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19 



EDITOR. 



Vol. mi. 



Jan. 11, 18 



0.2, 



Jt^" Henry Alley, of Wenham, Mass., 

 writes thus : " No winter here; the tem- 

 perature on Monday, Dec. 30, at daybreak, 

 was 48 degrees. Bees are wintering well." 



. E^" We acknowledge with thanks a 

 beautiful mounted card of ferns and shells 

 from theRedondo Beach,California — a New 

 Year's present from our friend T. T. Jones, 

 of Los Angeles, Calif. 



C. W. Costellow, Waterboro, Mass., 

 has sent us one of his queen-cages for ship- 

 ping. It is precisely the same as the one 

 sent us lately by E. L. Pratt, of Marlboro, 

 Mass., and our remarks about that one will 

 apply to this. 



Friend George Hilton has had 

 another " queen " added to his stock. By a 

 Fremont, Mich., paper we learn of the fact. 

 It says : 



On Sunday morning Mr. and Mrs. Geo. E. 

 Hilton became the parents of another little 

 one— a girl. Mr. H. has a foudess for arti- 

 cles beginning with the letter B— Bees and 

 Babies. He is one of our most esteemed 

 townsmen. 



We are glad to hear that, "by George." 

 Bees and Babies go well together, to show 

 enterprise ! 



The Prize Essays on "Extracted 

 Honey," which were called for, have been 

 received, and so that there may be no dis- 

 satisfaction, we will here state in detail the 

 methods of awarding the prizes. 



The suggestion came from Mr. H. O. 

 Kruschke, and he named the chairman of 

 the Committee who were to examine and 

 award the prizes, and the editor was to ap- 

 point the other two members of the com- 

 mittee. This was done, and to secure fair- 

 ness and prevent anj' feeling, it was agreed 

 that the names of the Committee should 

 not be stated, and that no member of the 

 Committee should be allowed to compete 

 for the Prizes. 



The modus operandi adopted was as fol- 

 lows: The eighteen essays sent in for 

 competition were all numbered, and the 

 names of the writers cut off, and corres- 

 ponding numbers put upon them. On Jan. 

 1, 1890, they were placed into the hands 

 of one member of the Committee, and the 

 names placed into an envelope, sealed up 

 and put into our office safe. 



The first member of the Committee, after 

 reading them all over carefully, was told to 

 select the best three, and write their num- 

 bers in the order of his choice on a piece of 

 paper, place it in an envelope, seal it up, 

 and retain it. 



The essays were then sent to the second 

 and third members of the Committee, who 

 were instructed to do the same as the first 

 member had done, and return the essays to 

 this office. 



As soon as all the members of the Com- 

 mittee have examined and made the selec- 

 tion of the best three, they are to send the 

 sealed envelopes with awards to the Bee 

 Journal to be published. If all do not 

 agree, the majority (two of the three votes) 

 will decide the matter. 



We are thus particular, because of the 

 large number of essays, and to prevent any 

 chance of unfairness. The essays are 

 nearly all exceptionally good, and will be 

 published in the Bee Journal as soon as 

 we can find room for them ; our readers 

 will therefore have the benefit of their 

 perusal, and of adopting the hints, methods 

 and suggestions therein presented, for next 

 season's operations. 



Some flowers have come as usual 

 at New Year's from our friend J. W. 

 Winder, of New Orleans, La. He says that 

 they have only had two frosts there this 

 winter, and that the blossoms are plenty. 

 This year there is not as much difference 

 between the temperature in Chicago and 

 New Orleans as usual. Here the mud is 

 nearly ankle deep, and the grass is as green 

 as in spring. We have had no cold weather 

 yet worth mentioning. We hope that 

 spring will not be as backward as the win- 

 ter has been late in coming. 



An Ksrsr-Slx'II HoiK-y-Packap^e. 



— Mr. Walter Harmer, of Manistee, Mich., 

 has sent us a novel package containing 

 granulated extracted honey. He describes 

 it as follows : 



I send you a new package of extracted 

 honey, and I hope that it will arrive all 

 right. I had about fifty " factories " run- 

 ning last winter, making the packages, but 

 I sold my poultry last spring. I think that 

 the honey is granulated, as I intended it 

 should be for mailing. If it will interest 

 any one to tell about this package, I shall 

 be only too glad to have contributed some- 

 thing. It will be seen that a needle is large 

 enough to make a hole at the small-end of 

 the egg-shell, and the hole in the other end 

 will need to be as large as a small pea; by 

 running the needle in only far enough to 

 break the inside skin of the egg, the con- 

 tents can be blown out with the pressure 

 of one's breath. 



When the shells are empty, I fill them by 

 means of a glass syringe, and have to be 

 careful not to get any honey on the edge of 

 the shell,or it would prevent the mixture of 

 rosin and beeswax from sticking. The heat 

 of the warm preparation needs to be coun- 

 teracted in some way, as it causes a little 

 expansion, which would force the honey 

 out through the hot wax. 



It certainly is a curiosity, and if not too 

 much labor to prepare it for the market, 

 extracted honey put up in that manner 

 might sell well at fairs, and in drug-stores, 

 at from 5 to 10 cents each. We have seen 

 maple syrup put up in the same way, 

 simply "for fun," however, but the idea 

 might be used to advantage by wide-awake 

 apiarists. The sample sent by Mr. Harmer 

 is placed in the Bee Journal Museum. 



U^" Albert Lindsey, of Macomb, Ills., 

 writes thus: 



Will you please to answer, through the 

 American Bee Journal, the following 

 questions* 1. Is 3 feet apart each way, 

 too close for the hives of an apiary to be 

 set, for the bees to do well? Or about what 

 distance should they be placed? 



3. Should there be a space left on top of 

 the brood -frames for the bees to pass over 

 the combs during the winter? Or will it do 

 just as well to place the covering flat down 

 on the frames. 



1 . Three feet will do, but more space be- 

 tween the hives would be more convenient. 



2. Yes, use the Hill's device, and that 

 will give them room to pass over the combs 

 at pleasure. 



A New ISee-Association. — Mr. W. 



J. Row, of Greensburg, Pa., writes thus: 



The bee-keepers of this county have or- 

 ganized an association to-day (Dec. 37), 

 known' as the Bee-Keepers' Association of 

 Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, 

 with the following officers: President, P. 

 D. Miller, Grapeville; Vice-President, John 

 Kerr, Greensburg; Secretary, W. J. Row, 

 Greensburg; Treasurer, W. F. Geiger, of 

 Beatty. The association starts with bright 

 prospects for the future. 



We wish the new association success. 

 Did it vote to affiliate with the Interna- 

 tional ? If not, that was a mistake at the 

 start. 



Compreliensive, and yet easily un- 

 derstood, is what Mr. H. J. Rogers, of Stan- 

 nard's Corners, N. Y., says of Doolittle's 

 book on " Queen-Rearing," after he had 

 finished reading it. He says : 



It is the most comprehensive work on the 

 subject I have ever seen. Usually, I have 

 to read some sentences over and over again 

 in order to get the meaning; but in this 

 book I can " catch on " at once. I shall try 

 the plan next season. 



Mr. R. F. Holtermann, of Romney, 



Ont., writes thus: " Friend Newman : — In 

 sending you my subscription for the Home 

 Journal, I must say that I find it is not 

 only a pleasure and a profit, but I feel it a 

 duty to support a Journal so free from ob- 

 jectionable matter. In my estimation its 

 tendency is to elevate. Accept my best 

 wishes for success. 



