94 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



April 



The American Bee-Keeper, 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 



THE W. T. FALCONER MANFG CO. 



TERMS : 



50 cents a year in advance ; 2 copies, 85 cents ; 3 

 copies, 11.20 ; all to be sent to one postoffice. 



Postage prepaid in the U.S. and Canada; 10 cents 

 extra to all countries in the postal union and 20 

 cents extra to all other countries. 



ADVERTISING RATES: 



15 cents per line, 9 words; $2.00 per inch. 5 per 

 cent, discount for 2 insertions ; 7 per cent, for 3 in- 

 sertions; 10 per cent, for 6 insertions; 20 per cent. 

 for 12 insertions. 



Advertisements must be received on or before 

 the 20th of each month to insure insertion in month 

 following. Address, 



THP] AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER, 

 Falconer, N. Y. 



-OS^Sub&cribers finding this paragraph marked 

 with a blue cross will know that their subscripiton 

 expires with this number. We hope that you will 

 not delay in sending a renewal. 



9^' A. Red Cross on this paragraph indicates that 

 you owe for your subscriprion. Please give the 

 matter your attention. 



EDITORIAL, 



We learn from the Progressive Bee- 

 keeper that 928 patents have been ob- 

 tained on bee hives in this conntry. 

 The greater number of these were 

 taken out by persons who could ill 

 afford to spend their time and money, 

 and not one of those patents have 

 " filled a long felt want " of the bee- 

 keepers. On the contrary but one or 

 two patent hives are in use at all, ful- 

 ly 98 per cent, of all the hives in use 

 today being unpatentable. It is gen- 

 erally poor policy to patent anything 

 for the use of bee-keepers as the sales 

 are generally so small that the cost 

 of patent can hardly ever be realized. 

 One of the reasons for this is the 

 fickleness of the trade, this year one 

 method is generally practiced, while 



next season something entirely differ- 

 ent will be advocated. The fact is, 

 the great majority of bee-keepers are 

 groping in darkness, and blindly fol- 

 low where every Moses may wish to 

 lead them, and the Moseses of the 

 "bee-keeping fraternity" are not few. 



"How to Manage Bees " is a 50c 

 book for beginners in bee keeping. 

 We will send it postpaid for 25c. 



At this time anyone who has any- 

 thing to sell to bee-keepers should 

 edvertise it liberally. Supplies of all 

 kinds, queens and bees are now in 

 great demand and will be for the next 

 two months or more. While the indi- 

 cations during the past three months 

 have been very discouraging in the 

 Eastern States for a good season, 

 everything is looking more hopeful 

 now and looks as if the next three 

 months would far exceed our expec- 

 tations. 



Wm Gerrish, East Nottingham, N 

 H. will keep a complete supply of our 

 goods during the coming season and 

 Eastern customers will save freight 

 by ordering from him. 



We are in receipt of a copy of the 

 by-laws of the California Bee-keepers' 

 Exchange. The Exchange will doubt- 

 less have a large membership and 

 will be a great benefit to the honey 

 producers of the Pacific coast. 



We will send the American Bee- 

 Keeper one year with the Cosmopol- 

 itan for $1.25. The Cosmopolitan is 

 a monthly magazine containing an 

 average of over 100 pages and 80 il- 

 lustrations each month. 



