216 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



April 6, 1899. 



PUBLISHT WEEKLY BY 



George W. York & Company, 



116 Michigan St., Chicaao, III. 



ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. ^%^ SAMPLE COPY FREE. 



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



United States Bee-Keepers' flssociation. 



Org-anized to advance the pursuit of Apiculture ; to promote the interests 

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

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



aXembersIiip Fee—91.00 per Annirm, 



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

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



Board of Directoes— E. R. Root; E. Whitcomb; E. T. Abbott- C P 

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



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



Place and Date of Ifext Aleatiag: 



Philadelphia, Pa., September 5, 6 and 7, 1899. Every bee-keeper is invited. 



VOL. 39. 



APRIL 6, 1899. 



NO. 14. 



No-TE- The American Bee Journal adopts the Orthography of the follow- 

 ing Rule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philolo"-- 

 ical Association and the Philological Society of England: — Change 

 "d" or "ed" final to "t" when so pronounced, except when the "e" af- 

 fects a preceding sound. 



The Sweet Clover Article, by William Stolley, -n-hich 

 appeared on pag-e 113 of this journal, is liig-hly spoken of 

 by "Stenog-," who conducts '• Picking's " in Gleanings. 

 He says : 



" It would be a good thing if the whole article could be 

 printed in every agricultural paper in the country." 



A correct view ; and it may be well to hint that bee- 

 keepers may do something themselves in that direction, 

 wherever they have any influence over agricultural papers. 

 We have some extra copies for those who wish them. 



The Honey Market.— J. O. Grimsley, in the Ruralist, 

 thinks the secret of the trouble with the honey market lies 

 in this sentence: "There is not a general demand for 

 honey." As a remedy he suggests a label adopted by the 

 United States Bee-Keepers' Association. He thinks it 

 •would make it more popular to call it " Union Label Honey," 

 as that would be very catchy with the members of the many 

 " trades' unions." That seems hardly in accord with the 

 view that made the name change from " Union " to " A.s- 

 sociatioii." 



Heavy Losses of Bees in certain parts of Michigan 

 are reported in the Grand Rapids Herald of March 20, by 

 Geo. E. Hilton, of Newaygo Co., and the worst month is 

 likely to come vet. 



The Worker-Bee— He, She, or It? Editor Root, of 



Gleanings, seems to be getting into trouble for becoming a 



disciple of E. E. Hasty, and calling: a worker " he." First, 



the Hon. Eugene Secor, in a poem occupj-ing half a page, 



gets in some sharp thrusts. He thinks 



** It will never do to have it get out 

 That females are workers and bring things about." 



With fine sarcasm he closes by saying, 



" From this time on, it ought to be he 



Whenever we speak of the miscalled neuter. 



Let's keep the old ruts, and not bend the knee 

 To modern improvements, tho it does seem cuter. 



Young folks are too smart in this land of the free, 

 And get too far from the time-honored tutor. 



Let's teach this doctrine wherever we can: 



The old-time angel w-as alw.ays a man." 



Mr. F. Greiner says the functions of a worker are those 

 of a female, for they prepare food for the young, and do all 

 in rearing them except to laj' the eggs ; speaks of the in- 

 consistencies of language, the Germans calling the queen 

 " he " and a drone " she ;" and thinks when the time comes 

 that proper credit shall be given to queen and to worker for 

 their parts performed, it will be " Mrs. Queen and Mrs. 

 Worker." 



Apis Dorsata in the Philippines. — Gleanings prints a 

 letter from John C. Uglow, a soldier at Manila, who is also 

 a bee-keeper, and he proposes to send Apis dorsata to this 

 country. Editor Root is quite enthusiastic over the matter, 

 and says they will leave no stone unturned to get the big 

 bees, offering S2S for a live queer.. Some may be inclined 

 to inquire whether Mr. Root has changed his mind since 

 asserting that he would not be a party to having the bees 

 here unless under domestication. Perhaps he has that 

 fully in mind, and does not intend they shall be allowed to 

 get loose, for Mr. Brodbeck, in California, is to g-ive the 

 bees a cleansing flight on the way, " but on no account is 

 he to let the queens out." 



When to Spray Fruit-Blossoms.— Bulletin 142, issued 

 by Cornell University, says : 



Never ipray a fruit-tree when it is in blossoii. You can 

 reach the insect and fungous enemies just as effectively, 

 and in some cases more so, either just before or just after 

 the trees bloom. 



riarketing Honey — Practical Suggestions. — We be- 

 lieve Capt. J. E. Hetherington, of New York State, bears 

 the distinction of having produced and shipt to market 

 more tons of comb honey than any other bee-keeper living 

 in the United States to-day. At the Buffalo convention in 

 1897, he had quite a good deal to say on the line of shipping 

 to market, and in a letter we received from him recently, he 

 refers to the matter again. Here are some of the para- 

 graphs which we take the liberty of reproducing for the 

 benefit of our readers : 



All bee-keepers should, I think, have a common interest 

 in influencing prodticers to send their honey to market 

 (whether in large or small quantities) neat and attractive in 

 appearance, and thereby sustain prices and make our pro- 

 duct more pleasing and satisfatory to both dealer and con- 

 sumer — two very important personages to our success. A 

 clean, neat, attractive case is, to my mind, quite a factor to 

 that end. Where honey is shipt a long distance by rail, cin- 

 ders and dust work into the car, and after the honey has 

 been handled about twice at its destination, the cases are 

 more or less begrimed, and the "bloom " all gone. 



For years I have made a practice of covering my honey, 

 when in transit, with cotton-cloth, to protect it from cin- 

 ders and dust, which insures a clean, neat appearance when 

 it reaches its destination. The expense is trifling, as the 

 cloth cover is billed with the honey and returned for future 

 use. I brought this before the Buffalo convention as one of 

 the little practical things for bee-keepers to do. 



Also, the putting in the bottom of every case a light 

 manilla paper, to hold the drip and prevent the cases from 

 being besmeared by honey, is a good thing. 



