9>eee'&&&&et9«&&&&^'&&^^^^s«^'@&&&ee«9^ee^^^^'&&&* 



Entered at the Post-Offlce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 

 PubUsbed V¥eekly at 91.00 a Tear by Oeorge yf. York Sc Co., 334 Dearborn St. 



aBORQB W. YORK, Editor. 



CHICAGO, ILL,. FEB, 23, 1905. 



VoL XLV.— No. 8. 



/f 



=% 



(£bttortal Ticks 

 anil (Eomments 



J 



A Capt. Hetherington Memorial Double Number. 



That is rather a big heading, but so is this a big number of the 

 American Bee Journal. It contains some very interesting rtading 

 matter, not only on the life of Capt. Hetherington, but on a variety 

 of other subjects as well. 



Mr. P. H. Elwood, a life-long, intimate friend of Capt. Hethering- 

 ton, has written a most excellent memorial article, which, with the 

 Illustrations used in connection with it, makes it by all odds the best 

 and fullest sketch yet published of the world's most extensive bee- 

 keeper and honey-producer. 



It was our privilege to meet Capt. Hetherington at the Buffalo 

 National convention some years ago. We never had a personal 

 acquaintance with him, but we have always felt that it was extremely 

 unfortunate that a verbatim report of his address at that meeting was 

 not taken. If we remember rightly, he told us some very interesting 

 history, especially touching the early work of the lamented Moses 

 Quinby and Rev. L. L. Langstroth, in connection with their bee- 

 keeping. 



The brief tributes to Capt. Hetherington, written by others who 

 knew him, will also be read with interest. 



For the use of the engravings showing Capt. Hetherington's first 

 and last load of bees, as well as the one showing his damaged sword, 

 and also the one on the first page, we are indebted to Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture. All the others are new ones, made especially for the 

 article in this issue of the American Bee Journal. 



they had clover; they had bees. Several kinds of clover, several 

 kinds of bees. They lacked red clover and bumble-bees. Red clover 

 grew just as well without bumble-beeS as with them ; but all the seed 

 had to be brought from elsewhere until bumble-bees were present to 

 fertilize the blossoms. 



Newspaper Facts (?) About Bees. 



It seems just a bit strange that to have facts about bees correctly 

 given it is almost an absolute necessity that the one giving the facts 

 must be one having a speaking acquaintance with the busy little crea- 

 tures. Wm. E. Curtis, a veteran newspaper correspondent, one of 

 the ablest in the world, gives this in the Chicago Record-Herald : 



" Bees and other insects are very important agents in the fruit and 

 tlower business. The big yellow and black bumble-bee, as we call it, 

 is almost essential to the production of fruit and flowers. We could 

 scarcely get along without him. Almost all flowers and fruits must 

 be cross-fertilized— that is, pollen must be brought from one to the 

 other in order to produce, and this work is chiefly done by wild and 

 tame bees. As an illustration, the bumble-bee is a native of this 

 country and does not appear in Australia. Down in Australia they 

 had no clover because they had no bees. The bees not only get a great 

 deal of honey from the clover blossoms, but they fertilize them in the act 

 of getting the honey. Hence, as soon as our bees were imported into 

 Australia and set to work in the fields the clover began to grow an. I 

 has developed there as well as here or any place else ", said Mi' 

 Marlatt. 



As a matter of fact, orchards would go on just the same if every 

 bumble-bee were dead; at the time of fruit- bloom bumble-bees are tuo 

 few in number to make any material difference. "Down in Austral':: 

 they had no clover because they had no bees". " Error i' the bill " 



Candying or Crystal. Izlng of Sugar and Honey. 



A neat little pamphlet that seems to be issued by the Michigan 

 Bee-Keepers' Association contains this statement: 



" Remember that sugar never candies, it crystallizes, and this fact 

 alone should be sufficient proof of the purity of any honey that is 

 candied solid." 



Will the correct use of words justify the statement that sugar 

 never candies? The definition of the verb cared?/ in the dictionary i be- 

 gins with the words, "To form into crystals of sugar"; and^under 

 the word ca/tdied, " candied sugar" and " candied honey "^are both 

 given as examples. Manifestly it will not do, then, to say that sugar 

 never candies, especially as candy is commonly made of sugar. 



But is there not a difference in the appearance of candied honey, 

 as compared with sugar, that may easily be described? Who can put 

 in words just what that difference is? 



Disposing of the Honey Crop. 



Judging from the reports of the various leading markets, and also 

 from the fact that there seems to be quite a quantity of honey still in 

 the hands of the producers, the question of disposing of the honey 

 crop is just about the liveliest subject now before bee-keepers. It 

 isn't a question of keeping more bees, but how can the one who has 

 just a few bees sell his crop of honey at even a reasonable price? 



We believe that in many cases bee-keepers themselves must be 

 their own salesmen, at least until some organization decides to do 

 some combined honey advertising in the daily and other newspaper 

 press of the country. The dear public needs to be informed of the 

 great value of honey as a health-giving food, in the same way as it 

 is told of the various breakfast foods. The demand for honey must 

 be C)-eato/^i-s?, then there will be scarcely any i trouble to dispose of 

 all that can be produced, we believe. 



This is a live, practical, up-to-date subject. What aboutlit? 



Shaken Swarms in Australia. 



From the Australasian Bee-Keeper it appears that our antipodal 

 friends differ from us in their views and practices with regard to 

 shaking swarms. The editor says: 



" There seems to be some variance of jopinion as to what a shaken 

 swarm is. I have always understood it to be a sufficient number of 

 bees and a queen taken from a colony by means of shaking them from 

 the combs, to found another colony." 



Chas. U. T. Burke gives his method of 'procedure as follows : 



" Prepare a hive of empty combs, or frames of foundation, leaving 

 room for two frames, one with eggs just hatching, the other with 

 fresh pollen and honey. Have a youug luying queen on hand. Go to 

 one of your strongest colonies, shako fully two-thirds of the bees into 

 a new hive (after finding the queen and placing her aside). Drop 

 your laying queen among them, sprinkle all very slightly with water 

 sweetened with honey, place the hive on a fresh stand ; the swarm 

 will go to work in a few days, and in a week will be bringing in a 

 surplus of honey. I have never had a failure this way, nor have I 

 had any swarm out. I always leave the frame of brood with them, 



