536 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 26. 



n:\^t' * 



^ Ml S""" -L""'*"" "• AMERICA A^ 



CEORGB Ytr. YORK, • Editor. 



PUBLWHT WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. YORK & COMPANY, 

 MS Micliig-an St., - CHICAGO, II^T^. 



$1.00 a Year — Sample Copy Sent Free. 

 [Bntered at the Post-Offlce at ChicBKO as Second-Class Mall-Matter. 



United States Bee-Keepers' Union. 



Organized to advance the pursuit of Apiculture; to promote the interestn 



of bee-keepers : lo protect its members : to prevent the adulteration 



ol honey; and to prosecute the dishonest honey-commission men. 



Membership Fee-$1.00 Per Annum. 



i5-veeii<ft^e Commit foe. 



President— George W. York. Vice-Pres.— E. Wuitcomb. 



Secretary— Dr. A. B. Mason, Station B, Toledo, Ohio. 



Board of Directors. 



E. R. Root. E. Whitcomb. E. T. Abbott. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. Dr. C. C. Miller. C. P. Dadant. 



General Alnna^er ami Treasurer, 



Eugene Secok, Forest City, Iowa. 



Next Annnal meeting at Baffalo, N. Y., Aug. 24—26, 1897. 



Vol. niVII. CHICAGO, ILL, AUG. 26, 1897. No, 31 



Editorial Q>on)n)^r)i^^ 



About I4,000 C'opies of this number of the Bee Journal 

 were printed— many of them to be used as sample copies. We 

 trust that each one who receives a copy will be glad to send the 85 

 cents for the last four months of this year, if not already a regular 

 subscriber. And should any one receive two copies, we will con- 

 sider it a favor if the extra one is handed to some bee-keeping 

 friend who perhaps might be glad to read it and also subscribe. 



Xlie Unllalo Convention will be nearly over while our 

 thousands of readers are perusing this number of the Bee Journal. 

 The long-lookt-for and much-talkt-of annual national meeting of 

 bee-keepers in Buffalo will soon be -a matter of history. Let us 

 hope that it may be but the beginning of better things for bee- 

 keepers— the beginning of the end of honey-adulteration, dishon- 

 est, defrauding commission-men, and all that prey upon the 

 deserving producers of the genuine article of honey. 



We expect within a week or two, to begin the publication of 

 the full report of the proceedings of the Buffalo convention in 

 these columns. Look out for something good. 



'■'!■«; market for Honey.— On this very important sub- 

 ject. Gleanings for Aug. 15 gives the following paragraphs; 



Altho still early for selling honey, there is a fair demand, and 

 prices seem to be pretty well maintained, and choice honey is 

 already finding rea iy sale. Later reports show that, in many 

 sections, the crop will be much less than at first anticipated. In 

 the northern New lOngland States there seems to have been very 

 little honey gathered; likewise in Minnesota, owing to cool 

 weather and rains, very little honey has been gathered from the 

 white clover bloom, which was very abundant. In Michigan the 

 yield from willow herb seems to be cut short. With nbundnnt 

 farm crops and fairly good prices; with the starting up of so mauy 

 industries that have been dormant or working on short time dur- 

 ing the past three or four years, the demand for honey should be 



so improved that as good or even better prices should be realized 

 than last year. If beekeepers who have plenty of honey will not 

 make the mistake of rushing it off to the large cities into the hands 

 of irresponsible commission houses, but will, instead, develop their 

 home market to the fullest extent, there will be hope for improved 

 prices for honey instead of lower. It Americans generally con- 

 sumed as much honey as they do in Europe, there would be demand 

 enough for a full crop of honey. 



Make sure that the consumer gets pure honey; and to help 

 toward that end. join the United States Bee-Keepers' Union, pay- 

 ing your fee of SI 00, and thus furnish the sinews of war for th* 

 prosecution of those unscrupulous firms and individuals who palm 

 off upon the unsuspecting public a mixture consisting rhiefly of 

 gluco.'-e. but under the name of pure honey. Such stuff does a 

 great deal more harm to the honey-bu^iness. by blunting and de- 

 stroying the taste tor honey, than in any other way. If people 

 can get pure honey they will continue to eat it, while they will not 

 continue so readily to eat the mixt stuff. 



Send your membership fee to Dr. A. B. Mason, Sta. B. Toledo, 



Ohio Let the list of members roll up to large proportions, so 



that the officers may soon have a fund with which to begin aggres- 

 sive work. 



Just two things we wish to emphasize in the foregoing, viz. ; 

 Develop your home honey market thoroughly, and also become a 

 member of the United States Bee-Keepers' Union. It will pay to 

 follow these two suggestions. If more convenient, as we have so 

 often said before, send your membership fee to the Bee Journal 

 office, and we will forward it to the proper place, when a receipt 

 will be mailed you. 



<'Iil>I>iUj£ tlie f^ueen's Wings.— Mr. U. M. Doolittle. in 

 an article on " Clipt Queensand Swarming," in the American Bee- 

 Keeper, says; "I consider the clipping of the queen's wings one of 

 the improvements of the age, scarcely second to any of the many 

 others made within the past half a century." 



Place to Keep Comb Honey.— Editor Abbott, of the 

 Busy Bee, gives the following good advice as to keeping comb 

 honey: "Keep your comb honey in a dry, warm place. Do not 

 put it in the ice chest, nor in the cellar. There is not a cellar in 

 the United States that is so dry that it will not injure the flavor of 

 comb honey if kept in it. Better by far put it in the garret, as it 

 is sure to be dry and warm there for some time." 



Importance ot Shading- Hives.- Mr. Chas. H. Tbies, 

 in the August American Bee-Keeper, writes thus on shading hives; 

 " All my hives that are exposed to the rays of the sun any portion 

 of the day are covered with shading-boards, which are raised an 

 inch or two from the top ot the hive-cover. This is not only of 

 benefit to the bees, but to the bee-keeper us well, as I find when 

 thus protected they do not cluster on the outside of the hive to 

 such an extent, but remain out in the field at work." 



Honey-Salve is recommended by Dr. Kneipp as an excel- 

 lent dressing for sores and boils, says a "straw "in Gleanings. 

 Take equal parts honey and flour, add a little water, and stir 

 thoroughly together. Don't make too thin. 



I'yprisinM, Syrians, and Holylantl!;..- A writer in 

 the Southland Queen gives the following description ot these races 

 of bees, the italics being ours: 



The Cyi'hians are natives of the island of Cypress, whence 

 their name. They are a yellow race of bees with few exceptions. 

 The bees and queens are slender, somewhat smaller than the Ital- 

 ian. They nearly always have a yellow shield just behind the 

 wings; are quick upon the wing; very strong, excellent honey- 

 gatherers; winter well, and are, as a rule, proof against robber- 

 bees. 



The Stuians are found in that portion of Asiatic Turkey 

 which lies north of Mount Carmel. They are about the same size 

 as the Cyprians, and their qualities are about the same. Their dis- 

 position is blso much like the Cyprians, and differ very slightly 

 from them in appearance, being a little more yellow when first 

 imported, but when bred in this country tor awhile no one will, 

 as a rule, be able to make a distinction between the two. For a 

 few generations they are grayer, or have more ot an ash color 

 than the Cyprians. 



The lloi.vi.ANDs. or, as the natives call them, "Holy" bees, 

 are fouud in I'alestine south ot Mount Carmel. They are markt 

 somewhat like the Cyprians, but their hair is ,so light at first, or 

 when first imported, and for three or four generations they ap- 

 pear to be beautifully striped. Their size and shape is much like 



