56 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Jan. 26, 1899. 



ITHLISHT WKEKLY HY 



George W. York & Company, 



113 Michigan St., Cliicago, III. 



ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. *%S% SAMPLE COPY FREE. 



[Entered at the Post-Office at Chicag-o as Second-Class Mail Matter.] 



United States Bee-Keepers' Association. 



Org-aiiized lo advance the pursuit of Apiculture ; lo promote the interests 

 of bee-keepers ; to protect its members ; to prevent the adulteration of 

 honey ; and to prosecute the dishonest honey-commission men. 



Alemty&rsliip JP&e~91*00 jyer Aimum, 



Executive Committee— Pres., E. Whitcomb; Vice-Pres., C 

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



Board of Dihectors— E. R. Root; E. Whitcomb; E.T.Abbott 

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



Gen'l Manager and Treasurer— Eug-ene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



A. Hatch; 

 C. P. 



VOL. 39. JANUARY 26. 1899. 



NO. 4 



Note— The American Bee Journal aJcipls thi> Ortliog-raphy of the foUon- 

 \ng Rule, recommended by the joint action of tile American Philolofi:- 

 ical Association and the Philological Society of Enf^land: — Change 

 "d" or "ed" final to ^^V when so pronounced, except when the ''e" af- 

 fects a precedintr sound. 



All Re=Elected — There were 229 ballots cast in the 

 election just held for General Manag-er and two members of 

 the Board of Directors in the United States Bee-Keepers' 

 Association. All were re-elected — General Manager Secor 

 receiving- 216 votes ; for Directors, E. R. Root, 182 ; and E. 

 T. Abbott. ISO. 



It seems that onlj- about one-half of the membership 

 voted. We hope that all paid their annual dues, for if the 

 attempt is to be made, as now contemplated, to enforce anti- 

 adulteration laws, more money will be needed to carry on 

 the work. This is a matter in which every bee-keeper in 

 the land is interested, and all should help in the work. 



Newspaper Clippings about bees are appreciated when 

 sent to us, even if we do not reproduce them in the Bee 

 Journal, or acknowledge their receipt. It helps us to keep 

 informed as to what is being said in the newspapers, and 

 sometimes gives us an opportunity to say something that 

 maj- be of interest to all. 



So we will thank our readers if they will continue to 

 send us clippings of what they find about bees in the news- 

 papers they read. 



A Pure Food Law in Each State, with a State inspec- 

 tor to whom any one may send samples of suspected adul- 

 teration for analysis, and who shall have full power to pros- 

 ecute those guilty of adulteration, with fines for first offense 

 and imprisonment for repetition — that is what F. A. Snell, 

 in Gleaning's, says is needed. 



Southern Honey .—Mr. O. O. Poppleton has had much 

 experience as a bee-keeper in the North and South, and also 

 in Cuba. He says in Gleanings that the honey-region of 

 the North is a comparatively narrow strip with less than a 

 dozen species of flowers yielding honey enough to affect the 

 general markets. A greater variety exists in the South, on 

 account of soil and climate. " One can journey on a rail- 

 road train, between sunrise and sunset of any day, and not 

 a single flower that yields honey where he started from in 

 the morning will be found where he is at nig-ht," so great 

 is the variation as the tropics are approacht. Florida may 

 be divided into three sections, each having its own kind of 

 honey. A large part of Texas honey differs from all other 

 Southern honey. So it is all over the South, so that no one 

 man knows all the varieties of Southern honey. No one 

 kind predominates in the South, as does clover, linden or 

 buckwheat in the North. The kinds vary from the mildest 

 to the strongest, from the whitest to the blackest, and frotn 

 extra light in weight to the heaviest. 



Central and Northern California are getting enough 

 rainfall, judging from the following paragraph taken from 

 a letter written tis by W. A. Pryal, of Alameda county, Jan. 



10: 



" Our ' dry season ' is over ; we are having very copious 

 rains. Tho they are bringing the rainfall up to the average 

 in central and northern California, the precipitation is not 

 all that could be desired in the lower counties. Still, I have 

 not the least doubt but that portion of the State will have 

 plenty of rain yet. I trust so, as they need it badly. The 

 rainfall up this way is in excess of what it was for the 

 whole of last season. The mines will again boom ; .so will 

 fartning." 



Bees and Flowers.— H. W. Brice says in the British 

 Bee Journal : 



" What flower show or horticulttiral fete is now really 

 complete without its bee-department ? So much have honey 

 and bees become associated with flowers, fruit and rural 

 festivities, that the first thing sought for by many visitors 

 on such occasions is ' the bee-tent.' This is, of course, as 

 it shotild be, seeing how dependent one branch of horticul- 

 ture is tipon the other." 



It might be a good thing if we could imitate our British 

 brethren in this regard. 



A Bear=Proof Apiary is described by "Rambler" in 

 Gleanings, and illustrated. A platform is built about two 

 trees, too high for a bear to reach its edge, and if he at- 

 tempts to climb one of the trees he merely buts his head 

 against the platform. A movable ladder g-ives the bee- 

 keeper an easy ascent. About 20 hives are on a platform. 

 Keeping bees on trees is getting almost back to Natiire's 

 wav I 



Comb Honey is reckoned officially at 12 pounds an 

 equivalent of one gallon of extracted, for duty purposes. 

 More or less of the coinh honey product comes over the 

 Canadian frontier. 



United States Bee-Keepers' Association is the way it 



will be spoken of hereafter insteadof the United States Bee- 

 Keepers' Union. We learn this from General Manager 

 Secor, who wrote us Jan. 14 the following on a postal card : 



You can write our name now as "United States Bee- 

 Keepers' Association." The votes coming in indicate that 

 all amendments are carried big. 



Mrs. Secor is not up yet, but I am all rig-ht. Just closed 

 a $60,000 deal. How's that for a bee-keeper ? 



Eugene Secor. 



We regret to learn that Mrs. Secor is not well, but are 



very glad that the General Manager is " up and at it again." 



It seems to tis that a man ,vho can handle a deal involv- 



