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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Aug-. 23, 1900. 



I'UHLISHT WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. York & Company, 



lid Michigan Street, Chicago, III. 



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



DEPARTMENT EDITORS: 



Dr. C. C. miller, E. E. HASTY, 



" Questions and Answers." ** " The Afterthought." 



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, 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. AUGUST 23. 1900. 



NO. 34, 



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 Season of 1900 — There seems to be quite a 

 diiTerence of opinion concerning the honey crop of this 

 year. However, Editor Root sums up the situation pretty 

 well in the following- sentence, found in Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture for Aug. 1st : 



"Taking it all in all, the sea.son is no better than last 

 year, which was considered poor, altho there have been 

 special favored localities where quite large crops of honey 

 have been secured." 



If such is really the case, prices of honey of all grades 

 should certainly be no lower this year than last, and pcs- 

 sibly in some localities somewhat higher. 



Minimizrng Swarming, next to the prevention of 

 swarming, is a topic the very mention of which makes the 

 average bee-keeper prick up his ears. One of the things 

 that has prevented greater advance in this direction has 

 been a stolid indifference on the part of many, arising from 

 the belief that notliing could be done, and that bees would 

 swarm just about .so much anyhow. To those who arc a 

 little faint-hearted in the matter, and yet are trying to ktep 

 up their hope, the following extract from a paper by H. L. 

 Jones in the Australasian Bee-Keeper is reassuring : 



" With a strong desire on my part for rapid increase, 

 my apiary grew from four colonies in 1883 to over 100 in 

 1886, aided much by favorable seasons and artificial swarm- 

 ing, but a complete change in my manageitient soon be- 

 came imperative, as at the rate things were going the pre- 

 vention of swarming promist to become a serious problem. 



For a few years it was almost impossible to keep the bees 

 within reasonable bounds once they got the swarming- 

 fever, and as many as half a dozen swarms in the air at 

 once was of frequent occurrence. In time, however, the 

 percentage of swarms gradually grew less, so that to-day it 

 does not average above 5 percent. 



" This satisfactory state of things is due to several im- 

 provements in our fixtures and methods of management. 

 Hives more perfectly ventilated with deep entrances and 

 cool double-gable covers have superseded those modeled on 

 foreign patterns and more adapted to cooler climates, while 

 careful selection of breeding-stock from the most non- 

 swarming strains has also had considerable influence in 

 minimizing the desire to swarm. It speaks well for our 

 present fixtures, too, that such unpleasant and expensive 

 occurrences as combs melting down in the hives thru exces- 

 sive heat are now unknown, but many a sad spectacle of 

 broken-down combs and drowned bees reveals itself to my 

 mind's eyes as I look back to those days of the old single- 

 board flat cover and narrow entrance." 



The three things specifically mentioned by Mr. Jones 

 as being strong factors in diminishing the amount of 

 swarming are : Deep-entrances, cool double-gable covers, 

 and selection of breeding-stock from non-swarming strains. 

 If attention to these points has so greatly reduced swarm- 

 ing in Australia, why not in this country ? 



The Chicago Convention of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, as doubtless all know, will be held next week, 

 beginning with Tuesday evening, Aug. 28th. 



Referring to the Chicago convention, Editor Root, of 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture, had this to say in regard to some 

 of the attractions : 



If there is any one feature that our bee-conventions 

 have lackt in the last few years, it has been stereopticon 

 work. It was introduced for the first time, if I am correct, 

 in the history of the Natiotial, at Philadelphia, by W. E. 

 Flower, and was a markt success. It was also a distinct 

 and prominent feature at the New York State convention, 

 held at Geneva last winter. 



For a long time I have been wishing for a first-class 

 stereopticon, and have now finally purchast one using a 

 powerful electric light of 3,000 candle power — one that the 

 manufacturers tell me will give the very finest and best re- 

 sults. This will be in evidence at the Chicago convention 

 on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. On the first even- 

 ing there will be thrown on the screen some pictures of 

 some of the prominent bee-keepers of the day ; Dr. Miller 

 will pay tribute to Eangstroth, and Dr. Mason will come in 

 for the jokes. The views will also embrace snap-shots from 

 many apiaries of the United States, and even from old 

 mother England. In connection there will be shown briefly 

 the anatomy of the bee, special reference being given to the 

 tongue, about which so much interest is now lieing mani- 

 fested. The methods of measuring tongues will be illus- 

 trated, together with a view of the variations already dis- 

 covered. Thursday evening, the last session, some of the 

 beautiful photographs secured by Mr. Hutchinson, on his 

 recent trip thru Minnesota and Wisconsin, will be thrown 

 on the screen. These will be some of the finest pictures 

 that were ever projected, and no one who can come should 

 miss this treat. Of course, Mr. Hutchinson will tell us 

 about them. 



On both evenings 

 will be shown views 

 of the various hive- 

 manufacturing plants 

 of the United States. 

 Every establishment, 

 so far as I know, will 

 be represented, or at 

 least an efi'ort will be 

 made to secure photo- 

 graphs of each. 



A glance at the 

 program will show 

 that such men as 

 Thomas Wm. Cowan, 

 editor of the British 

 Bee Journal, and per- 

 haps the most dis- 

 tinguisht bee-keeper 

 Heuere House— CuHreidiwi Heniliiuarlei-K. in all Europe, will 



