1904 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPBIH 



19 



Our esteemed contemporary evident- 

 ly deems columns and pages of per- 

 sonal, petty wranglings of more inter- 

 eat and value to the "farmers who 

 keep but a few colonies of bee^s," than 

 a knowledge of methods whereby foul 

 brood may be eradicated, or the mat- 

 ing of queens controlled. He should 

 know, it seems, "how to secure a good 

 honey crop, and then to be told where 

 he can find a market at a living price." 

 We presume then, that, having been 

 "told," the said "farmer" should forth- 

 with proceed to sell where he is "told." 

 What a calamity it would be, indeed, 

 if the farmer bee-keeper .should, per- 

 chance, have wasted sufficient time 

 during the winter evenings to have ac- 

 quired a fair knowledge of the pres- 

 ent status of the whole world's apia- 

 rian conditions; and possibly may 

 have taken a slight hand at the woi'lv 

 of shaping these conditions more to his 

 liking than they would otherwise have 

 been. And then, what if he were to 

 have the audacity to exercise to some 

 extent his own mental faculty in re- 

 gard to the disposition of his own pro- 

 duct. It would be bad. too, if he 

 should persist in reading the bee jour- 

 nals to the extent that he should learn 

 that good stock have a tendency to in- 

 crease tlie honey yields, and that the 

 development of good stock depended 

 largely upon his al)ility to control mat- 

 ing. He might find out, too, that com- 

 mercial organization is to be the pa- 

 rent of "living prices," as well as 

 to largely govern the "demand," and 

 distribute the "supply;" and, tliere- 

 fore, that his personal interests are 

 directly influenced by any movement 

 wliich sets in motion the wheels of 

 "commercial organization." 



It is the honest opinion of The 

 American Bee-Keeper that "farmers 

 who keep but a few colonies of bees" 

 are not liable to injure tliemselves 

 either mentally or financially, by the 

 acquisition of too much knowledge rel- 

 ative to even those "few colonies," and 

 their management. If any reader of 

 the bee journals finds himself men- 

 aced in such manner, if lie will for- 

 ward to u,s a self-addressed postal 

 card, we think we are (jualified to 

 point him to one publication which 

 may be freely perused without border- 

 ing upon the danger line. 



EUCALYPTUS IIOBUSTA. 



We have to thank Mr. H. M. Jame- 

 son, Corona, Galif.. for a generous 

 package of seed of this nectar-yield- 

 ing tree, and shall endeavor to test 

 its adaptability to this section of the 

 South. Mr. .Jameson states that E. 

 Robusta is rich in honey and remains 

 in bloom two or three months. He has 

 several hundred of these trees, but 

 owing to the fact that he has about 

 as many colonies of bees as trees, does 

 not, of course, get any eucalypt honey. 

 Robusta. Mr. Jameson says, blooms 

 in two or three years from the seed, 

 and thrives best in moist land; though 

 it does exceedinglj' well in some very 

 dry locations in Southern California. 



Any of our readers who are inter- 

 ested in the cultivation of the eucalypt 

 may secure a splendid work upon the 

 subject by addressing the Bureau of 

 Forestry, Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C. and asking for 

 Bulletin No. .35, entitled "Eucalypts 

 Cultivated in the United States." 



"EXTRACTED" HONEY. 



The following paragraph is from a 

 letter recentlj' received from a well- 

 known Northern apiarist: 



"Recently in looking over a book of 

 honey labels I was forcibly struck 

 with the word 'extracted.' It looked 

 out of place, and I believe sliould be 

 left oflf all labels. 'Comb honey' does 

 not have to be lal)eled such, and why 

 should extracted honey in glass have 

 doubt thrown on it by hitching on the 

 word 'extracted?' It add(S nothing, 

 and very often arouses suspicion. 

 Honey in cans is presupposed to be 

 out of the comb. Help kick that word 

 out of everything except the bee pa- 

 pers and market quotations." 



Thei'e is no doubt that good, honest 

 honey has been placed under the ban 

 of suspicion as a result of the ambi- 

 guity of the word "extracted" as dis- 

 I)layed ui)on retail packages. Upon 

 ca.snal notice the prospective buyer 

 seems to acquire the idea that it is 

 an "extract of honey." and not "real 

 bees' honey." It becomes a question, 

 however, whether it would be the part 

 of wisdom for an infant industry to 

 reliiKiuish so good and specific a word 

 upon the ground that it had failed to- 

 become thoroughly understood by the 

 l)nblic. While it may be a fact that 



I 



