16 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



^mi|wan |)q JflUinal 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY, 1874. 



Business Notice. 



The public are hereby informed that the 

 proprietorship and management of the 

 American Bee Journal have been trans- 

 ferred to the American PubHshing Com- 

 pany, of Chicago, the undersigned retaining 

 henceforward only an editorial connection 

 therewith. By this arrangement additional 

 security is given for the permanence, effec- 

 tive conduct and progressive improvement 

 of this journal, inasmuch as the company 

 into whose hands it has passed possess un- 

 usual facilities for carrying it on. They are 

 already publishing The Illustrated Journal, 

 with which has recently been incorporated 

 The Chicago Graphic and Illustrated Amer- 

 ican, the announcement of which will be 

 found in the advertising department of this 

 number. They are also issuing other works of 

 art. Having a corps of engravers connected 

 with their establishment, they will be able 

 from time to time to illustrate the pages of 

 the Journal, a desideratum long felt by its 

 proprietors and friends. The new publish- 

 ers are determined to spare neither cost nor 

 pains in making this periodical worthy of 

 the patronage of the bee-keepers of North 

 America. The experience of a year in the 

 business and editorial conduct of the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal has convinced the under- 

 signed that the apiculturists of this country 

 need and are prepared to sustain a well-man- 

 aged organ and exponent of their important 

 industry. It has also convinced him that in 

 order to the complete success of the Jour- 

 nal, it is absolutely necessary that more 

 capital, business ability and energy should 

 be connected with it. These are now se- 

 cured, and the new arrangement is announced 

 in the fullest confidence that the results will 

 be most satisfactory to all concerned. 



W. F. Clarke. 



The Outlook for Bee-keeping. 



Bee-keeping has come to take a high rank 

 among the productive industries of the 

 world. For want of statistics, which have 

 never yet been faithfully collected, and 

 which it is very difficult to get with any ac- 

 curacy, only general terms can be em- 

 ployed in speaking of its condition and 

 progress. A national census throws but lit- 

 tle light on this subject, for census commis- 

 sioners do not usually enquire about live- 

 stock so insignificant as bees, and what 

 information they get is drawn out of the 

 people by questions. They have a printed 

 catechism, which does not embrace the in- 

 quiries, "Any hives of bees?" "How ma- 

 ny ?' ' and hence the most profitable kind of 

 live-stock in proportion to cost and value, 

 finds no place in the record. Very much 

 the same is true of the honey product of this 

 and other countries. It is very imperfectly 

 represented by figures, and is only found in 

 commercial reports that are devoted to 

 market prices. We are consequently quite 

 in the dark as to the important items of 

 consumption and demand. 



But amid all this vagueness of knowledge 

 about apiculture and honey, there are some 

 things that stand out distinctly enough. One 

 is the universality and abundance of honey. 

 Everywhere in innermost hearts of myriad 

 flowers, the Creator has garnered up stores 

 of liquid sweet, which wait for collection 

 and appropriation. Another thing we are 

 perfectly sure of, viz., that this teeming and 

 superabundant sweetness can only be made 

 available through the good offices of the bee. 



Whether the floral sweet is reall}' honey 

 as it lies treasured in the flower, or whether 

 it undergoes a chemical change in the body 

 of the bee, whereby common saccharine 

 matter is transformed into honey, we need 

 not now stop to enquire ; but it is absolutely 

 certain that if man is to have honey, the bee 

 must collect and store it for liim. F^very 

 schoolboy knows how to get at the drop of 

 sweetness that lies hid in a head of red 



