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DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE PRODUCERS OF HONEY. 



VOL. XX. 



CHICAGO, ILL., MAY 28, 1884. 



No. 22. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor. 



Seasonable Hints. 



The busy season in the apiary has 

 now arrived, and we hope all are pre- 

 pared for it. Very frequently the delay 

 of a few days in getting hives, sec- 

 tions, comb foundation, etc., results 

 in a partial failure of the honey har- 

 vest, or the loss of many swarms of 

 bees. Therefore every one should en- 

 deavor to get such supplies before 

 they are needed, and thus save annoy- 

 ance and loss. We hope all our read- 

 ers now have such things on hand. If 

 not, no time should be lost in getting 

 them. To buy the lower-priced arti- 

 cles simply because tliey are cheap, 

 frequently is extravagant economy. 

 Those that are sold for the lowest 

 price, are often the most expensive 

 when put to the test. 



Another point is to provide pastur- 

 age for tlie bees, so that when the 

 usual honey dearth conies, the bees 

 may revel in nectar provided by the 

 timely planting of good honey-produc- 

 ing plants. 



Judicious forethought, displayed by 

 liberally scattering good seed for 

 honey plants, will be supplemented by 

 Nature in the future, by extending 

 that pasturage when most needed by 

 the bees, and will also furnish the seed 

 free of cliarge for doing so. 



To those who expect to solicit pub- 

 lic patronage of any kind, there is no 

 economy in practicing a •' masterly 

 inactivity " by waiting for tlie public 

 to discover unadvertised merits. If 

 they have more bees than they wish 

 to Ijeep — or any meritorious supplies to 

 sell to bee-keepers, let tliose papers 

 that are devoted to that specialty an- 

 nounce it. All such sliould provide 

 themselves with good stock or articles 



to sell, and then place themselves 

 prominently before the bee-keeping 

 public as ready to receive its favors, 

 and return an honest equivalent for or- 

 ders lodged with them. 



A word of caution is necessary here. 

 We have received complaints of some 

 who sent orders last year to supply 

 dealers that have not yet been filled. 

 Purchasers should be cautious about 

 sending money to those who have not 

 established a reputation, or can point 

 to a good record. 



Spurious California Honey. 



The course of adulteration has made 

 itself known in California, and in the 

 following letter, Messrs. Stearns & 

 Smith, honey dealers in San Francisco, 

 propose the following remedy: 



" Through the widely circulated 

 American Bee Journal, we desire 

 to call the attention of our Pacific 

 Coast honey producers, and especially 

 those of California, to the urgent and 

 immediate necessity of a law or laws 

 against itie adulteration of honey, and 

 the sale of the same. Our dairymen 

 have met and discussed tlie matter of 

 adulteration, and our State Legisla- 

 ture has enacted a law protecting them 

 against the sale of "bull butter," or 

 oreoiiiargariMe, and we hope our differ- 

 ent Bee-Associations will take this 

 matter up. California honey has a 

 world-wiile reputation for purity and 

 excellence. There is for sale on the 

 market a vile compound, under fancy 

 laiiels named " honey," composed of 

 about 40 per cent, of honey, 50 per 

 cent, of glucose and 10 of water; it is a 

 libel on our industrious bees; it works 

 a great hardship to their owners; and, 

 where it is shipped to other places, it 

 gives our fine honey a bad name, and 

 there lies the great damage to our 

 honey producers. We hope they will 

 talk this matter up and send men to 

 the next Slate Legislature that will 

 look to their interest and protect by 

 law this great industry of California. 



®" ilr. Orange Judd, who has for 

 nearly a quarter of a Century edited 

 the American Agriculturist in New 

 York, has now moved to Chicago and 

 become editor of the Prairie Farmer, 

 and we hope he will make it a success. 

 AVe welcome him to the West. 



i®" Some of the results of careless- 

 ness may be seen from the following, 

 which occurred this week. We had a 

 letter from a subscriber who com- 

 plained of not getting any of his Bee 

 .Journals for over a month; and then 



adds, send my paper to post office. 



After spending much time to look the 

 matter up, we found that he had 

 moved from the former address, but 

 did not notify us, expecting perhaps, 

 that we "knew all about it," and 

 would change the address. After 

 several weeks the P. M. notified us to 

 stop sending the Bee Journal ; that 

 the person addressed had moved away. 

 Then the name was taken from the 

 "type-raail-list." Now we have to 

 get it " set up " again, and inserted, 

 send the numbers over again, and all 

 the trouble and annoyance, on account 

 of pure carelessness. This is only one 

 of the many results of such heedless- 

 ness occurring all the while. We do 

 wish all would do business in a com- 

 mon-sense way. 



l^" The Indiana Farmer has this 

 to say about the use of bee-veils: 

 " Many decry the use of veils in the 

 bee-yard, but we believe that all be- 

 ginners should use them until they 

 acquire confidence in themselves. Af- 

 ter one becomes conceited enough to 

 think bees will never sting him, then 

 let him throw aside the veils— at least 

 for a time." Tliere are times, during 

 a good honey flow, that any one may 

 do without any protection, but it is 

 always best to have a smoker near by, 

 ready for use ; for when needed at all, 

 it is very necessary. 



1^ We have received Prof. John 

 Phin's book, entitled "A Dictionary 

 of Practical Apiculture." It contains 

 80 illustrated pages, and is bound in 

 cloth. Price 50 cents. This has long 

 been a necessity, and will be found to 

 be a very valuable assistant to writers 

 on apiculture. We hope it will lead to 

 the more correct use of apicultural 

 words. For sale at this office. 



