172 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 14, 



Br 



PDBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. YORK & COMPANY, 

 G« Pirtli Avenue. - CHICAGO, IT.L. 



?1.00 a Year— Sample Copy Sent Free. 

 [Entered at the Post-Offlce at ChlcaKO as Second-Class Mail-Matter.] 



OEOK-OE3 -W. ■S"0K,K:, 



EDITOR. 



Assisted by the following Department Editors : 

 Dr. C. C. Milleu - - - "Questions and Answers." 

 Mrs. Jennie Atchley - - - "The Sunny Southland." 

 "Gleaner" . - . . "Among the Bee-Papers." 



"Bee-Master" " Canadian Beedom." 



Dr. F. L. Peiro " Doctor's Hints." 



Rev. Emerson T. Abbott - - "Notes and Comments." 



Vol. niV. CHICA&O, ILL,, MAR. 14, 1895, No, 11, 



Editorial Budget. 



Rev. E. X. Abbott has been lecturing on bees at the State 

 University, located at Columbia, Mo. He reports a grand good 

 time, and says he "never talked to a more attentive audience 

 than the one there, made up of students and professors." Mr. Ab- 

 bott "found them ready to do all they could to help out the indus- 

 try "of bee-keeping. Those Missouri people seem to be " all right.' ' 

 Glad of it. 



Mr. Cteo. I^'figliboiir, of the firm of Geo. Neighbour & 

 Sons, large bee-supply dealers of London, England, died week be- 

 fore last. Mr. Neighbour was one of the best known bee-men in 

 Great Britain. Messrs. Chas. Dadant & Son were just filling an 

 order for l.SOO pounds of comb foundation for this English firm, 

 when they received a cable message announcing the death of Mr. 

 Neighbour, and countermanding the order until further notice. No 

 doubt Mr. N.'s sons will continue the business. 



Hull. 4jieo. E. Hilton, of Fremont, Mich., delivered an 

 interesting address Feb. 33, to the bee-keepers of .Saginaw county, 

 Mich. About 2.5 bee-keepers were present, and a very pleasant 

 meeting is reported. Mr. F. E. Gibson, of Racy. Mich., wrote me 

 about the lecture, and said : " We hope to have it repeated soon." 

 Mr. Hilton sets a good example, which should be followed wherever 

 a local meeting can be gotten up. Nearly every county in the 

 country possesses one or more apiarists who can, and would, talk 

 entertainingly and profitably on the subject of bee-keeping. Why 

 not hold an evening meeting occasionally ? 



i"H'S«-' v.«*. Siiiiill Ilive.x has recently been much discussed 

 in Gleanings, and. in fact, in some of the other bee-papers, includ- 

 ing the Bee Journal. On page KK), Mr. Chas. Dadant, in his series 

 on " Extracted Honey," gives one of the best articles ever pub- 

 lished on this ([uestion of large vs. small hives. Read it carefully, 

 for Mr. Dadant is one of the strongest 'advocates of large hives. 

 and one of the most experienced. 



Mr. Ernest R. Root, in Gleanings for March I, gives the follow- 

 ing concise editorial recapitulation of " what has been learned 

 from the discussion of large vs. small hives:" 



Let us briefly recapitulate some things we have learned in the 

 hive discussion up to the present time: 



1. There are more bee-keepers using large brood-nests than we 

 were aware of. 



2. Many more favor 10-f rame hives in preference to the 8-frame 



than we supposed, although, if we could count the hands of th ose 

 using the 8-frame hives and those using the 10-frame hive, I think 

 we sliould probably find three of the former to one of the latter. 



3. It seems probable to me. at least, that some are using too 

 small brood-nests, say of 8-frame size, when they might possibly 

 get better results with 10 and 12 frame sizes. 



4. In colder climates, especially where there is one main 

 honey-flow in June and July, with very little fall-flow, the S-frame 

 size seems to be used most. In warmer localities, in many portions 

 in the South, in Cuba, where the seasons are prolonged, and where 

 there are months when the bees can gather honey, instead of 

 weeks, as it is with us up here in the North, a large brood-nest of 

 10, 12, and 16 frame capacity seems to have the preference. 



5. Instead of bee-keepers running from 10 down to 8, as form- 

 erly, the tendency now seems to be from the small size to the large. 



6. The double 8-frame hive of 16 frames is too large, since 13 

 frames seem to afford the maximum capacity for most localities. 



7. Supply-dealers (pity the poor fellows) will do a lot of growl- 

 ing, because it will be a nuisance to keep so many sises of hives in 

 stock (to say nothing of styles), each size necessitating special 

 covers, special supers, special bottom-bars, and special honey- 

 boards. How nice it would be. dear brother supply-dealers (let us 

 draw nigh and weep) if every bee-keeper could use one size of 

 hive, one k^nd of frame, one kind of every thing. But, no. There 

 are too many notions that are at variance — too many localities 

 with different resources ; too many things in general, to make us 

 all think and believe alike. 



Bassnood in liie Soiitli. — A number of questions have 

 been asked about basswood trees the past month or two, and one 

 about how far south they would grow. I have received several 

 replies, which probably may as well be condensed as follows: 



M. T. Fonts says ; "1 don't know how far South, but I know 

 it grows well in north Georgia, western North Carolina, and here 

 in East Tennessee. It blooms about June '25.' 



S. D. Mathews writes: " There is a large tree on the sidewalk 

 in this town (in North Carolina) , just in front of a hotel, and I 

 never have seen it fail to bloom. It is almost certain to attract 

 passersby with the hum of the honey-bee." 



Geo. McCullough sends this: "I was born in Chester county, 

 South Carolina, but was just a boy 4 years old when my father 

 and family moved from that State in 1S.30. I have heard them 

 speak of the basswood, and I think from its habits here (Iowa), 

 growing best near the little streams, that it would probably grow 

 in North Carolina, on the damp grounds along the little streams — 

 at least, it I were located there, I would try it in such grounds. I 

 see in my note book, ' Bees commenced work on June 20, 1894.' I 

 think it would bloom some two or three weeks earlier in the South." 



Those who wish to purchase basswood trees to plant, will find 

 them advertised in the Bee Journal. Being such an excellent tree 

 for honey as well as shade, it seems to me that by a little effort 

 bee-keepers everywhere could easily induce their neighbors also to 

 plant it. May be it would pay to buy the trees and set them out 

 for your neighbors, as your bees would work on the bloom later 

 on. Urge basswood in preference to other shade trees whenever 

 your town does any tree-planting. 



t-'-f 



Xlie Illinoiis State Fair Premium L.ist for bees and 

 honey, as adopted by the Illinois State Board of Agriculture, rec- 

 ommended by the committee of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, is on my desk. The judge, in this lot, is to be governed 

 by the code of rules adopted by the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association. (See page 80 of their Second Annual Report.) The 

 following is the premium list for the State Fair of 1895: 



1st. 3d. 



Largest and best display of comb honey -?30 $10 



Best case of white comb honey 12 tj 24 pounds 5 3 



Best case of comb honey from fall flowers. 13 to 34 pounds. . 5 3 



Largest and best display of extracted houey 30 10 



Best display of samples of extracted honey (named) 5 3 



Largest and best display of candied honey 15 10 



Best honey extracted on the grounds 10 5 



Largest and best display of beeswax 15 10 



Best one-frame nucleus in observatory hive, Italian bees 5 3 



Best one-frame nucleus in observatory hive, Carniolan bees 5 3 



Best display of queen-bees in cages 10 5 



Largest ami best display of comb foundation 10 5 



Largest and best display of honey-plants, pressed, mounted 



and labeled 10 5 



Best honey -vinegar — one quart or more 3 2 



Sweepstakes in honey 25 15 



Mr. Jas. A. Stone, of Bradfordton, 111., the Secretary of the 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association, kindly sent me the above. There 

 certainly are a number of good premiums for the bee-keepers of 

 Illinois to strive for. The apiarian department of the State Fair 

 ought to be a fine thing, with such inducements offered. 



