360 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



June 7, 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.] 



DEPARTMENT EDITORS: 



E. E. HASTY, 



"The Afterthought." 



LEADING CONTRIBUTORS: 



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



R. C. AiKiN, "Old Grimes." 



C. C. MILlyER, 



" Questions and Answers." 



F. A. Snell, 



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 shows 

 you that the money has been received and duly credited. 



Advertising Rates will be given upon application. 



VOL 40. 



lUNE 7, 1900. 



NO. 23. 



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. 



Honey Quotations.— After writing to honey-dealers to 

 inform himself in the matter, Editor Hutchinson now keeps 

 standing- at the head of his honey-quotations the following : 



" The prices given in the following quotations are those 

 at which the dealers sell to the grocers. From these prices 

 must be deducted freight, cartage and commission — the 

 balance being sent to the shipper. Commission is 10 per- 

 cent ; except that a few dealers charge only 5 percent, when 

 a shipment sells for as much as $100." 



We were quite a little surprised, at the Philadelphia 

 convention last September, to learn that there was a mis- 

 understanding existing in reference to the market quota- 

 tions on honey. We presumed that everybody understood 

 that commission men always quoted the price that they sold 

 honey for to the local dealers, from which of course would 

 have to be deducted freight, cartage and commission, the 

 balance being what the shipper or producer would receive 

 for his honey. 



The Use of Bait-Combs to get bees to work in supers 

 sooner than would be the case without such bait, is favored 

 by a large number of bee-keepers. Others say there is no 

 need of them ; bees commence soon enough without any 

 bait. Possibly both are right. They are looking from dif- 

 ferent standpoints. The one uses a management that in- 

 cludes a prime swarm from each colony, the earlier the bet- 

 ter. So there is no objection to having the bees crowded to 

 the point of preparing to swarm before entering the supers. 



But the number of those who would like to dispense with 

 swarming is large, and apparently on the increase. There 

 are not wanting those who formerly maintained that best 

 results could be obtained by having one swarm from each 

 colony, who are now among the most eager seekers for the 

 solution of the non-swarming problem. It is generally ad- 

 mitted that at least one of the factors in the problem is 

 abundance of room, and the early occupation of the surplus 

 chamber consequently is an aid to prevention of swarming. 

 That bait-sections hasten the ascent of the bees is pretty 

 clear from the testimony of many who say the bait-sections 

 are the first occupied, and of some who testify that in a 

 poor season they have had a single bait-section in a super 

 filled and sealed, with not another section in the super 

 drawn out. 



As to the best method of using baits, there is not en- 

 tire agreement. There is general agreement that it is best 

 to have a full super of nice white bait-sections for each 

 colony, but not often are such sections in sufficient numbers 

 for this. If only a single bait can be had for each colony, 

 the place for it is in the center of the super. If as many as 

 four baits can be had for a super, the choice lies between 

 putting the four in or near the center and putting one in 

 each corner. If one is put in each corner, the whole super 

 will be more evenly finisht up, for the corner sections under 

 ordinary circumstances are the last to be filled. But the 

 bees are likely to commence work in the super at least a 

 little earlier with bait in the center, and some are not anx- 

 ious to have the corner sections keep pace with the others, 

 considering it better to take off the super while the center 

 sections are white, uniting in a single super the unfinisht 

 corner sections for several supers, and returning them to be 

 sealed. This still leaves the question open, whether with 

 four baits to a super it is better to have the four compactly 

 placed in the center, or to have one diagonally adjoining 

 each corner section. 



National Queen=Breeders' Union. — Mr. J. O. Grimsley, 

 in The Ruralist, complains very bitterly that the organiza- 

 tion of which he is secretary has not been given a lot of 

 free advertising by the bee-papers. Here is a portion of 

 his wail : 



" There are a few of our leading apiculturists who are 

 antagonistic to the National Queen-Breeders' Union, claim- 

 ing that with the National Bee-Keepers' Association so ably 

 doing its work, there is no need for a queen-breeders' or- 

 ganization. Who ever heard of a dairy association kicking 

 because there was an organization of Jersey breeders ? 

 Who ever heard of the wool-growers kicking because there 

 was a sheep-breeders' association ? 



" Oueen-breeders are as distinct from honey-producers — 

 bee-keepers — as swine-breeders are from pork-packers ; in 

 fact, the same relations exist, yet some of our leading bee- 

 journals have been as silent about the National Queen- 

 Breeders' Union as if it was a disgrace to the bee-keeping 

 world. Pick up anj' kind of a ' specialty ' journal — poultry, 

 pigeons, swine, or, in fact, any except bee-journals — and 

 any movement for imrovement is heralded with joy. Not 

 so with the Union. Now the question is, Why this antago- 

 nism ?" 



We believe the American Bee Journal has noticed the 

 organization in question, giving its officers, and naming 

 its objects. As it is limited to only a few persons interested 

 in bee-keeping (or, more properly, bee-selling), we have not 

 felt it necessary to use much space in calling further atten- 

 tion to it. 



The National Bee-Keepers' Association is an organiza- 

 tion of which every one at all interested in bees should be a 

 member. It is not restricted to a half-dozen or so people 

 who have something to sell to bee-keepers, but it is in the 

 interest of all who keep bees. 



Suppose the supply-dealers should form a union, telling 

 how honest they are, and how excellent are their goods — 



