62' 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Jan. 2S, 190O. 



tractor would be a fine thing for the job, and 

 handy. 



I burn all the chips and make all the 

 smoke I can when I handle bees, but I do 

 not use a veil, and rarely get a sting. 



The moral effect of smoke in an apiary 

 can not be measured. If your smoker 

 makes lots of smoke without puffing, you 

 can handle your bees without smoking 

 them much ; but if you don't have a lot of 

 smoke ready-made you will have to smoke 

 them down, because, like the English in the 

 Transvaal, you were not ready, and the 

 bees got mad. and wouldn't let up till con- 

 quered. T. F. Bingham. 



Clare Co., Mich. 



Something from Florida. 



On the journey from Peoria, 111., to 

 Mobile, Ala., I watcht for beehives, and 

 only saw from the car windows a very tew 

 in Illinois. The market for honey in Mobile 

 is undevelopt, as the demand for it has 

 never been created. 



Since my arrival here, I visited a resi- 

 dent who has a small apiary. I inquired 

 how his bees had prospered during the past 

 summer. He said: 



"The February freeze last winter de- 

 stroyed the fruit-bloom, and when it 

 bloomed again in March the frost took it, 

 and also the ti-ti. The February freeze also 

 destroyed the bloom of the saw-palmetto, 

 and there was no bloom at all. I fed my 

 bees much sugar to keep them from starv- 

 ing, but I'll never do it again ; if they can't 

 make a living they may go. Three of my 

 weak colonies were destroyed by moths.'' 



At a store here extracted honey is drawn 

 thru a gate from a barrel, and retailed at 

 20 cents per quart. It is good honey, and 

 the dealer says weighs 12 pounds to the 

 gallon. This honey was produced on the 

 Choctohatchie, near Freeport, by an api- 

 arist who owned 300 colonies. This honey 

 was gathered last year. 



Tho there was no surplus honey gathered 

 in this locality the past season, on account 

 of the previous winter's cold and summer's 

 drouth, yet I am told there was some sur- 

 plus at Wewahitchka. The land there is 

 rich and damp, and tupelo trees yield much 

 honey; also vines growing in the water, 

 and are lifted into the sunshine by the tall, 

 dead trees. Wewahitchka is an Indian 

 word signifying ••eye-glasses," as these 

 two lakes are Joined together like them. 

 These lakes are 3.5 miles long, and from 2 to 

 17 miles wide. The land adjoining is very 

 rich, like the delta of the Nile, made by the 

 overflow of the river, which leaves a rich 

 deposit. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Washington Co., Fla., Jan. 9. 



Not a Good Year for Honey. 



The past was not a very good year for 

 the bees. Last winter's losses were quite 

 heavy. I lost IG out of 41, increast to .51, 

 and took about 3.5 pounds per colony, 

 spring count, of comb honey. All of my 

 honey is sold in the home market at Vi}., 

 cents per pound. F. E. Henry. " 



Harrison Co., Iowa, Jan. S. 



Manufactured Comb Honey Again. 



By request of Mr. M. E. Wolfe of this 

 place. I write for information in regard to 

 manufactured comb honey in one-pound 

 sections, etc. It seems as if the majority 

 of the people of this city, and about nine- 

 tenths of the merchants, believe that the 

 comb can be manufactured, filled with 

 manufactured honey, and then capt or 

 sealed over and put in the one-pound sec- 

 tions, just the same as is done by the bees. 

 Mr. Wolfe wrote Rev. E. T. Abbott about 

 the matter, and in answer to the letter Mr. 

 Abbott said such an article as manufac- 

 tured comb honey was not in existence, 

 and that he would give .^5110 for one pound 

 of such honey, with the information as to 

 where it was manufactured. 



Mr. Wolfe also wrote Mr. A. H. Duff 

 about the matter, and he also said that 

 such a thing as comb honey being manu- 



PREMIUIVI 



BEE-SIIPPLY ARTICLES. 



We will mail j'our choice of the fol- 

 lowing; as a premium for sending NEW 

 subscribers to the American Bee Jour- 

 nal for one year, at $1.00 each : 



Given for Sending ONE 

 New Subscriber : 



1. Two Porter Bee-Escapes. 

 Z. One Porter Bee-Escape and one Queeu- 

 Clipping Device. 



3. One No. 2 Bee-Veil, Cotton Tulle, with 

 silk face. 



4. Fifty York's Honey Calendars lor 1900. 



Given for Sending TWO 

 New Subscribers: 



1. Binj^fhani Honey-Knife. 



2. Binfjhani Bee-Sraoker {2-inch barrel.) 



3. Clark Smoker. 



Given for Sending THREE 

 New Subscribers: 



1. Biug-ham Conqueror Smoker (3-in. barrel.) 



2. Cornell Smoker (35i-inch barrel.) 



3. Globe Bee-Veil. 



GEORGE W. YORK & CO, 



118 Michi<,rau St., CHICAGO, ILL. 



TO RUN AN APIARY 

 tor extracted honey, on 

 shares or salary; 3 sea- 

 sons' experience iu larg^e apiaries. Will go to 

 any State where crops of honey are quite cer- 

 tain. Best of references. Address 

 J. T. Hammersmark, t.18 N. Clark St., Chicago 

 4Alt Please mention the Bee Journal. 



Convention Notices. 



WANTED 



California. — The tenth annual convention of 

 the California State Bee-Keepers^ Association 

 will be held in the Chamber of Commerce, at 

 Los Angeles, Feb. 21 and 22, 1900. It will be 

 called to order at 1:30 p.m., Feb. 21. At this 

 time the railroads will sell round-trip tickets to 

 Los Angeles and return for one and one-third 

 fare, on account of the Industrial, Mining, and 

 Citrus Exposition, which will be held in Los 

 Angeles. Tickets good for 10 days. Let every 

 bee-keeper bring some hive, tool or experience 

 that he has found valuable, and we will have a 

 good convention. J, F. McIntyre, Sec. 



Sespe, Calif. 



Wisconsin.— There will be a joint convention 

 of all Wisconsin bee-keepers' societies at the 

 16th annual meeting of the State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, Feb. 7 and 8, 1900, in the State Cap- 

 itol, at Madison, Wis. Many prominent bee- 

 keepers will be there and take part. 



Excursion rates of a fare and one-third for 

 the round-trip, for railroad tickets purchast in 

 the State, for over 50 cents each. Be sure to 

 bring a certificate of each ticket purchast so it 

 can be signed Feb. S, in Madison, and entitle 

 the holder to a third fare return. 



The State Horticultural and State Cheese- 

 makers' Associations will meet on the same 

 date in the Capitol. 



Don't forget the date— Feb. 7 and 8. It will 

 pav von to attend. N. E. France, Sec. 



Platteville, Wis. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN 



Bee -nam Seed! 



{Cleotne utiegyifoUa.) 

 ...FREE AS A PREMIUM... 



The ABC of Bee-Culture says of it: "This 

 is a beautiful plant for the llower-garden, to 

 say nothing of the honey it produces. It grows 

 from two to three feet in hight, and bears large 

 clsutersof bright pink tlowers. It grows natur- 

 ally on the Rocky Mountains, and in Colorado, 

 where it is said to furnish large quantities of 

 honey." 



We have a few pounds of this Cleome seed, 

 and offer to mail a K-pound package as a pre- 

 mium for sending us ONE NcW subscriber to 

 the American Bee Journal, with $1.(H). Address, 



GEORGE W. YORK & CO., 



lis Michigan Street, - CHICAGO, 11,1, 



factured by machinery and put on the 

 market in marketable shape, the same as 

 the comb and honey made by the bees, was 

 not in existence. Mr. Duff also stated that 

 the " American Bee-Keepers' Association " 

 has a standing offer of .$1,000 for one pound 

 of manufactured honey, which has not been 

 taken, altho standing for 15 years. Does 

 Mr. Root still offer $1,000 for one pound of 

 manufactured comb honey ? If he does, 

 that would make ^2. .500 for any one that 

 will manufacture one pound of comb 

 honey, the same as is done by the honey- 

 bees. 



As for Mr. Wolfe and myself, we take 

 the stand that it is a mistaken idea, but for 

 the benefit of others and the public in gen- 

 eral we take this method of having it ex- 

 plained thoroly and satisfactorily to all, 

 thru the columns of your paper. It is sur- 

 prising how large a percent of the public 

 believes that comb honey is manufactured 

 and placed on the market. This subject 

 should be more thoroly discust, so as to 

 correct such false ideas that so many peo- 

 ple are laboring under. L. Wayman. 



Labette Co., Kan. 



[Mr. Wayman, you can assure Mr. Wolfe 

 that there is no such thing as manufactured 

 comb honey, and likely never will be any. 

 The bee-keepers' association never has 

 made the offer mentioned ; Mr. Root did, 

 and does yet, we believe. But we are cer- 

 tain it was not made with the idea that he 

 wanted people to go ahead and manufac- 

 ture comb honey so as to get the reward 

 offered, but simply if any one heard that 

 there was such an article being manufac- 

 tured, he would give $1,000 for a pound of 

 it. 



We might say that a bee-paper is hardly 

 the proper place to deny the existence of 

 manufactured comb honey, but rather in 

 the newspapers where it is kept going. 

 Readers of bee-papers are hardly so foolish 

 as to believe such a falsehood. — Editor.] 



Honey Crop Generally Light. 



As a rule the honey crop in this locality 

 was light, altho a few apiarists report a 

 good yield. I commenced last spring with 

 three good colonies and one weakling. I 

 took off a surplus of about 70 nicely-filled 

 sections. I use the fence and plain sec- 

 tions, and like them very well. I increast 

 to eight colonies, and had two swarms 

 leave for the woods. I shall try dividing 

 another year. I lost one colony this fall 

 by the combs melting down. 



Ira Lubbers. 



Sheboygan Co., Wis., Jan. 9. 



Ppiekly-Ash Honey Bitter. 



I can report 1,800 pounds of comb honey 

 for 1S99, and I sold it all for cash to a New 

 York firm for 12 cents a pound. It was all 

 bitter honey that I could not sell here. It 

 was gathered from prickly-ash bloom. 



I wonld not do without the American 

 Bee Journal if it cost double the subscrip- 

 tion price. Henry K. Gresh. 



Elk Co., Pa., Jan. 12. 



Best Season in Eight Yeaps. 



Another year has past, and it was the 

 best I have had in eight years since I have 

 been in the bee-business. I started last 

 spring with 63 colonies, increast to S3, and 

 extracted about 8,000 pounds of fine honey, 

 which I sold long ago. I could sell that 

 much more if I had it. 



Our honey-flow commenced July 7, and 

 continued until Sept. 12, when it turned 

 cold, and we had a few hard frosts which 

 froze everything that was in bloom. After 

 that we had three weeks of fine weather — 

 it got so warm that some white clover 

 bloomed, and also some dandelion. Last 

 winter was so cold that it froze almost all 

 the clover in this vicinity, but the seed 

 came up again, and the pastures are as 

 thick as ever, which looks fine so far, and 

 if clover does not freeze this winter the 

 prospects will be good for another year. 



The colony that I had on scales gained 



