THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



April 



Mr. L. B. Smith of Rescue, Texas, 

 writes that bees in his vicinity are in 

 excellent condition, and that prospects 

 for a good crop of honey were never 

 better. Mr. Smith joins the multitude 

 in commending our efiforts to save the 

 reputation of Southern honey. 



Francis H. Leggett & Co., of New 

 York, one of the largest dealers in 

 honey in the United States, and who 

 quote the market regularly in these 

 columns, wrote at the bottom of their 

 monthly report for March, "Market 

 weaker on comb honey on account of 

 liberal receipts from Cuba." Who's a 

 prophet? 



The Australasian Bee-Keeper, usual- 

 ly above criticism, has imbibed the "pro- 

 gressive" spirit, and accordingly makes 

 free to dish up without credit matter 

 clipped from The Bee-Keeper. We are 

 pleased to note that so much of our 

 material is deemed worthy of reproduc- 

 tion by our esteemed contemporaries; 

 but if worthy of reproducing, it ought 

 to be worth crediting. 



While we believe there are parts of 

 Cuba entirely free from foul brood, 

 we feel strongly impressed with the 

 imprudence of any American bee-keep- 

 er ordering queens from ,that island; 

 and would, farther, suggest that in 

 ordering early queens from any source, 

 the buyer first thoroughly assure him- 

 self that his order will not be filled 

 with stock reared in Cuba and import- 

 ed by the dealer. 



Mr. C. C. Parsons, through the 

 American Bee Journal, takes excep- 

 tions to some of our remarks concern- 

 ing the South, as presented during the 

 discussion of the practice of quoting 

 inferior honey as "Southern." Editor 

 York takes considerable space to ex- 

 plain our position in a more lucid 

 manner than we could possibly have 

 done ourself. He recognizes the valid- 

 ity of the points we have honestly and 

 earnestly endeavored to present, and 

 we thank him for "lending a hand." 



In this number of The Bee-Keeper 

 we present General Manager Secor's 

 sixth annual report of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association. In severing 

 his official connection with the asso- 



ciation Mr. Secor takes occasion to re- 

 count the many worthy accomplish- 

 ments of the organization under his 

 leadership; a perusal of which should 

 convince every one of the genuine bene- 

 fits derived by bee-keepers through 

 membership, and to impress all with 

 our obvious duty to lend our hearty 

 support. 



It is quite generally believed that 

 bees in winter quarters must be ven- 

 tilated, the supposition being that it 

 would be fatal to cut off the supply 

 of oxygen regarded as essential to an- 

 imal life. In the Bee-Keepers' Re- 

 view Ira Barber says: "Doolittle 

 never wrote or said a truer thing than 

 he did when he' said in Gleanings, 

 that airing bees in winter quarters was 

 a step backward." Mr. Heddon says 

 the ventilation idea is all nonsense. 

 "Stuff all the bees you can into the 

 cellar — pack them in tight — smother 

 them if you can, and the closer you 

 can keep the room the better will be 

 the result in wintering," says he. 



The change from a northern mid- 

 winter to tropical sunshine naturally 

 enthuses the observant traveler. His 

 mind is wrought upon and influenced 

 by the agreeable change. Perhaps the 

 commonplace presents to his enchanted 

 eye a spectacle of grandeur. In his 

 ha'^ny mood, that in which he is espe- 

 cially interested becomes extraordinary 

 and he is eminently inclined to look 

 pleasant, feel truly affable, see the 

 nices,t side of everything and to speak 

 kindly to and of those with whom he 

 comes in contact. We feel constrained 

 to offer this word of explanation in 

 regard to the flattering things which 

 Mr. Heddon has written of ,the editor, 

 in this number. 



There are various methods recom- 

 mended with a view to having bees 

 remain upon the new stand when form- 

 ing nuclei. This is considered espe- 

 cially difficult when bees are taken 

 from a colony having a laying queen. 

 Mr. Doolittle, in American Bee Journ- 

 al, tells of an experiment in which he 

 formed a nucleus with such bees, but 

 the bees were shaken at a time im- 

 mediately following a spell of bad 

 weather during which the bees had 

 necessarily been confined to the pa- 



