1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



has since that time been the business manager of the firm. He 

 was married in 1875, and now has a family of six children— three 

 boys and three girls— the oldest of which is 18 years of age, and 

 the youngest four. 



He took an active part in the revision of the book of Laug- 

 stroth, which occupied his father's time for three consecutive win- 

 ters. In addition to the management of their foundation factory 

 and supply business, he overlooks the care of five apiaries, and 

 superintends a large vineyard and a wine-cellar, making the wine 

 after the manner of their old home in France, which was situated 

 on the confines of Champagne and Burgundy. 



Mr. Dadant, junior, is intimately connected with the growth 

 and prosperity of the little town of Hamilton, near the outskirts of 

 which they live. He is one of the founders of their Loan and 

 Building Association, and has been one of the Directors of that 

 Association since its beginning. He is also Vice-President of the 

 State Bank, in the same town. The town has a bright outlook for 

 the future, being situated on the DesMoines rapids of the Mississ- 

 ippi river, which are shortly expected to be used as a water-power 

 of colossal dimensions. 



I gave an old picture and short biographical sketch of C. P.'s 

 father — Mr. Chas. Dadant — in these columns in 1S93. The two en- 

 gravings shown on the first page, were made from photographs 

 taken last month, and especially for use in this number, at my 

 request. 



.*-'-*■ 



Kev. E. T. Abbott, ex-President of the North American, 

 is in great demand now-a-days in his own beloved Missouri. After 

 having lectured at farmers' institutes for several weeks the past 

 fall. Secretary Rippey, of the State Board of Agriculture, has in- 

 vited Mr. Abbott to also deliver a series of lectures soon on Apicul- 

 ture, before the class in Agriculture in the State University at 

 Columbia. This will be a good thing for bee-keeping in Missouri, 

 and all over the country, as well, as it will no doubt attract the 

 attention of the boards of agriculture in neighboring States, and 

 lead them to do the same thing. _in J ~i 



Missouri bee-keepers are fortunate in having so good a friend 

 on their State Board as Mr. Rippey. He has also asked Mr. Abbott 

 to prepare a condensed report of the North American convention 

 held at St. Joseph, to be used in the next Report issued by the 

 State Board of Agriculture. Some of the essays read at the con- 

 vention will appear in full. In fact, Mr. Rippey has left it to Mr. 

 Abbott to say what is best to be included, and that means that a 

 good report of the North American will be furnished him. It will 

 help the bee-keepers of Missouri to have it published in connection 

 with the Board of Agriculture Report. 



Two topics oftliis Niiinberof the American Bee Jour- 

 nal may be received by a very few of its regular subscribers. If 

 so, it is a mistake, and I trust that should any one receive two 

 copies, he or she will be kind enough to band the extra copy to 

 some bee-keeping friend. Possibly in many eases a new subscriber 

 may thus be secured. An edition of 10,000 copies of this number is 

 printed, in order to have some extra copies for use as samples. 

 Any desiring such for use in trying to get new subscribers, will 

 be gladly supplied if they will simply send in their requests. All 

 subscriptions for some time will begin with this number, so that 

 each subscriber will have a complete volume from Jan. 1, 1895 to 

 Jan. 1, 1896. The index will be printed in the last, or 52nd, num- 

 ber of the year. 



^n)or)(^ \\)c Bee-Papers 



Conducted hy " GLEA.KER." 



FEEDING IN SPKING. 



Wm. McEvoy, in the Canadian Bee Journal, advises 

 against early spring feeding, while strongly favoriug later 

 feeding under certain conditions. He says : 



"The stimulating of my colonies by feeding them in early 

 spring broke the cluster, excited the bees and caused them to 

 fly too much in unsuitable weather when there was nothing 

 for them to gather. By that sort of work I weakened many a 

 good colony and then learned by experience to let all colonies 

 carefully alone in spring until the bees began gathering honey 

 from the willows, wild plum and other early honey-producing 

 trees." 



After that time he favors uncapping the sealed honey, es- 

 pecially when a time comes that on account of bad weather or 

 lack of forage the bees are bringing nothing in. At such 

 times, with plenty of sealed stores in the hive, the larvte will 

 be partially starved if no unsealed stores are present, and the 



hatching bees will wander over the combs not finding enough 

 to eat. 



THAT NORTH A5IERICAN REPORT. 



The long-drawn-out report of the St. Joseph convention 

 begins to have holes in it as if some parts had dropped out. 

 For example, Dr. Peiro says, "Mr. Richardson tells me some- 

 thing that is entirely new to me:" but on looking back, one 

 cannot find what was said. Mr. Holterman says, " What I 

 said, I said in a sort of joking way ;" but you can't turn back 

 and find the joke. Has that report gone through so many 

 hands that some pieces have been lost, or has it hung fire so 

 long that some of the writing has faded out? Possibly it 

 might be a good plan for the "Old Reliable" to return to its 

 usual way and publish its own report. 



CONTROVEKSy ON FIVE-BANDED BEES. 



A lively skirmish is taking place in the Progressive Bee- 

 Keeper over these undoubtedly beautiful insects. Chief dis- 

 putants, Jennie Atchley and Editor Quigley. The latter 

 backed by S. E. Miller, who says: "For the last three or 

 four years, the glory of the golden five-banded Italian bees has 

 been rising up the eastern horizon. It has now passed its 

 zenith, and is fast sinking low in the west." 



Bro. Quigley says yellow queens and bees can't be pro- 

 duced from imported stock. Mrs. A. doesn't agree. She says, 

 "I have reports on the five-banded bees this year that would 

 knock out all other bees." He says, " These testimonials are 

 given in a short time after the queens are received, and not 

 one in 20 has any bearing on honey-gathering qualities of the 

 bees." Mrs. A. says the five-banded, like other bees, have 

 their faults, but asks that Satan be given his dues. To this 

 Bro. Q. replies, "The devil seems to be O. K."— an endorse- 

 ment the latter gentleman doesn't always get. Wonder if 

 they are talking about the same thing, after all. Because a 

 man with yellow hair stole a horse, it doesn't follow that all 

 golden-haired men are horse-thieves. 



ESSATS AT BEE-CONVENTIONS. 



There seems to be quite a little stir lately about the mat- 

 ter. Several have objected particularly to long essays, the 

 ground being taken that essays should only be used to intro- 

 duce discussions. But no less a person than President Abbott 

 has come to the rescue, and in Gleanings he defends the essays 

 on the ground that they serve as an advertisement, for the 

 daily papers will print them and will not print the discussions. 

 And now I suppose some of those objectors will be just un- 

 reasonable enough to arise and ask how much more honey was 

 sold in St. Joseph because of the publication of an essay on 

 bee-keeping in France, in the papers of that pleasant city. 



PHILOSOPHr OF PERCOLATING FEEDERS. 



Dr. Miller, in Gleanings, philosophizes upon some experi- 

 ments he has been making, and seems rather to come to the 

 conclusion that after all percolating is not the essential part 

 of the percolators. According to his reasoning, anything will 

 answer that will hold the water long enough to dissolve the 

 sugar, and at the same time will allow the syrup to escape 

 only at the bottom. In that way the heaviest part of the 

 syrup will always be going to the bottom, while the thinner 

 and lighter portion remains at the top, dissolving its share of 

 the sugar as it slowly sinks to the bottom. 



IMPROVEMENT IN HIVE-COVERS. 



Of late, flat covers have been quite popular with a good 

 many bee-keepers. They are lighter and cheaper than others, 

 but have the bad habit of warping and twisting, no matter 

 how tightly clamped at the ends. The " Higginsville cover," 

 gotten up by the Leahy Manufacturing Co., is quite an im- 

 provement. Being made of two pieces with a ridge board 

 they are comparatively free from twist, and being thinned 

 down at the edges they are more easily held from curling up. 



