January, 1909. 



Canadian Honey Standard 



At the convention of the Ontario Bee- 

 keepers' Association, the following reso- 

 lution was passed, as indicating the view 

 of the Association concerning the stand- 

 ard of "pure, genuine honey:" 



''Recognizing the importance of legal defi- 

 nition in the case of honey, this Association 

 respectfully recommends the adoption of the 

 following resolution as embodying the present 

 state of our knowledge regarding Canadian 

 honey: 



"Honey is entirely the product of the work 

 of the bees (Apis mellifica), operating upon 

 the nectar of flowers and other saccharine 

 exudations of plants, and contains not more 

 than 25 'percent of water, or more than 

 8 percent of sucrose (cane sugar), nor less 

 than 60 percent of invert sugar. It does 

 not give a blue color with iodine (absence of 

 starch syrup), nor a red color with aniline 

 acetate (absence of artificial invert sugar), nor 

 a dark color with Leey's reagent Ummoniacal 

 silver), nor a marked precipitate of dextrin 

 on adding large excess of alcohol (absence of 

 glucose syrup)." 



American l^ee Journal 



Antiquity of Bee-Keeping 



In a book review, the British Bee 

 Journal says, "Bee-keeping is undoubt- 

 edly the oldest craft under the sun." 

 That's a pleasant thing for bee-keepers 

 to believe, and our British contemporary 

 is hereby requested to give proof upon 

 which such a statement is made. For it 

 is just possible that fruit-growers might 

 attempt to put in a prior claim. Likely, 

 however, no one will dispute this fur- 

 ther claim to antiquity: 



"We also learn that so far back as the 

 Bronze _Age it is certain that wax was used 

 in casting ornaments and weapons. That 

 bee-keeping must have been carried on thou- 

 saiids of years before the Great Pyramid was 

 built is evidenced by the bee having been 

 chosen to represent a king in the Egyptian 

 hieroglyphic symbols.*' 



Blind Bees Best (?) 



Mr. Ernest L, Schuman, of New York 

 State, sends the following clipping : 



H. R. Latimer, professor of mathematics in 

 the Maryland School for the Blind, at Balti- 

 more, thinks he has made a discovery. He 

 says: "A breed of blind bees that make the 

 best honey on earth has been discovered. Hav- 

 ing through generations lost their sight, they 

 have so keenly developed the sense of smell 

 and taste that they are able unerringly to 

 pick out the sweetest flowers." 



We wonder by what rule of mathe- 

 matics Prof. Latimer figures that out. 

 It must be a sort of "blind process." 

 So a blind bee is better than one with 

 several thousand eyes ! Well ! well ! ! 



Wintering and Springing Bees over 

 Pits 



Oliver Foster, in order to have his 

 bees wintered above ground, and at the 

 same time have the heat of a small cel- 

 lar, describes his plan in the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Review. It appears that lo colonies 

 were wintered over each pit, a covering 

 of chaff being over the hives. He says : 



I constructed dry wells, or pits, for two 

 apiaries of over too colonies each. They 

 were about lo feet deep, 3 feet in diameter 

 at the bottom, and 5x7 feet square at the 

 top. A curb of % lumber filled in the top, 

 20 inches deep. The hives were supported 

 on a skeleton platform. They were arranged 

 along the sides against the curbing, a space 

 being left between the rows in which the 

 operator could stand on a board while manipu- 

 lating. Hives were so arranged that two colo- 

 nies could fly from each end, and three from 

 each side of the pit, through openings formed 

 in the top of the hives, and correspondini; 

 ones in the curbing. To cover the pits, two 

 light trays filled with chaff were placed over 

 each pit — two over each pit, instead of one. 

 for convenience in handling. Together they 

 projected an inch or two over the curbing ail 

 around. 



Next Year's Prices of Honey 



Bee-keepers are a hopeful lot. Not- 

 withstanding the good crops throughout 

 a large part of the clover regions, net 

 results are not entirely satisfactory on 

 account of the low prices ruling; but 

 there is always the future. Editor Hut- 

 chinson says : 



"Prognostications are something in which 

 I seldom indulge, but I am going to prophesy 

 that, next year, honey will be honey. The 

 old stock will all be cleaned up, and the drouth 

 has injured the clover to such an extent that 

 not much of a crop can be expected the coming 

 year. The man who has nice, white extracted 

 honey can afford to keep it over, if he can't 

 get all that it is worth now." 



section nearly filled, but not a cell yet sealed. 

 No,_ it isn't so pretty a sight to see the 24 

 sections all sealed with their snow-white cap- 

 pings — not for me; for the sight I have de- 

 scribed pictures a strong flow, a strong col- 

 ony, and work of the most uniform character. 

 Well, I get that sort of work sometimes — ■ 

 not so often as I like — when I give a fresh 

 super under a strong colony in a strong flow. 

 When I've given a super on top I never had 

 such a state of affairs — never. The center 

 sections were always well in advance of the 

 outer ones, if, indeed, the outer ones were 

 attacked by the bees at all. So, other things 

 being equal, that matter of even starting all 

 over the super is enough to settle me in 

 favor of putting the empty super under, so 

 long as I have any reasonable hope that the 

 season will continue until the super is fin- 

 ished. 



Massachusetts Bee-Meeting 



At the meeting of the Massachusetts 

 Society of Bee-Keepers, held in the Ford 

 Building, at Worcester, Mass.. Satur- 

 day evening, December 5, Prof. James 

 P. Porter, of Clark University, and 

 President of the Worcester Society, 

 spoke on "The Relation of the Bee to 

 the Flower." 



Place For Additional Supers 



In producing section-honey, whether 

 the right place for adding empty supers 

 is above or below the partly filled super 

 is a matter upon which there is a dif- 

 ference of opinion. Dr. C. C. Miller 

 gives in Gleanings a reason for putting 

 the empty super under, that will be new 

 to some. If the experience of others 

 agrees with his, it is an important argu- 

 ment. He says : 



There's one item in this matter of putting 

 empty supers above or below that I don't re- 

 member ever to have seen mentioned in print; 

 yet it has a very important bearing. You 

 know you like to have the bees commence 

 work in a super all over at once, the work 

 just as well advanced in the four corners of 

 the super as in the center. To me the pret- 

 tiest sight in a super I ever saw is a set of 

 sections exactly alike in advancement, every 



Hoodoo Ribbons in Australia 



The Australian Bee Bulletin has the 

 following item, page 96 : 



Horses on the Clarence are ridden and 

 driven with bows of red ribbon tied round 

 their throats as a preventive against an at- 

 tack of bot-flies. 



Just what interest that item may have 

 for bee-keepers does not appear on the 

 surface, unless it be that the right shade 

 of color found, bows of ribbon tied 

 round the throats of bee-keepers would 

 prevent the attacks of bees. But don't 

 they have rather queer bot-flies on the 

 other side of the world? On this side 

 they trouble horses' legs, not their 



throats. 



-^ 



"A Year's Work in an Out-Apiary" 



This is the title of a 60-page, paper- 

 bound book, 6.X9 inches in size, written 

 by G. M. Doolittle, of New York State, 

 who is so well known to our readers. It 

 tells how an average of 114^^ pounds of 

 comb honey per colony was secured in 

 a poor season. Mr. Doolittle's over 35- 

 years' experience in producing comb 

 honey gives the weight of authority to 

 what he says on the subject of bees and 

 bee-keeping. The book is sent postpaid 

 for 50 cents : or with the .American Bee 

 Journal one year — both for $1.10. Send 

 all orders to the American Bee Journal, 

 118 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, 111. 



io< 



DR. C. C. MILLER 



Perhaps the most widely known and 

 read bee-keeper in all the world, is Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, of ]\Iarengo, 111. Although 

 he will be 78 years old June 10, 1909, he 

 still writes with the vigor and clearness 

 of a man of half his age. 



We count it among our richest bles- 

 sings that we catne to know Dr. Miller 

 so intimately, so many years ago. He 

 has ever been like a father to us, and 

 still counts it among his kindly duties 

 to keep us in the right path apiculturally 

 as well as in several other ways. For 



.ill of which wi.' .lie truly grateful to 

 him. 



His remarkable record in honej'-pro- 

 duction during 1908 is well known. It 

 is the more wonderful on accoimt of his 

 years, for his crop of comb honey was 

 between 18.000 and 19,000 poutids, and 

 it was all fine, marketable honey. 



Editor Ernest R. Root, in the .August 

 number of his great apiarian publication. 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture, not only gave 

 a full-page pcrtrait of Dr. Miller, but 

 also a graphic pen-picture from which 

 we take the following paragraphs : 



Dr. C. C. Miller reads both the American 



