40 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Februa 



fore real winter sets in, at night after 

 a pleasant day in November seems to 

 give best results. 



I write especially about the care of 

 bees during the starving time in the 

 spring and the safely bringing of them 

 through the winter, because these 

 things seem to be the greatest draw- 

 backs to the successful keeping of 

 bees in this state and supplying our 

 tables^ from what now goes to waste, 

 with honey from the various clovers, 

 mostly alfalfa and red and sweet clov- 

 er, and in the eastern, or rather 

 southeastern part, white clover and 

 many wild flowers, shoestring. Ver- 

 vain snowdrop, and the ever present 

 and abundant goldenrod. 



There is another subject I wish to 

 mention, viz: The purity of honey. 

 Several years ago there were stories 

 started about the artificial making of 

 comb honey, and it has been handed 

 on, and many reports of factories and 

 places where it was made. The Na- 

 tional Bee-keepers' Association was 

 organized by the leading bee-keepers 

 of the United States and Canada for 

 the express purpose of fighting the 

 adulteration of honey. We realized 

 that any mixture fixed up by man, 

 lowered the food value and flavor of 

 honey, and consequently 1/urt our bus- 

 iness, and our organization has done 

 all in its power to get pure food legis- 

 lation in the States and United States. 

 And our committees have searched for 

 this bogus honey far and near, and a 

 reward has been out for years to any- 

 one finding the manufactured or ma- 

 chine-made honey. In all my experi- 

 ence, I have never seen bees build 

 surplus honey when ted and I do not 

 believe it can be done without loss. 

 The following letter, from our na- 

 tional general manager, explains it- 

 self, and he is ready to back all his 

 statements; 



The National Bee-Keepers' 



Association. 



General Manager's Office, 



Platteville, Wis., Oct. loth, 1903. 



The stories told about artificial 

 comb honey being made, or sold, have 

 not the slightest foundation in fact. 

 There still exist a few people ovpr- 

 wise in their judgment, who do not 

 know the truth about honey, and are 

 too free to report what is not true. 

 As general manager of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, I wish to 

 say, there is not, and never was. a 



pound of artificial comb honey. ] 

 one ever saw^ or knew of any su 

 being sold. For years there has be 

 a standing offer made by a relial 

 firm (a charter member of N. B. K 

 whose responsibility is unquestione 

 of $1,000 for a single pound of co; 

 honey made without the interventi 

 of bees. The offer still holds go 

 No extracted honey, as it comes dir 

 from the bee-keeper, is adulterat 

 There are but few places in the Ui 

 ed States where dealers have dared 

 offer the same for sale. State fc 

 laws define the penalties for the sai 

 The National Bee-Keepers' Asso( 

 tion, of about 1,600 members, scatt 

 ed throughout every State and Ca.^ 

 da. are each one carefully watch 

 for any adulterated honey on tl 

 market. Should any be found, 

 facts would be made known to pro 

 officers, the goods analyzed, and 

 found adulterated, the guilty par 

 at once dealt with in accordance v 

 the State laws. N. E. Franct 



A NEWSPAPER VERSION. 



The daily political papers make 

 many blunders when they talk ab 

 bees that we get discouraged so 

 times trying to set them right, 

 here is an article from the Chic 

 Chronicle which seems too good t( 

 missed. The article says: "'Just 

 there are valuable strains in hor 

 cattle and other stock, so there are 

 rieties of queen bees which are w( 

 many hundred times their weigh' 

 gold. The most valuable strain is 

 Italian and many Italian bee farn 

 demand and receive without ques' 

 prices ranging from $50 to $200 f( 

 single queen bee of a certain k 

 Such bees are sent all over the wo 

 The owner of a bee farm near Otta 

 Canada, goes to Europe annually 

 brings back with him bees of an 

 gregate value of thousands of poui 

 He is enabled through the agencj 

 an Italian firm; to effect insura 

 upon the most valuable of his qud 

 This bee farmer has many strange 

 periences in connection with the 

 sistants he is obliged to engage, 

 course, all bee keepers must submi 

 a certain amount of stinging. Bu 

 some cases the poison in the sting: 

 directly upon the assistants 

 makes them alarmingly ill. Others 

 immune, though stung hundreds 



