38 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 21, 



Association ; that his whole time is taken up with the affairs 

 of the Association, and loolting after the interests of the luerii- 

 bors who have claims against coininission-men ; and that they 

 have a strong "Law Department," whore such claims are vig- 

 orously prosecuted. Further, that if the recipient is a shipper 

 of produce, or had any claim against commission-men, it 

 would be to his advantage to joiuthe Association at once. It 

 goes on to enumerate the great benefits to be derived from 

 such action, and, further, that claims of members were prose- 

 cuted free of charge, if they were not successful in collecting 

 the same, but if they were successful, they made a charge of 

 10 per cent., and that all the recipient would need to do to 

 join the Association would be to fill out the " enclosed blank 

 and return it with the small sum of .fio.OO," and then reap 

 the benefits enumerated above, which would amount to many 

 times So. 00 during the year ! 



The printed address on the envelope enclosed was " New 

 York Life Building, Chicago," altho some were marked 

 " Marine Buildine." 



I think this Kipley should be exposed, and a war of ex- 

 termination waged against all such as Horrie, Wheadon, Kip- 

 ley & Co. 



In your war against the above class, and in trying to 

 secure the passage of a law for the prosecution of adulterators 

 of honey, etc., remember that you have the whole host of bee- 

 keepers to back you up in your noble efforts. 



Crawford Co., Wis. 



[This is the first we have heard of the " Shippers' Protec- 

 tive Association," and after some investigation we find that it 

 appears to be a scheme backt by crooked commission men, 

 and that it is not endorsed by the responsible dealers. 

 If they were sincerely trying to see that commission sharks 

 are dealt with in the manner they deserve, and that shippers 

 get what is due them, we would feel like helping the Protec- 

 tive Association along rather than to denounce them. 



We are glad to be assured that all the bee-keepers are 

 ready to "back us up" in our fight against the honey dealing 

 and glucosing frauds that are ever at their miserable work. 

 We have a great deal of faith in what the United States Bee- 

 Keepers' Union can do along these lines, when it gets down to 

 business. We hope it will soon have an opportunity to illus- 

 trate its power for good among bee-keepers. — Editor.] 



Poisonous Hoaey — Bee-Keepiug Experts, Etc. 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



Some days ago I had a visit from one of our prominent 

 bee-keepers — Mr. Wm. Webb, of Sutton, who was also a few 

 years ago one of the American Bee Journal's correspondents. 

 During the conversation the subject of poisonous honey came 

 up. He told me that he had some this year, and that on read- 

 ing the bee-papers he resolved to make an experiment with it. 

 So he called in all the neighbors and gave them all they would 

 eat. (I suppose they knew what the honey was, but I forgot 

 to ask Mr. Webb whether he told them or not.) 



Well, the majority of the experimenters became sick, but 

 as soon as they felt ill, they vomited, which relieved them, and 

 thus ended the "experiment." 



One, however, did not vomit, and was for a time really 

 "sick for good." Aside from the usual symptoms which ac- 

 company a common indigestion, there was a partial blindness 

 and a numb feeling in the skin, which are characteristic of 

 poisoning by the cyanic compounds contained in the different 

 species of wild laurels (kalmias). 



There are plenty of wild laurels in all the Alleghany 

 mountains, but poisonous honey is not often met, and where 

 It is met with, it is only once in a few years. By what I have 

 learned from different persons, it seems that the nectar is 

 gathered from the laurels only where and when nothing else 

 can be had. That explains the contradictory reports received. 



EXPERTNKSS REQUIRED IN BBE-KEKPINQ. 



The old readers of the American Bee Journal remember 

 Mr. Sam Wilson, also one of the old writers for the paper. 

 Mr. Webb has just bought Mr. Wilson's apiary — bees, hives, 

 foot-power saw, and all. Upon imjuiry I was informed that 

 Mr. Wilson sold his bees because he has too much other busi- 

 ness to attend to. I asked Mr. Webb if it was because his 

 bees had not paid him ; but he answered In the negative. In 

 fact, it is the other way. Mr. Wilson began bis career years 



ago, with nothing, or next to nothing. Bee-keeping was his 

 first venture, and the money he has made out of it enabled 

 him to start his other business. 



This is not an uncommon occurrence. Many of our friends 

 who went to dlifornia, made money out of their bees, and 

 then sold out and went into other business. The fact is, that 

 bee-keeping cannot be carried on, on a very large scale, 

 because the owner has to do all the work. In other lines, you 

 can increase your business almost indefinitely because you 

 can hire all the help you need. But in bee-keeping you cannot 

 find competent help. Picking out good men and training 

 them has been tried again and again, but invariably with the 

 same result. As soon as your "trained helpers" are up to 

 the scratch, they start into business for themselves, and all 

 that you get for your trouble is a crop of competitors. 



Bear in mind that when I say that the apiarist must do 

 the work himself, I do not mean absolutely all the work. 

 Scraping sections, putting in foundation, turning the extrac- 

 tor crank, etc., and even selling the honey, can be done by 

 helpers, and the apiarist reserve for himself what work must 

 be done by an expert in handling bees. 



DIRECTIONS FOR INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



Some time ago a bee-keeper wrote that the instructions 

 sent by the queen-breeders for introducing were wrong, and 

 that the proper way to do was to put the cage (with the queen 

 In it) in the hive, and after two or three days remove the old 

 queen and release the new one. All I have to say is. Don't 

 you do any such thing at all ! No sooner does the old queen 

 find the caged queen than she will attempt to kill her, and 

 finding she cannot do it, she will get more and more excited 

 and enraged, and unless the weather and other circumstances 

 are quite adverse, she will be sure to swarm. If she does not, 

 the probabilities are that when the new queen is releast, th& 

 bees, being more or less excited yet, will ball her. 



Not long ago a German bee-keeper proposed that very 

 thing to make the bees swarm — that is, hanging a caged 

 queen in the hive. 



A few years ago I had several queens and queen-cells in 

 West cages, all in one hive. By some mishap a queen got out, 

 and swarming was the result ; yet it was not swarmiug-time, 

 the colony was small, there was plenty of empty comb — in 

 fact, all the circumstances were against swarming, yet they 

 went to the woods. 



APIS DORSATA AND THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 



While I am criticising what other people say, I want tc> 

 put in a word for Apisdorsata, or rather for the English 

 sparrow. I do not see how the introduction of Apis dorsata 

 could be a damage to anything or any one ; and I am not at 

 all sure that we are to repent of the introduction of the spar- 

 row. The only objection made is that the sparrow has driven 

 out other birds, but nobody has proved yet that it is so. True, 

 the other birds have disappeared more or less, but other causes 

 may have caused their disappearance, and we might not have 

 a single bird more, even if the sparrow had not been in- 

 troduced. And, in fact, the insects and other pests which 

 damage our fruits and vegetables are on the increase, and, 

 after all, what we need seems to be the introduction of a few 

 more kinds of " sparrows," rather than the destruction of the 

 one we have. Knox Co., Tonn. 



Bee-Notes from Nebraska. 



BV .J. M. YOUNG. 



Our bees had a good flight between Christmas and New 

 Years. 



The prospects for white clover next season were never 

 better in this locality. 



Our county fair last fall was held on the same date as the 

 Lincoln convention. I wanted to be there to shake hands 

 with some of the old veterans. 



I atn wintering 40 colonies on the summer stands; 26 of 

 these are In my combined summer and winter chaff hive; 

 the balance are in single-walled, 8-framo dovetailed hives. 



Bees are not kept in this locality for the profit there is in 

 them, but simply to supply the table with houoy once in a 

 while. What bees there are, are generally kept by the farm- 

 ers, and usually are in some form of a movable-comb hive, but 

 the manner of handling— " let them do as they please," i» 

 practiced to a large extent. 



