(Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Co., 334 Dearborn St. 



QBORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL, MAY 17, 1906 



VoL XLVI— No. 20" 



=^ 



(gbttortal Hotes 

 anb Comments 



j> 



Definition of Honey 



Germans, as well as Americans, are struggling with the 

 question as to a proper definition of honey. Praktischer 

 Wegweiser quotes Dr. Kautzler as saying : 



"The public understands by the term pure bees' honey only that 

 honey obtained by the bees from the flowers of plants." 



But the well-recognized authority, Dr. Haenle, is quoted 

 with approbation as saying : 



" By pure honey is understood the sweet juices that bees have 

 gathered from plants in forest and plain, and have elaborated in their 

 hives into honey." 



The latter is, without doubt, a good definition, while 

 practical bee-keepers can not fail to object to the former. 



Putting Weak Colonies Over Strong Ones 



Reports are contradictory of the plan of putting a weak 

 colony over a strong one in spring. Some report it as a 

 great success, the weak colony becoming in time equal to 

 the stronger one, with no apparent damage to the stronger 

 one. Others report loss of queens. 



It is quite possible that a slight difference in execution 

 of the plan may make all the difference between success and 

 failure, and it is to be desired that those who have given 

 the plan further trial — and the probability is that it has 

 been practised much more extensively this year than last — 

 would give any information they may have obtained as to 

 causes of failure. Even if nothing more can be done, let 

 there be reports giving information as to just what success 

 or failure occurred. 



Temperature of the Brood-Nest 



Mr. Editor: — I have read with very great interest the article on 

 hive temperature, page 363, and although much of it has been given 

 before by the same writer, there are some things that bear repetition. 

 Mr. Doolittle has done a real service in enabling us to say, "The tem- 

 perature of the brood-nest is pretty nearly a constant quantity, rang- 

 ing from 92 to 98 degrees," I wish he might have gone still farther, 

 and told us at what temperature the crust of bees is kept. I think 

 European authorities have given it at 50 degrees. 



With thanks for emendations to my answers from one so compe- 

 tent on these points, I may be permitted to ask, not with any spirit of 

 captiousness, but with a sincere desire to know the truth, whether the 

 testimony given is sufficient to warrant his apparent conclusion that 

 the crust of bees is almost a perfect non-conductor of heat. The im- 

 portant bearing this may have upon practical bee-keeping can easily 

 be seen, so it is important to be very sure what is the truth with regard 

 to it. C. C. Miller. 



Dr. Miller might have specified particularly as to what 

 important bearing upon practical bee-keeping he had ref- 



erence, but some points of bearing are not hard to find. 

 The acceptance of Mr. Doolittle's views, these views being 

 so radically different from those generally entertained, 

 would lead to a radical difference in practise in more than 

 one respect. 



At first thought, the question may occur whether Mr. 

 Doolittle has gone so far as to say that the crust of bees is 

 " almost a perfect non-conductor of heat." But a careful 

 reading shows a warrant for that interpretation in the sen- 

 tence which, speaking of the temperature in a hive placed 

 over the hive containing the brood-nest, it is said, " They 

 will keep that temperature of from 92 to 98 degrees in the 

 brood-nest just as easily as they did, or could, before that 

 upper hive was put on, as the heat is confined within the 

 cluster or crust of bees, not in the hive." That "just as 

 easily " could not be unless the crust of bees were not only 

 almost, but altogether, a non-conductor. 



If the non-conductivity of the crust of bees be an estab- 

 lished fact, a great saving of time and labor would result. 

 The great care that some take to close up all cracks about 

 the hive in the spring would be avoided. Packing for win- 

 ter would be unnecessary. Indeed, there has not been lack- 

 ing repeated testimony that colonies have been successfully 

 wintered in hives so split and cracked that winter winds 

 could have full play through them. Yet, on the other hand, 

 a very large number have earnestly urged the importance 

 of keeping everything about the hive as warm as possible. 

 If these latter be wrong, and if all that extra trouble may 

 just as well be saved, it is well to know it. 



But before acting entirely on the new teaching, it will 

 be at least prudent to have tests more or less decisive. 



Drones Fly Farther Than Workers 



So says a writer in Praktischer Wegweiser. As proof 

 he recites that he moved a colony of bees quite a long dis- 

 tance, and the next day a crowd of drones returned to the 

 old stand, but not a single worker-bee. 



Spreading the Brood 



While there is a divergence as to views on this subject, 

 one bit of advice is assuredly safe : Never spread brood 

 when there is already present all the brood the bees can 

 cover. Spreading brood at such a time can only result in 

 loss. 



Honey as a Health-Food. — This is a 16-page honey- 

 pamphlet intended to help increase the demand for honey. 

 The first part of it contains a short article on "Honey as 

 Food,'" written by Dr. C. C. Miller. It tells where to keep 

 honey, how to liquefy it, etc. The last part is devoted to 

 "Honey-Cooking Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." 

 It should be widely circulated by those selling honey. The 

 more the people are educated on the value and uses of 

 honey, the more honey they will buy. 



Prices, prepaid — Sample copy for a two-cent stamp; SO 

 copies for 70 cts.; 100 for $1.25; 250 for $2.25; 500 for $4.00; 

 or 1,000 for $7.50. Your business card printed free at the 

 bottom of front page on all orders for 100 or more copies. 

 Send all orders to the office of the American Bee Journal. 



