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Entered at the PoBt-OflSce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 

 Published Weekly at 91. OO a Tear by George W. Tork dc Co., 334 DearbomlSt. 



QBOROB W. YORK, Bditor. 



CHICAGO, ILL, APRIL 13, 1905. 



VoLXLV.— No.15. 



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(Ebttortal Hotes 

 anh (Eomments 



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The Honey -Producers' League 



In last week's issue we devoted much space to this new organiza- 

 tion for bee-lieepers, which, it is hoped, will prove to be a valualjle 

 one. As its Conslitution fays, its objects are to create a larger demand 

 for honey through advertising, and also to counteract the evil influ- 

 ence of misrepresentations of honey by correcting them. 



It was stated that when there is S5000 in the League's treasury, 

 the advertising would begin. Last week we reported already over 

 $1000 on hand. And this week we have more to report. It is hoped 

 that by May 1 the full initial amount will be in hand, so that opera- 

 tions may be commenced. 



To show how The Honey-Producers' League is being received, we 

 give herewith a few extracts from letters received b; its Manager : 



The plan of the League meets our entire endorsement. — The 

 Kretchmer Mfg. Co. 



We must say that such a thing has long been needed, and we trust 

 it will do a great deal of good. — John Doll & Son. 



I believe the project is a good one ; at least it is worth giving a 

 good trial. — E. Whitcomb. 



We think The Honey-Producers' League a commendable under- 

 taking, and should be glad to lend what assistance we can. — VV^ T. 

 Falconer Mfo. Co. 



I think The Honey-Producers' League is a move in the right 

 direction, and its work, to be most helpful to honey-producers this 

 year, should begin at once. — (Mrs.) Clara West Evans. 



The Honey-Producers' League Prospectus and Constitution just 

 at hand. I have shown it to Mr. Clark, and he, with myself, think we 

 would better throw our lot in with it. — G. M. Doolittle. 



We might give more such expressions, but the fact that people are 

 putting in their dollars is proof enough that they believe thoroughly 

 in the proposed work of the League, and want to put " their shoulders 

 to the wheel" and thus help move things. It ought to have 11)00 

 members by May 1. Like every other organization, The Honey-Pro- 

 ducers' League has a few objections to meet. But such should not 

 discourage any one. 



In the first place, let us say that none of its originators for one 

 moment thought that it was to take the place of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association. The National has done a great work, and still 

 has much to do. It is a social organization also, while the League is 

 all for business. 



The Manager has received a very few letters saying someilii ig 

 like this: " When the League gets ready to advertise, let us kr v 

 and we will send in our dues." Or, " When the League has iic;. ly 

 the $5000 to start advertising with, I will send in my annual dn-." 

 But we do not see why some should pay their dues right away and 

 others be waited on. Fvcryh/dy should pay at once, so that the di s- 

 sary $5000 will be on hand quickly. Surely, if some have faith em ,L;h 

 in the L»ftgue to have paid their $25 or more already, it would .I'm 



that others whose dues will not be more than from $3 to $5 should pay 

 promptly also. 



It has been suggested that those who do not become members of 

 the League will reap as great benefits as those who join and pay their 

 money. Hardly. They will really suffer from the feeling that they 

 have failed to live up to their duty and privilege. This is a work in 

 which all should co-operate. The expense is not great, but the pros- 

 pects of good returns are inestimable. 



Spring Troubles with Cellared Bees 



Spring is especially the time when the cellarer envies the man who 

 need not give a thought to the question of the right time to take out 

 his bees because they have never been taken in. Often there is a 

 painful uncertainty as to whether bees should be taken out or not. If 

 one could only know what is before one in the shape of weather. A 

 bee-keeper in Northern Illinois writes: 



" How the seasons do vary. One year we had deep snowbanks 

 still left the last of April. This year we have the appearance of 

 spring fully established in March. For days it has been mild; March 

 38 the thermometer stood at 75 in the shade, while in the cellar it was 

 62, with the Ijees roaring in a distressing manner." 



" But why did the man leave his bees in the cellar when it was so 

 warm?" asks a man in the South. That's just the trouble; he doesn't 

 know what is to come, and if he puts his bees out he may have to 

 wince under two weeks of freezing weather. So he thinks, 



" Better to suffer the ills we have 

 Than fly to those we know not of," 



and leave his bees in the cellar till a little more sure warm weather 

 has come to stay. There may be no more severe weather, and there 

 may be a lot of it, and how is he to tell? 



It might help matters a little it we could have a decided answer 

 to the question whether or not it is wise toward spring to take bees 

 out for a flight and then return them. 



Another Comb-Money Misrepresentation 



In the New York Tribune for Feb. 19, it was stated that " honey 

 is also adulterated in the comb, the comb being made in part of par- 

 affin and saturated with a mixture of glucose and syrups." A protest 

 was sent in by the American Bee Journal, and no doubt by a number 

 of others. The Tribune of March 5 gives a letter from Editor Root, of 

 Gleanings, and a reply thereto, the whole occupying about a column, 

 but in that column there is no hmt of any modification of the state- 

 ment — only pains taken to justify it. 



It is not likely that so able a periodical as the New York Tribune 

 is desirous to mislead or misstate, and the probability is that when the 

 statement was made it was believed to be correct. Having been made, 

 it is only human nature to give full weight — and a little undue weight 

 — to anything found to favor such statement. After giving proofs 

 that it probably believes are satisfactory, it concludes by saying : 



In offering his reward of $1000, Mr. Root specifies in his letter 

 that the comb honey must be shown to have been •' manufactured out 

 of paraSin by any mechanical process known to science or the arts, 

 filled with glucose, and put on the market as comb honey." Such 

 specifications are of course prohibitive. He demands that a wholly 

 artificial product be brought to him. No one says that comb honey 

 can be completely counterfeited. Adulterations are not wholly spuri- 

 ous. Adulterated olive oil is not all cottonseed oil. It has been 

 shown, however, that honey may be adulterated in the comb with glu- 



