696 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



J^ovemher 3 



GEORGE W. YORK. Editor. 



PCBr.ISHT WEEKLY BY 



118 Michigan Street, CHICAGO, ILL. 



[Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class 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. 



Alembership Fe0-9Z-OO per Annum. 



KXBCUTIVE COMMITTEE- Pres., George W. York; Vice-Pres., W. Z.Hutchinson; 



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

 BOARD OF Directors— E. R. Root; E. Whitcomb; B. T. Abbott; 0. P. Dadant; 



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



General Manager and Treascrer— Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



VOL. 38. NOVEMBER 3, 1898. NO. 44. 



Note.— The American Bee Journal adopts the OrthotrrHphy of the following 

 Rule, recommended by the Joint action of the American Philulogicul A-^so- 

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

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



"Golden" Comb Honey Method.— Quite a 

 number of our readers are asking for the first articles by Mr. 

 J. A. Golden, describing his method of comb honey produc- 

 tion, which were publlsht in 1896. We were out of those 

 numbers of the Bee Journal long ago, but we will republish 

 the articles sometime during the winter — after Jan, 1 — In 

 good time so they cau be used by those who so desire, another 

 season. 



Newspaper Clipping's referring to bees or honey 

 we are always glad to get, even If we do not make use of them 

 or acknowledge their receipt. Sometimes we find among 

 them something that we can use in our columns. At any rate 

 we will consider it a favor If our readers will be on the look- 

 out for anything In their newspapers on the sub.)ect of bees or 

 honey, and when found send us only the clipping, or a markt 

 copy of the paper itself. 



Six Cireat Premium Offers will be found on 

 page 699 of this number. This raootb and next will be a 

 good time to work for new subscribers, especially as we will 

 throw in the Bee Journal for the last three mouths of this 

 year to all new one-dollar subscribers for 1899. This will be 

 a great help to those who work to get the new readers. When 

 you tell them they will get the American Bee Journal every 

 week for 15 months, and all for only $1.0(>, they surely will 

 accept. It ought to make soliciting for new readers very 

 easy. That means 65 copies to the new subscriber for his 

 dollar, and a choice of one of the six big premiums to you for 

 your trouble. 



"Discussion" Is the subject of a discussion by F. 

 L. Thompson In the October Bee-Keepers' Review, and he 

 hopes the discussion may be continued by others. He doubts 

 the moral right of an editor to cut off any discussion he 

 pleases, as it may be cut o£F at a polut which will give one dis- 

 putant an unfair advantage over the other. He says a dis- 

 cussion may run Into a dispute, and a dispute into personali- 

 ties, and the farther it goes the more delicate the task of the 

 conscientious editor to bring it to a close, hence he may wish 

 to do so as soon as possible ; and suggests that instead of stop- 

 ping short the discussion, the editor might suggest private 

 argument first of all, and then condenst and combined last 

 words. 



It might be replied that private argument is still left to 

 the controversialists, no matter when the discussion is stopt, 

 and that it Is somewhat doubtful whether last words can be 

 so " combined " that neither one feels advantage is taken of 

 him; and not very doubtful that the editor who shirks the 

 responsibility of deciding when a discussion shall cease will 

 have in his columns a good deal of matter that his readers 

 will not patiently endure. 



Editor Hutchinson says, " So long as the original subject 

 is kept in view, and each ' round ' brings out new facts and 

 ideas, and argument takes the place of dispute and personali- 

 ties, I see no reason for closing a discussion." Probably no 

 one will disagree with him In that, always providing the facts 

 and Ideas brought out are worth the room they are to occupy. 



Mr. Thompson says that the Immediate cause of his Re- 

 view article was our "shutting off a discussion " iu the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal some months ago — a discussion on evolution, 

 In which he apparently wisht to engage also. 



We might say right here, whenever we think that to con- 

 tinue a discussion in this paper is simply to waste space and 

 disgust our readers, we will very likely chop It off— that is, so 

 long as U'e wield the "chopper" and pay for setting up the 

 type. When some other chap has our job he can do as he 

 pleases about this — just as we do. 



You see, we are trying to run the American Bee Journal 

 In the interest of all who wish to get practical information on 

 bee-keeping — those who pay their money for that purpose ; 

 and If In so doing a few get offended at our way of doing 

 things, they'll simply have to seek other channels in which to 

 empty their useless discussions. 



Reading: the Bee-Papers.— Mr. R. C. Aikin, In 

 his series of articles on "Experience and Its Lessons," in the 

 Progressive Bee- Keeper, wrote this paragraph: 



"Why will even men who take and read one or more of 

 the journals, buy frame hives and then put bees In, and 

 neither see that the combs are built so as to be movable, nor 

 ever try to move tbem ? I can understand why an Intelligent 

 and practical apiarist will use some hive or other appliance 

 because he has come into possession of such, and is just doing 

 the best he can until a proper time comes to make a change ; 

 but it seems almost past comprehension that intelligent people 

 would buy hives and then simply disregard every feature of 

 the hive that made It better than a box costing a few cents." 



Mr. G. M. Doollttle, referring to this paragraph in the 

 same number, commented as follows : 



" Mr. A. I am skeptical regarding those whom you say read 

 bee-journals and yet hive their bees without having an eye as 

 to the proper spacing of the frames, or even putting starters 

 In either the frames or sections ; then cutting the honey-combs 

 out of the sections and putting it in crocks, etc. The part I 

 am skeptical about lies in the assertion you make that they 

 take and read one or more bee-journals. They may take one 

 or more bee-papers, and treat their bees as you say they do, 

 but I have never yet seen the man who Is Interested enough 

 to read up on bees who uses hives and sections as you say they 

 do. Why, bless your old heart, you can tell a man or woman 

 who reads the bee-paper from one who does not, before you 

 have had conversation with them five minutes, for all of tha 



