Nov. 23, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



745 



furniture-makers. Since there has been such a sharp ad- 

 vance in the price of lumber, especially of pine, basswood 

 has been used by planinfj-mills for regular house-building- 

 purposes. It is still cheaper than pine ; and contractors, in 

 order to meet old tigures, have been compelled to take a 

 cheaper lumber, with the result that bass%vood has been 

 taken. Some of the most extensive lumbermen say they 

 can see in our northern forests only about ten years' more 

 supply of this favorite timber. The basswood areas are 

 g-etting to be more and more scarce, with the result that 

 section-lumber will have in time to be of some other less 

 desirable timber. 



" But perhaps )'ou may ask why supply-manufacturers 

 use this valuable timber when it is so much needed for 

 honey. For the simple reason that the furniture-makers 

 and planing-mills will use it if we do not. What care they 

 for the bee-keeper who desires to produce honey ?" 



"The Question-Box is approved by Stenog, in Glean- 

 ings in Bee-Culture," says the Bee-Keepers' Review, "even 

 if the answers are contradictory." But Editor Hutchinson 

 thinks the contradictory answers give but little light if 

 plain " yes " and " no " without any reasons. 



Tin vs. Wood for Honey=Pacltages.— In Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture for Nov. 1, Editor Root has this to say in reply 

 to a contributor who seems to disfavor quite strongly the 

 use of tin honey-packages : 



" Perhaps the kegs are more convenient for you at your 

 end of the line ; but our experience is that nearly all kegs 

 and barrels of honey, by the time they get to Medina, are 

 leaking slightly, and some of them badly. Our honey-man, 

 Mr. Boyden, is completely disgusted with these wooden 

 packages. On the other hand, he says honey in square 

 cans holding 60 pounds usually comes thru in good order, 

 and is much more convenient to sell again, because the 

 packages are smaller, and the honey can be sold in large or 

 small lots. 



"There is no doubt at all that kegs are much more con- 

 venient for the producer ; but they are a great nuisance to 

 the average buyer; and in many cases it is the producer 

 who has to pay for the leakage. He in turn becomes dis- 

 gusted with his honey-man, as he naturally thinks he has 

 misrepresented." 



Right you are, Mr. Root. Wooden barrels are too risky 

 to ship liquid honey in ; and they hold too large a quantity 

 for many users of honey, unless for large concerns who can 

 take a carload for bakery purposes ; and then even ihey pre- 

 fer to handle it in tin cans. 



We notice that scarcely any bee-supply dealer lists 

 wooden barrels nowadays. Why ? Because the handy and 

 safer tin can is rapidly replacing the risky " wooden tubs " 

 for shipping honey. 



" Fillers " In Bee=Papers.— Editor Leahy, of the Pro- 

 gressive Bee-Keeper, has this " compliment " for conven. 

 tion essays : 



" It always lookt to me that the only importance that 

 could be attacht to bee-convention essaj's was for " fillers," 

 as the ground covered by those essays is practically ex- 

 hausted thru the bee-journals by the same writers before 

 written for said conventions." 



As the American Bee Journal publishes more conven- 

 tion essays or papers than all the rest of the bee-papers 

 combined, of course the suggestion of using "fillers" strikes 

 us the heaviest. But that is all right. We can stand it ad- 

 mirably'. Just see what a fine " filler " Prof. Wiley's con- 

 vention paper is, in this number, and the one by Mr. Doo- 

 little, who is also an editor of the Progressive Bee-Keeper. 

 Then turn back, and look at Mr. Craycraft's essay on bee- 

 keeping in Cuba and Porto Rico ; Mr. Abbott's on pure-food 

 legislation; and others that mig-ht be named. Prett)' fine 

 " fillers," aren't they? 



Then turn to the Progressive Bee-Keeper for November, 

 and look at the " story " it is running — five pages of it in 

 that number. Talk about " fillers I" If that isn't a " filler." 



we give it up. A bee-paper can hardly compete with the 

 excellent story-papers of the present day — but as " fillers " 

 stories may be a necessity for some bee-papers. 



Editor Eeahy spoke that time without thinking. There 

 are too many of our best bee-keepers who have written es- 

 says for conventions, to dub their productions as " fillers," 

 in the sense meant by Mr. Leahy. But in the best sense of 

 the word they are like a big, wholesome dinner to a hungry 

 man — a genuine " filler" and satisfier. 



Mr. a. I. Root is cautioned by one of his lady friends 

 — Mrs. F. I. Schuyler — who writes him thus, as reported in 

 Gleanings in Bee-Culture : 



"Dkar Bro. Root: — I am glad you have quit sending 

 for patent medicine, and taking it to see whether it is good 

 for anj'thing, as I do not think it your duty to become a 

 martyr for the benefit of your readers." 



That is a timely caution for Mr. Root, for we understand 

 that some of the " patent medicine " sent out is about 90 

 percent whiskey, and labeled " Bitters," so as to evade pro- 

 hibition laws in certain States. It beats all how some men 

 will lie in order to make a dollar. Money is the ruination 

 of many a man. Some will even give their very souls, in- 

 cluding their hope of immortality, for only a few paltry 

 dollars. The "Almighty Dollar" is getting to be altogether 

 too mighty. 



* * ♦ ♦ * 



Francis Joseph, emperor of Austria, has an apiary 

 in his private garden, not far from the windows of his pal- 

 ace, for convenience in observation. The government gives 

 about $12,000 a year for the purpose of developing scientific 

 apiculture. It is worthy of note on the part of the various 

 European governments, that they favor in ever3' way men 

 of talent, rich or poor, not only in bee-culture, but in all the 

 arts and sciences. Even Russia, beginning with Peter 

 the Great, has offered every inducement for artists and arti- 

 sans to go there to live. The result is, that St. Petersburg 

 is now probably the finest capital in Europe, while less 

 than 200 years ago its site was a dreary bog. The king of 

 Bavaria appropriates annually about $8,000 to promote 

 scientific bee-keeping. — Gleanings in Bee-Culture. 



The Thanksgiving Number of the Saturday Evening 

 Post, in its stories, poems, pictures and general articles, 

 will be the most attractive number of the magazine yet 

 issued. In this number Robert W. Chambers has a season- 

 able out-of-door story, entitled " The Hunter " — the romance 

 of a poacher's pretty daughter. Other features are : Edwin 

 Markham's latest poem, " The Lyric Seer ;" " An Electrical 

 Transaction " — a Tale of the Transvaal War by Robert 

 Barr ; "At Dawn," by Octave Thanet, and " The Minis- 

 ter's Henhouse," a droll storj' by C. B. Loomis. Two nota- 

 ble articles in this number are "Lincoln as Candidate and 

 President," by his old friend and political ally. Colonel A. 

 K. McClure, and "OurNew Prosperity," by Frank A. Van- 

 derlip, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. The Thanks- 

 giving number of the Saturday Evening Post will be on 

 all news-stands Nov. 23, at 5 cents a copy. If not conven- 

 ient to get it there, address the publishers, Curtis Publish- 

 ing Co., Philadelphia, Pa., enclosing the amount. 



Please send us Names of Bee-Keepers who do not now 



get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get their 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this journal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

 other matters. 



*-»-».^ 



The Premiums ofi'ered on page 749 are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



