536 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



All"-. 24. 1399. 



PL'BLI.SHT WEEKLY BY 



George W. York & Company, 



118 Michigan St,, Chicago, III. 



ONE DOUL.XR A YEAR. |%|$ SAMPLE COPY FREE. 



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



United Stales Bee- Keepers' Association. 



Organized to advance llie pursuit of Apiculture ; to promote the interests 

 of bee-keepers ; to ]H.)tect its members ; to preveut the adulteration of 

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



3/em/bership Kee— $1.00 per JLanuni. 



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



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

 Board of Directoks-E. R. Root; E. Whitcomb; E. T. .\bbott; C. P. 



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

 Gen'l M.iK.iGER .iXD TREASURER— Eugeue Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



Place and Date of li^ext Aleetlag: 



Ix Fr.\nklin Institute, 



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



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



VOL. 39. 



AUGUST 24, 1899. 



NO. 34. 



Note— The American Bee Journal adopts the Orthog-raphT 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" af- 

 fects a preceding sound. 



The Paper on Foul Brood, by Dr. Lortet, in this num- 

 ber, will be read with interest by thosewho desire to be fully 

 informed with reg-ard to foul brood, and especially by those 

 who are in sympathy with the views held across the water. 

 Authorities on this side do not take kindly to any drug- 

 treatment of the disease, but when such men as Mr. Thos. 

 Win. Cowan and M. Ed. Bertrand, the able editor of Revue 

 Internationale, have faith in anything- of the kind, it is at 

 least worth while to know something about it. The paper 

 in question was translated some time ago into English 

 from the French, and is considered of so much importance 

 that it was republisht in the Bee-Keepers' Record. 



A Certain Question=Box seems to have caused a little 

 uneasiness in the editorial sanctum of the Canadian Bee 

 Journal, if we may judge from this paragraph which ap- 

 peared in the August number of our contemporary across 

 the border : 



A bee-journal with a question-box has above the de- 

 partment the following: "In the multitude of counsellors 

 there is safety. — Prov. xi : 14." 



We have every respect for a question drawer and the 

 answers to the questions, but as we have seen some of these 

 departments conducted with such diversity of views and 

 opinions, diametrically opposed to one another, it is a 

 pretty difficult matter for a beginner to know what to pick 

 out as best. The " safety " must consist in the fact that a 

 great many have opinions diametrically opposed to one 



another, and that the safety lies in accepting none of them 

 with great certainty. 



Of course, the criticism applies to the department in 

 this journal, as no other bee-paper to-day, so far as we 

 know, contains such a feature. As the experiences of those 

 answering questions are varied, it must necessarily follow 

 that their opinions based upon such experience would not 

 agree exactly. Still, that does not prove that their dis- 

 agreeing answers are worthless or unsafe to follow. One 

 bee-keeper wouldn't use a bee-escape to remove honey; 

 another wouldn't do without the bee-escape. Does that 

 prove that the bee-escape is worthless ? Other illustration.s 

 might be given, but it is hardly worth while. " In the mul- 

 titude of counsellors there is safety." 



Growing Bassvsood from Seed. Mr. A. I. Root i.s 

 much interested in this matter, and has found that it is a 

 hard matter to get the seeds to grow. Chas. Blackburn re- 

 ports in Gleanings in Bee-Culture that in the fall of 1895 

 he planted seed in a pan. The next spring not one had 

 sprouted, but in the spring of 1895 they began to sprout. 

 In the spring of 1896, 40 or 50 came up ; in the spring of 

 1897 they came up very thick ; in 1898 a few more came up, 

 and they were still coming up last spring. Mr. Root sug- 

 gests hurrying their growth b5' cracking the seeds, dipping- 

 them in boiling water, or something of the sort. 



Light-VVeiglit Sections. — The editor of Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture seems to make a point in favor of selling sec- 

 tions by the piece, b3' saying that in good years it is going- 

 to be difficult to raise the price of honey if we sell bj' the 

 pound, but less so if we sell by the piece. One can hardlj- 

 see whj- there should be any reason for this, but the editor 

 may be entirely right when he says : 



" But the more honey is sold by the piece (and the prac- 

 tice is g-rowing everywhere) there will be less and less de- 

 ception ; and the consumer will come to forget all about 

 pound weights, and will simply ask how much that honey 

 is per box or section — not how much it is by the pound." 



Reports of Bee=Conventions.— The Canadian Bee 

 Journal very properly objects to the way in which so many 

 reports of bee-conventions are made, in which is given per- 

 haps the names of those present and the officers, that a 

 profitable discussion took place upon a certain subject, but 

 the profitable part, the discussion, is entirely left out. The 

 Canadian Bee Journal is to be commended forgiving a very 

 full report of the discussions of the prominent bee-conven- 

 tions in Canada. 



Qreat Value of Sweet Clover. — The often maligned 

 yet immensely valuable sweet clover is slowly but surelj- 

 winning its way into favor. The Orange Judd Farmer — 

 one of the most influential farin papers in this country — 

 speaks thus of sweet clover : 



IS SWBET CI.OVER VALUABLE ? 



To answer this question something must be known of 

 the character of the plant. It grows spontaneously along- 

 trampt roadsides, even in the wheel-ruts in abandoned 

 roadways, and in trainpt or sodden land anywhere. When 

 found in meadow-lands it appears not to occur except when 

 the ground has been trampt by stock when wet. It grows 

 by preference in old brick-yards. It may be grown in fields 

 by proper tillage. Viewing it in no other light we thus see 

 that sweet clover grows luxuriantly in places where few or 

 no other plants flourish. 



But it belongs to tlie great class of leguminous plants, 

 which are capable, by the aid of other organisms, of fixing 

 atmospheric nitrogen and storing it in the plant tissues 

 (Ohio experiment station). It belongs with the clovers, and 

 it may thus be used to improve the land upon which it 

 grows, and this appears to be its mission. It occupies 

 lands that have become tmfitted for good growth of other 



