63 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



MaecJi 



The Ameriean Bee-Keeper, 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 



THE W. T. FALCONER MANFG CO. 



TERMS : 



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THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER, 

 Falconer, N.Y. 



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EDITORIAL. 



At this time all bee keepers are 

 looking forward to the coming honey 

 season and wondering what the har- 

 vest will bring forth. The result, 

 good or bad, does not depend entirely 

 upon the coquettish caprices of good 

 dame nature, and this is fully realized 

 by many of us. We know that no 

 matter how bounteous the flow of 

 nectar no surplus will be stored unless 

 our colonies are built up strong and 

 are ready for the harvest. Weak 

 colonies hardly gather enough honey 

 for their immediate wants, even dur- 

 ing the most abundant flow. Prep- 

 arations should have been begun as 

 early as last fall by uniting weak 

 colonies, introducing young and vig- 

 erous queens and providing abundant 



winter supplies of food for the bees. 

 Now the most that can be done is to 

 stimulate brood rearing in every pos- 

 sible manner and then prevent swarm- 

 ing as much as possible. ' ' The more 

 bees the more hone}^, " is an old say- 

 ing and a self evident fact. 



Among no other class of journals 

 in the world will be found so many 

 "soft" sayings, self praise, mutual 

 editorial flattery, and railings over, 

 personal domestic misfortunes as are 

 found in the bee journals of this 

 country. It is a cause for regret that 

 our "journals cannot be conducted up- 

 on a more dignified and impersonal 

 plan such as is followed out by the 

 bee papers of other countries and all 

 other classes of journalism. We may 

 be regarded as somewhat pessimistic 

 on this matter, and possibly bee keep- 

 ers are difl'erent from those who fol- 

 low other vocations, but we do not 

 think so, except as they may have 

 been educated to be so by the bee 

 journals to which we have alluded. 

 We never could conceive how it could 

 be of any interest to any but a few 

 personal friends whether the editor 

 eats soup, beans or beef, or whether 

 he eats at all, as long as he furnishes 

 what he is paid to furnish, an instruc- 

 tive and interesting journal. Nor is it 

 a matter of vital importance to the 

 great majorit}'^ of his readers whether 

 he has just had his last wisdom tooth 

 extracted, nor that his youngest boy 

 has recovered from the measles. We 

 have only the kindliest feeling toward 

 each and every apiarian editor in bee- 

 dom, but cannot help feeling that in 

 filling their editorial columns with 

 such matters they are doing them- 



