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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 18, 190S 



sumer of bee-hives being the producer of 

 honey, it was lately decided by some leading 

 manufacturers and bee-journal publishers and 

 honey-producers living in the vicinity of Chi- 

 cago, 111., that something must be done. The 

 following article from the Secretary will ex- 

 plain what has been done. The next step will 

 be, will the bee-keepers of this land take in- 

 terest enough in their own business to co- 

 operate with those who have taken the initia- 

 tive in this movement to increase the demand 

 and the price of honey 3 Ton will notice from 

 reading the Constitution that the burden falls 

 heaviest upon the manufacturers of supplies, 

 and you will notice that they will do their 

 utmost to support this movement. Why? 

 These manfacturers are constant advertisers ; 

 they know the benefits to be derived from 

 advertising, and they are willing to spend 

 their money in that direction. We all know 

 that there are approximately 100,000 people 

 engaged in honey-production to one manu- 

 facturer of supplies. The manufacturers and 

 editors can act only as a nucleus. The bee- 

 keepers must swarm to make this movement — 

 their movement — a success. 



The selection of George W. York, of Chi- 

 cago, as General Manager of this League is 

 very opportune. Editor York is an advertis- 

 ing specialist, and a careful business man. 

 We may all rest assured that our money will 

 be well invested in advertising. 



W. H. Putnam. 



Then follows a copy of the Constitution 

 and prospectus as they appeared in these col- 

 umns a few weeks ago. We are glad the 

 League is to have such hearty support as 

 Editor Putnam indicates in the foregoing. 

 We trust that, as he suggests, the bee-keepers 

 will come to the defense of their own business, 

 and join The Honey-Producers' League by 

 the thousand. Surely, something needs to be 

 done to stimulate a more general demand for 



honey. 



'•' 



Best Hive-Entrance for Bees 



" Swarthmore " says in the American Bee- 

 Keeper : 



Bees prefer a one-inch auger-hole to all 

 other forms of entrances. This may be 

 proven by boring a hole into the back of any 

 hive having a slot entrance at the front. 



It might be worth while to know whether 

 this is really the case; for, other things being 

 «ijual, it is well to concede something to the 

 preferences of the bees. Have any tried the 

 experiment of boring a hole into the back of 

 a hive having a slot entrance in front 1 and, 

 if so, with what result? Yet if the bees 

 should not take kindly to the new entrance 

 at the back, it would hardly be proof that 

 they have no preference for a round hole, for 

 bees are creatures of habit, and are more 

 likely to continue using the old entrance from 

 habit, even if the new be better. If, how- 

 ever, they should show a preference for the 

 new entrance, there would still remain the 

 question whether the preference was due to 

 the shape or the location of the entrance. A 

 number of different experiments might be 

 necessary to decide as to any positive pref- 

 erence. 



Mr. C G. Chevalier, of Maryland, sends 

 us the following, taken from the Philadelphia 

 Press, under the heading, " Nothing Serious:'' 



Farmington — Ah ! there's that old poem 

 about husking bees. I always did like that. 



Dumley— Husking bees? What do you 

 mean? 



Farmington — Why, were you never in the 

 country during the season of husking bees? 



Dumley — No. How in the world do you 

 husk a bee? 



It seems to us that it might be something 

 •^' serious" were one to try to " husk a bee." 



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Mr. Geo. E. Bacon, representative of 

 The G. B. Lewis Co., when in Chicago on 

 business last week, made this otHce a brief 

 call. He reports a good business in bee-sup- 

 plies at their factory. 



A New Bee-Editor.— Arthur C. Miller 

 has made his editorial bow in the American 

 Bee-Keeper as associate with Harry E. Hill, 

 who, for more than seven years, has occupied 

 alone the tripod. Mr. Miller is well known 

 as a vigorous writer, and the editorial utter- 

 ances of the American Bee-Keeper, which 

 have been by no means of the insipid order, 

 are not likely to fall off in interest because of 

 the new associate hand at the helm. 



The W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co., of 



Jamestown, N. Y., are the largest manufac- 

 turers of bee-keepers' supplies east of Ohio. 

 We had the pleasure of visiting their splendid 

 establishment last November. We began our 

 tour of visiting some of the bee-supply manu- 

 facturers early last fall, and the Falconer 

 Company was the one we closed our trips 

 with at that time, though there are several 

 more of them in the West that we want to see 

 a little later on. 



We were received by Mr. Falconer and Mr. 

 Merrill with true Eastern cordiality. The 

 former devoted all his time to us while we 

 were there, taking us through the large 

 factory, and showing us a great deal of their 

 work in detail. 



Besides bee-supplies, they make a great 

 many advertising novelties and school sup- 



plies. They seem to be equipped to make 

 almost anything and everything in wood. 

 And their workmanship is simply superb. We 

 believe we saw the most highly polished sec- 

 tions and some other articles that we ever saw 

 anywhere. They were " as smooth as glass." 



Mr. Falconer gave us quite a number of 

 samples of their goods — in fact, he would 

 have loaded us up like a country pack-ped- 

 dler had we not declined most of his generous 

 donations of samples. They were all so 

 unique and beautiful, especially the advertis- 

 ing novelties and school appliances. We have 

 since been able to make very happy several of 

 our friends among the neighbors' children to 

 whom we presented the samples, unfortu- 

 nately not having any living children of our 

 own. But we can assure The Falconer Com- 

 pany that their kindness to us we endeavored 

 to "pass on" to others, and it was appre- 

 ciated all along the line. 



We are glad to be. able to present to our 

 readers the pictures of Mr. Falconer and Mr. 

 Merrill, and also of their factory. We wish 

 we could tell something more about the two 

 gentlemen personally, but our repeated re- 

 quests tor biographical matter were good- 

 naturedly declined, and so we and our readers 

 will have to be satisfied with their pictures, 

 both of which we think are excellent. 



Should you ever go to Jamestown, N. Y., 

 don't fail to call on The W. T. Falconer Mfg. 

 Co., located at " Falconer," a delightful sub- 

 urb about 3 miles east of Jamestown. You 

 will receive a hearty welcome and most gen- 

 erous treatment. We did, and hope to go 

 again some day. 



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Fresh Comb Foundation vs. Old 



Ques. 26 — How much better is fresh J'oun- 

 datlon than that which is a year oWt 



Adrian Getaz (Tenn.) — None at all. 



G. M. DoonTTLE (N. Y.) — Not an iota. 



L. Stachelhausen (Tex.) — No better at all. 



0. O. PoppLETON (Fla.) — In my practice, 

 no better. 



R. C. AiKiN (Colo.) — I never could tell any 

 difference. 



Jas. a. Stone (111.) — Very little, it kept 

 from dust and light. 



Eugene Secor (Iowa)— I don't believe 

 there is much difference. 



J. M. Hambaugh (Calif.) — No better, if you 

 will steam the old foundation. 



E. D. Townsend (Mich.)— No difference, 

 other conditions being the same. 



Mrs. J. M. Null (Mo.)— No better if the 

 latter has never been on the hive. 



Morgan Bros. (S. Dak.) — There is no dif- 

 ference if kept in a warm, dark place. 



N. E. France (Wis.)— No better, it the old 

 is tempeied or warmed a little before using. 



C. P. Dadant (111.)— Not a particle. On the 

 contrary, the latter may be a little more firm. 



R. L. Tailor (Mich.)— But little if any 

 better if the old has been carefully kept from 

 dust, etc. 



Arthur C. Miller (R. I.) — None, if the 

 latter has been kept in a close package away 

 from the air. 



E. E. Hastt (Ohio) — I don't know, but as 

 a matter of business I would pay 10 percent 

 more if buying. 



Rev. M. Mahin (Ind.) — I have not noticed 

 any difference between that just made and 

 that several years old. 



Wm. McEvot (Ont.)— I never found the 

 fresh any better than the old wten I dipped 

 the old in water not too warm, just before 

 using it. 



P. H. Elwood (N. Y.)— When well kept in 

 sheets, not very much difference. After hav- 

 ing been on the hives, with us, as a rule, it is 

 better to use fresh. 



Prop. A. J. Cook (Calif.)— Practically I 

 could never see much difference. Of course 1 

 should prefer fresh foundation, but I am not 

 sure that it is any better. 



G W. Demaree (Ky.) — I really can't say, 

 but I used last year some foundation over h 

 years old, and it gave perfect satisfaction, but 

 it had been in a close box all the time. 



Dr. C. C. Miller (111.)— I suppose the 

 fresh ought to be a Utile better, but hardly 

 enough to notice the difference. I've used 



