Bee Journal 



I Entered at the Post-Ofilce at Chicago as Secund-Class Mail-Matter) 

 PubUshed ^Veckly at 81.00 a Tear by Oeorge W. York St Co., 334 Dearborn St. 



aBORae W. VORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL, AUGUST 24, 1905 



VoL XLV— No. 34 



The American Bee Journai. is absolutely an independent publication, and not 

 connected with any bee-supply business whatsoever. It stands entirely upon 

 its merits as an educative force in the field of bee-keeping-, and as a medium 

 for legitimate advertisers in apicultural or other lines. It is the oldest, and 

 only weekly, journal of its kind in America. Its publishers believe that it 

 deserves to be in the hands of every would-be progressive successful bee- 

 keeper in the land. It is in its 45th year, and to-day is acknowledged to be 

 better in every way than at any time during its long and honorable history. 



(Sbttorial Ticks ^ (Eommcnts 



'^ 



Contradictions in the Bee-Papers 



Occasionally the view is expressed that 

 there are so many conflicting views in the 

 bee-papers that it is discouraging; so dis- 

 couraging that one would do better to give up 

 such reading altogether. There is no dispu- 

 ting the fact. Just so long as you read bee- 

 books and bee-papers you will And contra- 

 dictions. If you never read a word about bees 

 you would find contradictions in your own 

 experience. 



The contradictions you finJ in print some- 

 times are due to the fact that wrong views are 

 entertained, and sometimes to the fact that 

 what is true in one locality is not true in 

 another, and often to the fact that some little 

 difference in management is not recognized, 

 but that same unrecognized difference in 

 management makes a wide difference in re- 

 sults. 



Often, too, the reader gets two opposite 

 views from two different writers because said 

 reader does not fully understand what one or 

 both said. But if you keep on reading and 

 studying, you will gradually get more and 

 more of the tangles straightened out. It 

 would be the height of folly to give up trying 

 to obtain the advantage of the experience of 

 others just because the experience of differ- 

 ent writers is not always the same. 



Big Purcliase of Honey 



(ileanings in Bee Culture chronicles the 

 purchase in one consignment, by the National 

 Biscuit Co., of 711 carloads of li""!'!/' That is 

 not because honey is the cheapest sweet. It 

 is not because the National Biscuit Co. lacks 

 business capacity, and recklessly spends 

 money for a higher-priced article when some- 

 thing else as good could be bought for less 

 money. It is because honey gives to the 

 eoods in whose manufacture it is used a keep- 



ing quality that can be had in no other way. 

 If it is a profitable thing for this money-mak- 

 ing company thus to use honey, why is it not 

 just as profitable in the home of every bee- 

 keeper? Instead of making a fresh cake 

 "when company comes," said cake to be 

 kept till thrown away when dry and stale, 

 why not make that which will keep the year 

 arounS? 



In all cooking, honey may be used in place 

 of sugar, only keeping in mind that less mois- 

 ture must be used with honey than with 

 sugar. 



Selling Comb Honey in Frames 



For some this may be an advisable thing. 

 Here's the way L. L. Grass does it, as re- 

 ported in Gleanings in Bee Culture: 



I produce comb honey by using extracting- 

 supers and shallow extracting- frames wiih 

 starters. These weigh from 3i., to .5 pounds 

 when filled out, according to thickness of 

 comb in a frame. This 1 sell at l.") cents a 

 pound by the frame or frames. I weigh it 

 before starting, and put the weight of each 

 frame on the top-tiar. Customers seem to 

 appreciate that style of package, and I very 

 seldom fail to make H sale to those who need 

 honey, after I have held it up to the light to 

 let them see the clearness. 



I carry it to market in the supers by tack- 

 ing a strip of wood half way down the ends 

 of the supers with ^lots sawed out to hold S 

 frames to a lo-fr:ime super. That keeps 

 them from rubbiD^' and breaking the cap- 

 pings when some combs are thicker than 

 others after gradiDg. It also keeps thera 

 from sliding, whiih they would do after the 

 first frame is taken out. 



Slow Introduction of Queens 



There are conditions in which a queen will 

 be promptly and kindly received, no pre- 

 liminary caution iHiiig necessary. The queen 

 is simply droppt'l ' o the hive or run in at 

 the entrance, an 1 is well. But there is 



always some risk, and, as a general rule, the 

 element of time is an important factor. The 

 queen is sometimes caged in the hive for a 

 certain length of time, then set free upon the 

 combs by the bee-keeper, but generally it is 

 planned to have her liberated by the bees. To 

 make them longer in liberating her, the candy 

 may be made quite hard, or pieces of card- 

 board may be nailed over the opening so that 

 the bees must take time to gnaw away the 

 card-board to get at the candy. 



One of the American Bee Journal family 

 thinks he has made an improvement over 

 these plans. It is the very simple one of 

 making as small as practicable the tube con- 

 taining the plug of candy. Instead of having 

 the diameter a halt inch or so, it is only a 

 quarter of an inch, allowing only one bee at 

 a time to work at the candy. It will be 

 readily seen that this will make slow work, 

 but work that is pretty sure to go steadily 

 forward, because the candy is fully exposed. 

 With a small diameter, the time taken to lib- 

 erate a queen in an introducing cage may be 

 varied directly in proportion to the length of 



the tube. 



♦^ 



Cleaning a Bee-Smoker 



When a thick coating forms inside the 

 smoker pour in a little kerosene and set fire 

 to it, leaving the smoker open. The deposit 

 can then be easily scraped off while hot and 

 soft, or peeled off when cold. This from J. 

 A. Green, in Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



Sawdust for Smoker-Fuel 



The question as to the best fuel for smokers 

 is one largely of convenience. Each one is 

 likely to have a preference for that which is 

 most easily obtainable. To those who have 

 unlimited quanlilies of sawdust at disposal, 

 the very minute instructions of S. E. Miller, 

 in the Progressive Bee-Keeper, may be of use. 

 He says: 



I used sawdust from under my buzz-saw 

 table, whiih is mostly from pine or other soft 

 wood, and the smoker is of the upright boiler 

 (Bre-pot) pattern, the kind now in general 

 use. 



Direction' First, put down on the grate a 

 small wa'' u( excelsior or fine shavings. In 

 the abseace of both of these use grass. Put 

 on just enough to keep the sawdust from 

 sifting down through the grate into the space 

 beneath it. Next fill the fire-pot to within 

 about three-fourths of an inch of the top 

 with sRWLlust ■-oaked and packed down until 

 it is pacKe -omewhat firm, but not too solid. 

 Then with u pointed stick bore a hole down 



