168 



THE AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Jan., 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Chicago, January, 1873. 



To the Eeaders of The American Bee Journal. 



My connection with the American Bee Journal 

 ceases with the issue of the present number. While 

 on the one hand I regret to part company with the 

 correspondents and subscribers of the Journal, on the 

 other hand I feel that it is best for the growing in- 

 terests of apiculture in America that a person more 

 able than I, and one who can give more time to the 

 interest of the Journal, should assume its conduct. 

 Such a one, I think, will be found in my successor, 

 Rev. W. F. Clarke, of Guelph, Ontario, President of 

 the North American Beekeepers' Society, a gentle- 

 man well known to the beekeepers of the United 

 States as an able writer and an intelligent and honest 

 beekeeper. I siucerely trust that the friends who 

 have stood firmly by my father and myself during 

 the trials through which the Journal has passed, will 

 sustain Mr. Clarke in his new position. They will 

 find him worthy of their confidence and support. I 

 have turned over to him all the accounts and business 

 matters of the Journal, and hence hereafter all busi- 

 ness will be transacted by him. In closing, I wish 

 especially to tender my warmest thanks to those kind 

 friends who, during the past eleven months, stood 

 by and supported me in the new and trying position 

 that the sad dispensation of Providence, by which 

 my venerated father was removed, called me to as- 

 sume. 



GEORGE S. WAGNER. 



Salutatory. 



With this number, as elsewhere announced and 

 explained, the American Bee Journal passes into 

 new hands. It will, however, continue the same as 

 to character and aim that it has been from the be- 

 ginning, and it will be the constant effort of the new 

 Editor and Proprietor to catch the spirit and emu- 

 late the example of the lamented Samuel Wagner, its 

 original founder and, until within a few months, its 

 able and honored conductor. Our embarkation in 

 this enterprise has been largely the result of solicita- 

 tion and encouragement on the part of eminent bee- 

 keepers. Evidence of this is furnished in the requisi- 

 tion and extracts from letters which will be found 

 elsewhere in the present number. That more names 

 and letters are not given, results either from the ab- 

 sence of parties from the Indianapolis meeting, or 

 from inability to communicate with them during the 

 limited time that has elapsed since the change now 



effected was first proposed. We trust none will feel 

 slighted or overlooked, but that all will be sure that 

 a word of cheer and a proffer of help will be wel- 

 comed from any and every quarter. We especially 

 hope that all who have any experiences to relate, or 

 any suggestions to ofi'er, calculated to promote the 

 interests of bee-keeping, will communicate freely 

 with us. As of old, the American Bee Journal will 

 take a straightforward, impartial course, anxious 

 only for the general good. It has no patent interests, 

 and no personal ends to promote. We shall conduct 

 it on the principles embodied in our inaugural ad- 

 dress at the Indianapolis meeting, and shall endeavor 

 to make it helpful to the beekeeper, whether his 

 apiary be located in the inclement North, or in the 

 " sunny South." Complaint has been made that the 

 bee journals have not sufficiently attended to the 

 peculiarities and demands of Southern bee-keeping. 

 All ground for this will, we hope, be removed in 

 future, so far as the American Bee Journal is con- 

 cerned. Gen. D. L. Adair and Mr. Will. R. King, 

 both of Kentucky, are under special pledge to watch 

 over the apiarian interests of the South in the 

 columns of this journal, and we expect at an early 

 date valuable articles from them in this department 

 of apiculture. We also invite contributions of facts, 

 experiences, and counsels from our Southern sub- 

 scribers generally. Several of the old-time corre- 

 spondents of this journal are already under promise 

 to continue their favors. Mr. George S. Wagner, 

 we are happy to say, has engaged to furnish such 

 translations of German articles on apiculture as may 

 be of value to American apiarians. Aided by a host 

 of earnest and friendly co-laborers, we shall toil hard 

 to make the American Bee Journal all that its best 

 friends desire it to be. We trust there will be a 

 prompt payment of old scores and a quick renewal of 

 subscriptions, and that each present subscriber will 

 endeavor to get at least another. The number of 

 unpaid subscriptions on the books demonstrates the 

 wisdom and necessity of the cash-in-advance plan, and 

 in no way can we be more efficiently helped than by 

 its early and universal adoption. We trust also that 

 advertisers will give the Journal a generous patron- 

 age. Its rates are low, too low, we fear, to pay 

 adequately, but we are disinclined to raise them 

 until we can consult with those best fitted to judge in 

 regard to the matter. Though we have faith in bee- 

 keeping as a fairly remunerative business, it is as 

 yet comparatively in its infancy, and few, if any, 

 have made, or are making, such fortunes out of it as 

 to justify high charges. We prefer, if possible, that 

 we and our patrons should prosper conjointly, and 

 would go upon the maxim, " Live and help live," 

 which is a higher and nobler one than "Live and let 

 live." 



W. E. CLARKE, 

 Editor and P7 , oprietor of the 

 American Bee Journal. 



