34 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Prohibiting Importations of ftueens. 



Our attention has been drawn to 

 the following paragraph, published in 

 a late number of the Detroit (Mich.) 

 Evening News : 



The suggestion of a Michigan bee- 

 keeper, that Gov. Jerome take action 

 to prevent the Canadians from flood- 

 ing our " infant industry " with queen 

 bees produced by the pauper labor of 

 Palestine, Java, Ceylon and elsewhere, 

 is timely and appropriate. The.se for- 

 eign insects may be superior to ours, 

 and may result in the pro<luction of 

 more and better honey at less cost, but 

 that argument would hold quite as well 

 in the case of foreign iron and steel 

 and cotton and woolen goods. It is 

 not more or better honey that our 

 American industries are after; wliat 

 they want is more work, and from all 

 accounts the native American queen 

 bees will give tlie drones ten times 

 more labor than tlie foreign ones. 



We think it hardly possible that, 

 among all the bee-keepers in the 

 State of Michigan, one can be found 

 ttioughtless enougti to give utterance 

 to a sentiment so illiberal as that at- 

 tributed to tlieui above; and had one 

 done so, even in a jocular manner, we 

 wonder that the News should seize 

 upon it as a text for a ludicrous bur- 

 lesque. There are so many incon- 

 gruities in the article, .short as it is, 

 that no intelligent bee-keeper can be 

 persuaded to view it in any light but 

 that of badinage, though stamped 

 with the impress of serious argument. 

 Let us candidly consider tlie incon- 

 sistencies in the article quoted : 



1st. Tliere is not a bee-keeper, in 

 the State o^lichigan, so stupid as 

 not to kno\^lluit Gov. Jerome can 

 take no action to prevent the impor- 

 tation of queen bees, or any other 

 stock, from Canada, or anywhere else, 

 which is intended as an improvement 

 upon our i)resent stock. Tliis is regu- 

 lated by tlie general government. 



'2d. Bee-keeping is not an " infant 

 industry," but is coeval with history 

 itself. It is only its scientific man- 

 agement which is comparatively 

 young; but it is developing with 

 astonishing rapidity. 



3d. Canadians have had no queen 

 bees produced in Java or Ceylon with 

 which to flood our country, and the 

 imported Palestine queens they liave 

 sent us, were produced by an Ameri- 

 can citizen in Cyprus, and who, we 

 believe, still holds his residence and 

 right of sufferage in the State of 

 Michigan. 



4tli. It is not yetasettled point that 

 these " foreign insects " are superior 

 to ours, except as bred upon or from 



our stock. There is no analogy be- 

 tween them and " foreign iron and 

 steel, and cotton and woolen goods." 

 Instead of being imported to enter 

 into competition with American pro- 

 ducts, the reverse is the case; they 

 are desired for tlie purpose of stimu- 

 lating a fixed occupation, and giving 

 remunerative employment to thou- 

 sands of our citizens wlio are now 

 scarcely self-supporting, besides de- 

 veloping a source of national wealth 

 and foreign traflic now comparatively 

 neglected, and only awaiting intelli- 

 gent and improved application, with 

 the best facilities to accomplisli it. 



5th. It is " more and better honey 

 tliat our American industries are 

 after." In order to obtain the best 

 bees to secure these results, enter- 

 prising Americans have chilled in the 

 bleak winds of Russia, thirsted on the 

 burning sands of Arabia, smoked the 

 friendly pipe in Germany, bearded the 

 lion in the jungle of India, endured 

 malaria on the Nile, climbed tlie walls 

 of China, scaled the rugged mountains 

 of Caucassus, scorched under tlie 

 Cyprian sun,dreamed'neath the sunny 

 skies of Italy, ascended the steppes 

 of South America, and waded the 

 swamps of Africa. No clime has 

 been too distant, and no obstacle too 

 difficult, to discourage the American 

 in his efforts to .secure bees that would 

 gather " more and better honey." At 

 the present time, tliousands of our 

 countrymen are cultivating the soil to 

 insure a certainty of " more and bet- 

 ter honey," and the science of botany 

 lias been made to contribute of its 

 lore to assist the apiarist in his 

 purpose. 



6th. As drones are not supposed to 

 be laborers, we cannot imagine how 

 the " native American queen bees 

 will give the drones ten times more 

 labor than the foreign ones." This is 

 doubtless a joke, or sarcasm, on the 

 poor drones. 



All ill all, the article quoted above 

 is too illiberal and seltish to be re- 

 garded in any light but that of a joke, 

 and with such a spirit prevailing, our 

 boasted progression in bee-keeping, 

 or any other science, would soon ret- 

 rograde, and but a few decades would 

 be required to return us to the fogy 

 styles and superstitious notions of a 

 century ago, and perhaps return us to 

 a level with the barbaric ages, for we 

 could adopt no improvements, for 

 fear of patronizing the "pauper labor" 

 of some country whose civilization 

 ante-dates our own by thousands of 

 years. 



Honey Shows at Fairs. 



The time is now at hand when the 

 Vice Presidents of the National So- 

 ciety, for the various States, should 

 use all their influence to get a good 

 List of Premiums offered by the Mana- 

 gers of Fairs, for Bees, Honey, Wax, 

 etc., and we hope they will each one 

 see to it, that no stone is left unturned 

 which may prove advantageous to the 

 general good of the bee-keepers and 

 honey producers of America. 



Dr. W. W. Hipolite, Vice President 

 for Arkansas, is already at work with 

 the managers of the Arkansas State 

 Fair, and has drawn up the following 

 list of Premiums : 



1. Best package of comb honey in 

 the most marketable shape, 5 pounds 

 or more. 



2. Best crate of comb honey in the 

 best shipping and most marketable 

 shajie, 20 pounds or more. 



3. Best package of extracted honey 

 in the most marketable shape, one 

 pound or more. 



■1. Largest and best display of 

 honey, both conib and extracted, in 

 the most marketable shape. 



5. Best display of honey, both comb 

 and extracted, in the most market- 

 able shape, by a lady. 



6. Best colony of black bees, in 

 movable-comb hive. 



7. Best colony of Italian bees, in 

 movable-comb hive. 



8. Best Italian queen bee. 



9. Best display of beeswax, 3 pounds 

 or more. 



10. Best machine for extracting 

 honey. 



1 1 . Best wax extractor. 



12. Best bee-hive for all purposes. 



Exhibitors must satisfy the super- 

 intendent that the honey entered for 

 these premiums is the product of his 

 or her apiary, or of one under their 

 control. 



Dr. Hipolite, in his letter to the 

 Managers of the State Fair Associa- 

 tion, with his suggestions concerning 

 the " honey department " makes the 

 following remarks, as we see by the 

 Arkansas State Ouzelte: 



I would further suggest that larger 

 premiums should be offered for the 

 products of the apiary, to secure a 

 larger display of these products from 

 different portions of the State. The 

 State fair is a great educator of the 

 lieople, and bee-keei)iiigis an industry 

 wliicb should be developed as one of 

 the industries of our State ; for the 

 honey crop may be made an important 

 item of material wealth to the State. 

 In other States the production of 

 honey has assumed large proportions, 

 and there is no good reason why it; 

 should not with us. On the first day 

 of March, 1881, the assessor of Los 

 Angeles county, California, reported 

 16,(il3 coloniesof bees for that county, 

 and the same county shipped, in a ' 

 single season, 1,500,000 pounds of | 

 honey, while in Arkansas, with lioney , 



