming- in. 

 From the time the queen beg^ins laying, whether it be Feb. 

 1 or later, up to the time of the harvest, with him the last 

 of May, there is a gradual increase of laying, reaching 

 some 3,000 by the last of April. That allows more than 

 100,000 workers to begin on the harvest. If the room be so 

 restricted that the queen can lay only 1,600 eggs in a day, 

 then there will be only some 50,000 workers at the begin- 

 ning of the harvest. 



During the honey-flow it is desirable to have the laying 

 restricted, and it is probable that the queen in the larger 

 hive will lay less than the other, for she has become more 

 exhausted by the larger number of eggs already laid. By 

 the close of the harvest there will be the same number of 

 bees to support in the small as in the large hive. The main 

 point of difference is that in the small hive the queen 

 reaches her maximum of laying three weeks before the 

 harvest, and the queen in the large hive increases up to the 

 harvest. That makes the big difference in the number of 

 harvesters. 



Somewhat different conditions prevail in working for 

 comb honey. It is desirable that when the harvest begins 

 the brood-combs shall be as full as possible of brood, and 

 kept full. This is more easily accomplish! if the queen 

 has been somewhat restricted in her laying by a small hive, 

 for in that case her laying powers will not be exhausted, 

 and the brood-combs will be occupied with brood, forcing 

 the honey into the sections. 



Australia vs. America. — American bee-keepers some- 

 times envy the bee-keepers of Australia when they read of 

 the big yields obtained ; but Australian bee-keepers have 

 troubles of their own. The honey-yielding trees that bear 

 so conspicuous a part are being cut down or ruthlessly 

 killed by ring-barking ; the London market does not take 

 kindly to Australian honey ; and prices in the home market 

 are very low. The Australian Bee-Bulletin says : 



" We know a bee-keeper whose word may be relied on, 

 and he tells us he has been out of pocket /^lOO a year for 

 five years." 



It seems to us that the bee-keeper mentioned must have 

 had to draw pretty heavily on what has been called in this 

 country " the bee-keeper's bank account " — Hope. 



Jamaica, we learn from the American Bee-Keeper, 

 contains 4,207 square miles, and is located only 90 miles 

 south of Cuba. The census gave the population as 14,6^2 

 whites ; 121,955 hybrids ; 488,624 blacks ; 110,116 coolies ; 

 and 481 Chinese. 



Mr. E. M. Storer, the correspondent furnishing the 

 above information, says he thinks bee-keepers in the 

 United States need not fear Jamaican competition, as the 

 country is too small for its honey product to be of sufficient 

 importance in the world's markets. 



Have Italians Longer Tongues ?— An editorial in the 

 British Bee Journal says : 



" Regarding the supposed longer tongue of the Ligu- 

 rian bee, most bee-keepers of experience now look on it as 

 an exploded fable." 



" Honey Calendar" in place of Almanac — Sample free. 



Mr. W. J. Ckaig, as previously announced in these coi- 

 ns, is the new editor of the Canadian Bee Journal. We 



are permitted to 



show herewith 

 picture of our new- 

 editorial friend. 

 Londonderry, Ire- 

 land, was his birth- 

 place. He went to 

 Canada some ten 

 years ago, and 

 there met Mr. 

 R. F. Holtermann, 

 who taught him 

 bee-keeping. He 

 has been employed 

 for some years by 

 the Goold,Shapley 

 & Muir Co., and 

 naturally falls 

 into the editorial 

 chair. We bespeak 

 for Mr. Craig a 

 royal welcome 

 among the Cana- 

 d i a n readers o f 

 bee-literature, and 

 also a successful 

 career as a bee- 

 paper editor. 



♦ # ♦ * » 



Mr. G. M. DooliTTle is offered the following sugges- 

 tion by Mr. John Suter — a bee-keeper in New York State : 



"Editor York : — Please tell Mr. Doolittle to keep a few 

 bees ; they are good for rheumatism." 



Mr. Doolittle, we believe, has been suffering from 

 rheumatism, so Mr. Suter's hint ought to be acted upon ! 



Later. — Here comes another good friend, from the 

 State of Washington, Mr. R. G. Haun, who also wishes to 

 do Mr. Doolittle a " good turn :" 



" By the by, tell that ' boy ' Doolittle to buy 25 cents' 

 worth of oil of wintergreen, take three drops on sugar four 

 times a day for eight or ten days, and it will do him more 

 good than any amount of bee-stings." 



Mr. Doolittle might act on both of the above sugges- 

 tions — take the oil of wintergreen internally and the bee- 

 stings externally. Still, the concussion caused by their 

 meeting might not be so beneficial to the patient. But Mr. 

 D. can experiment " along that line " and find out. 



* * ♦ ♦ * 



GLEANINGS IN Bee-Cui,TurB has just given us a kind 

 notice, as well as a place among its collection of illustra- 

 tions. We appreciate the courtesy and honor, especially 

 the following paragraph, which appeared in connection 

 with the picture of this pencil-pusher: 



'^The 'Old Reliable' was purchast by Mr. York of 

 Thos. G. Newman at a time when the latter was steadily 

 declining in health, and found it necessary to seek a change 

 of occupation and location. While the American Bee Jour- 

 nal has always been a standard publication, it now stands 

 head and shoulders higher than it ever did before. Alwaj's 

 typographically neat, always punctual, a practical, up-to- 

 date weekly, it fills a niche by itself, for no other bee-paper 

 has ' sand ' enough to make weekly visits." 



* * » # # 



Hon. Geo. W. Williams, while on a visit recently to 

 Higginsville. Mo., gave a lecture o-n bees to the school 

 children. The Progressive Bee-Keeper says: "Mr. Wil- 

 liams is a pleasing and. gifted lecturer, and we hope other 

 localities will try to secure him for giving bee-talks to the 

 school children. 



