622 



AMERICAN BEE TOliPNAL. 



Sept. 25. iyi)2. 



A New Edition. 19th Thousand. 



Pro!. 6oorsB66-K66D6rs Guide 



Or, Manual of the Apiary. 



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Price, 



Postpaid, 



$1.20 



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Price, 



Postpaid, 



$1.20 



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PROF. A. J. COOK. 



This standard work on practical bee-keeping has just 

 been thoroughly re\^ised and brought down to date. About 

 100 pages and nearly 100 illustrations have been added, 

 which makes it now a superb volume of 544 pages, with 295 

 fine illustrations. It is printed on clear white paper, and 

 is bound in elegant brown cloth, gold-lettered. 



Prof. Cook has been one of the leading contributors to 

 the American Bee Journal for a quarter of a century. He 

 is well known to bee-keepers everywhere. He is an author- 

 ity on bees and related subjects. His book has had a large 

 sale, which now bids fair to increase greath'. 



In order that every reader of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, who does not already possess a copy of Prof. Cook's 

 work, may have it, we wish to make the following 



FOUR LIBERAL OFFERS: 



No. 1. — For $1"S we will mail the American Bee Journal one year and a 

 copy of Prof. Cook's book. 



No. 2. — Any one of our present subscribers whose subscription is now paid 

 in advance, can have a copy of Prof. Cook's book mailed to him free as a pre- 

 mium for sending us two new subscribers to the American Bee Journal for a 

 year (with S2. 00.) 



No. 3. — Or, send one new subscriber for a year (at $1.00) and SO cents more 

 (Sl.SO in all,) and we will mail to YOU a copy of the book and will send the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal for one year to the new subscriber. 



No. 4. — For SI. 00 we will send Prof. Cook's book by express or freight 

 with other goods; or, if called for at our office, the price is SI. 00. But the post- 

 paid price of the book alone is $1.20. 



iW" Please remember that offers Nos. 2 and 3 of the 

 above are made to those who are now subscribers to the 

 American Bee Journal, and whose subscriptions are paid in 

 advance. Offers Nos. 1 and 4 are made to any one who de- 

 sires to take advantage of them. 



Address all orders to the publishers, 



GEORGE W. YORK & CO., 144 & 146 Erie St., CHICAGO, ILL. 



point of this localitj, there are two questions 

 involved- 



1. Which 16 belter, a strong: colony of old 

 bees, whose vitality is unimpaired by previous 

 brood-rearing, or a weak colony of young 

 bees, 3" days before the flow, that being the 

 time required to rear honey-gatherers from 

 the egg ; 



2. When natural pollen (the best kind of a 

 stimulant) begins, as it does here, more than 

 37 days before the How, and continues without 

 a break, is it any additional stimulation to 

 feed thin honey ? 



In answer to the first question, one experi- 

 ence in cellar-wintering here shows that a 

 comparatively late start in brood-rearing with 

 strong colonies of vigorous old bees, which 

 start was still, however, more than 37 days 

 before the flow, produced results just as good 

 as the usual handful of brood kept up from 

 January on, resulting in weak colonies by the 

 first of May. To be sure, natural pollen be- 

 gins rather late here, not till the last week of 

 April, and bees will take artificial pollen 

 eagerly before that time, and it certainly does 

 stimulate them; but it is very doubtful 

 whether that stimulation is any real good. 



As to the second question, any one familiar 

 with the normal aspect of the brood-chambers 

 here in the middle of May — broad sheets of 

 brood with comparatively few bees — and who 

 concludes that the bees can be stimulated 

 more than they are, must have some consid- 

 erations in mind wlaich are not apparent to 

 the understanding of this writer. If there is 

 one thing in which theoretical views are 

 dominant, it is in this matter of stimulation. 

 Where are the proofs ? 



Size of Cells. 



Doolittle says queen-cells should be rather 

 more than five-sixteenths in diameter. Call 

 it five and a third sixteenths — that's just a 

 third of an inch. Then we have: worker- 

 cells five to the inch, drone-cells four to the 

 inch, and queen-cells three to the inch. — Stray 

 Straw in Gleanings in Bee-Culture. 



An Association Seal. 



Some years ago the Ontario County (N. Y.) 

 Bee-Keepers' Association decided to place 

 their good, white honey under the seal of the 

 Association. It was thought that a reputa- 

 tion for Ontario County honey could thus be 

 built up. I do not know that it occurred to 

 the instigators of the scheme at that lime, 

 that this seal might act as a guarantee of the 

 purity of the genuineness of the article. In 

 these times of mistrust against even the gen- 

 uine product of the bee, it would seem all the 

 more desirable that we should enact a scheme 

 by which we could strengthen or regain the 

 confidence of consumers of an article that we 

 know is not, and never can be, successfully 

 imitated. I do believe that, it a goodly num- 

 ber of the bee-keepers' societies all over our 

 land would act in unison, adopt our system of 

 sealing their honey, it would go a long way 

 towards re-establishing the lost confidence. 



Our rule is, not to send out any inferior 

 hone.v under the seal of the Association. 

 Fancy and No. 1 white only are admitted. 

 This rule is all right if the object is to create 

 a reputation for a No. 1 article; but it is a 

 question whether this is the best course to 

 follow, when we consider that ail honey is to 

 be guarded against any possil)ility of sus- 

 picion. If I send out a part of m^' honey 

 without a seal, would not the purchaser nat- 

 urally think this to be an adulterated article ? 

 I confess I do not know what is the wisest 

 thing for us to do. 



The seal we use consists of a strip of glazed 

 turkey-red paper 4x14 inches, having the gold 

 seal attached at the right of the reading mat- 

 ter, with the official seal of the Association 

 impressed thereon. The reading is as fol- 

 lows: 



"Ontario County, N. Y., Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation Honey Stamp. This case of honey 

 has Ijeen inspected I ly the honey-inspector of 

 the Ontario County. N. V., Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation, and the honey within, if seal is at- 

 tached and these stamps remain unbrol<en, is 

 guaranteed to be grade No. 1 white." 



From the reading it appears that the stamp 



