■1861 ^^ 



^l^ERICA.^ 



^^ >"-^Ar/N AMERICA J^ 



40th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL, DECEMBER 13, 1900, 



No, 50, 



I * Editorial. * I 



The Brosius Pure Pood Bill is given 

 ill full ill this iiuiiiber of the Bee Journal, as 

 rei|uesteil at the Chicago convention. Secre- 

 tary Wilson, of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture at Washington, in his annual report just 

 issueJ, has the following stroug endorsement 

 of the Brosius bill : 



" The Division has (luring the year been en- 

 gageil in active co-operation with other or- 

 ganized liodics. notalily the Pure Food Con- 

 gress of the United States, to promote the 

 effort to sectire State and National legisLation 

 on the subject of food adulteration. In quite 

 a number of the States the laws which have 

 been past have been modeled upon the Brosius 

 Pure Food Bill, which is now pending bi-fme 

 Congress, and wliicli, by its iiassagi-. would 

 secure a perfect control of interstate tralHc in 

 adulterated foods. It is only liy such National 

 legislation that the excellent work which the 

 States arc doing in controlling State legisla- 

 tion can be properly supplemented and made 

 efficient. Every consideration of honesty and 

 justice to the producer and consumer de- 

 mands that Congress should take earl.v and 

 favorable action upon the pure-food bill which 

 is now pending." 



Every honest man will say " Amen'' to Mr. 

 Wilson's last sentence above, and earnestly 

 hope that Congress will act thus speedily in 

 the interest of all the peojile. 



Honey-Prices in City Markets.— G. 



M. Doolittle, in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, ad- 

 vises that the price of honey in the home 

 market shall be fixt by adding to the city 

 market the freight and commission. In a 

 straw in a stibsequent number. Dr. Miller ai)- 

 proves this, but thinks the matter should be 

 reverst when there is a shortage in the home 

 market ; for in that case the home grocer buy- 

 ing in the city would pay freight on his pur- 

 chase. 



While both may be correct, and there is 

 probably no disagreement between them, 

 there are some factors in the case that make 

 it generally advisal>le to shade the figures just 

 a little in favor of the home market. There 

 is no risk of railroad breakage in the case of 

 the home nnirkct. Some may be so experi- 

 enced in the matter that this is of little ac- 

 count, but many a beginner has suffered con- 

 .siderable loss from breakage occurring either 

 while on the cars or else in putting on or tak- 

 ing off tlie cars. 



Another thin'g worth considering is the 

 matter of shipping-cases. In the home mar- 

 ket these may be used several times, thus say- 

 ing most of the expense for cases, whereas, 

 cases sent to the city market are uever seen 



ag:iin. In the home market the grocer may 

 wani In pay in trade, and the bee-keeper may 

 say he would rather have the money to buy 

 where he pleases. There is no good reason why 

 the grocer in the country should not pay cash 

 as well as the city grocer. It is probably a 

 fact, however, that most bee-keepers buy their 

 groceries generally at one place, even if they 

 do pay all cash, and if the grocer makes the 

 same charge for the goods he sells to the bee- 

 keeper in iiaynient for honey as when he sells 

 for cash — and any honest grocer ought to do 

 that — where is the difference whether the bee- 

 keeper gets trade or cash ? 



Corking a Honey-Funnel. — When fill- 

 ing cans one sometimes uses a funnel, and 

 the funnel must be carried from one can 

 to another. If this is done when much honey 

 is in the funnel there may be trouble. H. P. 

 Miner tells in the Bee-Keepers' Review how he 

 avoids it. Have a cork that fits the lower end 

 of the tunnel with a heavy wire reaching up 

 thru the honey to the top of the funnel. 

 When one can is full, cork up the funnel and 

 carry it to another. 



Cuba as Seen by a Woman. — Mrs. G. 

 E. Moe talks about Cidia in the Bee-Keepers' 

 Review, and ends by saying: 



If one can surmount the obstacles of living 

 without schools, churches, or society, or the 

 ordinary conveniences of life ; if one can live 

 in a tent or a palm cabin, and pay exorbitant 

 prices for dry-goods, groceries, freight, etc. : 

 if one can keep bees free from death and dis- 

 ease thru the summer, one will be rewarded 

 by an abundant flow' of beautiful white honey 

 of a fine quality during the winter. 



Tobacco - Smoke for Introducing 



(|ucens seems to be ijuite in favor in the Bee- 

 Keepers" Review. The introducing should 

 lie in the evening, and every bee should be 

 reacht with the smoke. 



The Utter vs. Utter Case remains 

 without new developments, but Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture gives some information as to the 

 testimony given at the trial. It was charged 

 I that the bees stung the plaintiff's peach-trees, 

 but it w'as shown that they were badly affected 

 with the yellows, and the plaintiff told two of 

 the witnesses that he was going to pull up 49 

 of the trees because they were so badly 

 affected. The plaintiff's sons testified that 

 they had seen bees attack peaches : that the 

 bees would stand on- their hind legs and probe 

 or puncture a peach, and then fly away ; 

 which operation they had seen thru a magni- 

 fying-glass. Also: 



Another witness for the prosecution testified 

 on direct examination that he saw a bee alight 



1.111 a ticiicl 

 watcht tin 



ml. calling his hired man. they 

 and the result was that the 



bee piiiiclurcd the peach, obtained some juice, 

 and flew away: that the peach showed a small 

 puncture. ()n a cross-examination the lawyer 

 askt. " Did vou examine that peach hefore the 

 bee alighted' on it;" He reiilied that he did 

 nut: that there inisjht have tjcen a hole in it 

 before he saw a bee on it. 



Editor Root makes the following comments, 

 which it is to be hoped will be heeded by 

 many : 



It does not seem possible that the decision 

 of the lower court will be sustained, but still 

 we can not afford to take any chance : and the 

 bee-keepers of the land, thru the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, should contribute lib- 

 erally toward the defense of this case by send- 

 ing in their dollars as membership fee to Gen- 

 eral Manager Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 

 If you are interested in this ease, and desire to 

 see justice done, and your own interests pre- 

 served, send in a dollar at once. You can not 

 do it any too soon. Remember that an ad- 

 verse decision in New York will affect every 

 bee-keeper in every other State in the Union; 

 and we must not let ))rejudice and ignorance 

 blast or blight out the rights of the honest 

 bee-keeper. 



Legislation as to Locality is a subject 

 that was at one time discust with some de- 

 gree of warmth, but for some time it has been 

 sleeping. Now it seems to be trying to get 

 its eyes open again, from the following stray 

 straw by Dr. Miller, in Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture: 



The Australasian Bee-Keeper approaches 

 the suliject of a bee-keeper's right to territory 

 in a somewhat gingerly manner, questioning 

 the moral right to encroach on territory already 

 occupied so long as other territory can be 

 found, inviting discussion " with a view of 

 establishing an etiquette or understanding be- 

 tween bee-keepers and their acknowledged 

 rights to localities." Friend Pender, unless 

 etiquette is stronger in Australia than here it 

 will not keej) a newcomer from encroaching, 

 and I once got a whole lot of hot shot for say- 

 ing law ought to back up etiquette. — [While 

 etiquette in the matter of priority of rights is 

 sometimes grossly violated, yet in my travels 

 over the country I find that it has a larger 

 sway and influence than you would imagine. 

 There has been so much talk on the subject 

 that all bee-keepers of the better class, I be- 

 lieve, are disinclined to encroach on the terri- 

 tory of their neighbor bee-keepers. — Ed.] 



It is evident that there has been some 

 change in the sentiment of bee-keepers in the 

 passing years. At first the general sentiment 

 seemed to be that there ought to be no sort of 

 restriction in any way : that a bee-keeper had 

 the right moral as well as legal to plant an 

 apiary when and where he liked, and that 

 there was something approaching to littleness 

 and meanness in any man who would advocate 

 the idea that there was any sort of wrong- 

 doing on the part of a man who should plant 

 an apiary on ground already fully occupied by 

 others. Editor Root seems to be of the im- 

 pression that this change of sentiment has 



