206 



^^^^^M 



Mar. 14, 1907 



American ^ae'Journal 



action. There is certainly a possibility of 

 destroying injurious insects witliout at the 

 same time also destroying the useful ones. 

 We understand that the preparation above 

 named is made in part with honey. It is 

 rather bad to use the bee's product to kill 

 bees. But it would be bad in any case, even 

 it no honey were used, to kill the bees in an 

 attempt to save a crop from partial destruc- 

 tion. 



I have here a very short letter, just received 

 from an old German, on the spraying subject. 

 Permit me to add it to the testimony already 

 gathered on the same question : 



Pleasant plain, Ohio, Feb. 21, 1907. 

 MR. DADANT ;— I had, 2 years ago, 32 colonies of 

 bees ; the farmers commenced to spray their fruit- 

 trees, and killed my bees, so now 1 have but -2 colo- 

 nies. So you will see 1 have quit the business. 

 Don't want to be bothered with them. W. Y. 



No comments are needed. 



C. P. Dadant. 



Since the foregoing came in, we have re- 

 ceived this information from Mr. Dadant; 



Editor York:— The Bill to prevent the 

 spraying of fruit-trees in bloom was killed in 



the Senate Committee, in Springfield, by Sen- 

 ator Dunlap, chairman of the committee. He 

 positively asserted that intelligent horticul- 

 turists will no longer spray their fruit-trees 

 during bloom, because spraying during bloom 

 is an injury to the blossom. He said that it 

 was therefore unnecessary to load the statutes 

 with a measure that would be useless and 

 might give opportunity to ill-intentioned api- 

 arists to cause trouble to horticulturists if 

 they happened to begin spraying while there 

 still was a trace of bloom on the trees. 



In private conversation with the writer. 

 Senator Dunlap said that he knew of dealers 

 in sprayers, who had formerly advised spray- 

 ing during bloom, and who had become con- 

 vinced that it was a mistake, and would 

 therefore cease to recommend it. 



It behooves the bee-keepers to keep a vigi- 

 lant eye upon this matter, and inform their 

 neighbor horticulturists of these things. Such 

 a leading horticulturist as Senator Dunlap is 

 authority on tree-spraying, and his public 

 statement is of value to us in helping to stop 

 the practise of misapplied spraying. It may 

 be that this will have the result of putting a 

 stop to bloom-spraying. C. P. Dadant. 



(Miscellaneous 

 ilecus -Items 



The Apiary of Otto Banker is shown 

 on the first page. When sending the picture 

 he wrote thus, under date of Feb. 9, 1907 : 



I did not get any honey last season on ac- 

 count of being so wet the bees could not 

 gather it, and the frogs would sit at the en- 

 trances when the bees did work and catch 

 most of them as they alighted. The strongest 

 colonies got enough honey to winter on, but 

 the weaker ones we had to feed. I had 135 

 colonies, and did not get honey enough for 

 my own use. 



My bees are wintering very well so far— 54 

 colonies in the cellar and the rest in chaff 

 hives outdoors. 



In the picture I am standing on a hive, and 

 the other two people are neighbors of mine. 

 My storehouse is located back of me, and the 

 other building shown in white is my house. I 

 could not get a full view of the apiary on ac- 

 count of so much shade. Otto Banker. 



The Far-Western BceKeeper is the 



name of another bee-paper, whose first num- 

 ber (for March) has just come to our desk. It 

 is a 30-page monthly (size of page 6xS;'.i 

 inches), and published at 50 cents a year, by 

 Henry E. Horn, Riverside, Calif. It makes a 

 very creditable appearance. 



liower Freight-Rates on Bees.— Mr. 



N. E. France, General Manager of the Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Association, sends us the 

 following for publication : 



The South Texas Bee-Keepers' Association 

 met lately for business at the residence of 

 Pres. E. J. Atchley, and by united effort on 

 the part of the officers, a reduction on freight- 

 rate from $1.S5 per 100 pounds, on live bees 

 in car-load lots, down to 79 cents per 100 

 pounds to all points in Kansas, Missouri, 

 Oklahoma, and other Western points of the 

 Ft. Worth and Denver railroad ; and 81 cents 



to intermediate points in Colorado. This 

 makes a bright future for the bee-industry of 

 Southern Texas, and to get the old rate cut 

 more than halt gives cause of rejoicing. 



We have put in an application to the Railroad 

 Company to the effect that we want a ruling 

 to go along with the reduced freight-rate — 

 not to allow any one to load bees for ship- 

 ment until such person first screens the car 

 with wire-cloth in such a manner as will not 

 allow bees to escape from the car while in 

 transit. We feel sure we will get such ruling. 



The South Texas Association was instru- 

 mental in getting a one-third reduction on 

 bees shipped by express from Beeville to all 

 points on the Wells Fargo lines, which re- 

 duction was later extended from other points. 

 There are several cars of bees to go from Bee- 

 ville this spring. This Association also 

 secured a lower local freight-rate on honey 

 several years ago. 



We congratulate the Southwest Texas Bee- 

 Keepers' Association on the good work it has 

 been able to do. We regret to learn, how- 

 ever, that its president, E. J. Atchley, suffered 

 a stroke of paralysis about a month ago. He 

 is recovering, and doubtless will soon be " as 

 good as new " again. 



as a food. The purpose for which these arti- 

 cles are written need not appear upon the 

 surface. It is better that it should 7iot ap- 

 pear, but there ought to be something about 

 each article that would unconsciously lead 

 the reader to have a better opinion of honey, 

 to have greater confidence in its purity and 

 healthfulness, or knowledge of its economic 

 value as a food ; that honey is not an expen- 

 sive food, requires no cooking, no sweetening 

 nor other special preparation, but is the 

 "whole thing" ready for use; that choice 

 bakings sweetened with honey do not dry up 

 as quickly as sugar-sweetened goods. Also 

 call attention to Pure Food Laws, and no 

 adulterated honey now sold. 



These articles should leave the reader with 

 his mouth watering to test the true delicious- 

 ness of honey. The articles must be short — 

 not over 300 to 400 words— and will be judged 

 with reference to their value: 1st. Will this 

 article attract attention and interest the gen- 

 eral reader? 3d. Will the reader who is not 

 acquainted with the use of honey be likely to 

 investigate and use honey? 



Of course, it would be an easy matter for 

 us to employ one man to write a series of 

 articles for this purpose, but the committee 

 wishes to secure the very best that the coun- 

 try can produce, and takes this method of in- 

 viting everybody to send in articles of this 

 nature. Not over 400 words, perhaps less to 

 include the thought. Mail each article to W. 

 Z. Hutchinson, Flint, Mich., who will read 

 and mark them according to their merits. 

 The best will be marked 10, next best 9, and 

 so on. They will then be sent to R. L. Taylor, 

 who will also read and mark the same. He 

 will then send them to N. E. France, who will 

 also mark them. The articles receiving the 

 highest markings in the aggregate, will be 

 used and their authors paid $5.00 each. Every- 

 body is invited to contribute. No limit to the 

 number of articles each person may send in. 

 Perhaps 30 or more articles will be used. 



Please write plainly on one side of the 

 paper, or, better still, use a typewriter, if pos- 

 sible. N. E. France, Platteville, Wis., 

 W. Z. Hutchinson, Flint, Mich., 

 R. L. Taylor, Lapeer, Mich., 



Comrnitiee. 



We hope our readers will accept the above 

 invitation, and thus help the committee as 

 well as themselves. The proposed advertis- 

 ing should help all producers of honey, 

 although only a few people contributed to the 

 fund of a little over gl400. But, perhaps, 

 others will be glad to add to the fund by 

 making donations to it from time to time. 

 We suppose the committee would not object 

 to this. 



Preparing for Honey Advertising. — 



The committee appointed to advertise honey, 

 and thus use the fund raised for such purpose 

 by the Honey-Producers' League, send this 

 for publication : 



Articles Wanted by the Committee on 

 Advertising Honey. 



The $1408.27 raised by the Honey-Producers' 

 League has been turned over to the National 

 Association, and a committee appointed to 

 spend that money in advertising honey and 

 otherwise advancing its sales. 



The first plan to be put into operation will 

 be that of publishing in the general press, 

 short articles setting forth the healthfulness, 

 deliciousness, purity and desirability of honey 



Andrew D. Prtal. 

 (See next page) 



