584 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Sept. 14, 1899. 



PCBLisiiT \vl;eklv by 



George W. York & Company, 



118 Michigan St., Chicago, III. 



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



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



United Slates Bee-Keepers' ftssociation. 



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 hone^'-commission men. 



Alembersbip Fee — 91.00 per Aantun. 



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



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

 Bo.iRD 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. 



VOL. 39. SEPTEMBER 14, 1899. NO. 37. 



Note— The American Bee Journal adopts the Orthofjraphy 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. 



At Chicago in 1900.— The Philadelphia convention of 

 the United States Bee-Keepers' Association closed Thtirs- 

 daj-, Sept. 7, after a very interesting' and profitable meet- 

 ing. The election of officers, constituting the Executive 

 Committee for 1900, resulted as follows : 



President— Ernest R. Root, of Ohio. 

 Vice-President — G. M. Doolittle, of New York. 

 Secretary — Dr. A. B. Mason, of Ohio. 



It was decided to hold the convention nest year in Chi- 

 cago, where will be held the annual encampment of the 

 Grand Army of the Republic. 



Now for a bee-keepers' convention of at least 500 in 

 1900. The old American Bee Journal extend.s a hearty in- 

 vitation to every bee-keeper in the whole country to attend 

 the Chicago convention of the United States Bee-Keepers' 

 Association next j-ear. The exact date will be announced 

 later. 



Last Winter's Losses of Bees are attributed by F. 

 Greiner. in the American Bee-Keeper, to bad food. Chaff- 

 packing seemed to make but little difference. Apiaries on 

 the summit of hills suffered more than those in valleys. 

 Locality seemed to have much to do with the loss, one yard 

 being entirely wiped out, and another two miles distant 

 coming thru without loss. As bearing directly on the mat- 

 ter of food, he says : 



" Last fall I made mention of the soured honey some 

 colonies had stored in the sections, and I have reason to be- 

 lieve now, had all colonies stored such honey in the supers, 

 we would not have suffered the loss in bees that we did. It 



would seem that at the time when the flowers yielded this 

 inferior honey, part of the colonies stored it in sections, 

 others in the brood-nest ; some of them, perhaps, in outside 

 combs, and others again, exactly above or very near where 

 they took up their abode during the winter. These last 

 ones were undoubtedly the ones that succumbed. 



" This theory would also serve to explain the mystery 

 why part of the colonies came out so well when others did 

 not, apparentlj" all having equal chances. Another circum- 

 stance seems to favor this view. A number of my colonies 

 which were fed heavily til! late in the fall on honey from a 

 preceding 3'ear--feeding them for the purpose of having 

 section honey finisht up — came out in fine shape, every one 

 of them ! I have also referred to the fact already that the 

 colonies which stored the soured honey in the sections came 

 out all right." 



Washington Pure Food Law Rulings. — In the North- 

 western Horticulturist of recent date we find the rulings of 

 the Washington State Dairy and Food Commissioner, E. 

 A. McDonald, of Seattle. His ruling on honey — which is 

 of particular interest to bee-keepers — is this : 



Honey. — Must be pure. Cannot be mixt with glucose 

 or other substances and sold as " Honey Compound." 



That is sufficiently explicit so that no one need be in 

 the dark as to what kind of honey to put on the market in 

 Washington — simply, it " must be pure." 



The Anti= Adulteration Sentiment seems to be grow- 

 ing. It is high time that it should, for the investigation of 

 food products made by Senator Mason's committee some 

 time ago here in Chicago resulted in many startling and 

 alarming revelations. The people are simply being finan- 

 cially defrauded and physically ruined by the villainous 

 adulterations put on the market. Something must be done, 

 and that right soon, to stop the onward course of the hydra- 

 headed monster of food adulteration. We believe that Con- 

 gress will act promptly and effectuallj' when it once hears 

 the report of Senator Mason's committee. 



We were greatly pleased to read in the Saturday Even- 

 ing Post — that splendid Philadelphia weekly magazine — 

 the following editorial, which has the true ring, and which 

 we of course heartily endorse : 



PROTECTING THE NATION'S HEALTH. 



If a merchant make large profit out of short weights 

 and measures and adulterated goods, it does not add to his 

 value to the community to have him a generous leader in 

 religious and philanthropic enterprises. He is simply rob- 

 bing the foundations of principle and character to purchase 

 a temporary public prominence, and his influence is doubly 

 evil because he constantly tempts his competitors to illegiti- 

 mate expedients, and vitiates reputation by forcing him- 

 self forward as an example of dishonest gain purchasing 

 position and respectabilit}'. Even when this successful 

 man — successful from the financial standpoint — leaves a 

 million or two to found an institution with his name em- 

 blazoned upon it, the usefulness of the enterprise is poor 

 atonement for the viciousness of his business life. It can- 

 not mitigate the effect upon every young man starting out 

 in life who beholds in the benefaction an incentive to con- 

 scienceless money-getting. 



If this merchant were to eat his adulterations himself, 

 or even if he should feed his family upon them — altho he 

 would hardly be as inhuman as that — we might excuse him 

 on the point of personal liberty, and he and his might go to 

 their indigestion and pepsin tablets and early graves in 

 their own unhappy way. But when he imposes upon inno- 

 cent customers, and fills their bodies with unhealthy chemi- 

 cals, and clothes their backs with false pretensions, and 

 takes their money for things that are not as they seem, he 

 is not only a thief, but a public enemy, who poisons the 

 very currents of trade. It goes further than this ; if he is 

 allowed by the other merchants to continue his nefarious 

 traffic without a heroic endeavor on their part to stop it and 

 punish him, he becomes, and his methods become, a criter- 

 ion by which thej' are judged. 



As it is with individuals, so it is with the countries, 

 and the United States is beginning to reap some of the re- 

 sults. Never was adulteration as great in this country as 



