104 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



puriified honey. The honey should be 

 keptatthe boiling heat for 15minutes. 



I know of many other plans and 

 ways of doing it, some less trouble and 

 quicker done than the above, but do 

 not wish to give any that could not be 

 carried out by a novice. 



There is no more need of losing a 

 colony by foul brood than I)y queen- 

 lessness, and it is so simple'and easy 

 to cure when thoroughly understood, 

 that I hope it may be completely wiped 

 out in America. I am sorry to liave 

 to trespass so much on your valuable 

 space, but trust there may he no more 

 burning or destroying bees from the 

 above disease. 



Beeton, Ont., Canada. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Prohibiting Imported Bees. 



JULIUS TOMLINSON. 



The Bee Journal arrives regular, 

 full of good things. In looking over 

 No. 3, when I came to page .34, I had 

 a hearty laugh over the editorial, in 

 relation to an extract from the Detroit 

 Evening Neies. As I am the Michigan 

 bee-keeper referred to, perhaps I 

 ought to " rise and explain." 



There axe some things in this State, 

 a little peculiar and different probably 

 from same tilings in other States : 1st. 

 The Evening News, with an immense 

 daily issue, wide awake and enter- 

 prising, and which advocates free 

 trade, with a zeal that " no lawyer 

 knows," in which advocacy I am free 

 to say, I heartly concur. 



2d. A very worthy Governor, but 

 who lives in Saginaw, and believes 

 that salt, if not king ought to be. 



.Sd. The action of Governor Jerome 

 in appointing delegates to the higli 

 tariff convention in New York last 

 autumn ; and 



■4th. The coming State Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention, at Battle Creek. 



It was in reference to the above 

 situatien that the following was writ- 

 ten, and published in the Evening News 

 of same issue, as the ektract quoted in 

 the Bee Journal : 



"There is to be holden in Battle 

 Creek, Dec. 9th, an important indus- 

 trial convention. It is the annual 

 meeting of the Michigan Bee- Keepers' 

 Association. The production of honey 

 has become a very important industrv. 

 and many thousands of dollars are re- 

 ceived annually by the bee-keepers of 

 the State. As'thi's is to be a verv im- 

 portant meeting I would respectfully 

 suggest to our most excellent Gov- 

 ernor, that he appoint delegates from 

 different parts of the State to attend 

 that Convention. 



" I would also remind the Governor 

 that a certain Mr. Jones, of Canada, 

 is largely engaged in bee-keeping, and 

 is selling large numbers of queens to 

 bee-keepers on this side of tlie line. 

 His queens are very superior stock ; 

 they are endorsed and recommended 

 by Prof. Cook and most of our leading 

 bee-keepers. Mr. Jones has spent 

 many thousand dollars to procure this 

 stock. He has himself visited Pales- 

 tine and Cyprus on purpose to procure 

 superior queen bees. He has also em- 



ployed Mr. Frank Benton, a citizen 

 of this State, to visit Ceylon and .Java, 

 where amid untold perils he searched 

 for that wonder of the insect world, 

 the Apis dorsata. 



" Now, Mr. Jones, being a foreigner, 

 I would respectfully implore the Gov- 

 ernor, in his next message, to recom- 

 mend that Michigan bee-keepers be 

 protected against these Canadian 

 queens. If it be said that this is no 

 part of the Governor's business, I 

 would say that this is in exact accord- 

 ance with the Governor's action in 

 other matters. Has he not recently 

 apjiointed citizens of this State to at- 

 tend the high tariff convention in 

 New York, and did he not in his first 

 message recommend that Michigan 

 Salt be protected from " the Canadian 

 article?" This is very important and 

 I hope the Governor will seriously 

 consider these matters. Canadian 

 queens should not be tolerated in this 

 State. J. TojiLiNsoN." 



Of course the News made a blunder 

 when they talked about the drones 

 being laborers, otherwise I see no 

 great incongruity in the comments of 

 tlie Nercs. Doubtless, if you had had 

 all the points, your editorial would 

 have been somewhat different. 



Allegan, Mich. 



[The above article has somewhat of 

 a political cast, with which the Bee 

 Journal has nothing to do ; but as 

 it is rather necessary to explain the 

 curious article copied from the Detroit 

 News, and commented upon on page34, 

 we give it a place.— Ed. 1 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Potatoes as Bee Enemies. 



A. R. KOHNKE. 



The writer of a prize essay in a 

 German bee paper, attempts to prove 

 that the potato may be considered as 

 a bee enemy. After going into a 

 leiigtliy discussion of the comparative 

 nutritive value of potatoes and honey, 

 he comes to the conclusion th;it it 

 would be far more profitable, espe- 

 cially for people being in posses- 

 sion" of only a few acres of land, to 

 devote that to the cultivation of honey 

 plants, to the exclusion of potatoes, 

 inasmuch as all available ground is 

 taken up to raise tliat vegetaljle, and 

 not a single weed is allowed to grow 

 whicli might furnish the bees honey. 



Though it must be admitted that 

 potatoes are very poor in nutritive 

 qualities and honey rather rich, it 

 would not be good policy for any one 

 having one or two acres, to plant for 

 the bees, and buy his vegetables with 

 the proceeds of his apiary. 



The main object of the article above 

 mentioned was to induce bee-keepers 

 to provide a better pasturage for bees. 

 To this fact the bee-keepers in Ger- 

 many seem to be as alive as some are 

 in this country. Whether it will or 

 will not pay to sow exclusively for 

 bees, I intend to prove myself next 

 summer. Bee-keepers or others who 

 liave seeds of supposed honey plants, 

 not for sale anywhere, and liave not 



the time or land for experimenting, 

 may send some to me, free of charge 

 (say enough to cover at least an acre 

 of ground), name of plant and time of 

 bloom should be noted. Results will 

 be reported in due time through the 

 Bee JoiTRNAL. 

 Youngstown, O. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Does it Pay to Bear Dollar Queens J 



REV. A. SALISBURY. 



I frequently notice articles in the 

 bee papers stating the profits of rear- 

 ing and selling untested queens; but 

 these advocates of Dollar Queens pre- 

 sent nothing new to insyiire the confi- 

 dence of bee-keepers, of long experi- 

 ence, in their assertions. It may do, 

 where one owns a bee paper in which 

 to do his " puffing," and who buys 

 queens at from .50 cents to $1 and sells 

 them at $1..50; but the one who rears 

 them — does he make money in doing 

 so ? 



There seem to be many who look 

 upon the proceeds of a queen-rearing 

 apiary as largely profit. But let us 

 see if we cannot do better than to 

 continue to sell fine queens at $1. 

 After awhile we may want something 

 for our labor, besides bare expenses. 



Let us examine the matter a little 

 and try to find the profits, if any. We 

 will suppose that an expert can rear, 

 feitilize and sell .500 queens and re- 

 ceive therefor $.500. That looks like 

 good pay for 4 month's work ; but let 

 us examine further. The pxpenses 

 for circulars, advertising :iti(l corres- 

 pondence are $90; 500 cages S50; say 

 •50 queens lost in the mails, $.50; syrup 

 for feeding 100 nuclei, $100; for feed 

 for colonies after consolidating in the 

 fall, $35; lamp nursery and oil, $7; 

 postage on queens, $10; wages for an 

 expert, at$40per month, for4montlis, 

 $160. Total, $512, or $12 more than 

 the queens sold for. 



In the above I have said nothing 

 about hovf many good colonies must 

 be robbed of cell liuijders to rear the 

 500 queens, for royal cells must be 

 built in good colonies, to produce the 

 best queens. Neither have I taken 

 into account the capital invested in 

 nucleus hives, feeders, etc.; nor the 

 number of queens to be replaced to 

 make all satisfactory when complaints 

 are made ; nor have I mentioned the 

 many combs cut up for eggs to rear 

 queens from, for the colonies contain- 

 ing the finest breeding queens get no 

 surplus honey, as they must be 

 handled all the time. 



Mr. Hutchinson tells us that a 

 breeder cannot rear "dollar queens" 

 at a profit, if he allows some of his 

 nuclei to stand queenless several days, 

 for lack of queen cells. All, of course, 

 will subscribe to this statement, but 

 all will not agree that they can be 

 reared at a profit when cells are con- 

 stantly on hand. And more than that, 

 in this latitude, we have, as a rule, 

 about two months in the 4 tliat the • 

 flow of honey is very light, during 

 which time the bees largely refuse to 

 take either a cell or young queen at 

 once, and say by their actions, we pi-e- 



