••»«i 



AMERICAI BEE JOUENAL 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY W. F. CLARKE, CHICAGO, ILL. 



AT TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



¥0L. IX. 



ATJOXJST, 1 87^3. 



No. 2. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice. 



Dear Bee Journal. — Our friend Wagner 

 amce remarked, that in giving such abundant 

 freedom on these pages, much error might get 

 131, and for a time prevail, but that truth would 

 some out, and would eventually rise to the sur- 

 fate. It has seemed of late that our communi- 

 «ations made more trouble than they did good, 

 judging from the pages of the Journal ; but 

 the opening article of the July number indicates 

 tjiat we have at least one friend who does not 

 liesitate to say through the Journal that he 

 landerstands our motives and approves our 

 (Hourse. Could Mr. D. (who is, by the way, a 

 perfect stranger, and alludes to a simjDle trans- 

 aetion we have no recollection of now), have 

 aeen the thanks expressed on the face of a 

 '^•little woman," (aye, and of a " blue-eyed baby 

 sf seven months, too, whom we feel sure rejoices 

 at his well-timed blow, that clenched a nail 

 Jjist in the right place,) we think words would 

 a®t have been needed to assure him that a few 

 at least ajijjreciated his kindness. 



On page 11, Mr. Silsby speaks of those whom 

 '"^Novice has so mercilessly punched.'" Now 

 &GS friend is in error, for we have not punched 

 any one, or at least did not mean to, but we 

 liave "punched " hives (full of holes, we hope,) 

 and statements, too, when they were gross ex- 

 aggerations. For instance, when some one to "sell 

 lights" leads beginners to expect that 100 lbs. 

 of box-honey or more may be obtained per hive, 

 on an average, we shall remonstrate with all 

 €»ur power. "Rights for sale" are almost 

 dropped, for hives arranged exclusively for the 

 extractor ; and, as a consequence, a strong eftbrt 

 is made to persuade the public that an equal 

 amount, or some even claim greater yield can 

 be obtained in boxes. 



Kind readers, what do you suppose is the 

 average yield of honey per colony, the country 

 over, when box-honey is relied on ? In our 

 locality, for the five past seasons, it has not 

 averaged ten pounds. The localities have not 

 been. over.stocked. either, for since we have given 



the subject attention we have remarked that 

 this class of bee-keepers seldom keep more than 

 a half dozen colonies, and they lose in wintering 

 more than their increase in poor seasons, so 

 that they ran out every few years and are 

 obliged to buy again. 



In Medina county we have now, perhaps, a 

 dozen bee-keepers, with from twenty-five to 

 seventy-five colonies each, who use the ex- 

 tractor. These apiaries yield a sure, steady 

 income, but they pronounce box-honey as un- 

 certain, even with the best hives for the jjurpose 

 advertised in thiajonraal — that they have laid 

 them aside. 



Do not our Journals, all of them, in nar- 

 rating the extraordinary yields from solitary 

 hives, give a beginner a very erroneous idea of 

 bee-keeping? Disappointment is the rule — 

 almost. Is it not far better to look the matter 

 fairly in the face, and accejit the fact: that bee- 

 keeping is really a business of uncertain profits 

 as a general thing? 



Mr. Alley, for instance, will have it that we 

 have taken delight in injuring him, yet it seems 

 that he should know better. His hive was 

 attacked with all others of that class, as being 

 too uncertain in their results, but not the man 

 at all. • When he first commenced the business 

 of rearing queens at a low price, within the 

 reach of the masses, we heartily approved of the 

 course, as the great number he has sent to our 

 county at different times, to those whom we 

 advised sending to him will attest. When he 

 advertised rights for sale for his hive, we men- 

 tioned what we knew of the hive. His charge, 

 that we have nowhere given Mr. Langstroth 

 credit, is ludicrous. Do not our advertisements 

 read "Lang.stroth hive, as'«^'e make them," and 

 was not our three-page description closed with 

 a full statement that it was Mr. L.'s hive, of 

 course ; and did not Adair say, and Burch echo, 

 that we had ''fwo.itor}/ Lamjstroth hive on the 

 brain?" Since writing here, we have been 

 obliged to insist, periodically, that we had no 

 interest in the Langstroth patent. Ain't you 

 ashamed, Mr. Alley? 



Jasper Hazen's plea that our country granted 

 him a patent, is an old joke. If all patents 



