632 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Oct. 5, 1899. 



PUBLISHT WEEKLY 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' Association. 



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

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

 honey ; and to prusecule the dishonest lioney-commissiou men. 



Afembersbip P'ee* — 91'00 i>er Jinnum, 



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 Tbeasurer— Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa. 



VOL. 39. 



OCTOBER .\ 1899. 



NO. 40 



Note— The American Bee Journal adopts the Orthog-raphy of the follow- 

 ing Rule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philoloj^- 

 ical Association and the Philological Society of En<jland; — Chang'e 

 *'d" or "ed" final to "t" when so pronounced, except when the "e" af- 

 fects a preceding sound. 



Bee=Keepers Injuring the Honey Market. — A honey- 

 dealer here recently called on several of the large retail 

 grocers in the heart of the city with a sample case of very 

 fine comb honey, expecting of course that he could make a 

 sale of a ton or two, as these particular grocers usually buy 

 in fairly large lots. His comb honey was really fancy, and 

 worth IS cents a pound if it was worth a cent. But imagine 

 his surprise to learn that soine bee-keepers from the coun- 

 try had just been in and sold their honey to these grocers 

 at 12!.-< cents a pound I 



Now, this is only a fair sample of the manner in which 

 some of the honey-producers themselves injure the honey 

 market. It must be that they do not read the bee-papers or 

 see the honey market quotations, else they would not be 

 so foolish as to offer their honey for less than it is worth. 

 Fancy comb honey should bring a good price this year — in 

 fact, honey of all kinds is bringing a good price. So there 

 is no excuse for any bee-keeper offering his hotiey for less 

 than it is worth. 



Advanced Prices. — Supply manufacturers are mark- 

 ing up their price-lists — a step no doubt made necessary by 

 the advanced prices they have to pay, lumber continuing 

 to rise in price with no certainty where the end will be. 

 Bee-keepers can stand this very well if they have a corres- 

 ponding advance in the price of honey, and there is no lit- 

 tle muttering because the quotations for honey are not 

 higher. 



There seems, however, to be a failure to notice that 

 honey /las advanced in price. A comparison of present 



prices with those of a year ago will show that at least irs 

 several of the markets there has been an advance 

 of from one to three cents a pound. On the other hand^ 

 bee-keepers may with good show of reason complain that 

 all things considered honey is quoted lower than it shoul<£ 

 be. From all accounts there has been a smaller crop thar> 

 has been known for many years. This alone should call 

 for a rise in price if prices on all other articles should re- 

 main stationary. The general advance on all articles that 

 bee-keepers have to buy, whether in their business or for 

 the support of their families, is sufficient reason for a sharp, 

 advance if there was an average crop in the country. 



Now put together the short crop of honey and the gen- 

 eral advance in prices, and it is not unnatural that a double 

 advance should be considered the right thing. 



Shipping Bees by Freight in less than carload lots we 

 believe can be secured soon if bee-keepers will interest 

 themselves sufficiently in the subject. The Western Classi- 

 fication Committee will hold its next meeting in Milwaukee, 

 Nov. 7. A petition requesting the rating on bees by freight 

 in less tlian car lots has been presented to Mr. J. T. Ripley, 

 the chairman of the committee. Now, bee-keepers should 

 follow up this petition by letters urging that it be granted. 

 Address Mr. J. T. Ripley, Chairman Western Classificatiott 

 Committee, Room 604, Great Northern Building, Chicago, 



111. 



There is no good reason why bees in hives should not 



be sent by local freight just the same as live poultry or anjr 

 other small stock. All that is necessary is to have the 

 bees securely enclosed so that none may escape from the 

 hive or box containing them. If small or large shipments, 

 of bees could be made as desired by freight, instead of by- 

 expensive express, no doubt many apiaries would be moved 

 from one locality to anotlier to catch a succession of honey- 

 flows. 



Apis Dorsata was discust in convention by Australian 

 bee-keepers. H. L. Jones read a paper moderately favoring- 

 their introduction. Mr. Pender thought they might be 

 valuable for wax-production. Mr. Bradley said he had lived 

 long j-ears in India, and the man who would bring then* 

 into Australia should be prosecuted. They were migratory, 

 as bad as wasps, with stronger colonies. Mr. Abram told 

 of a gentleman who had gone to expense and travel and 

 then decided to let them alone. Mr. Jones said a gentleman 

 in Singapore was trying to domesticate them. 



It begins to look as if a good deal of time and valuable 

 space had been taken up in talking and writing about Apia 

 dorsata. The Italian bee will likely " hold the f ort " for 

 some time yet. 



Saltpetered Rags for Smoker-Fuel.— Dr. Miller says. 

 in Gleanings in Bee-Culture : "I don't know of any way 

 in which a bee-keeper can get more comfort out of ten cents 

 than to spend it for a pound of saltpeter, put that in two or 

 three quarts of water, wring rags out of it, dry them, and 

 cut them up into pieces of 20 to SO square inches, to be tied 

 up into little rolls to start his smoker." 



Rival Bee=Paper Editors is a subject toucht on as fol- 

 lows by Editor E. R. Root in Gleanings in Bee-Culture : 



If there ever was a fraternity of feeling among rival 

 editors and publishers, it is among those connected with 

 bee-journals. Once or twice Bro. York and I have occupied 

 the same sleeper e/i route to conventions, and we were to- 

 gether much of the time afterward. This was particularly 

 so in going to and from the Lincoln tneeting. Well, this 

 time Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, of the Bee-Keepers' Review, 

 and I arranged to meet in Cleveland, there to take a sleeper 

 on to Philadelphia. U We left Cleveland on the night train 



