August, 1907. 



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American Iftec Journalj 



Dear Friknd York : — For one, I am 

 very sorry to see tliat the American Bee 

 Journal is to be a monthly instead of a 

 weekly. I fear that it is a bad mistake. 

 I would much rather pay $2 per year 

 for a weekly than 25 cents for a monthly. 

 It is too slow to get around. I have 

 heard several complaints in regard to 

 the change. J. J. Measer. 



Hutchinson, Kan., July 20. 



We wish to thank all who have writ- 

 ten us on this subject. But we believe 

 tliat we have done wisely in making the 

 change from a weekly to a monthly. 

 What wc want is a large list of read- 

 ers, and the great majority of bee-keep- 

 ers are not suthcicntly interested in bee- 

 culture to need a weekly bee-paper. It 

 is the majority that we want to get on 

 our subscription list. And at 25 cents a 

 year for the .'Vmerican Bee Journal once 

 a month, it seems to us. we ought to get 

 them, and that in a very short time. 



We hope that all our present subscrib- 

 ers will turn in and help us roll up a 

 list of 50,000 readers that we want to 

 get during the next few months. Surely, 

 it will not be hard for many to get at 

 least 10 subscribers each, at the very 

 low rate of 25 cents a year. (See the 

 liberal premiums offered on another 

 page of this issue.) 



We will be pleased to send sample 

 copies free if our present readers will 

 kindly send us the names and addresses 

 of their bef-keeping friends and neigh- 

 lior?. 



German "A B C of Bee-Culture." 



riic .■\. I. Root Co. are getting out an 

 edition of their well-known ".\ B C of 

 Bee Culture" in the German language. 

 It is to be a complete translation of 

 the English edition of the book, and the 

 revision is made by Mr. F. Greiner, of 

 Naples. N. Y. It will have about the same 

 number of pages as the English Edition, 

 and the price will be $2.00, postpaid. 

 It is to be issued in September next, and 

 will be the best work of European and 

 American-German authorities, as Mr. E. 

 Bondonneau, of Paris, who made the 

 F^rench translation, is bringing it out. It 

 should have a large sale among German- 

 reading bee-keepers. 



A Post-Master Bee-Keeper 



Hon. Eugene Secor, of Forest City, 

 Iowa, on July ist, entered upon a new 

 line of work for him. It is no less than 

 that of post-master. Mr. Secor is well 

 known to almost all of our readers. He 

 has often been called the poet-laureate 

 of bee-keeping, on account of having 

 written so many poems relating to api- 

 culture. Referring to his own bees, in 

 a letter dated July 13, he says; 



"Bees came through the winter pretty 

 well, but a good many were lost in the 

 spring, the season being 2 or 3 weeks 

 later than common, and very cold. They 

 are doing well now, however, but I don't 

 look for any great surplus this year, 

 because so few colonies will be strong 

 enough to take advantage of a generous 

 flow, if we have one.'" 



Mr. Secor's experience as given in the 

 foregoing paragraph corresponds with 

 that of almost all other bee-keepers this 



season. Surely, honey ought to bring 

 a good price the coming fall and winter. 

 Just now it does not look as if there 

 would be a very large crop, so that those 

 who are fortunate enough to harvest 

 any honey should be able to realize for 

 it all that it is worth. 



The Bee-Man 



Kiiul lu'.'irl, hunt-st hand; 

 lU-st friend in the hipd; 

 Tills well the liome farm; 

 Tlirivcs when the bees swarm; 

 I.oves work; enjoys life; 

 Loves best the sweet wife; 

 Keeps, "till his frame's dust, 

 Man's faith, woman's trust: 

 You can tind none stancher, 

 Than the true bee-rancher; 

 Great hopes, little money; 

 Little talk, much honey; 

 Light heart; cheery song; 

 Here's luck and live long! — 

 Whether he's Australian, 

 English, Dutch, Canadian, 

 French, or good American — 

 That's the genuine bee-man. 



Dr. Frederick Webley. 

 Santa Rosa, Calif. 



Books for Bee-Keepers 



Every bee-keeper should have a bee- 

 book besides a bee-paper. On another 

 page will be found all the best books 

 offered — either at a price, postpaid, or as 

 a premium. If you can not earn them 

 as premiums for getting new subscrip- 

 tions, it will pay you well to purchase 

 one or more of them. You will find 

 them of great value. There are so many 

 things in the books that are needful to 

 know, and that of course could not be 

 told over and over again in the bee- 

 papers. If a bee-keeper can afford only 

 one, it would better be the book rath- 

 er than the paper. But now that the 

 .\merican Bee Journal is only 25 cents 

 a year, of course, no bee-keeper, how- 

 ever limited his apiary may be, can af- 

 ford to be without its monthlv visits. 



inches, if possible. However, send what- 

 ever size is most convenient. 



Subscription Credits 



We have been unable as yet to make 

 on our mailing-list all the extension 

 credits that are due those whose sub- 

 scriptions were paid beyond June, 1907, 

 at the regular $1.00 rate. Now that the 

 American Bee Journal is published 

 monthly at 25 cents a year, of course 

 there are many paid-in-advance subscrip- 

 tions that will be credited just four 

 times as far ahead as was indicated by 

 the date on the wrapper-label. But it 

 may take us quite a little time to do 

 this. So please be patient, and you will 

 find that all will have our attention in 

 due time. 



Apiarian Photographs 



W'e can use such right along. Of 

 course we want good, clear prints. If 

 you have an apiary that you think would 

 look well on paper, have it photographed 

 and send to us the result. While we 

 may not be able to use all that come, 

 we doubtless will be able to use most of 

 them. Please send the picture, and on 

 its receipt we will report whether we 

 can use it. If we can, we will then re- 

 quest you to send some descriptive mat- 

 ter to go with it when published. We 

 prsfer larger size photographs, say 8x10 



California Bee-Ranches 



One is shown on the first page this 

 month. It belonged to E. J. Smale & 

 Co., when the photograph was taken, 

 and was located in Los Angeles County. 

 It is, perhaps, as fine a specimen of a 

 California mountain canyon bee-ranch 

 as can be found anywhere. 



California is noted for such scenes. 

 One of her leading bee-keepers once had 

 600 colonies in a single apiary located 

 in such a wild and lonesome place. But 

 in good seasons the bees get the honey 

 there. In 1903, the then most exten- 

 sive California bee-keeper harvested a 

 crop of 90,000 pounds of extracted, and 

 22,000 pounds of comb honey. 



Labeling Honey for Market 



Since the National Pure Food Law 

 was passed, many dealers seem to be 

 in a quandary as to the proper way to 

 label food products, among them honey. 

 Mr. N. E. France, of Platteville, Wis., 

 wrote to the Secretary of .\griculture 

 at Washington, D. C, in order to get 

 a ruling on the subject, and here is the 

 reply he received : 



Mr. N. E. France. — I do not see that 

 any objection can be made to the form 

 of seal label which you submit. In re- 

 gard to the shipment of honey without 

 label, I may say that you do not vio- 

 late the law in so doing, provided it is 

 pure honey and not something other 

 than what it is sold for. If the honey 

 is shipped from one state to another 

 and the party receiving it puts his own 

 label on it as if he were the producer, 

 he violates the law by representing the 

 product as having been made in a state 

 different from that of its actual pro- 

 duction. The shipper, however, of such 

 honey will not be amenable unless he is 

 a party to the fraud and benefits there- 

 by. The law does not require a label 

 to be placed upon food products but 

 does require that if one is used, it 

 must be a truthful one. Unlabeled food 

 products are covered by Section 8, first 

 paragraph under foods, which states 

 that a food is misbranded "If it be an 

 imitation of or offered for sale under 

 the distinctive name of another arti- 

 cle." Thus honey which is pure and 

 unlabeled, sold as honey, is wholly with- 

 in the protection of the law, but if honey 

 be adulterated by admixture with glu- 

 cose and sold as honey, then the law- 

 is offended. If honey which is pro- 

 duced in Wisconsin, however, is sold 

 to a dealer in Illinois and the dealer 

 in Illinois places upon it his own label 

 as if it were produced in Illinois, and 

 sells it in original packages in Illinois 

 or repacks and ships in interstate com- 

 merce, the law is offended, because a 

 false statement is made respecting the 

 state in which it is produced, which is 

 a violation of the first parapraph of Sec- 

 tion 8 of the law. You will find the law 

 on standards of purity of honey in Cir- 

 culars 19 and 21. which I enclose. 



Respectfully, James Wilson, 

 Secretary. 



