280 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 3, 1900 



PUBLISHT WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. York & Company, 



115 Michigan Street, Chicago, III. 



[Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter.] 

 EDITOR: 



DEPARTMENT EDITORS: 



C. C. MILLER, E. E. HASTY, 



" Qnesttous and Answers." * " The Afterthoug^ht.' 



LEADING CONTRIBUTORS: 



G, M. DooLiTTLE, C. P. Dadant, Prof. a. J. Cook, 



F. A. Snell, 



R. C. Aikin, 



'Old Grimes." 



IMPORTANT NOTICES: 



The Subscription Price of this journal is $1.00 a year, in the United States, 

 Canada, and Mexico; all other countries in the Postal Union, 50 cents 

 a year extra for postage. Sample copy free. 



The Wrapper-Label Date of this paper indicates the end of the month to 

 which your subscription is paid. For instance, "DecOO" on your 

 label shows that it is paid to the end of December, 1900. 



Subscription Receipts. — We do not send a receipt for money sent us to pay 

 subscription, but change the date on your wrapper-label, which show's 

 you that the money has been received and duly credited. 



Advertising: Rates will be given npon application. 



Note— The American Bee Journal adopts the Orthography of the follow- 

 ing Rule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philolog- 

 ical Association and the Philological Society of England: — Change 

 "d" or '*ed" final to "t" when so pronounced, except when the *'e" af- 

 fects a preceding sound. Also some other changes are used. 



The Brosius Pure Food Bill, we learn, will likely be 

 reported very soon in the House. It is hoped that Congress 

 will approve it promptly, so that its wise provisions may be 

 applied at once. 



Which is the Most Hopeful Field for improvement in 

 bee-keeping- ? is the question to which Editor Hutchinson is 

 anxious to learn the right answer. He asks for light, 

 throwing out the hint that it may be in the line of winter- 

 ing bees, planting for honey, improvement of stock, or 

 marketing honey. 



California Bee-Keepers' Exchange.— C. H. Clayton 

 gives in Gleanings in Bee-Culture seven reasons why it has 

 not been a greater success, viz.: Selfishness ; trying to get 

 more separately than thru the organization ; mortgaged 

 crops; rebates on commissions; intimidation from buyers ; 

 apathy ; jealousy ; dissensions. Too bad that bee-keepers 

 don't " get together " better than they do. 



The National Bee-Keepers' Association. — Editor Root 

 is quite enthusiastic over the results of the effort to down 

 adulteration in Chicago, and thinks the efforts of the Asso- 

 ciation, together with the new Illinois law to go into effect 

 in July, " are going a long way to wipe out adulteration in 



one of the worst centers of adulteration in the United 

 States." He continues : 



" Indeed, I should not be surprised if it would stamp it 

 out entirely. In either event, no one will know just how 

 much the Association has contributed to bring about this 

 very desirable result. But that it has certainly done some- 

 thing can not be denied. I tell you, brethren, we ought to 

 stand by the Association. Give it your dollars, because it 

 is fighting j'O/w battles in a way that you can not do single- 

 handed and alone, and I promise you there will be some 

 later developments that will be an eye-opener if nothing 

 else. 



" By the time the National meets in Chicago, in August, 

 I hope there will not be a pound of adulterated goods to be 

 had in the city." 



ln=Breeding, — A. Alfonsus, a prominent German writer, 

 scouts the idea of deterioration on account of in-breeding, 

 in consideration of the fact that the queen may meet drones 

 from a longdistance. 



The Inventor of Perforated Zinc. — Hanneman was 

 lately visited in South America by Editor Schenk, of the 

 Brasilianischen Bienenpflege. He is more than 80 years 

 old, and has now 335 colonies of bees, besides being engaged 

 in grape-culture. He is called the inventor of giant colo" 

 nies, uniting a number of swarms in one after sifting out 

 the extra queens. In one case he had 123 pounds of bees in 

 one hive, taking from them 880 pounds of honey. For hives 

 he uses kerosene-cases, from each of which he cuts one- 

 third for a super. Altho he has an extractor, he takes out 

 the honey by steam by a specially constructed arrangement. 



Shall Granulated Honey Be Put on the Market?— 



Chalon Fowls rather pokes fun at the men who favor it. 

 He says in Gleanings in Bee-Culture that it may be the best 

 that Mr. Aikin and others can do in Colorado, where alfalfa 

 honey candies so quickly, but it doesn't follow that it is 

 best in the East, with different honey. If the work is 

 properly done the first time, there need be very little gath- 

 ering up and melting of clover and basswood. He thinks 

 good prices can be obtained only by keeping the honey 

 liquid. Editor Root thinks Mr. Fowls might change his 

 mind if he would study the Colorado markets, and says 

 there are many who eat candied honey as so much confec- 

 tionery, and prefer it. 



Improvement in Bee.Stock. — In the last number of 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture, Uncle Lisha goes sidewise at 

 the question of improvement in bees, reporting conversa- 

 tions with several of his neighbors somewhat prominent in 

 different lines of stock-breeding. As an outcome some very 

 telling facts are brought out. The popular Concord grape 

 was obtained by successive improvements made on the wild 

 fox-grape only fit for partridges and wild Indians to eat. 

 From the wild hog has come the plump porker of to-day. A 

 man who averaged 5 pounds of wool from each sheep in 

 1865, now averages 10 pounds. A man who 30 years ago 

 got 200 pounds of butter to the cow now gets 300. After 

 this is all brought out in an interesting manner thru con- 

 versations with the different men. Uncle Lisha has a clos- 

 ing conversation with his neighbor Simpson, who has been 

 listening in mute astonishment. Uncle Lisha saying : 



" You see," said I, " improvement is the watchword 

 with every profession nowadays ; and if the bee-keepers 

 don't improve their stock they will get left." 



"Geewhittaker : I should say!" exclaimed Simpson. 

 " But what is the use of wasting your time in trying to im- 

 prove your bees when you can just as well keep bees enough 

 to get all the honey there is, and they will board themselves 

 and work for nothing, as I have heard folks say ?" 



" Just this," said I. "The flowers within range of my 

 home yard give on an average yearly, say 10,000 pounds of 

 honey. Now, if I keep the average run of bees it will take 



