^1861 '^ 



>"^ .-/N AMERICA /^^ 



4 2d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, JANUARY 9, 1902, 



No. 2. 



^ Editorial. % i 



I<\)iil Brood Ijiiws in l-^voi'y State 



slioukl l)e deinatutt'd by Itee-keepers. It is 

 not necessary to wait until the disease lias a 

 strong foothold. It is much better to keep 

 the disease out than to try to eradicate it after 

 it has bettun its work. Most commendable 

 work has been done by the inspectors of foul 

 brood in Canada and some of the States 

 where foul brood had taken np a residence. 

 Does any one doubt that it would have been 

 economy to have been at the same expense 

 and labor before rather than after the estab- 

 lishment of the disease i 



Iniprovenient of Stock. — In a careful 

 consideration of this subject in Revue Inter- 

 nationale, it is said that when we have found 

 a queen of exceptional qualities, every care 

 must be taken to give the queen and her 

 projjeny the best chance possible for health 

 and vigor, the chief care being- to see that 

 there is never any scarcity of food in the 

 shape of honey of good quality. In the opin- 

 ion of the French writer sugar syrup can not 

 replace honey, and it sugar syrup alone be 

 consumed the eggs will be of inferior quality, 

 and a mediocre generation of workers will 

 result. So it is unwise economy to take 

 away from a colony too much of its honey. 



Xo Set Program at bee-conventions 

 seems to be getting to be the rule rather than 

 the exception. Good thing. A written paper, 

 no matter liow good, may be spoiled in the 

 re!\ding, and in general will be enjoyed just 

 as well when read at home in a bee-paper. 

 But the bright thoughts that are brought out 

 in a live discussion are the things that make 

 it worth while to go to a bee-convention. If, 

 however, the time is to be taken up entirely 

 with no set program, depending upon the 

 question-box for subjects, it is of prime im- 

 portance that there i)e a wide-awake presiding 

 otticer, or the discussions will sometimes run 

 away with him, taking up much time with 

 matters of little importance. 



Inspector Rankin's Report. — This 

 report, as published on page S23 (1901), 

 shows not only that much work has been 

 done by Mr. Rankin in Michigan, but that 

 still more work is needed. It is a somewhat 

 alarming statement that more than half the 

 apiaries visited by the inspector were invaded 

 by foul brood. The case does not look so 



bad when it is remembered tlial he would \k 

 likely to visit only those apiaries that were 

 suspected. Still, the fact remains that he 

 found I lil Infected apiaries in the State, and 

 out of S2S(i colonies inspected, he found the 

 number of diseased colonies to be about one 

 in eight. How many infected colonies in the 

 State were not found at all by Mr. Rankin can 

 be only a matter of surmise, but it is not hard 

 to believe that the nundier may be consider- 

 able after reading the inspector's statement 

 that many bee-keepers whose apiaries are 

 troubled by the disease seemed to have no 

 idea that they had any serious trouble on 

 their hands; and it is quite po.ssible that in 

 many cases the owners of diseased colonies 

 do not suspect the presence of the scourge. 



Bees Supporting a Hired Hand. — 



As showing what a colon.v of bees may do in 

 exceptional cases, the following from G. M. 

 Doolittle, in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, is in- 

 teresting: 



I wish to tell you about something which 

 pleased me during 1872. I bouglit an ex- 

 tractor, and, being determined to give the 

 bees the care they needed, and knowing that 

 the time thi bees needed the most attention 

 came in haying-time, I hired a man to take 

 my place in the hay-field. It so happened 

 that he commenced work on the day bass- 

 wood commenced to bloom. Previously I had 

 hived a prime swarm, and concluded to devote 

 them to extracted honey. The man worked 

 10 days at ?1.?.5 a day, and I extracted honey 

 enough from that colony during those It! 

 days to pay the man for his work. I tell you 

 this to show that, when properly managed, in 

 a fairly good season, one awarm is equivalent 

 to a man at worlv in the hay-field, and so it 

 will not pay to neglect a whole apiary to go 

 into the field to work, as many would-be bee- 

 keepers so generally do, and afterward growl 

 about the bees not paying them. 



Selling by Case or by Weight. — The 



Rocky- Mountain Bee .lournal thinks injustice 

 was done Colorado liee-keepers in a late num- 

 ber of this journal by the Editor and R. A. 

 Burnett & Co., in the strictures that were 

 made against selling honey by the case. There 

 is certainly no desire to do any injustice to 

 the good bee-keepers of Colorado, whom this 

 journal holds in high esteem. So far as they 

 are concerned, the matter is put in a very dif- 

 ferent light by a full understanding of the 

 case, and in order to that end it is a pleasure 

 to give here in full the following from the 

 Rocky Mountain Bee Journal: 



The Colorado State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion has adopted the following standard of 

 weights per case in the grading and classifica- 

 tion of comb honey : 



" No. 1. — Cases of separatored honey to 

 average 21 pounds net per case of 24 .sections, 

 with a minimum weight of not less than 20 

 pounds for any single case; cases of half- 



separatored honey to average not less than 

 21", iiounds net per case of 21 sections, with 

 a minimum weight of 20'', pounds for any 

 single case; cases of unsejiaratored honey to 

 average not less than 22'^ pounds net per 

 case of 24 sections, with a niiniiiiimi weight 

 of 21',.; pounds for any single case." 



" No. 2. — Cases of separatored honey to 

 average not less than is pounds net per case 

 of 24 sections; cases of half-.separatore*! 

 honey to average not less than li) pounds net 

 per case of 24 seetir)ns ; cases of un.separatored 

 honey to average not less than 20 pounds per 

 case of 24 sections." 



Thus it will be seen that the objections of 

 the BurjiettCo.. as to short weight, fall flat. 

 The lightest weight of sections admissible In 

 the No. 1 grade is 14 ounces, so we fail to see 

 where the '.t and 12 ounce sections can get in. 

 I'nder our rules light-weights are sold as 

 culls, and every bee-keeper is anxious to avoid 

 producing them. 



The common practice all over the country 

 in retailing comb honey is to sell by the sec- 

 tion, and not by weight. The retailer likes 

 to buy by the pound, but invariably sells by 

 the section, and is thus enabled to make more 

 than a legitimate profit, and it comes out of 

 the producer. We fail to see the injustice of 

 compelling the retailer to purchase by the 

 piece, so long as he sells by the piece, espe- 

 cially when the weights are guaranteed, as in 

 the case of buying of members of the Colo- 

 rado Association. 



As tlie language stands, the remarks of the 

 American Bee Journal jilainly infer the 

 charge that the object in selling by the case is 

 a dishonest one. but we are charitable enough 

 to believe that such a meaning was not in- 

 tended. There are dishonest people in every 

 calling in life, and those among bee-keepers 

 who desire to be dishonest will find ways to 

 accomplish their trickery whether they sell 

 by the case or weight. 



Selling by the case is growing in favor, and 

 where all parties are disposed to be fair and 

 honest there has been no trouble nor cause of 

 complaint. It is a matter that rests largeh' 

 upon individual honor and self-respect, and 

 the same is true throughout all the business 

 world. 



Under the Colorado rules wegrade by color, 

 finish and weight, and when a case of No. 1 

 or No. 2 is offered, we know, if it is graded 

 correctly, how it looks and the least it can 

 weigh. We base prices upon the minimum 

 weiglrt only. The advantage, if any, accrues 

 to the buyer, and the slight loss to the pro- 

 ducer, if any, is much less than the cost of 

 weighing. 



The Burnett Co. is one of the few thor- 

 oughly honest and reliable commission-houses 

 in the great inland metropolis, and their 

 opinions are entitled to serious consideration, 

 but the system of selling comb honey by the 

 case is too well grounded in Colorado to be 

 discarded at their simple behest. 



The American Bee Journal hereby apolo- 

 gizes to the Colorado beekeepers for even the 

 seemhiij of injustice, at the same time dis- 

 claiming any unkind intent. Like many 

 another case, the misunderstanding comes 

 from a difference in the use of terms, or per- 

 haps to be more exact in this case, because the 

 same term may be used to mean two different 

 things. What does selling "by the ease,'" 



