392 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 22, 1899. 



PUBLISHT WEEKLY BY 



Qeorqe W. York & Company, 



118 Michigan St., Chicago, III. 



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



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



United States Bee-Keepers' 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. 



A/c?jnbersIiip J^ee— Sl.OO per Annxim, 



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



Secretary, 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— Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



I'lace and Date of Hext meetings 



In Franklin Institute, 

 IS.South 7th Street, between Market and Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia, Pa., 

 - — . September 5, o and 7, 1899. Every bee-keeper is invited. 



VOL. 39. 



JUNE 22, 1899. 



NO. 25 



■ » • » T T ' 



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, except when the "e" ef- 

 fects a preceding sound. 



Shall We Get Apis Dorsata?— Editor Hutchinson, of 

 tlie Bee-Keeper.s' Review, expresses himself on this subject 

 in the following language : 



"There has been a whole lot publisht in the bee-jour- 

 nals about the bringing here of Apis dorsata. If any one 

 has opposed it, he has been accused of having some per- 

 sonal feeling in the matter. To speak real plain, some 

 folks may not like Frank Benton, and they might not like it 

 if he got the job of going after these bees. If anybodv 

 opposes the bringing here of Apis dorsata, .somebody else is 

 almost sure to hint that enmity to Mr. Benton is the real 

 cau.se of their opposition. Mind you, they liini : thev do 

 not .say it right out so that it can be disputed and combated. 

 Some folks, may not like Mr. Benton ; at the same time he 

 is probably the most competent man to send after Apis dor- 

 sata. It is possible that a few, and a very fevf, would op- 

 pose the choice of Mr. Benton as the man to send after 

 ithese bees ; but I very much doubt if any man has opposed 

 itheir introduction on those grounds — even in his own mind. 



"I have always opposed their introduction until we 

 know more about them. I am not opposed to progress, nor 

 the introduction of new things of the desirability of which 

 we are assured, or that can be kept under control until the 

 -desirability is no longer an unknown quantity." 



As we have been among those who have pretty strongly 

 opposed the introduction of Apis dorsata into this countrj-, 

 .and as it is also prettj- generally known that Mr. Benton 

 .has little use for us, perhaps a few words further from this 

 -office will be in order. 



Firstly, if anybody is to be .sent by our Government to 



get Apis dorsata. we don't hesitate at all in saying that Mr. 

 Frank Benton is the very best man for the purpose. He is 

 the only American that ever succeeded in capturing and 

 hiving Apis dorsata, and perhaps has had a larger experi- 

 ence with foreign races of bees than any one else on earth. 

 But, .secondly, we have contended all along that Apis 

 dorsata should first be thoroly experimented with in their 

 native habitat, and then, if found valuable enough to be 

 worth while, by all means get them into this country. 

 There's where we stand. 



" Fashionable Honey." — Mr. L. C. Salsbury, of Brad- 

 ford Co., Pa., sends us the following taken from the Phila- 

 delphia Press, of June 8, with the heading, " Fashionable 

 Honey :" 



Honey — and it must be of the newest and most delecta- 

 able flavor — is claiming just now an unusual amount of at- 

 tention at the fashionable breakfast table. In fact, its 

 place there is becoming quite as undisputedas that of wines 

 at dinner parties. Men of wealth and leisure are assidu- 

 ously testing and experimenting with the different brands 

 of honey, and wrinkling their brows over the problem of 

 producing what seems to them the most desirable flavor 

 during the coming summer. 



For the bee is no longer allowed to pursue its own sweet 

 peiigrinations. and sip of the nectar of flowers wherever it 

 chooses. Its actions are restricted and guided. As a re- 

 sult, such honey as never was tasted before is offered at 

 smart tables. 



If it is the white sweet clover flavor that has gained 

 favor with the epicure, he goes systematically to work to 

 produce it ; and plants, at his country place, a large plot of 

 ground — perhaps half an acre — with this particular kind of 

 clover. He has it carefully kept froin weeds or any other 

 variety of clover that might endeavor to find a footing 

 there. The whole bed is enclo.sed and rooftwith a fine wire 

 netting, and the bee-hives are then placed within the en- 

 closure. Try as it will, the bee can produce none other than 

 white sweet clover honey. In flavor it is very delicate, and 

 almost white iir color. 



Yellow sweet clover honey is preferred by others. The 

 flavor is slightly stronger than that made from the white 

 variety, and its color is a deep yellow. 



Then there is the honey that is made from such flowers 

 as thistles and milkweeds ; it is most amusing to hear pro- 

 ducers of such flavors tell of their tribulations in making 

 these wayward plants grow within their restriction. Some 

 of the wild-flower honey is almost black in color, and the 

 flavor is certainly very diiferent from' what it was in the 

 days when honey was honey, and that fact settled the 

 question. 



How is that for a sample of the stuff the daily news- 

 papers are furnisht with ? The idea of a half acre of clover, 

 and that rooft with fine wire-netting to keep the bees to 

 work on 1 Then, whoever saw any surplus honey that they 

 knew was gathered from the yellow sweet clover? 



The whole thing is a fair sample of the average news- 

 paper reporter's effusions when he gets outside of his field 

 — that of reporting baseball games, political caucuses, etc. 

 The ordinary newspaper writer should know better than to 

 get very close to the bee-subject, else he may be subject to 

 such a fit as the one must have fallen in when he wrote 

 about " fashionable honey " in such an unfashionable and 

 untruthful wav. 



investigation of Adulterated Foods. On page 328 we 

 referred to the investigation of adulterated foods being con- 

 ducted in this city by a committee appointed by the United 

 States Senate. That committee is composed of the follow- 

 ing senators : Mason, of Illinois ; Harris, of Kansas ; Wet- 

 more, of Rhode Island : Smith, of New Jersey : and Can- 

 non, of Utah. 



After taking- a recess of two or three weeks the commit- 

 tee resumed their investigations for a few days, again ad- 

 journing on June 8. In an interview publisht in the Chi- 

 cago Record of that date, Senator Mason was reported to 

 have given utterance to the following very strong language: 



