^ (^ OLDEST BEE PAPER 

 -^^ '*! AMERICA 



DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO PROGRESSIVE BEE CULTURE. 



VoL XVIII. 



Chicago, lU., May 24, 1882. 



No. 21. 



Published every Wednesday by 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN, 



KlUTOH AXJ) PRUPKlETOn. 



925 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL 



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TOPICS PRESENTED THIS WEEK. 



Editorial — 



Condemnation of Cheap Queens 321 



History and Composition of Giucose 322 



Editorial I terns 323 



Bees and Honey at Fairs 324 



Amou^ Our Exchanges — 



Historic Scrap. 325 



Worii During May in Texas 325 



Bee Notes f < ir J una 326 



A Standard Frame 326 



Fertile Worlters 326 



Correspondence — 



A Bee-Keeper's Experience in the East . . 327 



Lime Pacliint-' Inr Winter 32; i 



An Open l^cttt'r In .Mr. liooliltle 32H 



The Standard Lantiatroth Hive 32;i 



Conrentiou Notes — 



N. VV. III. and S. W. Wis 330 



Selections from Our Letter Box— 



A I'uzzle 3.30 



The .Tournal a Necessity 330 



Bees in Western New Yorlt 330 



Gone to Florida 330 



Unfortunate 330 



Entomological 33i 



White Clover Prospect Good 33i 



A " Played-Out" Queen 331 



Intruders 331 



Extracted Honey 331 



Various Matters .131 



Convention at Grand Kapids. Mich 33] 



Bad on the Pets 331 



Milkweed 332 



Floating Apiaries 332 



Snowand Frost 332 



Examine tlie Date following your 

 ■name on the wrapper label of this 

 paper ; it indicates the end of the 

 •month to which you have paid your 

 ■subscription on tlte Bee Journal. 



Condemnation of Cheap Queens. 



Several of our most prominent and 

 successful apiarists have requested us 

 to publish Prof. Cook's able and ex- 

 haustive article which recently ap- 

 peared in the Bural New Yorker. We 

 give the article entire, not because it 

 is a reply to Mr. Hutchinson, but for 

 its real worth from a scientific stand- 

 point, and the much good it will ac- 

 complish by encouraging a pride in 

 seeking for and breeding the best 

 only. We view it as a virtual indorse- 

 ment of the position we have taken 

 on the cheap queen traffic, and the 

 response it meets from the great mass 

 of progressive bee-keepers is quite 

 encouraging. The article was en- 

 titled " Dollar Queens," and is as 

 follows : 



I have been much interested in the 

 discussions in the bee journals as to 

 the policy of rearing and selling "dol- 

 lar queens ; " and no less so in the 

 very candid article from my friend 

 W. Z. Hutchinson, which appeared in 

 a late Rural. Mr. H. need have no 

 fear of giving offense. His very evi- 

 dent candor, truthfulness and hon- 

 esty, must ever win admiration and 

 esteem, and would leave no shadow 

 of an excuse for any hard feeling on 

 the part of an opponent. It is not ar- 

 gument and candor that hurt, it is in- 

 vective and crimination. I am glad 

 to know that Mr. H. is a gentleman, 

 and so has no use for these latter 

 weapons. 



As to the effect of the " dollar 

 queen business," I think that Mr. H. 

 does not understand my position. I 

 believe he has only to understand me 

 to agree with me. I have no doubt, 

 nay, I am sure that he makes the bus- 

 iness pay. I am further certain that 

 he does just as he says he will do- 

 that he rears his dollar queens with 

 as much care as he does any, that he 



breeds, only from his best queens, and 

 that in all respects his dollar queens 

 are just as good as the tested ones, 

 bating their chance for impure 

 mating — which with the care given to 

 the matter by Mr. H. is slight. Nor 

 am I at all certain that his tested are 

 superior at all to the untested ones. 

 In fact, I think, if I understand Mr. 

 Hutchinson, I agree with him in 

 nearly every point he makes. Yet, I 

 believe that the " dollar queen traffic" 

 had done more than any one thing to 

 retard the progress of American api- 

 culture. I believe it stands directly 

 in the way of the best achievements, 

 and accordingly anything that tends 

 to throttle its existence is a blessing. 



The breeding of bees, like the rear- 

 ing of any other stock, is a matter 

 that must not be hurried if we would 

 secure the best results. Long watch- 

 ing, the most careful study, and the 

 most rigorous weeding out are just as 

 requisite here as in breeding the best 

 short-horns. Does Mr. H. think that 

 our short-horn cattle would possess 

 their present excellence, had there 

 been no greater inducement to hard 

 and persistent effort than that held 

 out to the bee breeder of to-day. It 

 seems to me very patent that the 

 •'dollar queen traffic" has so clieap- 

 ened queens that no person can pos- 

 sibly afford to take the pains that we 

 ouglit to have taken, unless, forsooth, 

 his bread-and-butter is secured by 

 some other means. I wish we had 

 breeders that could study their bees 

 as did Hammond his sheep, and as 

 hundreds of Hammonds are studying 

 their sheep, cattle and horses all over 

 tlie country to-day, and could select, 

 mate and breed, not with rings solely 

 in view, but with a far liigher ideal in 

 wliich mere coloration should form 

 but a slight clement; then we might 

 look for real progress. I cannot find 

 time witli my numerous duties, to do 

 this as I think that it ought to be 

 done. Neither Mr. H. nor any other 

 breeder can afford to do it. They 

 would starve, fdf short of success : as, 

 hovi'ever well they might do, they 

 could hope for no adequate remunera- 

 tion, so powerfully has the late queen 

 business tended to weaken the spirit 

 of improvement. Our present system 

 calls for economy of time, money and 

 thought. iJut the maximum, not the 

 minimum of care, is what will give us 

 superior bees. 



