1898. 



•THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



345 



Manager Secor cannot be expected to do very much when 

 there is but little to do with. 



Now, we trust that those readers of the American Bee 

 Journal who have not as yet joined the New Union, will do so 

 at once. Why not make it 1,000 strong by the time of the 

 next annual meeting, sometime next September, probably ? 

 We will be glad to receive the dollar membership fee from all 

 who prefer to send it to us, and then forward to General 

 Manager Secor, who will mail you a receipt therefor. Of 

 course, you can send direct to Mr. Secor, instead of to us. 

 Address him thus: Hon. Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. If 

 only 50 new members were added per week from now until 

 the next meeting, there would then be almost the first thou- 

 sand. Surprise Mr. Secor by rolliug the dollars toward him 

 for awhile. He's a very cool, quiet, backward sort of man. 

 Pleasant surprises are always a good thing for such people. 

 Encourage him to laugh heartily on account of the great num- 

 ber of dollar membership fees hastening toward them. Begin 



now. 



*~«-*^ 



The Queen-Breeders' Union.— We take the 

 following paragraphs from the Bee-Keepers' Review for May : 



This is an era of organizations, and unions, and fraterni- 

 ties. The latest in this line, in an apicultural way. is the 

 Queen-Breeders' Union. The idea originated with Mr. J. O. 

 Grimsley, of Tennessee. The object is to protect and benefit 

 both queen-breeders and queen-buyers. No breeder will be 

 admitted who has not a clemi record ; and any case of crook- 

 edness on the part of a member will cause him to be expelled. 

 Only honest, straight-forward, reliable breeders will be ad- 

 mitted, and if it is found that a mistake has been made in 

 admitting a man, that mistake will be rectified. Expulsion 

 from the Union would practically ruin any breeder's business, 

 and no man will be expelled unless his business proves to be 

 such that it ouglit to be ruined. Of course, not to join the 

 Union need not necessarily be construed as a reflection upon 

 a man's honor or integrity, but to join it shows that he is will- 

 ing and ready to stand with those who intend to do right ; and 

 to place himself in such a position that he iiutst do right or be 

 publicly branded as a rogue. If a man buys queens of a mem- 

 ber of the Union he can rest assured that he will be treated 

 fairly. If he isn't, he will have in his hands a pretty big club 

 to hold over the head of the man who has dealt unfairly. 



Another object of the U nion will be to protect its members 

 against dishonest queen-bMj/e?-*. Occasionally there is a man 

 who starts out with the deliberate purpose of defrauding 

 queen-breeders. He orders queens and promises to pay at a 

 certain time; gets all the queens he can on credit of one 

 breeder, and then proceeds to " work '' some one else. Of 

 course, a man may not always be able to pay when he has 

 promist to pay, but the man who deliberately goes to work to 

 "beat" queen-breeders will soon find out that they are "on to 

 him," as the saying goes. 



The business of organizing this Union has, I believe, been 

 all conducted by mail, and I am not certain that it is yet com- 

 plete. It is likely that more particulars can be given later. 



Latek. — The officers are as follows: 



President, G. W. Hufstedler, of Texas; Vice-President, 

 J. B. Case, of Florida; General Manager, W. H. Pridgen, of 

 North Carolina ; Secretary and Treasurer, J. O. Grimsley, of 

 Tennessee. 



.We do not see why such an organization should not be a 

 good thing for all concerned. We shall be glad to publish free 

 a list of the names of the members of the Queen-Breeders' 

 Union, and still gladder to insert continuously in the American 

 Bee Journal, say an inch advertisement for each, at the usual 

 rates. 



Bee-Keepingf for Begfinners is the title of a 

 110-page book just out, from the pen of that expert bee- 

 keeper of the South, Dr. J. P. H. Brown, of Georgia. It 

 claims to be " a practical and condenst treatise on the honey- 

 bee, giving the best modes of management in order to secure 

 the most profit." Price of the book, postpaid, 50 cents. Or, 

 we will club it with the Bee Journal for one year — both to- 

 gether for $1.-1:0 ; or, we will mall it as a premium to any of 

 our present subscribers for sending us one new subscriber to 

 the Bee Journal for a yciar (at $1.00), and 10 cents extra. 



Mr. S. T. Pettit, of Ontario, Canada, reported his bees 

 in extraordinarily good condition May 21. That's the general 

 report this spring. 



Mk. M. M. Rice, of Grant Co., Wis., wrote May 20 : 

 "Bees are in fine condition, and there is a good outlook 

 for a crop of honey." 



Mr. M. M. Baldkidge, of Kane Co., HI., reported two 

 swarms. May 16 and 17. Another bee-keeper at the same 

 place wrote us May 23 that he had had 7 swarms up to that 

 date. Bees began to swarm very early this year. 



Miss Flora Fitch — J. A. Golden's fascinating young lady 

 helper — is pictured In Gleanings for May 15. Poor Rambler ; 

 he'll be worse upset now, for not even the section-cleaner is 

 shown with her ; and when Rambler must face her face with- 

 out a counter attraction, we don't know what will happen ! 

 But then, he's 2,500 miles away, so no one need get uneasy 

 just yet. 



Mr. Thos. Wm. Cowan, the noted editor of the British 

 Bee Journal, was in Chicago last week, and we had the de- 

 lightful pleasure of making his acquantance, and also that of 

 his wife, who accompanied him. We regretted exceedingly not 

 being able to entertain Mr. and Mrs. Cowan at our home, on 

 account of the ill-health of Mrs. York, who has tor the past 

 several months suffered from malarial fever. No one who has 

 been thus alHicted need be told of its very weakening and lin- 

 gering effect. We hope next week to be able to have more to 

 say regarding Mr. Cowan's visit to this part of the country. 



Mr. 0. 0. PoppLETON, of Dade Co., Fla., writing us May 

 19, said: 



"This is my busy season, running the extractor daytime 

 and reading war news evenings. The honey crop is a very 

 light one. I have out so far an average of only 40 pounds 

 per colony ; ought to have had double that by now. May pos- 

 sibly double it during the season. The fire was quite a serious 

 loss to me, not only in bees and one full set of implements, 

 etc., but almost our entire range is burned over. As penny- 

 royal takes about three years to recover itself, the loss will 

 not be confined to this season only." 



Mr. Poppleton's fire was thus mentioned in tbe American 

 Bee-Keeper for May : 



" Mr. Poppleton has recently suffered quite a heavy loss 

 as the result of one of his apiaries being located in the wake of 

 one of those destructive fires, which, during the spring 

 mouths, are constantly raging through the woodlands of South 

 Florida. The bee-house with all its contents, including a new 

 Cowan extractor, uncapping-can, tank with several hundred 

 pounds of honey, and numerous other articles of value, was 

 destroyed. Many hives with bees were damaged, and 11 

 strong colonies were consumed outright." 



We hope Mr. Poppleton will soon recover from the effects 

 of the fire. It no doubt came in a very bad time for him. 



The Gentleman Farmer Magazine is in Its ord vol- 

 ume. It is gotten up after the style and shape of the Cosmo- 

 politan and similar magazines — only more beautiful, if that is 

 possible. The May number has been on our desk for several 

 weeks, but until now we have been too busy to notice it in this 

 column. It contains about 100 pages, and is most fully illus- 

 trated with the finest half-tone engravings. This particular 

 May number contains an article written by Rev. Emerson T. 

 Abbott, of Missouri, entitled " Bee-Culture." We believe it is 

 to be concluded in the June number. It aims to present the 

 subject of bee-keeping in a popular and entertaining way — 

 and Mr. Abbott can do that. Better get the May number. 

 Price 10 cents ; or one year for .si. 00 ; or we will club it with 

 the American Bee Journal for a year — both together for only 

 $1.75. Address the Gentleman Farmer Company, Manhat- 

 tan Building, Chicago, III., for a copy, enclosing 10 cents. 

 Then after examining it send us your subscription. You will 

 like the magazine very much. 



