Dec. 15. 1911 



only the eight-frame Langstroth, but all 

 other styles of hives, both shallower and 

 deeper. In other words, the standard ten- 

 frame Langstroth is coming to be more and 

 more the prevailing standard throughout 

 the United States. When Langstroth set- 

 tled on the dimensions of this hive be build- 

 ed better than he knew. 



During 1911 there has been considerable 

 awakening as to the importance of better 

 shipping-cases, and saner and safer methods 

 of putting up comb honey. 



There has been more and more a tendency 

 this year on the part of bee-keepers to drop 

 the production of comb honey and confine 

 their efforts to extracted. There is danger 

 of overdoing this. See editorial elsewhere 

 on the subject. 



Great strides have certainly been made 

 in perfecting the various methods for tak- 

 ing honey from the combs. The steam 

 honey knife and the power-driven honey- 

 extractor have come to be recognized as 

 great labor-savers. The capping-melter has 

 been further tested to some extent, but as yet 

 its future is undetermined. The automo- 

 bile is coming more and more to be a part of 

 the out-apiary equipment. There has been 

 a great increase in the bottled-honey trade. 

 More and more bee-keepers are beginning to 

 find it possible to cater to the local retail 

 trade. 



The demand for queens, in spite of the 

 very poor season, was probably the greatest 

 that was ever known to beedom. A large 

 part of this increased demand, if not all of 

 it, was due to the fact that bee-keepers and 

 foul-brood inspectors everywhere have come 

 to recognize that pure Italians are much 

 more immune to disease, especially Euro- 

 pean foul brood, than either the blacks or 

 hybrids. We know of a number of instances 

 where extensive honey-producers, fearing 

 European foul brood, have Italianized large- 

 ly, to prevent its introduction among their 

 bees. Even for American foul brood, good 

 Italian stock is to be preferred. 



The year 1911 has seen an unusually large 

 number of articles on bees in our popular 

 magazines and newspapers. The bee-sting 

 cure for rheumatism especially has been ex- 

 ploited, both in cartoon and story, in all the 

 papers. Not a little has been said about 

 honey as a food for young and old, for the 

 sick and the well. All these help to popu- 

 larize honey. We hope our contemporaries 

 of the general press will keep this up, for 

 honey should be eaten more generally. 



During the year we have lost at least four 

 prominent bee-keepers. First there came 

 the sad news of the death of W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson, one of the ablest writers on bees we 

 have ever known. No one was more sin- 

 cerely loved by his fellow bee-keepers, and 

 no one has died recently whose loss will be 

 more sincerely mourned. He left his deep 

 impress on the bee world. His works and 

 words will live long after him. 



One of the best-known bee-keepers in all 

 Michigan, one who had done much to ad- 

 vance the cause of apiculture in his State, 



\ 



743 



was Mr. Geo. E. Hilton. He was not only 

 a big man among bee-keepers but a big man 

 among his fellow-men generally. Twice he 

 had been elected representative in the leg- 

 islature of his State at Lansing; and while 

 acting in that capacity was largely instru- 

 mental in bringing about two-cent railroad 

 fare in Michigan. He was prominent in 

 church affairs, and at the time of his death 

 was postmaster at Fremont. 



Mr. R. W. Herlong, details of whose death 

 are announced elsewhere in this issue, made 

 the most amazing progress in the bee busi- 

 ness of any man we have ever known. He 

 began with three colonies in 1898, and be- 

 fore he died he owned and operated in the 

 neighborhood of 900 colonies in thirteen 

 apiaries. He never wrote any thing for the 

 bee-journals. Quiet and modest in his way, 

 the bee-keeping world knew but little of 

 the man until our special correspondent, E. 

 G. Baldwin, told something of his capacities 

 in a business way. 



In Canada, no less a person than Mr. J. 

 B. Hall, of ^^'oodstock, died this year. Mr. 

 Hall was the introducer of thick toji-bars, 

 both in Canada and the Ignited States, and 

 he was a prominent figure at Ontario con- 

 ventions. He had a happy faculty of enli- 

 v^ening discussions ; and while he rarely 

 took much time on the floor, what he did 

 say was to the point. He had a most de- 

 lightful manner of expressing himself, and 

 very often at the close of a few brief sen- 

 tences he would bring down the house with 

 heavy rounds of applause. 



There has been no birth nor death among 

 the bee-papers this year ; but owing to the 

 death of the editor and founder of the Bee- 

 keepers' Review, that journal is now ably 

 edited by Mr. E. B. Tyrrell. At the pres- 

 ent time it gives every indication of being 

 a force in the apicultural field. 



The American Bee Journal is more than 

 holding its own, and still holds the title of 

 being the " Old Reliable." It is the oldest 

 bee-paper in the LTnited States. 



The Canadian Bee Journal is ably edited 

 by Mr. J. J. Hurley. The paper is well got- 

 ten up; and if it makes the progress next 

 year that it has made this, it will crowd 

 some of us old fellows who have been longer 

 in the field. 



Two notable bee-books have been largely 

 rewritten and revised during the year — 

 namely, "Advanced Bee Culture," by W. 

 Z. Hutchinson, embodying all his late writ- 

 ings, and "Fifty Years Among the Bees," 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller, covering the ripest 

 experience of one who flourished in the days 

 of Langstroth, Quinby, Wagner, Dadant, 

 Alley, Gary, Grimm, Tupper, Gallup, and 

 Hetherington, and who is still with us in 

 the flesh. Dr. C. C. Miller, G. M. Doolittle, 

 and A. I. Root are able to bridge the past 

 and the present as almost no other living 

 bee-keepers can. Of all those who helped to 

 make the industry in the early '60's, they 

 alone remain. We hope that the new year 

 and many more will be as kind to them as 

 the old vear. 



