824 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



December 29 



GEORGE W. YORK. EDITOR. 



PUBI^ISHT WEEKLY BY 



118 Michigan Street, CHICAGO, ILL. 



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



UNITED STATES BEE-KEEPERS' UNION 



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

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

 to prosecute the dishonest honey-commission men. 



Xlembersblp Fe0—91.OO per Annum. 



EiKCnriVE COMMiTTEE-Pres.. George W. York; Vice-Pres., W. Z. Hutchinson; 

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



^°^^„°7, DIRECTORS-E. R. Root; E. Whitcomb; B. T. Abbott; C. P. Dadant; 



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



Oenbral Manager and Trkasdrer— Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



VOL. 38. DECEMBER 29. 1898. NO. 52. 



NOTE.— Ihe American Bee Journaindopts tne Orthngraphy of the following 

 Rule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philological Asso- 

 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. 



A Very Happy Ne-w Year we wish all our read- 

 ers. We greatly desire that 1899 shall be the banner year 

 for the old American Bee Journal— In the number of its regu- 

 lar subscribers, and in Its general reading-matter. We have 

 faith that it will be. This year we believe was the very best 

 this journal every experienced— In the two lines referred to. 

 But next year— the new year of 1899— ought to be still bet- 

 ter. Why not? We hope to be able to do our part. Will 

 you, esteemed subscriber, do yours ! Let us join hands for 

 1899, and pull together. 



*-»-* 



The Last Number of the Year, we sometimes 

 think, should contain only the index to the preceding 51 num- 

 bers. We believe our readers would be entirely satisfied if 

 such were the case, for during the Holidays most people are 

 too busy to think— that is, to think of anything but Christmas 

 gifts and good wishes for their friends. 



Doubtless something else besides a long, dry index will be 

 appreciated, and so one-half of this number is devoted to read- 

 ing-matter, as has been our custom for years and years. 



■Winter Time for Reading.— The longest even- 

 ings of the whole year are upon us. What a splendid time to 

 "read up "on bees I Some bee-keepers think it Is useless to 

 take a bee-paper during the winter, when the bees are rest- 

 ing ; and there is where they make a very large mistake. 

 They miss perhaps the very things that might help them most 

 in handling their bees the next season. 



Some of our readers will receive this number of the Bee 

 Journal as their final one. At least they have written us to 



discontinue it after this week, and we always obey such or- 

 ders, tho we often feel that such beekeepers are making an 

 error, unless it be those who have stopt keeping bees. But we 

 have a very few readers who take the Bee Journal just be- 

 cause they like to read It, having no bees. Of course such are 

 exceedingly rare. 



Let us urge you, in this last number for 1898, to spend 

 the winter evenings in reading bee-literature. If you have no 

 standard book on bee-keeping, get one at once, and read it In 

 connection with the American Bee Journal. By so doing you 

 will find that by another bee-season you will be ever so much 

 better eqult for your work. Try it, and see for yourself. 

 •-.-* 



Journalistic Courtesy, as applied to bee-journal- 

 ism, is a subject wisely toucht on by Prof. Cook in his article 

 on page 819. We think all the apiarian editors, not except- 

 ing ourseles, need to devote a little more thought to this mat- 

 ter than apparently has been given to it the past tew months. 

 We have been pretty severe several times the past year on 

 some apiarian writers when doubtless milder words would have 

 served our purpose as well, sounded better, and accomplisht 

 more. 



While the bee-literature of recent years has Improved 

 greatly along the lines indicated by Prof. Cook, there is still 

 room for more of the same kind of reform in every apiarian 

 periodical now before the American people. 



It will be onr endeavor, hereafter, to avoid the discourte- 

 sies referred to, at least so far as this journal Is concerned, 

 and also try to refrain from noticing in our columns those 

 found In the other bee-papers. We are quite willing that our 

 competitors shall have a monopoly In that line if they desire It. 



The Annual Index will be seen on the opposite 

 page. We trust it may be found useful by all. It certainly 

 will be invaluable to every one who has preserved the com- 

 plete volume of the Bee Journal for this year. 



Bees and Horticulture.— The value of the honey- 

 bee to the horticulturist, says Green's Fruit Grower, Is hardly 

 realized by many who are engaged in fruit-growing. The set- 

 ting of fruit that will stay on the tree depends chiefly upon 

 proper pollination, and in this work the bee is largely instru- 

 mental. There are, of course, other instrumentalities, but 

 perhaps none so effective. 



Experiments at the Oregon station with the peach throw 

 a good deal of light on this subject. A number of peach-trees 

 were forced Into bloom under glass in November, and a colony 

 of bees was placed in the house with the trees as soon as the 

 bloom began. For several days a heavy fog prevented the 

 bees from working, but on the first bright day that came, the 

 bees went to work and continued at it as long as there was 

 anything on the trees to work on. The result was that at the 

 stoning season, the time when unfertilized fruit drops, not a 

 peach fell from the trees, and the crop was so heavy that It 

 had to be severely thinned. 



As a check test, one tree was so protected that the bees 

 could not get at it, and from this tree all the fruit dropt at the 

 stoning period. Insects, and especially bees, which have the 

 nectar-secreting Instinct as a motive for labor on bloom, are 

 an aid to pollination, for which Nature seems to have provided 

 no adequate substitute. Their oflSce Is to distribute pollen 

 from flower to flower, and from tree to tree. 



Much of the complaint abont fruit falling would cease if 

 horticulturists kept bees in the orchard. For the protection 

 of bees the horticulturist should never spray while the trees 

 are in bloom. He owes that much to these valuable assistants 

 in his work. 



^P~ See Bee-Keeper's Guide " offer on page 81-4 



