1903 



THE AMERICAX BEE-KEEPER 





ARE BEE JOURNALS READ? 



Worcester, Mass.. March 16, 1903. 

 Editor Bee-Keeper: 



Under date of February 17, I wrote 

 you about black honey, not expecting 

 to hear any more from it. March 14, 

 just before our regular bee meeting I 

 received an interesting letter from J. R. 

 Common of Angelica, N. Y., which is 

 worthy of repeating in these pages, as 

 follows: 



"Twenty-five years ago I had about 

 30 colonies and they stored several 

 boxes of just such honey as has been 

 made by Worcester bees. No one 

 could eat it; one taste was enough. It 

 was gathered where there were no 

 blooms of any kind. It was honey dew 

 ga,thered from hickory trees. 



"Every morning the hickory grove 

 was alive with bees working for all 

 they were worth. The worst of it was 

 thev stored a lot of it around and in 



the brood nests. The result was that 

 when the bees ate it, dysentery result- 

 ed, and I lost most of them the fol- 

 lowing winter. The stuff was thicker 

 and more solid than any honey I have 

 ever seen in my 50 years' experience in 

 bee-keeping.'' 



One of our members did not agree 

 with Mr. Common, for he says: 



"I do not agree with Mr. Commoh 

 regarding the taste of black honey, nor 

 regarding it as a producer of dysentery 

 among bees. I kept 50 sections as 

 black as my sample, and some a good 

 deal better, thinking the honey would 

 improve in time. But it hasn't changed. 

 At first we wouldn't eat it, but now we 

 find it delicious. One small member 

 of our family even prefers it to the 

 white article. 



The Worcester County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will close its winter season 

 with a banquet early in April. It is ex- 

 pected that the flow of honey will be 

 enormous. Another instance that bee 

 journals are read: We received a let- 

 ter from a New York bee inspector 

 warning us that foul brood was enter- 

 ing Massachusetts, but more of this 

 later. Both of the letters mentioned 

 above came as a result of reading bee 

 iournals. C. R. Russell. 



.♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦l-f-f ♦^^♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦^♦^♦^^ 



THE 



Bee -Keeping World 



AUSTRALIA. 



An interesting article on the "Three 

 Chief Varieties of Bees" by D. M. M. 

 appears in the Farm. Bee and Poultry 

 Review. The writer finds that the 

 black bee is the best bee yet discovered. 

 The editor adds: "There is no doubt 

 that a good strain of black bees is 

 equal if not superior to any other 

 breed. That they are more hardy few, 

 who give the matter unbiased thought, 

 will deny, etc. Take the yellow bands 

 from the Italians, and I am of the opin- 

 ion there would not be half the trade 

 in queen bees." 



The editor of the same bee journal 

 is crying for a commonwealth bee- 

 keepers' association. He also says-. 

 "Something must be done to regulate 

 the price of honey or else bee-keeping 

 will never be placed on a sound com- 

 mercial footing." 



GERMANY. 



At a bee-keepers meeting at Rack- 

 enhausen the subject of stimulating 

 bees was discussed. It was held that 

 honey is much more effective than 

 sugac syrup. The latter, however, was 

 recommended for winter s,tores. 



