THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



35 



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iiEjmiu 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Vol, XXII, Jan. 20, 1886, 1,3, 



pvT^^^ 



I ■jlllHia-iJi— 



A Queen-Cage is on our desk from Chas. 

 Ivinffsley, of Bossier Parish, La. It is made 

 tntirely of wood, and is simple and durable. 



To any One sending us one new sub- 

 scriber with their own renewal (with $2.00), 

 we will present a copy of the new " Con- 

 vention History of America." 



We are Now Deluded with correspond- 

 ence, and we are several days behind with 

 our answers to letters upon multitudinous 

 subjects, and shall not be able to "catch 

 up" for several days yet. Our correspond- 

 ents will please exercise a little patience. 

 We shall " get there," we hope, this week. 



Mr. C. F. ITIutli, the popular honey 

 merchant and supply dealer of Cincinnati, 

 Ohio, took his son into the business as a 

 partner on Jan. 1, 1880, as will be seen on 

 p;ig-e 48 of this issue. The Bee Journal 

 wishes the new firm success. 



Tlie President of the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Socierty has given some hints 

 to the Vice-Presidents on page 42. It will 

 be necessary for them to act at once, for 

 the meetings of the managers of Fairs will 

 soon take place. Let there be good bee and 

 honey shows everyhere. They help honey 

 consumption by informing the public con- 

 Cfrning the desirability of eating honey. 



Some Fool in Hudson, Mich., having 

 read Bro. Hoot's offer, in OUaninga, of 

 $1,500 for a sample of the artificial comb- 

 honey said to be "made and filled with 

 glucose by new machinery " (a la Wiley), 

 sent to this oflice for a sample of it, and 

 without waiting for a reply, wrote to Mr. 

 Boot, accepting his offer. We wrote him 

 that it was a " hoa.x ;" that "there was no 

 such thing made," etc. Had he waited for 

 our reply, he would not have dared to 

 accept Mr. Hoot's ofl'er. "The fools are not 

 all dead "—here is a genuine sample of the 

 modern " go-ahead " class. 



A Brief History of the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Society, with a digest of its 

 iii Annual Conventions, and a full Heport 

 of the Proceedings of the Ifith Annual Con- 

 vention held at Detroit, Mich., on Dec. H to 

 10. 188.'">. This is the title of a new pamphlet 

 of 1*4 pages just issued at this ortice. Price, 

 2."3 cents. 



To compile this history and digest of all 

 the past meetings of the Society, has taken 

 much time and labor, and we have no doubt 

 but that it will be duly appreciated by the 

 apiarists of North America. The following 

 is a portion of the " Introduction :" 



Life is too short, and Americans are too 

 busy to sjienfl the time necessary to delve 

 into a multitude of vohiuies in order to post 

 themselves on tlie general history of the 

 ])ast in ri'lcrcnceto the formation of Socie- 

 ties of Apiculture. They have long needed 

 a digest of Convention History in general, 

 and of the Continental Society in particu- 

 lar. They want to know wliat was done, 

 and what subjects were discussed at the 

 former meetings. Heretofore this could 

 only be ascertained by carefully examining 

 over 30 volumes of the Amepjcak Bee 

 Journal, and other papers; and some of 

 these are possessed by comparatively very 

 few of the apiarists o'f to-day. 



In the following jjages, we liave endeav- 

 ored to supply tins want by stating the 

 plitce and time of each meeting of the Con- 

 tinental Societies during tlie iiast 3.5 years, 

 and naming the principal onicers elecled, 

 as well as to note all the business of im- 

 portance transacted. 



We have also mentioned all the subjects 

 discussed, and enumerated all the essays 

 read at each meeting; so that tlie history is 

 complete, without a broken link, so far as 

 it can be ascertahied at the present time, 

 and we feel sure it will now become a book 

 of reference in our National gatherings. 



Frequently have the members of the 

 Society voted to have the proceedings pub- 

 lished in pamphlet form, but so far the 

 Society has done it but once, and then 

 only published one-third of what was voted 

 to be done, by publishing the report of one 

 convention instead of three. 



In 1877 the publishers of the American 

 Bee Journal issued a pamphlet of 33 

 pages containing a report of the Conven- 

 tion of that year. They also publish this 

 pamphlet at ilieir own exjiense, and have 

 ])ntilishe(l it report each year, varying from 

 4 to over 40 pages, in the American Bee 

 Journal. 



Only a few years ago, at one of the an- 

 nual meetings, no one had even a list of 

 the officers tor the year, (the Secretary be- 

 ing absent); at oilier meetings, jiersons 

 were elected to fill oflircs not waiianted by 

 the Constitution, whicli had hei-n amended, 

 re-amended, and the aniendnients entirely 

 lost sight of. There will be no excuse for 

 such tilings hereafter; if this pamphlet is 

 consulted, confusion will be avoided. 



The organization of Societies are of im- 

 mense advantage to our pursuit, and help 

 to obtain for it that recognition which it 

 richly deserves among the productions of 

 America. They open up avenues of trade 

 for honey by informing consumers concern- 

 ing its excellence for medical and mechani- 

 cal purposes, confectionery, table use, etc. 



They help producers by looking after their 

 interests in the use of the mails for the 

 transmission of bees to all parts of the 

 world, and the use of the railroads for the 

 shiiJiiuig of lioiii-y and getting it into the 

 proper classilications, etc. 



This pamphlet also contains engravings of 

 the principal lioney-plants, and portraits of 

 the Rev. L. L. Langstroth, of Ohio, and 

 Moses Quinby, of New York ; two of the 

 pioneers who helped to revolutionize Ameri- 

 can apiculture, and usher in a new era. 



A Revolution In Bec-ruUure is what 

 the Rev. W. F. Clarke predicts for the new 

 system of management as given in Mr. 

 James Heddon's new book. It is evidently 

 a veritable "new departure," and something 

 worthy of the attention of all honey-pro- 

 ducers. Some have but little doubt of its 

 being second only to the invention of the 

 movable-frame hive and system of manage- 

 ment invented by thcHev. L. L. Langstroth: 

 and say, if the adoption of movable-frames 

 created a revolution in the methods and 

 management :iO years ago, surely invertible 

 hives, and consequent ease of manipulation 

 by hives instead of frames, will cause a 

 second revolutiim. 



Without endorsing the system of manage- 

 ment, we must accord to the inventor the 

 acknowledgement that it is new and original. 

 So far as we know, no one has ever before 

 advocated the making of the brood-cham- 

 ber in two sectional parts, in order to obviate 

 the necessity of the continual handling of 

 frames. If this system shall prove to be all 

 that is claimed for it— it will cause a revolu- 

 tion in bee-management ! To handle hives 

 instead of frames will certainly lessen the 

 labor, curtail the expense of honey-produc- 

 tion, and add much to the pleasure of 

 keeping bees. 



Scores of prominent apiarists are investi- 

 gating the matter, and many have already 

 endorsed it, in the main. Some have raised 

 objections to the practice of reversing 

 brood-combs, but, as we understand it, Mr. 

 Heddon's system is to interchange the brood- 

 combs in horizontal sections, and thus 

 accomplish neai'ly all that reversing combs 

 would do, but doing it witliout inverting a 

 cell. 



We must say that we are considerably 

 captivated with the system, as detailed by 

 Mr. Heddon in his book, and shall investi- 

 gate it further, as soon as we can procure a 

 hive. Our readers will be informed con- 

 cerning the conclusions we have arrived at 

 in a future number of the Bee Journ.il— 

 perhaps next week. 



Mr. S. X. Clarli, of Delavan, Wis., died 

 of heart disease on March 17, 188.5. He went 

 to work in his shop on that morning appar- 

 ently as well as ever, and Mr. J. S. Wright 

 writes us that he found him there, one hour 

 later, dead. Mr. Wright should have made 

 this public long ago, and then he would 

 have been enumerated in the roll of " Api- 

 cultural Necrology," read at the late Con- 

 vention at Detroit. Mr. Clark was one of 

 the fathers of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Society ; an enthusiastic apiarist, 

 and a good man generally. 



Dr. Tinlcer has sent us a sample of his 

 new " side-passage sections." They are 

 very nicely and accurately cut. 



Xlie Canadian Duty on Beeswax.— 



On page 819, Mr. Holtermann refers to this 

 matter. We asked Mr. D. A. Jones to 

 explain the matter.whieh he does as follows: 



" We referred to the duty being removed 

 from Bees (not beeswax), and we have been 

 mis-reported. Scune effort was made at a 

 late session of Parliament to have the duty 

 taken off of wax, but owing to the fact that 

 the matter was brought before the committee 

 appointed to revise the tariff, at too late an 

 hour, the change could not be made." 



