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^Entered at the Post-OflSce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter) 

 Publislied IVeekly at S1«00 a Tear by CSeorg^e W. ¥ork & Co., 331 Uearborn St. 



aBORQB W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL, NOVEMBER 2, 1905 



VoLXLV— No. 44 



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(fbitorial Hotcs ^ (Eommcnts 



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Convention Qoing 



We have received Ihe following from Mr. 

 R. F. HoltermanD, one of Canada's "conven- 

 tion goers:" 



Kditor American Bee Journal — 



Your statement about going to conventions 

 can not be too strongly endorsed. I have 

 gone to more North American, International, 

 and now National, conventions than any other 

 Canadian. I have also attended a great many 

 convenlions in Canada, and spent a consider- 

 able sum in my eduratfott in this direction. I 

 look upon it as a business investment which 

 has paid me well. 



To get the greatest benefit from conven- 

 tions, we must not be as pliable as putty, and 

 have our ideas moulded by every new person 

 who takes hold of us; but we must be un- 

 prejudiced, and open to solid reasoning. Peo- 

 ple who think they have reached perfection 

 will not — yes, can not — learn anything more; 

 but to others a convention properly conducted 

 must be profitable. 



I have this season, from 396 colonies, spring 

 count, secured a good, fat 60,000 pounds of 

 honey, and have had to do no feeding for 

 winter. I want no system which artificially 

 or otherwise breaks up colonies, and I be- 

 lieve I have come closer than anything I have 

 yet seen or heard of, to increase now in the 

 production of extracted honey. I have some 

 points which I have not seen brought out. 



I hope to be present at the coming National 

 convention in Chicago. 



R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



The American Bee Journal has always been 

 a strong supporter of conventions among bee- 

 keepers. It feels encouraged to know that so 

 able a bee-keeper as Mr. Holtermann also en- 

 dorses its stand on the subject. Any bee- 

 keeper who desires to make the greatest suc- 

 cess of the business of honey-production 

 makes a large mistake if he fails to attend 

 conventions. Of course, sometimes it may 

 be utterly impossible to go, and, if so, that is 

 to be regretted. But a big attempt should be 

 made to " get there," especially to the larger 

 State and National conventions. 



Every bee-keeper who can possibly arrange 

 to attend the National convention here in 

 Chicago next Dec. 5, 6 and T. should do so. 

 We do not say this because it is to be held in 

 Chicago, but because it is the National or- 

 ganization of bee-keepers. It is the largest 



Jf 



thing of its kind on this continent, and has 

 done more for American bee-keeping than 

 any other similar organization. It can, and 

 will, do much more along the same line. But 

 in order to do so, it must have the hearty co- 

 operation of just as many live bee-keepers as 

 possible. 

 Come to the National convention, Dec. 5, 6 



and 7. 



-*■ 



Cakes of Beeswax Without Cracks 



More than once in these columns the advice 

 has been given to cover up warm so the wax 

 shall be a long time cooling, or to put the wax 

 in the stove oven at night, leaving it there all 

 night so as to cool off slowly as the stove 

 cools off. Evidently this hardly applies to 

 large quantities, the size of the cake being 

 limited by the size of the vessel admitted by 

 the oven. 



In Gleanings in Bee Culture Leslie Burr 

 says the only practical way with large quan- 

 tities is to dip the wax from one tub into 

 another. The cracking is caused by the fact 

 that the outside part of the cake becomes 

 solid while the central portion is still hot. 

 When the hot wax is poured back and forth 

 from one tub to another, the whole mass be- 

 comes cooled more uniformly, hence no crack- 

 ing. 



^ 



Points In Moving Bees 



Migratory l)ee-keeping seems to be more in 

 vogue in Australia than in this country. 

 From a symposium in the Australasian Bee- 

 Keeper on the subject of moving bees, the 

 following points are taken : 



In place of wire-cloth for ventilation, bag- 

 ging or hessian (burlap?) may be used, both 

 on top and at the entrance. 



Remove all combs filled with honey, and re- 

 place with empty ones placed in the middle 

 of the brood-nest. 



Make all preparations that can conveniently 

 be made the night before, so an early start 

 can be made on the journey the following 

 morning. (I a,. Germany the start is some- 



times made not long after midnight. ) Cbas. 

 U. T. Burke says: 



" I would only take one load each day, 

 starting each time at daylight. If you have 

 them shut up, and shift them in a broiling 

 sun, many will be smothered, and what are 

 alive would take a week or more to recover, 

 so always shift your bees as quickly as possi- 

 ble as early in the morning as you can. 

 Hives have time to cool down through the 

 night, whereas if you shift them at night they 

 are quite hot from the heat of the day, and 

 all hands disagreeable at being disturbed." 



To make the bees mark their proper loca- 

 tions more certainly, pile green bushes or 

 grass at entrances, leaving them there two or 

 more days. 



J. A. Hutchinson advises that heavy twine 

 be used to fasten the harness-tugs to the 

 whiffletrees, so that if anything happens that 

 makes it desirable to unhitch the team 

 quickly, the strings can be cut. 



Rubber Bands for Transferring 



Grant Stanley suggests in Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture that instead of strings and splints, 

 rubber bands be used to bold combs in frames 

 after the pieces are transferred. Then when 

 the bees have had time to fasten the combs in 

 place, cut the bands by running a sharp knife 

 lengthwise over the top-bars. 



Definition of Honey Explained 



To those who are familiar with what has 

 been said as to the Government definition of 

 honey, the following circular is self-explana- 

 tory : 



Explanation of Standard for Honey. 



On Dec. 20, 1904. the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture, acting under authority of Congress, and 

 upon the recommendation of the Committee 

 on Food Standards of the Association of Offi- 

 cial Agricultural Chemists, proclaimed the 

 following standard for honey : 



" Honey is the nectar and saccharine exuda- 

 tions of the plant, gathered, modified, and 

 stored in the comb by the honey-bee (Apis 

 mellijica). It is lievo-rotatory, contains not 

 more than twenty-five (25) percent of water, 

 nor more than twenty-five hundredths (0.25) 

 percent of ash, and not more than eight (8) 

 percent of sucrose." 



This standard was adopted after careful 

 publication of an earlier suggested standard 

 as a basis of criticism, and after careful con- 

 sultation with leading authorities in apicul- 

 ture. 



Since the standard was issued many letters 



