r.tuo. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



123 



A New York City forrespoiident ex- 

 jdesses the wish that writers for pub- 

 liciitioii would refrain from the use of 

 slang'. The •suggestion is a good oiie, 

 ,111(1 our (•ontril)utors are respectfully 

 iiMluested to eonfoirm to the wish. lie 

 further begs lis to "u-se capital letters, 

 i Instead of small loiues, for the four 

 seasons of the year." He gives no 

 rea.son for desiring thi-s change, and 

 none is apparent to tbe editor. 



The Hamilton County Bee-keepers" 

 Associarion. Cincinnati, O., announced 

 that it had arranged to have Mr. W. 

 Z. Hutchin-son deliver a lecture at the 



(invention rooms of the Grand hotel, 

 Miat city, Monday evening, :May 20,tlie 

 -ubject being, "The Comforts and 

 idnveniencas of the Apiary, in Their 

 lU'lation to Modern Bee-keeping and 

 Honey Production." Mr. W. W. Som- 



iierford, of Cuba, was also to address 



he meeting. Doubtless the program 

 ivas carried out a-s projected, and the 



;0()d time anticipated, fully realized. 



»lr. Sommerford's honey harvest last 



^ea.^on was one hundred and forty 



housand pounds. 



DUPES. 



It is a strange oommentai-y on the 

 implicit.v of bee-keepers, their blindly 

 nllowing biased advice, wasting 

 iioney on one fad after another, 

 \'hlle the vendors of the constantly 

 hhnging hives and tools wax rapidly 

 ich. 



GRADING HONEY. 



'fl "Let your honey be honestly graded, 

 'ut the finest next to the glass and 

 hen .iust Ithe (same qiialit.V' clear 

 hrough to the back of the case," says 

 V. J. Davis. Paste that where yoii 

 ^ill always see it and then live up to 

 t. It is a money maker. 



APICULTURE IN JAPAN. 

 The .Japanese equal us in many arts, 

 re superior to us in others, but are 

 ir behind us in apiculture. The 

 irliest record of apiculture there dat- 

 1 back to r.42 A. D. The practice of the 

 I't is •still primitive, modern methods 

 eing conspicuous by theu* rarity, 

 he Italian and Cyprian races have 

 3en inti'oduced and the latter is con- 

 dered the best, the original or "na- 

 ve" stock of Corean hees being the 

 ast valued. The annual production 



of honey is estimated at about 250,- 

 ()<>() i)oun(ls. Once let these earnest 

 little brown men turn their thoughts 

 seriously to bee-keeping and they will 

 lead lis a merry race. 



SELECTING QUEENS. 

 Swarthmore has said: "Virgin 

 queens with broad thorax, cob-like 

 form and stout legs broadly vS])read, in- 

 variably turn out to be long lived and 

 prolific. Such (pieens are seldom lost 

 at mating time." Thils recalls the fact 

 it was noted as long ago as 1860 that 

 queens with defective legs often turned 

 out to 1)0 drone layers. When select- 

 ting queens remember Swarthmore's 

 words. 



WHICH HONEY IS THE BEST? 



This question will probably be dis- 

 cussed as long as individual ta-stes 

 differ, but mild flavored honeys will al- 

 ways be most popular and blended 

 honeys will lead among them. In New 

 England when the homey-flow is slow 

 and the combs are ttlled from many 

 kinds of flowers, then is the honey 

 most delicious. The same is known to 

 be tiTie in some other parts of the 

 country and doubtless is so every- 

 where Such honey keeps the palate 

 seeking for the elusive flavors and 

 never cloys it. It is blended flavors 

 which have made French cookery so 

 famous. 



WHO WAS FIRST? 



The Review recently had an article 

 from a Mr. Sibbald on what he be- 

 lieved to be a new method of antici- 

 pating swarming and at the .same time 

 .securing the crop of honey. In Glean- 

 ings for INIay 1 many pages are de- 

 voted to showing that the s.vstem is 

 not new, each writer claiming to have 

 originated it or used it, some so long 

 ago as 1901. If Mr. Sibbald chances 

 to rtin into that chilling reception it 

 may deter him from ever again ap- 

 pearing in print. 



The kernel of the Sibbald method is 

 in having the forced swarm rai,se a 

 queen, leaving the old queen with the 

 parent colony; a practice which was 

 well known at least seventy-five years 

 ago. Cheer up, Mr. S., for he laughs 

 best who laughs last. 



To Beginners: Don't expect tO' start 

 out as a full fledged bee — you mu«t 5e 

 a grub finst. 



