

5^ BEE:PAPe^ 



IN AMERlC^ J^ 



4 2d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, APRIL 24, 1902, 



No, 17, 



^ Editorial. ^ I 



Quoting the Honey Market.— An edi- 

 torial on pajji' 1SI5 has called forth the follow- 

 ing: 

 Editor Amekioax Bee Journal. — 



Ikiir .S/i- •■— Referring: to "Quoting the 

 Honey Market'' — editorial pafje, l'rt(i inst. — 

 "It is better to quote a cent lower rather 

 than a cent above," etc. Our (Jreat Teacher 

 said that our conversation should be yea, yea, 

 and nay, nay. " The truth is niijihty, and will 

 prevail," although all the commission men 

 come to your rescue. Don't niaUe a fight on 

 that. Yours truly, 



C. C. Parsons. 



The fact that a lower quotation than the 

 market leads to less trouble than a higher 

 quotation is by no means an argument that 

 either one is as good as a correct <iuotatiou ; 

 and at this end of the line there is implicit 

 confidence that it is the wise thing to obey the 

 precepts of the Great Teacher. So it has con- 

 stantly been the effort to tell " the truth, the 

 whole truth, and nothing but the truth." 



One of those things that no one with an 

 editorial experience will be likely to label as 

 belonging in the list of things so easy to be 

 done that they do themselves, is the matter of 

 pleasing everybody, and especially is this true 

 with regard to the matter of market quota- 

 tions. There are those that believe it would 

 be better to have no market quotations what- 

 ever; but it is not likely that this number is 

 very large ; and a conviction that by far the 

 greater number of bee-keepers desire to have 

 such quotations continued has been the war- 

 rant for their continuance. 



Again, the opinion has been expressed that 

 it would be better to give the price of comb 

 honey and omit that of extracted; and it is 

 possible that the exact opposite of this opin- 

 ion may be entertained. 



Neither does the foregoing complete the 

 list of dissenting views, as witness the follow- 

 ing: ■ 



Mr. Editor: — Why do you print in the 

 honey and beeswax market quotations the 

 name of one firm in each city ? If it is meant 

 as an advertisement of that firm, and you get 

 pay for that advertising, I have nothing to 

 say. But I do not see the sense in taking up 

 room with the names otherwise. It hardly 

 seems the fair thing to others in the same 

 place etiually trustworthy, even if they do not 

 do so large a lousiness; and if it is a matter of 

 free favor, should you not favor the weak 

 rather than the strong ? I have looked 

 through my daily, which has one page pretty 

 well filled with market quotations of nearly 

 every commodity under the sun, and I do not 

 tind the name given of the man who sells 

 hides, or of the one who sells butter, or 

 onions, or anything else. Of course, you 



ought to know your own business, but I 

 thought it would do no harm to tell you 1»)W 

 things look to others. HoNEY-PRODfcEU. 



Not entirely in agreement with this is the 

 view that a full list of dealers or commission 

 men should be given. 



Does it not appear pretty clear that these 

 diverging views can not easily be all carried 

 out at the same time '. There is a large 

 capacity for the reception of advice at this 

 otlice, and further installments of that article 

 will be cheerfully received. But please don't 

 insist on it that we must follow all that is 

 supplied. 



A little later we expect to publish the views 

 of the commission men on the subject of 

 quoting the honey market. Theu there'll be 

 some interesting reading for " Rip Van Win- 

 kle," as well as others. 



Traite Prati<|iie Pour L'Elevase De 

 Reines (Practical Treatise on Queen-Rear- 

 ing), is the title of a little work of 90 pages 

 just issued by Giraud-Pabou it Fils, in France. 

 It gives the latest methods in use in this 

 country, for which it seems desirous to give 

 full credit (unless it be in the ease of Prid- 

 gen's nursery and West's cell-protector), and 

 gives especial credit to " Doolittle's magnifi- 

 cent work " — " Scientific Queen-Rearing." 



Tarred Paper as a Winter Cover- 

 ins- — After another winter's trial of black 

 tarred paper tacked or tied about hives, 

 Arthur C. Miller says in the American Bee- 

 Keeper : 



In the matter of warmth I find that the 

 wrapping of tarred paper about single- walled 

 hives continues to work most satisfactorily. 

 During the past winter I have had seven colo- 

 nies so protected, and they are now in prime 

 condition. The black surface of the paper 

 absorbs the sun's rays, and the hives are 

 warmed through and through, and yet the 

 bees do not seem to fly abnormally or in un- 

 seasonable weather. 



The Proper Naming of Swarms is a 



matter not without its difficulties. Take just 

 the three terms — prime swarm, first swarm, 

 and second swarm. Very likely nine out of 

 ten will say, " A prime swarm is just the same 

 as a first swarm — the swarm that issues first 

 in the season from any given colony ; and a 

 second swarm is the next one that issues after 

 the prime or first swarm." 



That looks simjile and easy enough, and it 

 would be so if nothing but the time of issying 

 were ever taken into consideration. But the 

 same man who gave the foregoing answer will 

 say, " A first swarm has a laying queen, and 

 a second swarm has a virgin.'' Then comes a 

 colony which by some means has lost its lay- 

 ing queen, and tlie first time it sends out a 



swarm there is a virgin queen with the swarm. 

 According to the first statement it is a first 

 swarm, according to the second statement it 

 is a second swarm. Dadant's " I.angstroth " 

 speaks of a prime or primary swarm with a 

 young or virgin queen. Root's " A B C of 

 Bee-Culture" says that a swarm with a virgin 

 queen is an after-swarm. 



The only object of the present paragraphs 

 is to call attention to the confusion of terms, 

 in the hope that in some way the matter may 

 be straightened out. 



Black and White Hives.— At the Chi- 

 cago convention Secretary Moore said that to 

 satisfy his desires a hive should be painted at 

 least twice a year — white at the coming of hot 

 weather in summer, so as to keep the hive 

 cool, and black when cold weather comes in 

 the fall so as to attract the rays of the sun. 

 He has held that opinion for some time, and 

 no one has objected to the desirability of such 

 a thing, but it did not seem an easy thing to 

 accomplish. Now that Arthur C. Miller seems 

 to have made a success of using black tarred 

 paper as a winter wrapping for hives, there- 

 seems nothing in the way of hisat least trying 

 the plan of white and black. 



Sugar for Bees. — An interesting discus- 

 sion as to the right kind of sugar for bees is 

 published in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, in 

 which W. K. Morrison contends that beet- 

 sugar is unsuitable for bees, and Melvin R. 

 Gilmore contends that there is no difference 

 whatever between refined cane-sugar and re- 

 fined beet-sugar. It is somewhat hard to 

 decide which has the better of the argument. 

 So long as all agree that cane is at least as 

 good as beet-sugar, it might seem the part of 

 wisdom to prefer the cane. Unfortunately 

 for the possibility of carrying that out, we are 

 told that by far the larger portion of sugar on 

 the market is beet, and no one can tell one 

 kind from the other. 



E.xcluders Under Section-Supers.— 



Some say they are not needed, while others say 

 that without them the queen will go up and 

 lay in the sections. This difference of opin- 

 ion may result from difference in conditions. 

 With plenty of room below there' is little in- 

 ducement for the queen to go above to lay. 

 Yet with plenty of room below, if there is no 

 drone-comb in the lower story, and room for 

 it above, the workers will be likely to build 

 drone-comb above, and the queen will be 

 likely to use it. If the sections are filled with 

 foundation, so that no drone-comb can be 

 built above, the cases will probably be rare in 

 which the queen will go above. If small 

 starters are used in sections, with no drone- 

 comb beIow.it will be a safe thing to use a 

 queen-excluder. 



