354 



American Hee Journal 



April 25, 1907 



After being emptied of their contents 

 cans and crates tind storage-room in 

 some city back-yard, with the sky for 

 a roof, subject to the action of the ele- 

 ments aided by coal-dust and all other 

 kinds of dust and filth of our cities; 

 and granted that it does not affect the 

 inside of the can. it mars the outside, 

 and ever after the appearance of the 

 whole is not conducive to either safe 

 shipping or ready sales. 



It might seem to some that an old, 

 decrepit, scarcelj--able-to-hold-together- 

 package should command the more tend- 

 er care, but the reverse is quite true. 

 The freight-handler regards it more or 

 less as worthless rubbish, and scorns its 

 owner, in his mind; while things which 

 appear to have had a friend at some 

 time of their existence, command great- 

 er respect. Perhaps it strikes him that 

 the man who has taken care as to the 

 make-up of his packages would also the 

 sooner make him trouble, on the discov- 

 ery of mishandling. 



Arrived at market the buyer eyes them 

 suspiciously; reasons that' they have 

 come from some careless person or per- 

 sons who would, most probably, take 

 no more care of the inside and the con- 

 tents, and thus such packages go a- 

 begging, while bright, new cans, and 

 clean, not weather-beaten crates, move 

 off lively. 



Many times second-hand cans have 

 not been properly cleaned, and the lime 

 consumed in that is of more value than 

 the difference of price between them and 

 new cans. Oh, yes, I am aware there 

 are plenty of people who have never 

 learned to put a value on time, but are 

 they found among live bee-keepers? 



The injury sustained by exposure is 

 not always confined to the crate and out- 

 side of the can— it sometimes is found 

 inside, in shape of rust, than which 

 honey has no greater enemy. Bee-keep- 

 ers are careful to keep their wax from 

 contact with iron, and users of second 

 hand cans will soon learn it is of vast- 

 ly more importance to shield their honey 

 from iron rust. 



New cans must frequently make a 

 visit to the tinshop before they will hold, 

 owing to punctures with nails in crating, 

 and places which have been slighted in 

 soldering. Old cans are as frequently 

 punctured, and more often fissures are 

 found caused from rust or having been 

 crushed. 



Again, does it not seem passing 

 strange that bee-keepers will on the one 

 hand fight for protection in the way of 

 a foul-brood law, and on the other hand 

 will ship the germs of foul brood into 

 their apiaries in the second-hand can? 

 "Oh, consistency, thou art a jewel." All 

 the foul brood I have ever heard of in 

 Missouri was shipped in. Of what avail 

 are foul brood laws if we continue the 

 shipping in and use of cans which are 

 liable to carry the germs of this dread- 

 ed enemy ? 



It is of no use to agree to pay so 

 much for the return of your cans, be- 

 cause you are certain of but one thing, 

 that is, the number you claim as yours ; 

 it never occurs to the sender, that sub- 

 stitution is the least objectionable to 

 you. 



I wouldn't be surprised if the pure 

 food law should step in and serve to 



sever that partnership between the bee- 

 keeper and second-hand cans. If honey 

 is found to be impure from contact 

 with deleterious matter, will that not 

 about settle the question? 



We are almost frantic in our demand 

 for pure white and unsullied sections 

 for our comb honey; then we spend long 

 tiresome hours in another frantic en- 

 deavor to remove the last vestige of 

 stain in clean, new shipping-cases orna- 

 mented with paper lace to hide even the 

 edges of the sections; and turn right 

 around and put the same grade of honey, 

 minus the bees-wax, in begrimed and 

 otherwise repulsive looking cans. Is it 

 because of a superior respect for the 

 wonderful formation of the cells and 

 beautiful cappings? Even so, why should 

 we cultivate our taste to the extreme 

 in the case of comb honey, and insult 

 that very same inborn taste by sloven- 

 liness in connection -with extracted 

 honey ? 



By unthinkingly or willfully placing 

 extracted honey in bad company do 

 we not give it a black eye, and injure 

 its reputation in more ways than in the 

 mere selling of the same? By our being 

 careless and less painstaking in the pre- 

 sentation of our extracted honey to the 

 market can we blame the public for 

 coming to the conclusion that bee-keep- 



ers themselves prefer comb to extracted 

 honey ? 



.Sisters, hrw would we rate a house- 

 keeper who in setting the table would 

 place either kind of honey in any but 

 a pretty, clean and attractive dish? 

 Were she to use a besmeared, untidy- 

 looking receptacle, amazement would get 

 the best of us, and we would shortly 

 conclude that she had certainly gone 

 daft. 



Again as to canned goods in general, 

 what house-keeper will buy a can that 

 has the appearance of being anything 

 but fresh? Is a can in the least bulged, 

 battered, soiled or otherwise forbidding, 

 it is disdainfully left to rest on the 

 grocer's shelves. In fact, the dread of 

 ptomaine poisoning deters many from 

 using tinned goods of any sort. Water 

 in honey will set up a fermentation, 

 while honey in contact with rust will 

 as surely set up a putrefaction. 



In conclusion perhaps it would be the 

 correct thing to assure the sisterhood 

 that I am in no way connected or in- 

 terested in any can manufactory or sup- 

 ply house. I simply offer that which 

 experience has taught me, and it is 

 scarcely necessary to add I have paid 

 well for the lessons. 



Miami, Mo. M.\ry E. Null. 



Government Aid to Apicul- 

 ture 



BV PROF. A. J. COOK. 



I do not think that any Government 

 in the entire Globe can compare at all 

 with our own, in the valuable aid that 

 is given to us by experts in the line 

 of valuable scientific research. Our De- 

 partment of Agriculture has a band 

 of trained men, eminent in every line 

 of scientific discovery, and these men 

 keep their ears to the ground and are 

 ever alert to come to the assistance of 

 the practical man, whatever may be the 

 difficulties that confront him. Our 

 splendid "Pure Food Law" which is des- 

 tined to be of such signal benefit, not 

 only to producers but to every one "that 

 eats and drinks would, no doubt,' have 

 been withheld much longer, but for the 

 grand work and influence of Secretary 

 Wilson and his able assistants. This is 

 only one of a long, and brilliant array 

 of services that we owe to this excellent 

 department of government work. 



Foul Brood. 



The bee-keepers of the country are 

 not left out in this round of benefit. We 

 who have had occasion to examine and 

 study this disease that attacks our pets 

 of the hives, know full well that there 



are two well-marked forms of the dis- 

 ease that destroys the brood, and so is a 

 fatal obstacle to success. The one is 

 ropy, and as it strings out from the cell 

 when drawn by a pin or toothpick, flies 

 back with a snap, as it lets go the pin. 

 This, too, is very odorous, and is easily 

 detected by the smell. The other dif- 

 fers in both respects. The former is 

 more serious than the other, but both 

 are quite destructive, and much to be 

 dreaded. The Department of Agricul- 

 ture has solved the riddle, and has 

 shown that there are two distinct dis- 

 eases, caused by two specific germs. 

 The first one named above, is the old, 

 best known foul brood, and it is called 

 "American Foul Broods" while the other, 

 often called "black brood" in the United 

 States, and in New York, where it has 

 prevailed, perhaps more generally than 

 elsewhere, is now dominated "European 

 Foul Brood." This is the one described 

 in Europe some years ago, and is caused 

 by the well-known Bacillus alvci. The 

 other is our better-known form in most 

 of the States of the Union, is more 

 virulent, more pertinacious, and is 

 caused by another micro-organism. 

 Bacillus larvae. It is fortunate that 

 both forms of disease succumb to the 

 same treatment. 



Tre.\ting Foul Brood. 

 There is no doubt but that this dis- 



