J^T BEE-PAPc^ 



'IN AMER^C^■J^ 



4 2d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, FEBRUARY 13, 1902, 



No, 7. 



^ Editorial. ^ I 



The WiwcoiiHin Convention was held 

 last woek Weilnesday and Tliursdaj'. There 

 was a fair attendance and a s™"' meeting. 

 All theoflicers were re-eleeted. and they are as 

 follows : 



President, N. E. France; vice-president, 

 Jacolj HutTman; secretary, Ada L. Picliard; 

 and treasurer, Harry Lathrop. 



Next weeli we will have more to say al)out 

 it, and later we expect to publish a short re- 

 port of the proceedings, includinj^ the papers 

 that were read. 



"Soniniy " on Adulteration. — Som- 

 nambulist opens up his January contribution 

 to the Progressive Bee-Keeper by saying: 



'■One's faith in humanity as well as one's 

 reliance on one's own senses receive a very 

 distinct shook on opening the American Bee 

 Journal for Dec. 5." 



After some racy comments upon the Chi- 

 cago Tribune article and cartoon, he says : 



In this famous or infamous article, as bee- 

 keepers are apt to brand it, one complainant 

 says, " I know of no place in Chicago where 

 one can purchase a pound of pure honey." 

 Poor Chicago! Little "one boss" Missouri 

 towns can beat that. 



Proceeding then to quote that genuine 

 honey may be told by the brown coloring, he 

 comments : 



What a fine excuse for a " little more sleep, 

 a little more slumber " along about the time 

 to remove supers; what a grand inducement 

 to the extra-fancy comb-honey producers! 



After years of contriving and weeks of 

 hustling to secure unblemished sections, only 

 to be assured that they are not genuine ! Too 

 bad! 



What a vast amount of maneuvering, and 

 how many sleepless nights might have been 

 saved hail this information but reached us 

 years ago. On the other hand, what a crumb 

 of comfort is this knowledge to the slovenly, 

 go-easy bee-keeper. The company of anti- 

 section scrapers may confidently expect new 

 recruits, for if the brown coloring around the 

 cells is an indication of genuineness, the same 

 coupled with a propolis-debauded section 

 would constitute a surety. 



After a perusal of the Tribune article it will 

 h& hard for some bee-keepers to believe that 

 the "world moves." 



WateringBees in Winter is little prac- 

 ticed in this country. In Germany some bee- 

 keepers consider it very important, while 

 others thipk it needless if not injurious. 

 Editor Weippl, of Illustrierte Monatsblaetter, 

 says both are right. If the bees have honey 

 that is candied, thick, or tough, they may 



suffer without water. It their honey is late- 

 gathered, or such as contains a fair propor- 

 tion of water, then water is superfluous. The 

 water in honey varies from 10 to 2."> percent. 

 If there is IS percent or more, that is all the 

 water the bees need, even in the time when 

 lireeding begins. Besides, the bees under- 

 stand how to increase the supply of water. 

 Outside of the cluster they uncap more honey 

 than is needed for immediate use, and this 

 attracts moisture from the atmosphere. But 

 if the honey be candied or thick, then water 

 in sufHcient degree is not attracted from the 

 atmosphere. 



The Robber Spotted. — A peasant came 

 one day to the Cadi to complain that his hives 

 had been robbed. "Come to me to-morrow 

 with your neighbor." said the Cadi. Next 

 day at the appointed hour, the peasant ap- 

 peared with a number of the villagers. 



"Imbecile!" said the Cadi; "didn't you 

 know any better than to bring all these 

 worthy people here; Don't you see that the 

 man that robbed your hive has yet a cluster 

 of bees on his turban ?" At this one of the men 

 quickly put his baud to his turban, and — was 

 arrested on the spot. — Prak. Wegweiser. 



A Honey-Lie Correction. — Mr. Newton 

 Bawn, of Iowa, has kindly sent us a clipping 

 written by Mr. J. S. Triggs, who, unfortun- 

 ately, helped to keep in circulation the old 

 lie about the manufacture of comb honej-. 

 The correction is as follows: 



AKTIFICIAL COMB HOSET. 



A short time ago we incidentally referred 

 to the manufacture of bogus comb honey, 

 and, judging from the many letters we re- 

 ceived, we made a mistake in assuming that 

 any such honey is made, or could possibly be 

 made, and so our readers will please under- 

 stand that there is no such fraud practiced, 

 and that we never said there was. The bee- 

 men unite in saying that it is a mechanical 

 impossibility to make an artificial comb, fill it 

 with an adulterated sweet and so to seal up 

 the cells that such fraud could not be readily 

 detected. 



At the same time, we have before us the 

 statement of an expert of the Agricultural 

 Departmentat Washington — Mr. Chas. Saylor, 

 of Des Moines, la. — in which he refers to this 

 matter as though such bogus product were 

 actually being made. The bee-men can now 

 go for him, and convince him as they have us, 

 that he is in error. 



The item which drew forth the criticism 

 was prompted, not so much by what we had 

 read and heard of this fraftd, as by the char- 

 acter and i|uality of a lot of honey which we 

 bought about that time. Assuming that this 

 lot of honey was the pure-quill product of 

 the bees, we wonder what the moral condi- 

 tion of the members of the hive must have 

 been to have produced such an abomination, 

 when it looked so very tempting. They must 

 surely have been foragers on strange grounds 

 and eaters of forbidden fruits — revellers among 



the bloom of skunk cabbage, henbane and rag- 

 weed, distillers of the nectar from malignant 

 and deadly types of the vegetable kingdom. 

 Maylje their i|ueen was dead, or the regular 

 workers on a strike and the drones tried 

 their hand. Anyhow, not knowing that the 

 bees made that honey, the poetic sentiment 

 with which wc have always invested the bee 

 is knocked into smithereens, and, hereafter, 

 it, like the ox or the pig, is of the earth, 

 earthy. 



Undoubtedly. Mr. Triggs got hold of some 

 rank honey — perhaps some sour, spoiled 

 honey. Of course, all pure comb honey is 

 not of the finest flavor, as any one knows who 

 is at all familiar with honey. But just be- 

 cause a certain honey does not suit one's 

 palate, or is rank from any cause, that is no 

 good reason for saying that it was manufac- 

 tured by machinery, etc. 



We think we'll turn over the Mr. Chas. 

 Saylor mentioned, to Mr. Benton, of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, and give him the 

 bee-keepers' full permission to "sail into" 

 him in the way he deserves. 



Carbon Bisulphid as an Insecticide 



is the title of Farmers' Bulletin No. 145 sent 

 out by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 Carbon bisulphid has come into prominence 

 among bee-keepers as an insecticide superior 

 to sulphur, having along with its other claims 

 for recognition the very important one that it 

 destroys eggs as well as wax-worms. This 

 bulletin is probably the best thing of the kind 

 in existence, and it will be well for those in- 

 terested in the matter to obtain a free copy 

 from Washington. 



The following description of its liquid 

 properties is interesting and instructive: 



The liquid is one-fourth heavier than water, 

 its specific gravity being 1.20 at the freezing 

 temperature of water. It is very volatile, 

 evaporating with great rapidity when freely 

 exposed to the air. The rapidity of evapora- 

 tion depends mainly upon the area of the 

 evaporating surface and the temperature of 

 the liquid and the air. It may be retarded by 

 mixing the litiuid with various substances, 

 and is wholly prevented by covering the sur- 

 face of the carbon bisulphid with a layer of 

 water, which, being lighter, floats easily on 

 top. just as kerosene does upon water. The 

 rapid evaporation of the liquid takes up a 

 large amount of heat. If a little be poured 

 upon the hand, a burning sensation will be 

 experienced, which, however, is due. not to a 

 burning. t>ui to a cooling process, as may be 

 perceived liy touching the spot with the other 

 hand. No harm need be feared from getting 

 it upon the skin. 



When perfectly pure the liquid has an 

 acrid taste and a rather sweetish, not unpleas- 

 ant, ethereal odor, quite similar to that of 

 ether or chloroform. Pure carbon bisulphid 

 is completel.y volatile, and will not injure or 

 stain the finest fabrics. Even when poured 

 directly upon food-stutis their edibility is not 

 at all impaired, and all trace of the odor dis- 

 appears quickly upon free and full expostire 

 to the air. The ordinary commercial article. 



