744 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Nov. 23, 1899. 



PUBLISHT WEEKLY BY 



George W. York & Company, 



116 Michigan St., Chicago, 



ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 



SAMPLE COPY FREE. 



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



United States Bee- Keepers' flssociaiion. 



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. 



JUembersblp Fee—91-OO per Anntim, 



ExEcnrivE 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. 



VOL. 39. NOVEMBER 23, 1899. NO. 47. 



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" af- 

 fects a preceding sound. 



Helping on the Pure = Food Bill.— On page 696 we sug- 

 gested sending Rev. E. T. Abbott's address on pure-food 

 legislation to members of Congress. Mr. Ariel Wellman, 

 of Rensselaer Co., N. Y., acted on the suggestion, and 

 afterward received the following acknowledgement from 

 Representative A. V. S. Cochrane, to whom was mailed a 

 copy of Mr. Abbott's address as given at the Philadelphia 

 convention, and publisht in this journal : 



Hudson, N. Y., Nov. 2, 1899. 

 Ariel Wellman, Esq. — 



Z)^a/-5!>.-— Your letter of Oct. 30 is at hand. Also the 

 markt copy of the American Bee Journal, which I have- 

 read with much interest. I am thoroly in sympathy with 

 the ideas there exprest, and certainly shall be glad to avail 

 myself of any opportunity to promote the cause in which 

 you are interested. Sincerely yours, 



A. V. S. Cochrane. 



We still have copies of the Bee Journal containing Mr. 

 Abbott's address, and will be pleased to furnish them upon 

 request for the purpose indicated above. 



A Cuban Bee>Keepers' Association.— Mr. Harry Howe, 

 now of Cuba, wrote us as follows Nov. 7, about the organi- 

 zation of the first bee-keepers' association in Cuba : 



Editor York : — The office of Dr. James Warner, in 

 Havana, was the place chosen for the organization of the 

 Cuban Bee-Keepers' Association. Among other items of 

 business was the unanimous election to honorary member- 

 ship of the following : Frank Benton, O. O. Poppleton, E. 

 R. Root, W. Z. Hutchinson, H. E. Hill and George W. York. 



Resolutions asking for a foul brood law were past. Sec- 

 tion IX of the proposed law requires the inspection of all 



bees coming into Cuba, and the immediate destruction of 

 those found to be infected with foul brood, without compen- 

 sation to the owner. The customs inspectors are to notifj- 

 the foul-brood inspector of all shipments of bees received. 



The officers of the new association are : President, Dr. 

 James Warner; Vice President, Padro Cassinona ; Secre- 

 tarj', Harry Howe ; Treasurer, Juan Ranelo. 



The association has good prospects for success, as there 

 are manj- special problems facing the Cuban bee-keepers 

 which require co-operation for their solution. 



Harry Howe, Sec. 



We wish to thank our Cuban friends for the honor con- 

 ferred upon us, as mentioned in the above. We also be- 

 speak for the new Cuban bee-keepers' organization every 

 possible success, and all the personal profit and enjoj'ment 

 that comes from the interchange of ideas and the meeting 

 together of those whose interests are so closely allied. 



Exportation of Honey, the Australasian Bee-Keeper 

 saj's, is the most important subject ever brought before 

 bee-keepers, meaning, of course, bee-keepers of Australia. 

 The London market does not take kindly to Australian 

 honey with its very markt flavor, and the editor thinks the 

 British palate has had so much of sweetened liquid that it 

 cantiot appreciate a delicate aroma. So the pure article 

 must be sent without any mixing, educating the consumer 

 to know what honey is. J. D. G. Caddan thinks there is a 

 sufficient home market for the best honej', and producers of 

 the dark article that brings only 2'2 to 3 cents a pound 

 should give up bee-keeping and take up poultry. 



Honey for Bakers is being used more and more, says 

 Editor Hutchinson in the Bee-Keepers' Review ; " and the 

 beauty of it is that they cannot use adulterated goods. The 

 least amount of glucose ' spoils the cake.' " 



Irritating Effect of Propolis on the Skin — The per- 

 fect impunity with which nearly all bee-keepers handle 

 propolis has caused reports of injury therefrom to be re- 

 ceived with some degree of skepticism. Those who have 

 had particles of propolis fly in the eyes know how very 

 irritating it is to the tender membranes of the eye. Is it 

 not reasonable, then, to believe that the skin on some peo- 

 ple's hands may be so much more sensitive than common 

 as to make propolis poisonous to them ? It is well known 

 that there is a great difference in the sensitiveness of the 

 skin in different persons. Those who can handle poison- 

 ivy as freely as clover, and with as little harm, might be 

 unwilling to believe it poisonous, were it not that so many 

 can give sad testimony to the contrary. A few in this 

 country have reported poisonous effects on the hands and 

 face from propolis when they were scraping sections. Now 

 comes Bonnmere de Chavigny, in Revue Internationale, and 

 says that when he scrapes propolis from frames, supers, 

 etc., with naked hands, markt results follow. Within 24 or 

 48 hours a redness of the skin appears, with an eruption of 

 slight pustules, sometimes with and sometimes without 

 smarting, these symptoms disappearing in two days or less. 

 The most striking feature in the case is that after the end 

 of a week or two the skin peels off in a disagreeable way, 

 but without paiti. 



The Extermination of Basswood. — Editor Root says 

 supply manufacturers may yet be obliged to make four- 

 piece sections, from tlie fact that no other than basswood 

 will do for the one-piece, and that is rapidly disappearing. 

 If lumber could be brought from Canada free of duty, the 

 matter would be different. Mr. Root says : 



" The supply-manufacturer has been blamed for killing 

 the goose that lays the golden egg. But the goose-killing 

 was commenced first and carried on far more extensively by 



