440 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 12, 1900. 



PUBLISHT ^'EEKLY BY 



GEORGE w. York & Company, 



116 Michigan Street, Chicago, III. 



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



every month the struggle is continued means dollars of loss 

 to the struggler ? 



As it is not our money that is sunk in new papers, per- 

 haps we should keep quiet and let the starters learn by ex- 

 perience. And yet, it seems to us that it would be just a 

 trifle hard-hearted in us not to oflfer a warning word to the 

 man of small capital, and less experience, who is thinking 

 of starting on a venture that is practically certain to end in 

 loss and failure. When a child, unless told, doesn't know 

 that fire will burn its fingers, isn't it a kindness to warn it? 

 We think so, no matter what others may say to the contrary. 



DEPARTMENT EDITORS: 



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



"The Afterthought.' 



* Questions and Answers." * * 



LEADINQ 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 vear, in the United States, 

 Canada, and Me.\ico; all other countries in the Postal Union, SO 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. 



JULY 12, 1900. 



NO. 2S 



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. 



It, 



The National Convention Next Month— don't forget 

 The dates are Aug. 28, 29 and 30. Every bee-keeper 

 who can arrange to be present should be on hand early and 

 stay until the end. It promises to be the greatest conven- 

 tion of bee-keepers held since the World's Fair, in 1893. 

 The officers are planning an interestingprogram. 



Ripening Honey Off the Hives S. P. Culley, in the 



Progressive Bee-Keeper, quotes G. M. Doolittle as saying 

 that honey can be ripened in open jars in a warm room, and 

 now saying basswood should be ripened on the hive to get 

 its best flavor. Mr. Culley thinks this is true of sumac, 

 and notably true of Spanish-needle honey. But he thinks 

 white clover honey may be just as good ripened artificially ; 

 so it is important to know what kinds of honey need to be 

 left on the hive to ripen. 



New Bee.Papers.— The editor of the Progressive Bee- 

 Keeper thinks it selfishness to speak discouragingly of 

 starting new bee-papers. Couldn't our contemporary exer- 

 cise a little more charity and admit that one might discour- 

 age an uncertain venture with other than selfish motives ? 

 Knowing that nine out of ten of the new bee-papers have 

 ended only in failure, and that the longer a failing journal 

 continues the struggle the greater the financial loss, is there 

 anything kind in encouraging a new venture when you are 

 morally certain that it will end only in failure, and that 



Hot Water for the Uncapping^Knife is part of R. C. 

 Aikin's outfit for extracting honey. A pan 4 by 8 inches, 

 and 3 inches deep, contains water heated by a small oil 

 stove. G. M. Doolittle thinks with a sharp Bingham knife 

 no heat is needed. This is the gist of two items mentioned 

 in the Progressive Bee-Keeper. 



Bee=Eggs by flail — J. F. Mundy reports that he re- 

 ceived from Editor Pender (Australasian Bee-Keeper) by 

 mail a small frame of eggs, and altho they remained in the 

 post-office two days before he got them, they hatcht out all 

 right, and he reared some good queens from them. The 

 editor says the eggs should be sent the day they are laid. 



A Storage-Tank for Extracted Honey is strongly 

 urged by R. C. Aikin in the Progressive Bee-Keeper. He 

 has one of five tons capacity of galvanized steel that cost 

 him about $40. It saves his keeping on hand cans to the 

 amount of about $100. Aside from the matter of expense, 

 the tank is desirable to allow the honey to stand long 

 enough for all impurities, such as bits of wax, to settle and 

 be removed. 



" A Perfect System for Managing Out'Apiaries in the 



production of extracted honey " is the somewhat pretentious 

 title of an article by N. E. France in the Bee-Keepers' Re- 

 view, the editor no doubt being responsible for the head- 

 ing. After reading the article one is inclined to feel that 

 the heading is not so very far out of the way, at least in so 

 far as concerns the planning of work for the number of 

 workers to the extent of six that go daily to the different 

 out-apiaries, the whole seeming to be something like a 

 daily picnic into the country. Editor Hutchinson was not 

 idle with his camera when last visiting the Frances, so four 

 half-tones illustrate the article. 



The Honey-Bee the Horticulturist's Friend.— Prof. 



S. J. Hunter, entomologist of the Kansas State University, 

 contributes a paper for the annual report of the Colorado 

 Board of Horticulture for 1899, which is just received at this 

 office. Prof. Hunter's subject is, " Some Entomological 

 Problems in Horticulture." After enumerating many of the 

 more injurious insects met by the horticulturist, he pays 

 this worthy tribute to the honey-bee and its value to the 

 fruit-grower : 



Let us note a friend, the honey-bee, which visits or- 

 chard, vineyard, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, 

 and brings about great results. It was formerly supposed 

 that plants fertilized themselves, but it has been more re- 

 cently shown that many plants are so constructed as to pre- 

 vent self-fertilization. Nature has so constructed the plant 

 itself that it is impossible in some cases for the pollen of its 

 own anthers to fall upon the stigma of its own ovary, but 

 the stigma is fertile to pollen brought from other flowers of 

 the same species. It is the intention of nature that insects 

 shall carry the pollen. 



During my field-work this season I had occasion to 

 spend a short time in the vicinity of Rocky Ford, with Sena- 

 tor Swink, who is not only known to you, but to us who live 

 outside of your State. He has been closely identified with 



