(Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter) 

 Published IVeekly at Sl.OO a Tear by George ^V. Tork & Co., 334 Uearborn St. 



QBORae W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL,, NOVEMBER 30, 1905 



VoL XLV— No, 48 



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(Sbttortal Hotcs ^ Comments 



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The Minnesota Convention 



This convention will be held Dec. 6 and 7, 

 1905, in the First Unitarian Church in St. 

 Paul. It was announced that there would 

 be no meeting of the Minnesota State Associa- 

 tion this year on account of the National con- 

 vention announced for the same time in Chi- 

 cago, but now that the National is to be held 

 Dec. 19, 30 and 21, it has been decided to hold 

 the Minnesota convention Dec. 6 and 7. 



False Conclusion from True Premises 



The following clipping from the St. Louie 

 Republic, of Oct. 26, has been sent to this 

 ofiice: 



Making of Honey. 



The bees make the quality of their honey 

 according to the kind of food or flowers from 

 which it is procured. Eminent authorities on 

 bee-culture state that when bees are fed 

 scorched honey the honey in the combs did 

 not suffer therefrom. The same results oc- 

 curred when granulated honey was fed to the 

 bees. Honey can therefore be adulterated in 

 the combs. Glucose, when fed to bees, is 

 deposited in the combs as glucose, and it has 

 long been known that certain flowers produce 

 honey of a superior quality to that derived 

 from others. 



There must be something out of whack in 

 the reasoning machinery of the one who 

 wrote that item. Three things are stated as 

 facts : 



1. The quality of honey varies according to 

 its source. Sure. 



2. Scorched honey fed to bees will be 

 scorched honey in the combs. Very likely. 



3. Granulated honey fed to bees will be 

 deposited as granulated honey in the comDs. 

 No proof of that; but for the sake of the 

 argument admit its truth and proceed to the 

 therefore. Therefure honey can be adulterated 

 in the combs. O lame and impotent conclu- 

 sion ! 



In each of the three cases mentioned, there 

 is apparently no thought that anything but 

 honey is put into the combs, whether it be 

 from one flow or another, scorched or granu- 

 lated ; where, then, is there any adulteration * 



Then as a sort of corollary the statement is 



made that glucose fed is glucose in the comb; 

 and to give greater weight there is coupled 

 with it the well-known fact that one flower 

 may give a better quality of honey than 

 another. 



There is something a little off from the 

 usual slander, that comb honey may be found 

 on the market with never the touch of a bee 

 upon it — entirely artificial — but it is hardly 

 likely the editor of the Republic would have 

 admitted the item it he had stopped to con- 

 sider the impression likely to be made upon 

 the mind of any uninformed reader who reads 

 the item with its significant heading. It will 

 be something like this : " Honey found on the 

 market in the shape of pretty white combs is 

 likely to be made honey, and nothing but glu- 

 close." 



If the Republic should try feeding glucose 

 to bees, it might And what others have found, 

 that it would have a hard job to get the bees 

 to accept the stuff, no matter what it might 

 be in the comb if they should accept it. 



The Republic has shown a disposition in the 

 past to be fair to the bees; will it not do the 

 fair thing now by saying that when honey is 

 found in the comb it is the genuine product 

 of the bees? 



Ants and Bees 



The British Bee .Journal says : " Ants are 

 so often troublesome to bee-keepers by enter- 

 ing hives and carrying off the bees' stores, that 

 in all good text-books the ant is classed among 

 the 'enemies of bees.'" There are ants and 

 ants. In the North, in this country, the ant 

 can hardly be classed as an enemy of the bee, 

 although annoying to the bee-keeper by 

 crawling over his hands and arms. They 

 seem to make their nests about hives rather 

 for the sake of the heat furnished by the bees, 

 and, as stated in Root's " A B C of Bee Cul- 

 ture," " A (juod colony of bees is never in 

 danger of being troubled in the least by ants." 



There is, however, a large ant in the North, 

 and probably as well in the South, which, 

 although it may not trouble the bees, is espe- 



cially dangerous to those who have out-api- 

 aries and frequently haul bees. It burrows 

 into the wood of hive-floors, honey-combing 

 them in such a way that a very little will 

 knock a hole through, causing bad accidents 

 in hauling. 



In the South, however, there are ants which 

 destroy queens, and in South America they 

 destroy whole colonies of bees. 



Experiments of tlie Past Season 



Doubtless many of our readers conducted 

 apiarian experiments of various kinds during 

 the past season, and are now ready to report 

 on them for the benefit of others. We would 

 be pleased to give them a place in these col- 

 umns, or at least as many of them as we may 

 have room for. 



Also, we would like to have honey-crop re- 

 ports and interesting experience with any- 

 thing relating to bees, honey and beeswax. 



As ye have been benefited by the writings 

 of others, so ought ye to write for their bene- 

 fit. How about it? 



iVIalcing Nominations for the National 



A letter has been received from W. Z- 

 Hutchinson, editor of the Bee- Keepers' Re- 

 view, replying to the editorial on page 773. 

 As it will be no betrayal of confidence, and 

 especially as it is desirable that both sides be 

 fully presented, the letter is here given : 



Deak Brother York: — Allow me to thank 

 you for the very fair and gentlemanly review 

 of my criticisms regarding the publication of 

 the names of the nominees for oflioe in the 

 National. If all would criticise in the spirit 

 displayed in those remarks of yovu's, discus- 

 sion would always be a pleasure. 



Still further, let me explain that I had no 

 intention of blaming Bro. France, in the sense 

 in which that word is usually employed, for 

 publishing the whole list of those who had 

 received votes. It is true that the instructions 

 of the Directors do not say that he must not 

 publish them— it simply says that the two per- 

 sons receiving the greatest number of votes 

 shall be the candidates, and that their names 

 shall be published in the bee-journals, and the 

 inference would be that those would be the 

 only names published. 



Still further, the rules do not say that the 

 General Manager shall uot tell who received 

 the greatest number of votes, but the infer- 

 ence is that he would not. The rules tell 

 what shall be done. Bro. France has done 



