Mar. 7, 1907 



Am0rican ^ee Journal 



Journal, in London, asking if he knew o( the 

 " Rev. Theodore," and he replied as follows 

 Jan. 15, 1907: 



Dear Mk. York : — We do not know any- 

 thing about the Rev. Theodore Wood, but I 

 should think he belongs to a class of profes- 

 sional writers who undertake to write on any 

 subject that they think would be popular, 

 without knowing anything about what they 

 are writing. We do not take any notice of 

 all the rubbish that appears in the secular 

 press about bees, and the Tribune is i paper 

 that is apt to print sensational articles, and is 

 not a paper that we place any reliance upon. 



The Rev. Theodore Wood is like the other 

 Rev. J. G. Wood, who wrote a book about 

 bees, as he did on a variety of Natural History 

 subjects, and who confessedly knew nothing 

 whatever about the subject except that he 

 read up in order to write the book. After this 

 book was written and was published, he had a 

 number of inquiries from readers asking him 

 questions about bee-management, and not 

 knowing anything about it, he applied to Mr. 

 Hooker to help him in his dilemma. He ad- 

 mitted that he wrote the book only because 

 he was commissioned to do so, and had read 

 up for the purpose. We have a number of 

 such people, and it is evident that the writer 

 of the article you send is one of these. Such 

 writers are not beekeepers, and we often 

 wonder at the American bee-editors attribut- 

 ing such rubbish to British bee-keepers. 



We wonder what you would think it we 

 attributed such articles as I enclose as a speci- 

 men of what American bee-keepers know on 

 the subject. We would not print such rub- 

 bish ! Tours faithfully, 



Tho9. Wm. Cowan. 



The item referred to by Mr. Cowan, in his 

 last two sentences is this, which appeared in 

 the Evening Telegraph, of Dublin: 

 Overwork Among Bees. 



Lord Avebury should be interested to learn 

 that to the snake story and the mosquito 

 story American humor is now adding the bee- 

 story. The Minneapolis Journal issues a 

 warning against placing one's bee-hives too 

 near an are light A veracious correspondent 

 reports that his own bees mistook a light of 

 this kind for daylight, and continued work- 

 ing until dawn, when they "turned in." In 

 a few minutes the sun was out, and they in- 

 stinctively returned to their labors, which con- 

 tinued until dusk. After a short respite the 

 re-kindling of the arc light sent them stag- 

 gering forth for another round of toil. " They 

 were all dead by the end of the week— victims 

 of overwork, every mother's son of them." 



We will have to refer this " arc light bee- 

 story " to our Minneapolis readers. 



But we wish to thank Mr. Cowan for his 

 complete reply. Undoubtedly both this and 

 the " mother country " are producing some 

 wonderfully vivid imaginations among some 

 of their writers. If only the truth were ad- 

 hered to, how much less of literary " rub- 

 bish " there would appear. 



Virgin Queens and Drone-Comb 



L. S. C. says in the British Bee Journal: 

 It is, I believe, Doolittle who maintains 

 that, with a virgin queen, drone-comb is built 

 so invariably that combs in process will show 

 whether the colony has been dequeened. I do 

 not know exactly upon what observation this 

 is based, for I find that such bees build 

 worker-comb, but there may be conditions 

 other than the mere possession of a virgin 

 queen which would overrule the matter. 



Has Mr. 

 belief? 



Doolittle ever expressed such a 



0)isccUancouP 

 fie cus -Items 



I i.-idftrii 



Our Front Page Pictures this week 

 are something of a medley. Most of them 

 were sent to us by Mr. D. H. Coggshall, of 

 New York State, who attended the National 

 convention at San Antonio last November. 

 The pictures may be described as follows : 



No. 1 represents Wm. A. Selser, Mrs. Cogg- 

 shall, and Mrs. Ball, who, with Mr. Coggshall, 

 were returning from an alligator hunt in the 

 wilds of Florida. Mr. Coggshall is not shown 

 in this picture. 



No. 2 is said to have been one of the 

 "speakers" at the National convention in 

 San Antonio. If such was the case, he did 

 his " speaking " outdoors. There were many 

 of his kind on the streets of San .\ntonio. He 

 seemed to be a very useful " citizen." 



No. 3 shows 2 children who seem to be 

 somewhat " colored." There are quite a num- 

 ber just like them in San Antonio and in 

 many other parts of the South. 



No. 4 shows the oldest cathedral in San An- 

 tonio, and also one of the city plazas or parks. 

 This is a very pretty spot. We had the pleas- 

 ure of walking through it and also entering 

 the ancient cathedral. 



No. 5 represents Mr. O. O. Poppleton in his 

 apiary of " Long Ideal " hives. He was for a 

 long time an extensive bee-keeper in Iowa, 

 but some years ago moved to Florida, where 

 he is perhaps the largest bee-keeper now in 

 the State. We have had the pleasure of 

 meeting him at several National conventions. 

 He is a most genial man and an excellent bee- 

 keeper. 



No. 6 shows a part of one of Mr. D. H. 

 Coggshall's New York State bee-yards in 

 winter quarters. From this apiary he has 

 obtained as high as 13,000 pounds of extracted 

 honey in a single season. 



making such examination the Inspector 

 shall make another examination thereof, 

 and if the condition of any of them is such 

 as in his judgment renders it necessary, he 

 may burn all of the colonies of bees and all 

 the combs necessary to prevent the spread of 

 the disease. 



Sec. 3 — Any owner of a diseased apiary, of 

 honey made or taken from such an apiary, 

 who shall sell, barter, or give away such api- 

 ary, honey or appliances, or bees from such 

 an apiary, expose other bees to danger of con- 

 tracting such disease, or refuse to allow the 

 Inspector of apiaries to inspect such apiary, 

 honey, or appliances shall be fined not less 

 than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred 

 dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail 

 not less than one month or more than two 

 months. 



Sec. 4. — There shall be levied annually on 

 the owner of each colony of bees in the State 

 of Indiana one cent for each colony owned, 

 which levy shall be placed on the tax dupli- 

 cate of the respective counties by the county 

 auditors at the time of the levy of other taxes 

 each year. The amount so collected shall 

 constitute a special State fund, to be disposed 

 of in the payment of the salary and actual ex- 

 penses of the Inspector. 



Sec. 5. — The Inspector shall make at the 

 close of each calendar year a report to the 

 Governor, stating the number of apiaries 

 visited, the number of those diseased and 

 treated, the number of colonies of bees de- 

 stroyed, and of the expense incurred in the 

 employment of his duties. Said Inspector 

 shall receive three dollars for each day 

 actually and necessarily spent in the perform- 

 ance of his duties, and be reimbursed for 

 money expended by him in defraying ex- 

 penses: Provided, That the total expendi- 

 ture for such purpose shall not exceed the 

 amount secured by the special assessment as 

 defined in Sec. 4. 



r^" I believe that the American Bee Jour- 

 nal is one of the best papers that I have ever 

 read.— G. S. Lightner, Cedar Co., Iowa. 



To Bee-Keepers of Indiana :— Mr. 



Walter 8. Ponder, of Indianapolis, bas sent us 

 a copy of House Bill No. 637, recently intro- 

 duced in the Indiana Legislature. Bee-keep- 

 ers of that State are urged to write to their 

 State Representatives and Senators asking 

 them to vote tor the Bill when it comes be- 

 fore them. It is as follows: 



Se it enacted by the Oerieral Assembly of the 

 State of TiulUifia : 



Section 1. — Upon the recommendation of 

 the officers of the Indiana State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association the Governor may appoint for a 

 term of 2 years a State Inspector of Apiaries. 

 Such Inspector shall, when notified of exis- 

 tence of a disease known as foul brood among 

 apiaries, examine all such as are reported, 

 and all others in the same localiiy, and ascer- 

 tain whether or not such disease exists, and, 

 if satisfied of its existence, shall give the 

 owner or person who has care of such apiaries 

 full instructions as to manner of treating 

 them. 



Sec. 2.— Within a reasonable time after 



Luther A- Hammond, an esteemed resi- 

 dent of Keedysville, Md., and a long-time 

 reader of this Journal, died of pleura-pneu- 

 monia the latter part of February, aged a 

 little over 52 years. He was sick only a week. 

 For years he was one of the most progressive 

 farmers and bee-keepers in his district. 



Why Not Advertise ?— There are many 

 dealers in bee-supplies, and those who have 

 bees and queens for sale, who are not now 

 advertising, that might increase their business 

 by advertising in the American Bee Journal. 

 The rates charged are very low, as will be 

 seen by referring to the second page of this 

 number. During the next 6 months will be 

 done the bulk of the season's business among 

 bee-keepers. Why not begin at once to let 

 the readers of the American Bee Journal 

 know that you have something to sell? Our 

 advertising columns are open only to those 

 who will give their patrons " a square deal." 

 If you are in that class we will be pleased to 

 have your advertisement in our columns. 



B^" This is the first year I have taken the 

 American Bee Journal. I like it better every 

 copy I read, and will take it, if possible, as 

 long as I keep bees. — A. K. Whidden, of 

 Prince Edward Island. 



