442 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 24, 1906 



■who told us he " bought an apiary of common bees and Italianized 

 them la6t fall?" There are other advertisers who do not always act 

 up to their promises. Canada. 



Evidently " Canada " is under the impression that last 

 fall an apiary of common bees was Italianized, and from 

 this a start is to be made in selling queens the present sea- 

 son. Well, suppose this supposition be correct. Could not 

 the queens be all right ? If the colonies were Italianized 

 last fall, the eggs laid by the queens will be the same as if 

 the hives had been occupied by Italians for 10 years, the 

 queens reared from them should be the same, and the drones 

 the same ; what is to hinder the queens being all right? 



Looking, however, at the advertisement itself, it will be 

 seen that such a supposition is hardly warranted. The 

 statement is made that an apiary of common bees having 

 been purchased and Italianized, bees (not queens) can be 

 furnished at reduced prices. That does not preclude the 

 possibility of other bees being used for queen-rearing, even 

 if other bees were any better. As a matter of fact, the pur- 

 chase of that apiary last fall was by no means a point of 

 beginning with that advertiser. He has been in the field 

 for years in the queen-rearing business, as his advertise- 

 ments in this Journal in past years testify. 



As to the general charge of unfairness to subscribers, 

 our correspondent seems to think it an unfairness that 

 among a number advertising queens for sale — Smith, 

 Brown, Jones, and others — the best of the. lot is not sorted 

 out, and subscribers told, " Jones rears the best queens of 

 the'lot." Let us see how that would work. Jones could 

 stand it all right, but how about the others ? What good 

 would it do them to advertise if their advertisements were 

 nullified by an editorial statement that their queens were 

 inferior to those of Jones ? Would they not be forced to 

 cease advertising and leave the field entirely to Jones ? 

 Certainly they would if the readers could put faith in the 

 editorial statement. 



There would then be the temptation for each one to 

 secure editorial endorsement with the possibility of finan- 

 cial argument in the way of offering an inducement of so 

 many dollars to have it said editorially that this man's 

 goods were better than others. The American Bee Journal 

 hardly desires to be put in the way of such a temptation. 



But, really, would it be a good thing for readers gen- 

 erally that one man should have a monopoly of that kind ? 

 Nowadays there is not a favorable sentiment in the mind of 

 the public toward monopolies. Besides, it would be a very 

 difficult thing, among a number of good men, to say which 



is best. 



After all, is not the better way to follow the present 

 custom of all reputable periodicals, to give a fair field and 

 no favors to advertisers, only looking out that no one is 

 admitted to the editorial columns who is known to be un- 

 worthy ? 



Miscellaneous 

 Hetps * 3 terns 



J 



Mr. and MPS. C. P. Dadant, of Hamilton, 111., were 

 visitors to Chicago last week. Mr. D. reports good pros- 

 pects for the season with bees, and so far a satisfactory 

 trade in comb foundation, etc. He has practically retired 

 from active business, preferring to leave it in the compe- 

 tent hands of his sons, who are conducting it in an able and 

 conscientious manner. The Dadants — both father and 

 sons — are experts in their various lines. They are not 

 dreamers or theorists, but practical, successful doers of 

 apicultural things. ......... 



The Apiary of C. G. Chevalier is thus described by 

 its owner : 



I send a photograph of my little apiary, located in the yard of my 

 home at Forest Park, Baltimore, Md. I have 4 hives, 3 of them Dan- 

 zenbaker and one home-made, double-walled hive. The hive in the 

 foreground, just back of the tree, ha6 a large double case covered with 

 tar-paper The other 2 Danzenbaker hives simply have the winter 

 covers packed with newspapers. I was much afraid the colonies in 

 the latter hives would not survive the winter, but I am glad to say 

 they came through in good shape. This picture was taken the morn- 

 ing of March 16, after the storm of snow and ice. The trees and 

 hedges are covered with a coating of ice, which was sparkling like 

 fairyland in the early morning 6un. The path I made to the hives 



when I went to clean the snow from the entrances can be seen. The 

 houses in the background are those of neighbors. 



Three of my colonies are hybrids, and the fourth a red clover 

 Italian. The first 8 I intend to re-queen this spring. 



C. G. Chevalier. 



The Wagner Feeding Arrangement, shown on the 

 first page, is described thus by Mr. Wagner : 



I send a photograph of the " Stream Bee-Feeder " that I have used 

 several year6. It consists of %x% inch grooves in one inch boards, 

 with a 5-gallon can with a screw faucet to thin the stream to suit the 

 number of bees feeding. The 5-gallon jug at the bottom sets in the 

 ground to catch what passes by the bees. 



I feed as early as the bees gather pollen. Some carry syrup and 

 some gather pollen, while some carry both. Of course, there is some 

 robbing, and it results in the " survival of the fittest." 



F. M. Wagner. 



A Good Kind of Complaint.— Here is what a reader 

 of this Journal wrote us after getting the 32-page number 

 for April 5, 1906 : 



Mr. Editor: — Have you no consideration for my feelings? Here 

 comes the American Bee Journal with so many pages that I haven't 

 time to read it all, but filled with such interesting matter that when I 

 get started I can not stop till I have finished it. When I subscribed 

 I expected to get only 16 pages in each number; don't you think it is 

 a little unreasonable to require me to read from 20 to 32 pages? 



A Bust Bee-Keeper. 



Well, yes, it is a rather large amount of reading, but 

 no one is compelled to read it all — unless he just can't help 

 it. But your complaint is a good one. It is an encourage- 

 ment to us, even if it does seem " a little unreasonable " to 

 expect any one to read so much good bee-literature. 



Sketches of 

 Beebomites 



*\ 



j> 



JAMES FITTS WOOD 



James F. Wood, widely known as an expert on bees, is dead at his 

 home in North Dana, having been confined to his bed barely one week 

 by pernicious anemia — a disease from which he had long been ailing, 

 and in spite of which he continued his earnest work till near the end. 

 He was born in Leverett, Mass., the son of John and Elizabeth Wood. 

 He was a farmer and bee-keeper, known as an expert on the latter 

 subject. He was for several years a lecturer and demonstrator on 

 bees at the State Agricultural College, Amher6t, Mass. 



The above item appeared in a Massachusetts paper Feb. 

 17, 1906, two days after the passing away of a most excel- 

 lent and esteemed citizen. Born Jan. 11, 1862, his parents 

 removed to Prescott when he was a small boy, and there he 

 lived till 19 years of age, returning thither after a sojourn 

 of some years in Colerain. He was educated in the public 

 schools and in New Salem Academy. 



The bent of his mind was early shown. His first bees 

 was a colony of bumble-bees, when he was but 12 years old. 

 Next he "lined " bees with a schoolmate, bringing home 

 an occasional swarm from a hollow tree in the woods. And 

 from that time on he was never without at least a few colo- 

 nies, which he handled without veil or gloves, and some- 

 times barefooted, for thus he went, like the boy celebrated 

 in Whittier's verses. 



June 26, 1895, this lover of bees and flowers, and all 

 Nature, married the sweet, intelligent woman who survives 

 him — Nettie F. J. Wood. They went to Dana, where he 

 built a good house — a not unsuitable monument to his good 

 judgment and painstaking industry. Last winter their 

 appreciative neighbors, in large numbers, surprised them 

 on the tenth anniversary of their marriage, with numerous 

 little and valued gifts, and a speech to which both responded 

 with ability and grace. 



Into the sacredness of their family life I will enter only 

 far enough to say that its loveliness was daily growing 

 more and more lovely. Up to the last of his life Mr. Wood 

 was planning his future work, including the lecture course 

 which he was engaged to give next season at the college, 

 where he had appreciative friends, among them Professors 

 Brooks and Paige, whom I mention as more known to me. 

 He studied and experimented with soils and plants, and was 

 greatly interested in the work of that plant magician — 

 Luther Burbank. 



Minds may be classified as scientific and traditional, 



