360 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



June 8, 1899. 



GEORGB W. YORK, Editor. 



PUELISHT -WKEKLY liV 



George W. York & Company, 



115 Michigan St., Chicago, III. 



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



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



United Slates Bee- Keepers' Association. 



Organized to advance the jmr^uit of .\picuUure ; to promote Iht' interests 

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

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



A/emLersZiip -Fee— ^/. GO jyer Jlnnuzn. 



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



Secretary, l)r. A. B. Mason, Station B, Toledo, Ohio. 

 Bo.-iRD OF DiKECTOKS— E. R. Root; E. Whitcomb; E.T.Abbott; C. P. 



Dadant; \V. Z. Hutchinson; Dr. C. C. Miller. 

 Ge.n"!. Manager and Treasurer- Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



I'lace anti IJute of A'e-vt Afeefing-.- 



In Fra.nklin Institute, 



15 South Tth Street, between Market and Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia. Pa., 



September 5, and 7, 1S>'J. Every bee-keeper is invited. 



VOL. 39. 



lUXE 8, 1899. 



NO. 23. 



Note— The American Bee Journal adopts the Ortho-rraphy of the follow- 

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

 ical ^Vssociation 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. 



Comb Money 1820 Years Old.— Mention is made in 

 the British Bee Journal of relics from the ruins of Pompeii, 

 now in the public museum at Naples. Loaves of bread, 

 also fig-s rather shriveled, and pears certainly no long^er 

 juicy. ■' But perhaps the most interesting' relic in the room 

 is a honey-comb, ever)' cell of which can be distinctly made 

 out. It is so well preserved that it is hard to realize that 

 the comb is no longer wax, nor the honey, honey. A piece 

 of the comb seems to have been cut out, and one can imag- 

 ine some young Pompeiian h;tving- helpt himself to it and 

 sitting down to eat it, when he had to jump up and fly for 

 his life. One cannot help wondering what became of the 

 piece — whether the young fellow took it with him and ate 

 it, or whether he left it on his plate, intending to return for 

 it when the eruption was over." 



Rate of Fare to the Philadelphia Convention. — We re- 

 ceived the following communication from Secretarj' Mason 

 just a little too late for 6ur last issue : 



Sta. B, Toledo, Ohio, May 25, 1899. 

 Editor American Bee Journal. — 



I've been wondering what kind of an animal you take 

 me to be. anyhow. On page 296 I corrected the statement 

 made in your quotation from the Chicago Record as it ap- 

 peared on page 264, and in your comments you say of the 

 Record, " And it may be they are not so far wrong as they 

 might be." Of course, a person doesn't have to be an editor 



to know that, but sometimes there is quite a difference be- 

 tween "oiie fare for the round trip " and two-thirds of that 

 amount. And then, you say. " at any rate there is plenty 



of time yet to announce the rates The important thing 



for bee-keepers to do is to begin now to arrange to be in 

 Philadelphia," etc. Well, now, if railroad rates are not //ic 

 "important thing," I wish "ye editor " would just post 

 " your humble servant," and the rest of j-our readers, as to- 



what "the important thing to arrange " for is, and 



we'll try and get down to business. 



If it is not important to know about rates there may be 

 plenty of time j-et. but if rates an' important (and who- 

 doubts it ?) tlie sooner we can know about them the better. 

 It's now too late to get a notice in the June bee-papers, and 

 it's possible we may not know the rates in much of the ter- 

 ritory covered by the Association in time even for the July 

 journals. 



I have corresponded with all of the passenger associa- 

 tions — six in number — and up to May 17 two only had fixt 

 the rate of fare — the Central Passeng-er Association and the 

 Trunk Line Passenger Association. The New England, 

 Southeastern. Southwestern, and Western Passenger Asso- 

 ciations had not fixt rates, but it is probable that the New 

 England Association will fix the rate at one fare for the 

 round trip. 



When I sent the communication that appears on page 

 296, I thought I was doing your readers (if wA yon) a favor, 

 and the same thought calls this out. but if you've any more 

 reliable information than I, please give it, as it may be 

 needed, but don't give us "maybe's," for they "may be "" 

 misleading. A. B. Mason. 



Secretary United States Bee-Keepers' Association. 



Well, Doctor, we fear you are borrowing trouble. Did 

 you ever know the G. A. R. to fail to get good railroad rates- 

 to their annual encampments ? We never did. 



Of course, the railroad rate is a very important thing — 

 especially to some of us editors who have to go nearly 1,000 

 miles to the convention. But we expect to be satisfied with 

 whatever rate the G. A. R. secures, for we feel pretty cer- 

 tain it will not be over half as high as the rate bee-keepers- 

 alone could possibly get. 



Don't you g-et weary in well doing. Doctor. Just keep- 

 on sending your " favors " this way, and we will try to ap- 

 preciate them. But don't get discouraged when we are try- 

 ing to help things along, even if our little help doesn't help 

 very much. You see, we'll have a lot of time to learn yet, 

 if we should be blest with as many years as you have lived 

 to enjoy. And may you be with us many years more. 



Spring rianagement of the right kind, says Editor 

 Hutchinson, in the Bee-Keepers' Review, is the foundation 

 of our honey crop. Colonies sometimes starve in the spring, 

 or are greatly weakened or retarded in breeding by a lack 

 of stores. Mr. H. G. Sibbald, of Ontario, puts combs of 

 honey outside a division-board, and has it so arranged that 

 the bees can have access to these combs. This removes all 

 danger of starvation, and greatly encourages the rearing- 

 of brood. At the end of the fruit-bloom he puts the outside 

 combs of honey in the center of the brood-nest — first one, 

 and then in three or four days the other. He scratches the 

 surface of the combs. This plan converts the early dark 

 honev into bees. 



Talking Bees to School Children.— The following item 

 appeared Saturday, May 27, 1899, in Tlie Chicagoan — a local 

 weekly newspaper publisht in the subin-b of Chicago where 

 we live : 



" A rare treat was given to the eighth-grade pupils of 

 the McPherson .school last Thursday afternoon, when Mr. 

 Georg-e W. York, editor of the American Bee Journal, gave 

 them an illustrated lecture on bees. The pupils were de- 

 lighted, and the way Mr. York described the simple atiimal 

 was truly wonderful." 



The only excuse we have to offer for reproducing here 

 this appreciated notice, is to suggest that bee-keepers in 

 other cities will find the school children greatly interested 



