30 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Feb. 



We expect to send out a very large 

 edition of the Bee-Keeper next 

 month, and it will be an excellent 

 opportunity for all queen and supply 

 dealers to place their advertisements 

 before a great many thousand bee- 

 keepers at a very low cost. We will 

 not raise the rates of advertising, and 

 only announcements of those who are 

 known to be reliable will be admitted. 



The winter all over the country 

 has thus far been very favorable for 

 the safe wintering of bees, and even 

 if there should yet be considerable 

 continued cold weather they will come 

 out in good condition in the spring if 

 they were properly put into condition 

 for wintering, as their confinement 

 will necessarily be short now in any 

 event. 



Every indication goes to show that 

 the number of colonies of bees now in 

 winter quarters are considerably less 

 than for several years past. Many 

 bee-keepers have become very much 

 disgusted on account of the hard 

 winters and poor honey seasons, and 

 have given up the pursuit and allow- 

 ed their bees to die. A noticeable 

 fact, too, is the comparatively small 

 number of supply dealers of any im- 

 portance now doing business, and no 

 new bee periodical has been started 

 up for a long time, besides some of 

 the older ones have become defunct. 

 In fact, speaking of the latter, there 

 are now none but the older ones left, 

 the American Bee-Keeper being 

 the youngest, and we are now over 

 three years old. Judging from past 

 indications the coming season should 

 be a good one for supply dealers as 

 well as the honey producers. 



SPECIAL RATES TO CALIFORNIA 



Via. popular Nickel Plate Road, ac- 

 count Mid-Winter Fair. 



We have from the first endeavored 

 to publish the Bee-Keeper for the 

 especial benefit of the novice in bee- 

 keeping, although at the same time 

 the more knowing ones can often gain 

 some valuable information from its 

 pages. Some fault has been found 

 that we often publish experiences and 

 instructions that conflict in method, 

 and thus many beginners are discon- 

 certed and at a loss to know "which 

 is the right way." In regard to this 

 we would say, bee-keeping is unlike 

 almost any other pursuit inasmuch as 

 every bee-keeper seems to be granted, 

 by general consent, the right to ad- 

 vance his own pet theory without dis- 

 pute, even when appaieutly utterly 

 ridiculous. The only way for the 

 reader to do is to use his best judg- 

 ment, and when he decides on any 

 particular theory or method, he must 

 follow it out to the end closely, and 

 must be careful not to mix it up with 

 some other plan, lest between two 

 plans he fail utterly. 



How to manage Bees is the name of 

 a book of 200 pages which we will 

 send postpaid for only 25 cents. 



If any of our readers wish to sub- 

 scribe to any of the standard maga- 

 zines they should read our terms else- 

 where. 



By referring to the market reports 

 in another column it will be noticed 

 that the price of comb honey is con- 

 siderable lower than for months past. 

 This is doubtless owing to the hard 

 times that are existing all over the 

 country. We have seen it recom- 

 mended frequently that honey pro- 

 ducers would do better by holding 

 their stock until the winter months, as 

 they would then be much more likely 

 to receive greater prices than in the 

 fall. Now we have always advised 

 otherwise, and it seems the present 

 price of honey, which is only from 

 10c to 15c, confirms our good judg- 

 ment, as the price three mouths ago 

 was at least 3c a lb. higher. 



