(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 Street. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL., SEPTEMBER 6, 1906 



Vol. XLVI— No. 36 



forial Mote 

 nd Comments 



Introduce Fresh Blood Now 



A question often asked by the beginner 

 ruDS something like this: 



" I want to buy an Italian queen to Ital- 

 ianize my bees; when is the best time?" 



That question can not be answered by giv- 

 ing a certain date as the best time. If the 

 question be asked in December, the answer 

 may be, " As 60on as the bees are at work on 

 fruit-bloom.'' If asked in thesummer, "Any 

 time while bees are still at work in the fields." 

 And circumstances may be such as to modify 

 either answer. 



To the bee-keeper who desires to buy a 

 queen from which to rear other queens to 

 Italianize his apiary, or to improve his stock, 

 it is safe to say: "You can wait till next 

 spring, and that will be very much better 

 than to wait till next fall ; but it will be very 

 much better to buy this summer or fall than 

 to wait till next spring." This for more than 

 one reason. 



The introduction of a queen in spring is 

 likely to interfere more or less with the work 

 of a colony at a time when such interruption 

 will tell on the work of the entire season. At 

 or near the close of the harvest such inter- 

 ruption amounts to nothing. 



ijueens reared very early in the season are 

 not so reliable as to quality as those reared 

 during the honey-flow and the heat of sum- 

 mer. Of course, this has no bearing in the 

 case of a queen reared in the summer of the 

 preceding year; but such a queen will cost 

 more, being a specially tested queen. 



Not only is a queen reared well on in the 

 season likely to be better, but prices are lower 

 then. 



If a queen is introduced now she will be in 

 a fully settled colony next spring, ready to 



have queens reared from her just as early as 

 it is advisable to rear queens. 



For these reasons it is well for any one who 

 desires to have a new queen next spring, to 

 purchase that queen before the present season 

 closes— perhaps the sooner the better. 



Bee and Honey Exhibits 



Perhaps there is nothing better as a de- 

 veloper of the home honey market than to 

 make exhibits of bees and honey at local 

 fairs, or even on the streets of any town or 

 city. We once saw a bee-beeper with an ob- 

 servation hive with bees on a vacant lot in a 

 certain city. He was located near a busy 

 street-ear line where the passengers had to 

 change cars. Quite a number of them, of 

 course, were attracted by the exhibit of bees, 

 and as the bee-keeper had a good supply of 

 honey on hand, he made many sales. He al6o 

 distributed literature telling about the value 

 of honey as a food. Of course, all the litera- 

 ture contained his name and address, as did 

 also the labels on the jars of honey. On that 

 particular occasion he was handling only ex- 

 tracted honey. Perhaps if he had also offered 

 comb hooey, his sales would have been still 

 larger than they were. 



It is also a good idea to give " sample 

 tastes" of honey to the people. This is easily 

 done by having some extracted honey in a 

 dish, and with a teaspoon dip a little on a cir- 

 cular cracker about 1)£ inches in diameter. 

 By putting about a half teaspoon ful of the 

 honey on the cracker it can very easily be 

 handed to the prospective customer, who will 

 very quickly drop it into his mouth and soon 

 be smacking his lips. It usually " tastes like 

 more," and often results in sales, where with- 

 out the " sample tastes" few sales would be 

 made 



There is scarcely anything else that com- 

 pares with the observation hive containing 

 bees to attract attention and interest the peo- 

 ple. Here in Chicago there are 11 vacation 

 schools that run 6 weeks during the months- 

 of July and August. We were invited this 

 year to visit these schools with an observation, 

 hive, and talk to the children about bees and 

 their habits. We also spoke on one occasion 

 to the children gathered together at a relig- 

 ious camp-meeting held near Chicago the 

 last week in July. We managed to visit 6 of 

 the vacation schools, and our audiences num- 

 bered from 100 to 600 in each school. All the 

 children, as well as the teachers, were appar- 

 ently greatly interested. After talking 15 or 

 20 minutes an opportunity was given for 

 questions, which were answered so far as 

 possible. 



Sometimes we would begin by asking how 

 many of those present liked honey. In al 

 most every instance practically every person 

 present raised the hand. Of course, we took 

 special pains to counteract the story that 

 there was any manufactured comb honey in 

 the markets. We also dwelt on the value of 

 honey as a food, and while the attendance of 

 the vacation schools is made up mainly of the 

 poorer classes of children, we have no doubt 

 that even they will try to induce their parents 

 to use more honey. 



At all exhibitions of bees and honey, 

 whether at fairs or on the streets, there should 

 be some one in attendance who is able to give 

 the people quite a little talk on the subject of 

 bees and honey. It is well also to allow an 

 opportunity to ask questions. It will be sur- 

 prising how interested nearly everybody is. 

 and what good questions they will ask. and 

 occasionally some very amusing ones. 



An observation hive, if carefully handled, 

 will last a lifetime. It can be U6ed every year, 

 and we believe it is a method that should be 

 employed more extensively, whether in the 

 home or city honey markets. 



Attend the National Convention 



As most of our readers know, the next con- 

 vention of the National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion is to be held in San Antonio, Tex., Nov. 

 8, 9 and 10, 1900. All bee-keepers who can do 

 so will undoubtedly make a great effort to b° 



