I. -^IN AMERICA J^^ 



4 2d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, JULY 10, 1902, 



No, 28. 



s A.iS,ja^ia^i£,ja,j£..}a,js,j^i)i.i£^i^i£^iiiJ<i.i<^ts^>i 





^ Editorial Comments, ^i 



"The Bee-Keeper's Guide: or Manual of the Apiary," 

 is the double title of Prof. A. J. Cook's text-book on bees, 

 which has now reached its 17th edition. The present edi- 

 tion is improved as to its outward appearance, and still 

 more as to its contents, much of it being written anew, thus 

 enlarging the work to 544 pages, and bringing it up to date. 



Prof. Cook writes from the standpoint of a scientist as 

 well as a practical beekeeper; so it happens that in one 

 respect no text-book on bees published in this country can 

 compare with this — that respect which relates to the natural 

 history of the honey-bee. This occupies Part I. and covers 

 167 well-written pages, 81 of the 295 illustrations of the 

 book being used to illuminate this first part. 



It is true that a man might keep bees and produce 

 honey without knowing whether a bee belongs to the class 

 hexapoda or myriapoda — men have profitably produced 

 honey without knowing whether the drones or the workers, 

 or something else, laid the eggs — but the ambitious young 

 person who enters the ranks of bee-keepers will have some 

 desire to be intelligent upon the subject in general, and 

 even if he has all the other text-books he will want the one 

 hat is so full upon the natural history of his pets. 



Preceding Part I is an introduction discussing who may 

 keep bees : inducements to bee-keeping — recreation, profits, 

 etc. 



The introduction to Part II advises as to starting an 

 apiary, the proper preliminary study, procuring first colo- 

 nies, kind of hives to adopt, where to locate, etc. 



Part II gives practical instruction in bee-keeping, its 

 successive chapters treating on Hives and Sections ; Posi- 

 tion and Arrangement of the Apiary ; Transferring Bees ; 

 Feeding and Feeders ; Oueen-Rearing ; Increase of Colo. 

 nies ; Italianizing; Extracting; Working forComb Honey : 

 Handling Bees ; Comb Foundation ; Marketing Honey ; 

 Honey-Plants (with 55 illustrations of honey-plants in 

 bloom) ; Wintering Bees ; The House-Apiary and Bee- 

 House; Evils that Confront the Apiarist; Calendar and 

 Axioms. 



The beginner of the present day is greatly blessed in 

 being able to have a text-book the study of which before he 

 ever handles a hive can put him on equal footing with the 

 bee-keeper of much experience who has nothing but that 

 experience on which to rely. Those who think a bee-paper 

 will take the place of a text-book are making a mistake. 

 Better have a good text-book, even if the favorite paper must 

 be stopped for a year. 



Prof. Cook's book is sent by mail for SI. 20 ; or we mail 

 it and the American Bee Journal for a whole year — both for 

 only SI. 75. See other offers on page 434. 



Do Not Leave Sections On Too Long.— If comb honey 

 is to bring the highest price in the market, it is of first im- 

 portance that the cappings be snowy white. (lenerally in 

 a crop of light honey a certain proportion of the sections 

 will be so dark as to lower the price a cent or two on each 

 pound. This darkening, in nine cases out of ten, if not in 

 9 cases out of 100. is the result of leaving the sections too 

 long on the hives. Bees make slow work generally about 

 finishing up the outside sections in a super, and if the 

 super is left on until these outside sections are entirely 

 sealed, the middle sections are pretty sure to be darkened, 

 the darkening being caused by bits of dark material carried 

 up from the black combs beneath. Late in the season the 

 matter is made still worse, especially in some localities, by 

 the deposition of bee-glue on the surface of the sections. 



The remedy is not difficult in the hands of those who 

 are willing to give the proper care. As soon as all but the 

 outside sections are finished, and while the central sections 

 still retain their snowy whiteness, remove the super. Sort 

 out all sections that require further sealing, mass them in a 

 super, or in as many supers as are necessary, and return 

 them to the bees to be finished. These returned supers, to 

 which has been given the name "go-backs," will probably 

 need to be taken off before all the sections are properly 

 finished, the unfinished ones sorted out and again returned 

 to the bees. 



Not only will this plan result in a minimum of dark- 

 ened combs, but in a small number of unfinished sections. 



A Bee-Keeper's Button for members of the National 



Association is advocated by Pres. Hutchinson, and the mat- 

 ter will probably come before the convention at Denver. 

 Why not ? The American Bee Journal has sent out a large 

 number of button-badges having on them a queen-bee, and 

 they have no doubt served in many a case to introduce to 

 each other bee-keepers who would otherwise have remained 

 as strangers. A National Association button or badge 

 would serve the same purpose, with the additional advan- 

 tage of distinguishing the members of the Association. 



Transferring — L. E. Kerr, in the American Bee-Keeper, 

 says if a number of colonies are to be transferred, first drum 

 out the bees of No. 1 and run them into a frame hive filled 

 with combs ; then take empty No. 1 into the honey-house 

 and transfer the combs at leisure. Drum the bees out of No 

 2 and run them into the combs of No. 1 ; then transfer the 

 combs of No. 2. and so on. 



Stings for Rheumatism.— Dr. Sere de Marburg says in 

 Prager Med. Wochenscrift that in acute cases of rheuma- 

 tism not serious in character, the effect of stings is rapid, a 

 cure being effected by a few injections of the poison. 

 Chronic cases may require hundreds of stings, and in such 

 cases it is not advisable to try the sting-cure unless all other 

 means fail. 



