680 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



OciobeT 27. 



GEORGE W. YORK. EDITOR. 



phbijISHt weekly by 

 118 Michigan Street, CHICAGO, ILL. 



[Entered at the PostOffioe at Chicago as Second-ClaBS Mail Matter.] 



UNITED STATES BEE-KEEPERS' UNION 



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

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

 to prosecute the dishonest honey-commission men. 



Afemt>ers2iip Fe&~^l,00 per .Ajxnujn, 



EXECUTIVE Committee— Pres.. George W. York; Vice-Pres., W. Z. Hutchinson ; 



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

 Board op Directors-B. k. Root; E. Whitcomb; B. T. Abbott; C. P. Dadant; 



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

 General Manager and Treasdreb— Kugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



VOL. 38. OCTOBER 27, 1898. NO. 43. 



Note.— The Americiin Uec .Jounial adopts the Orthography of the following 

 Rule, recommended by the joint action ol the American Philological Asbo- 

 ciation and the Philological Society of England:— Change "d" or "ed" tlnal 

 to "t" when so pronounced, except when the "e" affects a preceding sound. 



Xelling Your Experiences of the past season- 

 writing them out — will not only do you good, but will also be 

 helpful to others. So we wish here and now to invite our 

 readers to send in whatever they think will be of value along 

 the line of their experiences with the bees this year. 



Do the best you can in writing all out as clearly as possi- 

 ble, and we will see to the rest. Of course, we may not be 

 able to publish everythiug that is sent us, but we will promise 

 to do what we can. 



The long fall and winter evenings will soon beat hand — a 

 splendid time to write. Use pencil, if you like, and write only 

 on one side of the paper. 



Adopting: Ne-w Things.— While Progress Is the 

 watchword of the present age, let each satisfy himself that a 

 new departure is really progressive before rushing headlong 

 after it. We are led to this remark, upon reading the arti- 

 cle on another page, by that eminently practical and far- 

 sighted bee-keeper — Mr. C. P. Dadant. For over a third of a 

 century in this country, and before that in France, the Dadants 

 made a distinct success of honey-production ; and we know no 

 one whose advice we would sooner unquestionably follow 

 along many lines in bee-keeping than these same Frenchmen 

 — Chas. Dadant & Son. 



Many bee-keepers — and particularly the youngerly ele- 

 ment in the ranks of beedom — seem to think that every new 

 thing or invention that is announced Is "Just the ticket " — 

 will revolutionize bee-culture. Ordinarily, it hardly pays the 

 bee-keeper to experiment very much. Whatever Is done in 

 that way should be carried on to a very limited extent, unless 



one can easily afford to Invest the necessary time and means 

 to conduct such experiments. For that reason our Govern- 

 ment has wisely establisht agricultural experiment stations 

 whose expenses are borne by the Government, and not left to 

 Individual farmers who might wish to make experiments and 

 yet could ill afford the cost. 



Of course, no one would discourage experimentation in 

 bee-keeping. New things will often arise that are really 

 valuable, and will prove a boon to the whole bee-keeping fra- 

 ternity. Note the honey-section, foundation, bee-escape, etc. 

 But when it comes to the adoption of a certain kind of hive, 

 requiring a certain sort of management, then it is certainly a 

 wise thing to "go slow" in adopting it. What may be a per- 

 fect success in one bee-keeper's hands may be a perfect fail- 

 ure in another's, and especially in cases where locality has 

 much to do with it. 



But if you feel disposed to try new things, go at it grad- 

 ually. In adopting changes " make haste slowly," unless 

 there is no doubt whatever as to the gain to be made by 



changing. 



<-.-• 



Begfinners and Bee-Books. — We feel that 

 about once every month or two we ought to say something on 

 this subject. Especially do we feel that just now is a good 

 time to offer a little advice to those beginning In bee-keeping. 



There are many people who have bought a colony or two 

 of bees, or who feel the "bee-fever" coming on them, who 

 think that all they have to do is to call on some busy man that 

 has studied out the subject, and ask him simply to tell all he 

 knows about it, never stopping to think that in so doing a 

 great injustice is being done. In the first place, the busy man 

 can't afford thus to waste his time, and, secondly, the "fever- 

 ish " would-be beginner couldn't remember a tenth part that 

 is told him. What he should do, is to get at least one of the 

 best and most complete books on the subject, and then read 

 for himself. A thousand and one of his simple questions can 

 thus be answered by his own effort, and he will get a more 

 definite and comprehensive idea of the whole subject of bee- 

 keeping. If we did not have a bee-book for sale, we would 

 offer the same advice, if afforded the opportunity of doing so. 



" Langstroth on the Honey-Bee" is the oldest of the 

 leading books treating fully on bees. It has been thoroughly 

 revised by those practical and successful bee-keepers — Chas. 

 Dadant & Son. This book contains over 500 pages, is neatly 

 and substantially bound In cloth, and is mailed for $1.25, or 

 is regularly clubbed with the American Bee Journal for a 

 year for $2.00. But we are going to make this very liberal 

 special offer for the next two weeks— OT ending Nov. 15: To 

 all who will before that date pay their subscription to the end 

 of next year (1899), we will mail a copy of the Langstroth 

 book for only 70 cents. This offer does not apply to any sub- 

 scriptions sent In before the date of this number of the Bee 

 Journal. 



Now, how many will accept the above offer before Nov. 

 15 ? Remember, it ends then, and will not be renewed. 



Apis Dorsata Again. — From the article on page 

 677 it will be seen that evidently another attempt is to be 

 made to Import the once famous " giant bees of India"— but 

 now transferred to the Philippine Island, perhaps soon to pass 

 to the possession of the United States. We see that Secretary 

 Wilson is reported as saying that these bees " would be 

 brought to America as soon as the question of their value and 

 the possibility of their acclimatization has been fully deter- 

 mined." We are in favor of this method of procedure. First, 

 thoroughly test them In their native land, and if found to be 

 as represented by those who are so anxious to have them im- 

 ported, then bring them In. 



But we wonder what certain honey-producers will say 

 when they read that If Apis dorsata proves a success in this 



