(^ OLDEST BEE PAPERY«)>^ ^ 

 "I AMERICA 



DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO PROGRESSIVE BEE CULTURE. 



VoL XVIII. Chicago, IlL, February 15, 1882. 



No. 7. 





Published every Wednesdaj- by 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Puopribtok. 



974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



At iSS.OO a Year, In Advance. 



tJf" Remit by money-order, registered letter, ex- 

 press or bank draft on Chicago or New York, pay- 

 able to our order. Such only are at our risk, ('hecks 

 on local banks cost us '25 cents for collectinK. 



Free of postage in the United States or Canada. 

 PoBtnee to Europe 50 cents extra. 



Entered at Chicago post office as second class inatteT. 



TOPICS PRESENTED THIS WEEK. 



Editoriiil— 



Items 97. 98 



Improvement of the Race of Bees 97 



A sweet Meeting that Did Not Occur 98 



Incorporating.' llee-Keepers' Societies 98 



A Correitiiiri Hives 98 



llorticulluri- !ind Bees 98 



Kecipe for i'aste 98 



Anions Our Exchanges- 

 prepare for Spring Worl{ 99 



A Cat's Experience with Bees 99 



Plant for Honey 99 



Correspondence — 



The l^on^evlty of Hees ,. lOfi 



My Very Strange Visitor IW 



Reply to A. U. Kohnlie's Review inl 



Fresl)-M:ule Cniiih Foundation 101 



How iM lii'tiHt <iIucose lou 



Bee- K ('I'll Mm in Australia 



Mr. A. l:. Iviihnke and Foul Brood 103 



Prohibiting Imported Bees lot 



Potatoes as Bee Enemies lf)4 



Does it i*ay to Hear DoUar^ueens? 1U4 



More About the Best Bees.... 105 



The Controversy About Pure Bees 105 



Convention Notes — 



Indiana State Convention 105 



Failures in Apiculture 106 



Liocal Convention Directory 99 



Selections from Our Letter Box — 



The Hive for Betiinners. 107 



How to Make Paste or Giue with Flour 107 



(iolden Honev Plant lo7 



Bees Doing VVell ]07 



Superseding tjueens 107 



Adhesive Paste 107 



Bees in Satisfactory Condition 107 



A Query 107 



Maple and Sorghum Syrups lo8 



Wintering well 108 



Cellar Wijitering with Success 108 



Honey Cranulation 108 



Buckwlieat and Sweet Clover 108 



Wintering in Cellars 108 



Reversible Frame Hive 108 



Bvery Colony Answered the Roll Call 108 



Reversible Frames 108 



Improvement of tlie Race of Bees. 



The virinciiial queen breeders of 

 Italy have addresseda communication 

 to L^Ajyicoltore, tlie Italian bee paper 

 published at Milan, Italy, in which 

 they discuss the matter of queen rear- 

 ing, and promise to prodt by the ;id- 

 dresses of our friend, Mons. Ed. Ber- 

 traud,editor of I-'^lpjc«ZteM?-,published 

 at Nyon, Switzerland, and the editor 

 of the AjiEiiiCAN Bee Journal. We 

 extract the following paragraphs : 



" The learned addresses of Messrs. 

 Ed. Bertrand, of Switzerland, and 

 Thomas U. Newman, of America, at 

 the International Apicultural Con- 

 gress last July, have had a wide pub- 

 licity through the bee periodicals of 

 Europe, andtwe desire to practice the 

 recommendations made by these gen- 

 tlemen at that Congress." 



"We heartily endorse the recom- 

 mendations of Mr. Thos. G. Newman, 

 and assure him that we will give the 

 rearing of queens for exportation to 

 America and elsewhere tlie greatest of 

 care, and as he advises, we will do all 

 in our power to improve tlie race of 

 bees. putting into practice the methods 

 advised by our friend in America, but 

 the illustrious ex-president of the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Soci- 

 ety, and honorary member of so many 

 subordinate societies on the other side 

 of the Atlantic, should remember the 

 great extra expense consequent upon 

 an incessant and progressive selec- 

 tion, and we hope that he will be our 

 advocate in America, and inform his 

 countrymen that low prices and the 

 best quality of merchandise are in 

 our case absolutely incompatible." 



The communiciition was signed by 

 Signers Pietro Pilati, Lucio Paglia 

 and Carlo Bianconcini, and indorsed 

 most fully the recommendations and 

 advice we offered to the Congress for 

 the rearii^ of the best bees. We are 

 fully aware that the last sentence, 

 quoted above, is the key to the situa- 



tion. To obtain something for noth- 

 ing has been carried to such a length 

 that it has threatened lis with disas- 

 ter. The very poor policy of getting 

 checq) queens, at the expense of qual- 

 ity, has had its day, and now the sober- 

 thinking and wise apiarists are setting 

 their faces against such a dangerous 

 policy. 



If we expect to get a queen worth 

 having from Italy, it is in vain to ex- 

 pect it at the price of $3 or $4, to 

 which price they came down in our 

 country last year. 



This hea])-by-cheap policy is ruin- 

 ous when applied to any business, 

 and should be discountenanced by 

 bee-keepers generally, as too danger- 

 ous in its results to be practiced by 

 them, and wholly incompatible with 

 the idea of improving the race of 

 bees. Who, but a lunatic, would think 

 of buying a c/ieop Durham bull, or full 

 blooded horse, or pig, for the purpose 

 of breeding the best stock, horses or 

 swine ? and yet it would be just as 

 reasonable as to buy an imported Ital- 

 ian queen for the same purpose for 

 three or four dollars. 



We can assure our Italian contem- 

 porary and the queen breeders of 

 Italy, that a more reasonable era is 

 dawning upon our people, and here- 

 after they will buy queens for their 

 merits, and pay fair prices for them, 

 instead of obtaining scrub stock at 

 poverty-stricken prices. We only ask 

 them to apply the most rigid rules of 

 selection and progression, ask a fair 

 price, and breed tlie best. 



®" The bee-keepers of Philadelphia 

 and vicinity have formed an Associa- 

 tion, with Dr. Henry Townsend, Pres- 

 ident; C. II. Beeler, Jr., Vice Presi^ 

 dent, and F. Ilahman, Jr., Secretary. 

 The object of the society is the "pro- 

 motion of scientific bee-culture, by 

 forming a strong bond of union among 

 the bee-keepers." ^ ^_ \ 



