8 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 6, 



eBQRGB W. YORK, . Editor. 



PUBLISHT WEEKLY BY 



CEORC^ W. YORK & COMPANY, 

 IIS MioJiig-an St., - CHICAGO, ILL. 



$1.00 a Year — Sample Copy Sent Free. 

 CBntered at the Po*t-Office at ChicaKO as Second-Class Mall-Matter ] 



United States Bee-Keepers' Unian. 



Organized to advance the pursuit of Apiculture; to promote the interests 



of bee-beepers ; to protect its members ; to prevent the adulteration 



of honey; and to prosecute the dishonest honey-commission men. 



Membership Fee— SI. 00 Per Annum. 



-E-veeutive Commi(tee, 



Presii^ent— George W. York. Vice-Pres.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 

 Secretary— Dr. A. B. Mason, Station B, Toledo, Ohio. 



Board of X>irectors. 



E. R. Root. E. Whitcomb. E. T. Abbott. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. Dr. C. C. Miller. C. P. Dadant. 



General iWanag-er and Tr-eagurer. 



Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



Vol. imiii. 



CBICAGO, ILL, JAN, 6, 18 



No. 1. 



Volume XXXVIII of the American Bee Journal is 

 now begun. Just two more years, and then the two-sccre 

 volume will be commenced. Then it will have been a weekly 

 just as long as it was a monthJy bee-paper. But 38 years 

 seems a long time for a periodical to exist — it is especially so 

 in bee-journalism, for about all that have been started in this 

 country past away at a very tender age. Perhaps it was just 

 as well, as they may have in most cases served their purpose, 

 in satisfying the desire of their publishers to "have their say " 

 uncheckt, and see their names in print as "editor." But how 

 empty are such privileges and honors. To publish a really 

 valuable bee-paper means more than to wield a free lauce and 

 print " editor" after your name. It means a lot of downright 

 hard work, with no prospect of a financial fortune at the end. 

 But, to us, the work is pleasant and agreeable, even if pro- 

 digious, so long as we are blest with good health. 



Ag-ainst Adulterated Honey in Wiseonsln. 



— We learn from Mr. P. Wilcox, the able President of the 

 Wisconsin Slate Bee-Keepers' Association, that on Jan. 1, 

 1898, the new anti-adulteration law, which is very stringent, 

 went into effect. Mr. *Vilcox wrote us as follows Dec. 20 : 



Editor York :— I will enclose you herein a clipping from 

 the Evening Wisconsin, of the Icith, which shows that the 

 State of Wisconsin is making an effort to suppress the adul- 

 teration of food and dr'jgs, and I think the Governor has 

 found a man who will enforce it, iu the person of Hon. H. C. 



Adams, whose office our society occupied last February, when 

 you were with us. Very truly yours, 



F. Wilcox. 



The clipping which Mr. Wilcox sent us is headed, in large 

 type, " Food Must be Pure." It contains a full text of the 

 new law on adulteration, which was approved April 2, 1897, 

 and also a number of rulings of Commissioner Adams. Under 

 " Honey " we find the following : 



" Honey containing glucose or any other foreign substance 

 shall be markt upon the package or parcel with the words, 

 " Adulterated Honey," as'required by Section 2. Chapter 40, 

 laws of 1881. No honey mixtures or compounds will be per- 

 mitted, except when labeled iu accordance with the foregoing 

 section." 



Hurrah for Wisconsin ! Go for the infernal adulterators 

 of honey ! Down them, and make them quit or get out. We 

 hope the bee-keepers of that State will back up Commissioner 

 Adams in his efforts to enforce the law. He'll have a job of it 

 for awhile, and will need the hearty co-operation of every 

 honest citizen. Now is the golden opportunity of bee-keepers 

 there to rid that State of the honey-adulterators. 



Oh, that Illinois were as quick to defend and protect her 

 producers of honest honey. But we're expecting shortly to 

 have something very interesting to tell along this line here in 

 Chicago. Honey adulteration here is more general than ever, 

 and more daring in its devilish work. 



Honey- Vessels in Foreig'n Countries.— Ph. 



J. Baldensperger says in the British Bee Journal that in most 

 countries on the continent except Turkey and Greece, wooden 

 barrels are used for holding honey. In Turkey and Greece 

 goatskins are used, giving a peculiar and not agreeable flavor 

 to honey. In Syria, Palestine, and over the north of Africa, 

 unglazed pottery is used, the honey soaking into the pores so 

 the vessels cannot be used the second time, but in Algeria 

 glazed pottery is used. Mr. Baldensperger uses kerosene 

 cans, after cleansing them. This he does by exposing them 

 to the sun for a fortnight, or washing them with lye, "and, 

 when well dried, a few drops of spirits spread over the sur- 

 face and Ignited with a match, and the can becomes as clean 

 as new, without the slightest trace of petroleum flavor." But 

 such cans are strongly objected to in this country. 



Bees vs. Pis:eons as messagfe-Carriers— Mr. 



A. Maebert, a New Jersey subscriber to the Bee Journal, has 

 kindly sent us an account of an hour's contest between hom- 

 ing pigeons and bees, in which the bees won the race. It was 

 In Belgium, where the speed between four drones, eight work- 

 ing bees, and the same number of pigeons, was tested. They 

 were liberated at a town one hour's distance from the hives. 

 The tees were covered with flour so as to recognize them 

 when they reacht the hive. The bees and pigeons were all 

 liberated together. A drone reacht home four seconds in 

 advance of the first pigeon. The three other drones and one 

 pigeon came in neck and neck, according to the judges, and 

 the eight worker-bees came in just a trifle ahead of the ten 



piseocs. 



^-.-*- 



Mr. J. M. Voung^ and Apiary are shown on the 

 first page this week. When sending us the picture, Mr. 

 Young wrote as follows: 



Our photographer came out early in May and took 

 the picture that I send you. The hives all face the east. The 

 trees in the background are box-elders, and on the north side 

 of the yard. The residence is situated at the extreme left, and, 

 sorry to say, we could not show it in the engraving. 



The large white hives are chaff hives, and all two-story. 

 The smaller hives are the two-story regular dovetailed, and 

 used mostly for extracting purposes. My name at the left is 

 workt out in honey-comb, and is the same one that was sent 

 with the advertising train that went from Omaha across the 



