Journal, 



DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE PRODUCERS OF HONEY. 



VOL. XX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY 30, 1884. 



No. 5. 



'^^-'^i^^^^Gitr^r^^ 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



EDITOR AND PROPRIKTOK, 



Nomenclature of Bee-Keeping. 



A correspondent propounds the fol- 

 lowing questions, based upon our late 

 article on the subject of " Calling 

 things b}- their right Xames." The 

 queries are as follows : 



1. John Phin says if bees feed on 

 meal, say meal. Why not call it artifl- 

 cial bee-bread ? 



2. Does not a swarm mean simply 

 the bees, while a colony means bees, 

 hives, combs, etc. ? 



3. Does a stock mean a colony, or a 

 whole apiary ? 



4. Are workers erroneously called 

 neuters ; if so, is there a gender other 

 than the two V • 



•5. Is the white stick candy we get 

 at the store, equally as good as that 

 we make of sugar to give to bees i* 



5. Sutton, X.H. F. M. Cheney. 



In replying, we wiU do so by num- 

 bers, in tlie order the questions are 

 propounded to us. 



1. The word ■' artificial " is defined 

 to mean something iojnatural, fraud- 

 ulent, or an imitation. We do decided- 

 ly object to the calling of meal artifi- 

 cial bee bread. There is nothing arti- 

 ficial about it. 



When " comb foundation " was first 

 made, some one called it '• artificial 

 comb," and that erroneous name 

 would, we verily believe, have been 

 what it would have been known by to- 

 day, but for the vigorous protest we 

 gave in the Bee Journal some 5 or 6 

 years ago. 



We have no use for the term artificial 

 in all the vocabulary of bee-keeping. 



2. No, sir ; a " swarm of bees " can 

 only be so called when in the act of 

 leaving the parent colony for the pur- 

 pose of increase. When organized and 

 devoted to their work, they form a 

 "colony." To call such bees a "swarm" 

 is, at best, a misnomer. 



3. A " colony " should never be 

 called a "stock"; that term should 

 only be used to designate the quantity 

 comprising one or more apiaries; or, 

 in a more general sense, the insects 

 tliemselves — sucli as " improving the 

 stock," meaning tlie roce. It has come 

 down to us, by a corruption of the 

 tierman word, "Bienenstocke," mean- 

 ing a straw bee hive in which bees 

 were formerly kept — almost univer- 

 sally, and even now, are quite gener- 

 ally so kept in Europe. 



4. " Worker bees " are undeveloped 

 females ; queens>ire females, but fully 

 developed ; drones are males. A 

 " neuter " would be neither the one 

 nor the other— neither mule nor fe- 

 male—and to use such a term to desig- 

 nate bees, would make a "gender 

 other than the two " necessary. So 

 when worker bees are called neuters, 

 it is highly improper. 



5. Having no experience in candy- 

 making, we cannot say whether it is 

 as good or not. Mr. Heddon replies 

 thus : "I once worked at candy- 

 making ; in those days all our sugars 

 were pure cane. If stick candy is used, 

 get that which is the softest and most 

 creamy. I think there has been amis- 

 take made, if you find it necessary 

 now to feed candy ; you should have 

 fed them a proper amount of pure 

 sugar syrup in the fall." 



1^ Mr. J. M. Hicks gives the fol- 

 lowing report of how the bees are 

 wintering, in the Orange Bulletin: 

 " Bees in this vicinity are wintering 

 well so far, and yet the thermometer 

 registered 26° below zero Jan. 4, here 

 at JJattle Ground, iHd., and at La- 

 fayette, seven miles distant, it was 

 30° below zero. 



1^ Mr. Henry Alley has sent to 

 our museum one of his Drone Exclu- 

 ders. It is a queen and drone trap, 

 combined, and was described on page 

 56 by Mr. A. It is nicely made, and 

 recommends itself as an article, the 

 need of which has long been felt by 

 every bee-keeper. 



Convention at Davenport, Iowa. 



The coming convention at Daven- 

 port, Iowa, on Thursday, Friday and 

 Saturday, Feb. 21, 22 and 2;!, promises 

 to be a very large gathering of the 

 bee-keepers of Eastern Iowa and 

 Western Illinois. The Davenport 

 Democrat of Jan. 22, contains the fol- 

 lowing editorial remarks on tl:e 

 " prospects :" 



The prospect is that the Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention which is to be held in 

 Davenport on the 2Ist, 22d and 23d 

 days of February next, will be the 

 largest gathering of persons interested 

 in the producing of honey ever held 

 in tlie State, if not in the West. Pres- 

 ident McCagg, of the Local Associa- 

 tion under whose auspices the con- 

 vention will be held, is in receipt of 

 letters from Independence, Fayette, 

 Iowa City, Des Moines, (Trinnell, 

 Muscatine, Ottumwa, Clinton, De 

 Witt, Monticello, Wilton, Marengo, 

 Dubuque, Marshalltown, Deltii and 

 Waterloo, stating that there will be 

 delegations present from Buchanan, 

 Fayette, Polk, Muscatine, Wapello. 

 Clinton, Iowa, Dubuque, Jones, Mar- 

 shall, Delaware, Blackhawk, Powe- 

 shiek, Benton and Linn counties, in 

 Iowa, while there will be good dele- 

 gations from Rock Island, AVhiteside, 

 Henry, Carroll, Stephenson and other 

 counties in Illinois. 



It is well known that the last year 

 was a disastrous one for bee-keepers, 

 as only about a third of a crop of 

 honey was produced in Iowa and 

 Northern Illinois, and -persons who 

 intend to continue in the business do 

 well to come together for consultation. 

 Among the prominent men who will 

 be present is Mr. Thos. G. Newman, 

 editor of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, of Chicago, who will spend two 

 days in the convention, will deliver 

 an address each day, and take part in 

 the proceedings and discussions with 

 the other members. The veteran 

 Langstroth has been invited, and 

 writes that he will be present if the 

 weather shall prove favorable enough 

 to allow a man of his age to travel. 



We expect to be present according 

 to the above notice, and hope to meet 

 a large number of the bee-keepers of 

 the surrounding country. 



®- We now club the Bntish Bee 

 Journal and our Weekly for $3.50. See 

 change in prices on first page. 



