DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO BEE CULTURE. 



Vol. XIII. 



Chicago, Illinois, July, 1877. 



No. 7. 



gitxtor^s ^aHe. 



Is IT Pure ?— About the first question 

 asked by every one, when you offer them 

 honey, is " Is it pure?" Why, of course it 

 is. The " doctored honey " is out of the 

 marlcet now— there being no call for it, who 

 would be so foolish as to manufacture it ? 

 To a large extent, bee-keepers are to blame 

 for this. A few at a convention raised the 

 cry, and all followed suit — crying, impure! 

 wlien the fact is that ninety-nine one-hun- 

 dredths of all the honey on the market is 

 and has been pure. 



This foolish cry militating against extract- 

 ed and comb honey alike, has done much to 

 "bear" the market, as well as to prevent 

 many from using it that would otherwise 

 have done so. 



Pure honey can now be bought at a less 

 price than the manufactured article can be 

 produced for, so that bug-bear is played 

 out ! 



We sometimes fear that some have heai'd 

 the cry of impurity so long, that they think 

 something must be impure. Hence, when 

 showing a piece of pure, yellow beeswax 

 foundation a few days ago to a person, we 

 were saluted with— "Is is pure? I don't 

 think so; do you?" 



If bee-keepers thus sound the key-note 

 and even connnence the song, is it any 

 wonder that a whole choir of voices should 

 join in the refrain ? 



White's Extbactor.— Since our last is- 

 sue friend White has made a vast improve- 

 ment in the frame of his extractor — making 

 it of four posts and mortised frame. The 

 top is covered by a substantial and conveni- 

 ent cap; one-half being hinged to lift up 

 with ease, and the whole can be unhooked 

 in a few minutes and the inside examined 

 or taken apart and cleaned with ease. With 

 this strainer arrangement, when one is 

 through extracting, the honey is also strain- 

 ed; and as it holds 75 lbs. of honey, more or 

 less, it can be used as a receptacle for it till 

 ready for bottling. This improved extract- 

 or is sold for $15. 



California Honey.— In a review of the 

 honey products of San Diego for 1876, the 

 Chicago Times says that the honey product 

 comes in third. It says: 



The product last year was 1,277,155 fts. 

 The production and exportation of honey is 

 among the chief features of business life 

 here. One apiarist in this county has over 

 two thousand hives, and for men to main- 

 tain from one thousand to fifteen hundred 

 hives is no uncommon thing. The immense 

 floral variety of the country joined to its 

 phenomenally splendid cliniate, keeps the 

 trees in thriving condition, and enormous 

 crops of magnificent honey result. The 

 shipments from single districts in this 

 neighborhood amounted in some cases last 

 year to over 100 tons of honey. 



Kegistering Slates.— By special re- 

 quest we have got some slates, 3x4 inches 

 with a hole in the centre, for hanging on 

 hives. They are very useful to note the 

 condition of colony, time of swarming, or 

 putting on of boxes, etc., or any item of in- 

 terest, and can be hung on a tack on the 

 side of the hive. Concerning these slates, 

 friend J. M. Brooks says: 



"We can do everything with the slates 

 that we can do with card registers, and they 

 are more durable. We take particular 

 pains in rearing young queens to note 

 what particular queen-mother such a queen 

 cell was reared from. With slates we can 

 keep up a pedigree of our queens. It is a 

 peculiar satisfaction to us when we find a 

 virgin queen hatched, and extra nice in 

 color, shape and size, to know what mother 

 she was bred from. We do all our breeding 

 of (jueens, or rearing of them, from our 

 choicest stock, and always know from what 

 queen they were reared. We shall want 

 100 of the slates at once." 



We can sell them for 3 cts. each, or by the 

 hundred for $2.50; they must be sent by ex- 

 press. 



^W The Our Home Journal, of New 

 Orleans, La., copies our article on Mr. Mc- 

 Connell's invention, but gives The Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal no credit for it, and 

 thus palms it otf as its own. 



Mr. Editor: In the last number of the 

 Journal you noted a remedy for bee 

 stings. I know of a good one, too, which I 

 shall be obliged to you to print. Put moist 

 earth on the part affected, and it will cure 

 it. J. A. Jones. 



