1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



89 



their postage bills — and this is the mainspring to the whole 

 outet of these little journals that die "a borulng." I have 

 paid as high as SiiOO in a year for one-cent stamps, and §600 

 more for the circulars, addressing and mailing, and I have 

 had my ups and downs, and made mistakes, but I always had 

 grace enough to pay my postage and printing bills like a man, 

 and leave the publishing business to publishers. * * * 



Why, yes, we will quote just two paragraphs from the 

 "supply dealer's circular" referred to, taken from some 

 advice on "Marketing Honey" — a very important subject. 

 Here they are, exactly as printed by the would-be publishers 

 of a bee-paper: 



"This is a part of our persuit that does not receive the 

 attention that it should. The marketing of honey should 

 receive as much attention as the production of it, what is the 

 use producing honey if you can not sell it, this well surly be 

 the result if the market continues to be fluxuated with honey 

 placed upon it just as it comes from the hive; we have sold 

 honey upon the city market more or less for a number of 

 years, and find It goes about like this : you go to a grocer with 

 a case of honey and ask him 15 cents for It, he laughs at you 

 and says that his neighbor has bought some honey for 10 

 cents, and is selling it for what you ask him, of coarse he can 

 not buy honey for what his competitor Is selling it so down 

 goes the price. 



"Our extracted honey should be put up in either tin or 

 glass packages, and neetly labeled with directions and pro- 

 ducer; so few people understand the granulation of honey 

 that it should never be sold without being labeled, and the 

 label bearing explination and directions, or an explination 

 verbally." 



Oh, glory ! Think of a whole paper gotten up in that 

 style! And yet, people who exude such samples of literary 

 ignorance aspire to be publishers! Get the smelling-bottle — 

 quick ! 



Truly, the field of bee-journalism is not extensive enough 

 to support very many bee-papers in the way they should be 

 supported in order to be just half-way profitable. There is 

 not a deserving bee-paper to-day that has quarter the number 

 of paying subscribers it should have in order to attain the 

 fullest success, and enable its publisher to get out something 

 that will be a credit to the pursuit which it is desired to 

 represent. 



For a long time we have felt that we do a real kindness to 



a new bee-paper to simply say nothing about it when it starts, 



for, in all probability, in a few months — or at most a very few 



years — we'd have to write its little epitaph. Our most unselfish 



advice is : Keep out of new-bee-journalism, unless you have 



money you prefer to get rid of in that way in preference to 



burning it. 



'*-•-*- 



Pbysiological Effects of Bee-Stins:s.— A Dr. 



R. S. Lindsay, of Philadelphia, recently askt Gleanings for 

 "information regarding the effects of bee-stings on the human 

 system." In reply to the request, Editor Root wrote him as 

 follows: 



Dr. R. S. li., Philadelphia— 



Dear Sir : — The average bee-keeper is not at all affected 

 by swelling after being stung. He experiences the same 

 sharp pain, but no fever or other unpleasant effects follow 

 after two or three minutes. The system seems to become in- 

 ured. But occasionally, when the bee stings along a vein, 

 there is an after-effect. We do not know to which school of 

 medicine you belong; but the homeopathists use a great deal 

 of apis melUfica in the form of a tincture. We have been sup- 

 plying Boereck & Tafel, of New York city, with bee-stings in 

 lots of 10,000 at a time. We are supplied with a wide- 

 moutht bottle holding about two ounces, and filled about two- 

 thirds full of sugar of milk. A comb of bees is placed before 

 a window, and from this comb the bees are pickt off one by 

 one with a pair of tweezers, while another pair removes the 

 stings, the latter dropping into the sugar of milk. The bee in 

 each case is crusht immediately before the removal of the 

 ^ting. In this way the stings are removed until the whole 

 number are in the jar, when it is corkt and sent to the par- 

 ties named. The apiarist can usually work only three or four 

 hours a day at removing the stings ; and even then he expe- 



riences pain in the eyes, and a sort of sickness from inhaling 

 the odor of the poison. 



As you see by the references below, there can be no ques- 

 tion but that slings do relieve certain kinds of rheumatism; 

 but just what kinds I am unable to say. 



Ernest R. Root. 



The " references" mentioned were those where different 

 writers had given their experience with bee-stings, which the 

 Doctor will use in reading up on the subject. He is investi- 

 gating the matter in a scientific manner, and will publish the 

 results as he finds them, " giving the physiological effects of 

 bee-stings, especially so far as they relate to the cure of vari- 

 ous kinds of rheumatism." This will no doubt be very inter- 

 esting. 



Tl?e Weekly Budget. 



Mr. Sigel Brautigam, of Grant Co., New Mex., says : "I 

 will take the ' Old Reliable ' as long as I am interested in api- 

 culture ; and no one interested in this occupation should be 

 without it." 



Mr. B. S. K. Bennett, of California, who publisht some 

 reflections upon the character of Mr. Geo. W. Brodbeck, of 

 that State, has made a retraction, and says that " as Mr. 

 Brodbeck is willing to 'forgive and forget,' we trust the bee- 

 keepers will do the same." We are glad the unpleasant mat- 

 ter has been " fixt up," and are pleased to give this notice of 

 the satisfactory outcome of a disagreeable condition of affairs. 



Mr. A. D. Watson, of Tioga Co., Pa., writes us as fol- 

 lows : " I am glad to see the American Bee Journal expose 

 the dishonest dealers in honey. I have received some of their 

 flowery circulars, soliciting shipments of honey, and if it had 

 not been for the timely warnings of theAmerican Bee Journal 

 I might have been caught napping. Therefore, I think the 

 price of subscription for the Bee Journal a very profitable 

 investment. Long prosperity to the 'Old Reliable.'" 



Mr S C Swanson, of Minnesota, when renewing his sub- 

 scription, wrote: " I like the American Bee Journal the best 

 of any bee-paper I ever saw. Every one that has bees should 

 read it. I am sure they will find that they never invested a 

 dollar better in their bee-busiuess." 



Dr. N. Ostrander, of Thurston Co., Wash., had this to 

 say in a letter dated Jan. 29 : 



"The Bee Journal for Jan. 14 failed in reaching me. 

 Until I mist this number I never realized fully its value. I do 

 not believe there is another publication in the country afford- 

 ing the same amount of valuable information for the same 

 amount of money." 



We are always glad to replace lost numbers of the Bee 

 Journal, if we are notified in time. If you don't receive a 

 certain number, better not wait more than two weeks after it 

 is due before asking for another. 



Mb Wm Beecroft, of Canada, when remitting for 189 1, 

 said- "I am well pleased with the American Bee Journal, 

 and think it is one of the best and cheapest of the kind pub- 

 lished." 



Mr S T. Pettit, of Ontario, Canada, has sent us a very 

 kind invitation to stop off with him a few days on our return 

 from the Buffalo meeting, next August or September. Mow, 

 we'd like to do that very thing, but really we cannot be away 

 from the office here any longer than is absolutely necessary. 

 We cannot afford to employ sufficient help so that we can very 

 well leave for more than three or four days at a time. So it is 

 quite out of the question to "go visitin'" as we'd like to do, 

 and as several have already generously invited us. We appre- 

 ciate the invitations very much, and only regret that we are 

 compelled to decline them, for we would so greatly enjoy 

 accepting if it were possible for us to di so. 



Mrs R a. Fifield, of New Hampshire, wrote thus 

 when renewing her subscription for 18HT: " I would not like 

 to get along without the Bee Journal, for It is a great help. It 

 comes every Friday." 



