104 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL^ 



Feb, 16, 1899. 



n^BLisHT \vke:klv bv 



George W. York & Company, 



115 Michigan St., Chicago, 111. 



ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. afiofi SAMPLE COPY FREE. 



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



United States Bee-KeeDers' Association. 



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. 



AteaibtTSliIp fee — S1<00 j>er JLnaum, 



ExEcnTiVE Committee— Pres.. E. Whitcomb: Vice-Pres., C. A. Hatch; 



Secretarj-, 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. 

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



'vol.39. FEBRUARY 10, 1899. NO. 7. 



Note — The American Bee Journal adopts the Orthography of the follow- 

 ing Rule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philolog- 

 ical Association and the Philological Society of England: — Change 

 "d" or "ed" final to "t" when So pronounced, e.xcept when the "e" af- 

 fects a preceding sound. 



The Extraordinary Yield of Honey=Dew in 1898, as re- 

 ported from all over the world, is mentioned in a '' straw " 

 in Gleaning-s with the remark, "Perhaps honey-dew was no 

 more plentiful than usual, -but the scarcitj' of floral nectar 

 made the bees store what in other years they neg^lect." To 

 this the editor replies : 



" Perhaps ; but when there is honey in plenty froln the 

 fields, I have noticed that the sidewalks under the trees are 

 not spotted by the spray of the honey-dew as they are dur- 

 ing those times when honey is scarce. Is it not possible 

 that Nature has so provided that, when nectar is not secreted 

 in the Usual way, becau.se of certain conditions of atmos- 

 phere, those same conditions are favorable to the secretion 

 of another form of saccharine matter, or, rather, to the 

 growth of certain insects ? You know there is a wonderful 

 harmony in Nature. The all-wise Creator has in many ways 

 made one hand to.help the other."' 



.1 ■» .a;:, f-r :*•;■!). '•/ ■.■ ■ ■ - 



,., Honey for Nervousness. — In a German bee-paper is re- 

 lated the ease of a lady who for nine years had been badly 

 afflicted with nervousness and insomnia. One night after 

 a liberal feast of honey she went to bed with her sleepitig- 

 pQwders neaf: at hand, but.^he \ye;nt to sleep, forgetting all 

 about her sleeping-powders, not waking till the sun was up 

 tfifc next morning — a thing that had not before happened 

 fc>}-, years. Altho this might not happen in every case, there 

 njight be other cases in which the same results would be 

 obtained'. 



The I*ure Food and Drug Congress which met in Wash- 

 ington, D. C, last month, is an organization in which every 

 honey-producer should be intensely interested. Mr. Abbott 



gives an article on page 99 that should be read by all our 

 subscribers. No better delegate than he could possiblj- have 

 been sent to represent the interests of bee-keepers. We 

 trust that Mr. Abbott may be able to attend everj' meeting 

 of the Congress, and help carry through the Bill under con- 

 sideration, which is of such vital importance to every lover 

 of pure food — yes, of vital importance to everybody who has 

 a stomach to put food into. 



The officers of the National Pure Food and Drug Con- 

 gress are the.se, whose names we count it an honor to record 

 in the columns of the American Bee Journal : 



President — Joseph E. Blackburn, Columbus, Ohio. 1st 

 Vice-President — Frank Hume, Washington, D. C. Corre- 

 sponding Secretary — Alex. J. Wedderburn, Washington, 

 D. C. Recording Secretary — Franklin Dye, Trenton, N. J. 

 Treasurer — R. N. Harper, Washington, D. C. Executive 

 Committee— Dr. William Frear, State College, Pa.; W. S. 

 Thompson, Washington, D. C; L. M. Frailey, Camden. 

 N. J.; F. J. H. Kracke, New York; W. A. Withers, Raleigh, 

 N. C. President, First Vice-President and Secretaries are 

 ex-officio members. 



In addition to the above there is a Vice-President for 

 each State represented, the District of Columbia, and one 

 for the United States. 



The Cylindrical Hive is one of the latest things in 

 Europe. It looks something like a section of a log lying on 

 its side, with four legs stuck into it — or like a barrel churn. 

 It is about 2^^ feet long and contains 20 circular frames, 

 each comb being contained in a hoop having an inside di- 

 ameter of 14 inches. 



Box'Hives in France, as well as in Germany, are used 

 much more than in this country. In a list of bee-books 

 offered by L'Apiculteur, a prominent French bee-journal, 16 



give instruction for box-hives and IS for frame hives. 



A Plea for Candied Honey. — There are some who prefer 

 honey in the candied state, and Gleanings thinks this taste 

 .should be encouraged. The editor likes candied honey on 

 bread and butter because he can " put it on thick." An em- 

 ployee with a mustashe likes it because it doesn't smear his 

 mouth so much. The editor says : 



Suppost you try an experiment in your own family. 

 Put three kinds of honey on the table ; and if the candied 

 has not been on the table for a month back, just see how 

 quickly it will be taken in preference to the other two. 



As you meet your customers, always mention your can- 

 died honey. Ask them to try a sample. You will be sur- 

 prised to see how they will call for more. 



I think the main reason why the candied article does 

 not sell in the open market is because the average consumer 

 imagines it is " sugared," or not pure in that form ; but if 

 he once understands that it is genuine, honest honey, we 

 shall see a markt demand for honej- in, that form in the 

 markets generally. 



Again the Comb Honey Yarn This time it is the 



Farmer's Voice that is helping to injure bee-keepers. Mr. 

 Walter S. Ponder, of Indiatia, sent us the clipping, which 

 we forwarded to General Manager Secor, who wrote at once 

 as follows : 



Forest City, Iowa, Jan. 19, 1899. 

 To THE Editor of F.^rmer's Voice, Chicago, 111. — 



Dear Sir: — I notice in your issue of Jan. 14, page 50, 

 current year, this paragraph : 



"It is almost impossible to buy pure honey. Even honey in the 

 comb is adulterated. A syrup of glucose and dissolved sugar is fed to the 

 bees, and they fill the combs as with honcj', but it is inferior." 



I am sorry that a paper of the recognized standing and 

 ability of the Farmer's Voice should be the medium of ex- 

 tending a popular belief to the injury of a class of rural 

 economists and co-workers iti agricultural pursuits. 



This matter of adulterating comb honey by feeding bees 

 glucose is not new, and I fear some people believe it because 

 they see it repeated in the papers. But from my knowledge 



