504 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



August 11, 



GEORGE W. YORK. EDITOR. 



PUBI.ISHT WEEKLT BY 



118 Michigan Street, CHICAGO, ILL. 



[Entered at the PostOfflce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail Matter.] 



UNITED STATES BEE-KEEPERS' UNION 



Organized to advance the pursuit of Apiculture; to promote the intere8t8of bee 

 keepers; to protect its members ; to prevent the adulteration of honey; and 

 to prosecute the dishonest honey-commission men. 



Ale niber ship Fe>&-^lMO per Anntxin, 



EXECUTIVE CoMMiTTEE-Pres.. George W. York; Vice- Prea., W. Z. Hutchinson; 



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

 BOARD OF Directors— E. R. Root: E. Whitcomb; E. T. Abbott; C. P. Dadant; 



W.Z.Hutchinson; Dr. C. C. Miller. 



General manager and Treasurer— Eugene Seeor, Forest City, Iowa. 



F*lace and JJate of Kext Jlfeeffno- s 



Omaha, Nebr., Sept. 13. 14 and is. at the Delone Hotel, Cor. I4th Street and 



Capitol Avenue. 



VOL.38. AUGUST 11, 1898. 



NO. 32. 



Note. —The American Bee Journal adopts the Orthonrnphy of the followinc 

 Rule, recommended by the Joint acticmof the American I'hiloloKlcal Aiso 

 ciation and the PhilolOKical Society ot Knaland:-ChanBe "d" or "ed" final 

 to 't when so pronounced, except when the "e" affects a preceding sound. 



A mistake is made by a few subscribers every year 

 in asking that their paper be discontiDued on account of the 

 poor season. This is a very short-sighted policy. Surely any 

 bee-lteeper can spare one dollar a year for a bee-paper, 

 whether he has a honey crop or not. He really cannot afford 

 to do without the paper, even if he has no crop, for during the 

 year he falls to get the paper he will likely miss enough good 

 advice, short cuts described, new things brought out, etc., to 

 pay for many years' subscription when a good crop of honey 

 comes his way. 



We always dislike to discontinue a subscription for any 

 cause except when a subscriber goes into some other business 

 requiring all his time; and yet there are some who are so in- 

 terested in reading about bees that they will have a bee-paper 

 even if not keeping any. 



In many localities this year there is a failure of the 

 honey crop. Such failures come no matter how careful and 

 diligent the bee-keeper has been. Of course the only thing to 

 do is to " grin and bear it," hoping that next year the bees 

 will be able to do better. In the meantime prepare for doing 

 better work, by reading and planning. 



If you are fortunate enough to have honey to sell this 

 year, study to get the most out of it financially. Much good 

 advice on marketing is publisht every year. 



Omaha Exposition and Convention.— Mr. 



Louis R. Lighton might appropriately be called a " Lighton- 

 ing" shorthand writer. He it was who reported the national 



convention of bee-keepers at St. Joseph, Mo., in 1894 — the 

 report that the Secretary of that year failed to turn over for 

 publication. We presume he has it yet safely tuckt away 

 somewhere. But Mr. Lighton did his part all right. He has 

 been engaged again, this time to report the convention at 

 Omaha, Sept. 13, 14 and 15. From a letter Mr. Lighton 

 wrote us July 26, we take the following, which is of interest 

 just now : 



The apiary building at the Exposition is one of the finest 

 buildings on the grounds, and the exhibits are superb. Messrs. 

 E. Whitcomb, L. D. Stilson, and August Davidson— all of 

 Nebraska — are putting forth every effort to make the exhibit 

 a splendid success, and they are succeeding. 



Too much cannot be said in the way of Inducing bee-keep- 

 ers to attend the convention of the United States Bee-Keepers' 

 Union. Nebraska will send at least 500 delegates. 



Dr. Miller and Mr. A. I. Root will be Interested to know 

 there are " talking seals " in connection with the ExpositioB. 

 Now keep them away, if you can ! 



Louis R. Lighton. 



The last paragraph settles it — Dr. Miller and A. I. Root 

 will be there. And we shouldn't wonder if Editor Abbott will 

 be found "s(t)ealing" around somewhere near to "talk" with 

 those seals. 



Our Visit to Or. miller's, July 27 and 28, wo 

 promist last week to tell something about in this number. 

 For the benefit of the new readers we will say that the Doctor 

 lives in McHenry Co., III., about b5 miles northwest of Chi- 

 cago. He has three apiaries — one at home, one three miles 

 north, and the other five miles south. In all there are some 

 300 colonies, 120 being at the home apiary. 



Last year the Doctor's crop was over 17,000 pounds of 

 comb honey ; this year — well, it will likely not reach 1,000 

 pouuds. Tho there was a profusion of white clover bloom — 

 which is his main dependence — It seemed to yield no nectar, 

 or at least the bees failed to work on the blossoms to any 

 great extent. 



We saw in the Doctor's shop a pile of 24,000 sections all 

 in supers, with foundation, ready to set right on the hives 

 when needed. Bef they will likely wait until another year to 

 be used. 



Many of the Doctor's hives are very old, and weather- 

 beaten, warpt, etc., and the frames in them are Just a little 

 different in size from the standard Langstroth — 9>sxl7%. 

 Desiring to have all on the regular size frame, he was 

 changing them over on thick-top frames, both end and side 

 spaced — at the ends staples being used, and at the sides nails 

 driven in to within V4 inch. The bottom-bars of his new 

 frames are the same width as the top and end bars, and heav- 

 ier than usually made. In them he had full sheets of founda- 

 tion, not wired, but with four or five perpendicular splints of 

 wood sunk into the foundation after first being boiled in bees- 

 wax to prevent the bees gnawing them out. 



He was using a new ventilated cover of his own Invention. 

 It is made of ^I'-inch stuff, the under pieces being crosswise 

 of the hive, and the upper lengthwise, with a % strip nailed 

 between them around the edges, thus leaving a hollow space. 

 The whole top is then covered with tin, and painted white. 

 The upper lengthwise pieces extend beyond the lower cross- 

 wise pieces about an inch at one end, which serves for a hand- 

 hold to lift the cover from the hive. The whole thing, nailed 

 and painted at the factory, costs 25 cents. But as such a 

 cover cannot possibly warp or leak, and will last a lifetime, it 

 fs quite inexpensive. 



The forenoon of the first day we spent in the apiary clip- 

 ping queens' wings and In other manipulations. Indicated as 

 necessary by the Doctor's annual record book. In this book 

 he has a complete record of each colony in connection with its 

 number. It is his constant guide and companion during the 

 season, and materially aids him in his work with the bees. He 



