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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 4, 



O&ori^a \\\ Yorli, - - Editor, 



PUBLISBED WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. YORK & COMPANY, 

 S6 Fifth A\-fnue, . CII1CA.GO, ILL. 



SI. 00 a Year— Sample Copy Sent Free. 

 [Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago aa Second-Class Mail-Matter.] 



VoLXnV. CHICAGO, ILL, JULY 4, 1895. 1,2]. 



'TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT1 



Editorial Budgets 



A Union of Xw^o Orgfanizations— the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Association and the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union— is suggested by Mr. Hutchinson in the June 

 Review. Next week I hope to find room in these columns for 

 Mr. H.'s editorial, and some pertinent comments thereon. The 

 July Review will be specially devoted to a discussion of the 



subject. 



*—-*' 



Honey for Inflamed Eyes or Eyelids.— Dr. 



R. H. Bartlett, of this city, called on me last week, and in 

 speaking of the many medicinal uses of honey, mentioned this 

 one which he had used on his own eyes with satisfactory re- 

 sults : Grated carrot mixed with sufficient honey to form a 

 paste. Apply as a poultice on the eyelids at night. Two or 

 three applications usually suffice to effect a cure, though in 

 chronic cases a longer treatment is necessary. 



Honey-Vinegar— A Sour Item.— Hon. Eugene 

 Secor, of Forest City, Iowa, has kindly sent in the following 

 on making fine honey-vinegar : 



We are now using in our family the finest vinegar we ever 

 had. We have nearly a barrel of it. It was made from honey, 

 but I am sorry I cannot give proportions. We have used 

 scarcely any vinegar in the last ten years that was not made 

 from honey. A vinegar-barrel is kept in the cellar, and when 

 any honey-cans are washed the rinsings are put into the bar- 

 rel. Occasionally a little inferior honey is used for that pur- 

 pose, but we have never gone by any rule making or adding 

 to the stock. We keep using out of the same barrel the year 

 around, and, like the widow's cruse of oil, it has not failed. 

 A little sweetened water goes in at the bung-hole, though, to 

 replenish that drawn off at the spigot. I don't want any tjet- 

 ter vinegar than can thus be made from an otherwise waste 

 product. Eugene Secob. 



The California Honey Crop for 1895.— The 

 following letter I received from Mr. Geo. W. Brodbeck, one of 

 the best informed bee-keepers on the Pacific Coast, and who 

 knows the true condition of things there. From it there will 

 be seen to be no fear of a remarkably large crop of honey in 

 California this year. It reads thus : 



Dear Editor : — At intervals I sec notices in the various 

 bee-papers, of the great and flowing streams of honey that 

 California bee-keepers are being blessed with, and no doubt 

 our Eastern brethren, as a result, are bracing themselves in 

 anticipation of the time when this tidal wave of honey shall 

 reach the Eastern market. 



I, at this time, have reports from various sections of the 

 principal honey-producing counties here, and the summing up 



is, that the honey crop of these counties will be less than one- 

 fourth of the amount produced in 189B. 



The first of the season was cool and foggy, and as a result 

 half of the season passed by without any returns, and this, 

 coupled with the previous winter's loss of fully one-half of the 

 bees in this southern section, materially reduced the possibili- 

 ties of securing a large crop. 



We regret very much that some of our California bee- 

 keepers permit their enthusiasm to control their better judg- 

 ment, for, as in this instance, it rebounds to their own injury, 

 and as a result the commission men are making use of these 

 reports to contradict the actual state of the case, and thus 

 take advantage of those forced to sell. 



Los Angeles, Calif., June 18. Geo. W. Brodbeck. 



Xtaose " Cosmopolitan " Articles on bee- 

 keeping, by Editor Hutchinson, have elicited considerable 

 praise, and deservedly, too. Editor Root says this of them in 

 Gleanings for June 15 : 



Bro. Hutchinson has reason to be proud of the two articles 

 in the Cosmopolitan, especially over the very fine photos from 

 which the engravings were made. The two articles are writ- 

 ten for the general public, and I hope that some time they 

 may be incorporated in book form for general distribution. 

 One very pleasant thing about it is, that the treatment of the 

 subject is fair and impartial. It does not boom any particular 

 hive, but simply talks standard fixtures and accepted opinions, 

 leaving all the latest ideas and theories out. Mr. Hutchinson 

 deserves a vote of thanks from the bee-keeping world for the 

 masterly way he has given the general public correct informa- 

 tion. I think there will be less talk about manufactured 

 honey because it has been shown that hundreds of tons of 

 pure honey can be produced right from the hive — all of it 

 gathered by the bee. 



To all of which, everybody who has read the articles in 

 the May and June Cosmopolitan, will heartily say, " Amen !" 



Sivarmed Upon the Organ. — An exchange says 



that a swarm of bees alighted upon a hand-organ from which 



an Italian was extracting alleged music near Huntington, Pa. 



The bees remained there until the bee-keeper came and put 



them back into a hive. No one was stung, and the organist 



declared that his music had charmed the bees, and made them 



harmless. 



•-.-> 



Illinois State Apiarian Experiments.— Mr. 



James A. Stone, Secretary of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, sent me the following letter, dated June 24 : 



Dear Bro. York : — I inclose a letter from the Board of 

 Directors of the Experimental Station at the University of 

 Illinois, in answer to a memorial sent them, asking represen- 

 tation for bee-keepers in the same. If you will publish the 

 letter, the bee-keepers of the State will know just how we 

 stand. Jas. A. Stone, Cliftirman Committee. 



Bradfordton, 111. 



The communication referred to in the above, reads thus: 



Urbana, hi., June 18, 1895. 

 Jas. A. Stone, Geo. F. Robbins, J. W. Finch, Jr., 



Coinmittce of Illinois State Ute- Keepers^ AfsoclatUmy 



Bradfordton, III. 



Gentlemen: — Your communication of March 13, 1895, 

 on the part of the Association, was duly considered at the re- 

 cent meeting of the Board of Direction of the Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station here. It was, however, decided that it was 

 not feasible at the present time to take up the matters re- 

 ferred to in your communication for investigation or experi- 

 ment. This does by no means indicate any want of apprecia- 

 tion of the importance of such work, but it is absolutely im- 

 possible for the Station to do all that would be desirable to 

 have done, or to fill at the same time all the requirements of 

 practical matters in the various lines of affairs coming under 

 the general title of Agriculture. One factor in the decision is 

 that the locality here is deemed a poor one for this work ; 

 while under present circumstances it is not deemed feasible 

 to establish such experiments elsewhere. 



The adverse decision concerning taking up in a prominent 

 way special questions in apiculture does not include giving 

 such attention to the matter as will be possible in connection 



