1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



17 



they ought not to come out, why, they should 

 do more good than harm. We are trying 

 them, however, on some of our hives, and 

 will be able to know more about them next 

 spring. — Ed.] 



I LEARNED at the Chicago convention that 

 the crop of one of the Chicago bee-keepers 

 (extracted) was sold at 50 cents a pound. 

 It was not a large crop, and I suppose it was 

 sold to neighbors who were willing to pay 

 big so as to be sure of a pure article. There 

 are not a few who will pay a fancy price for 

 a fancy article guaranteed pure; and when 

 the pure-food laws make it sure that what is 

 sold for honey is honey, a lot more of the 

 middle classes will be willing to pvirchase at 

 a fair advance. [Every now and then we 

 run across cases where the current belief in 

 so-called manufactured comb honey has help- 

 ed to boom prices on honey produced locally. 

 In some cases bee-keepers have seemed to feel 

 that it was to their advantage neither to con- 

 firm nor deny the canard, on the pi'inciple 

 that it would be folly to make their custom- 

 ers wise when the willful ignorance that is 

 bliss boosts the prices of their own home pro- 

 duction. I question whether the policy is a 

 wise one in tne long run, but I suppose it is 

 something as Prof. Cook said of one of his 

 neighbors in Michigan. This man, probably 

 the greatest raiser of plums in that State, 

 said he was thankful for the curculio that 

 killed all his neighbors' plums, but did not 

 bother his fruit, as he knew how to destroy 

 them before they did any harm. In the 

 same way our deadly enemy, foul brood, 

 sometimes freezes out the unskillful in a lo- 

 cality, leaving the man who knows how to 

 handle the disease in undisturbed possession 

 of the locality and the markets. There is no 

 great loss without some small gain some- 

 where.— Ed.] 



The following telegram on the way back 

 to Washington explains: 



Fort Wayne, Ind., Dec. 31, 1906. 

 Ernest R. Root:— "This is my own, my native 

 land." Happy new year. Frank Benton. 



The opponents and advocates of the divis- 

 ible-brood-chamber hive will be glad to read 

 the article by J. A. Green on the subject in 

 his department in this issue. 



THE RURAL BEE-KEEPER; BEE JOURNALISM 

 AS A PROFESSION. 



The Rural Bee-keejjer, an excellent pub- 

 lication, has sold out to the American Bee- 

 keeper, which will take care of its unexpired 

 subscriptions. As Mr. Hutchinson says in 

 the Beview, the Rural was one of the best of 

 the lately started journals. In commenting 

 on the demise of this journal Mr. Hutchin- 

 son says: 



The plain fact i.s. the field of apicultural journalism 

 is now pretty well covered; and a new journal, to suc- 

 ceed, will need to be different from the others, have an 

 editor of most decided ability, and barrels of money. 

 . . If I should sell the Rerieic now for $.5000, I would 

 not, with that amount of capital and my twenty years 

 of experience, think of such a thing as starting- anoth- 

 er journal. Dn not think that I am not making money 

 in publishinti' the Re view. I am; but the same amount 

 of money, time, and energy, put into straight honey- 

 production, would bring me a much larger profit. 



In th« front cover design for this issue the 

 reader may fail to note that the bells that are 

 dropping out wreaths of live bees are also 

 pealing forth the happy New Year (1907) to 

 you all. Look again if you didn't see it. 



A SWARM IN DECEMBER AT THE HOME OF 

 THE HONEY-BEES. 



It was a late swarm that issued from the 

 parent hive on December 26. It took a long 

 flight to New York city, where, according to 

 last accounts, it had been successfully hived. 

 Laying aside the figure, the contracting par- 

 ties to the wedding were Miss Carrie Belle 

 Root ( the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 

 A. I. Root) and Mr. L. W. Boyden, who for 

 several years has been manager of The A. I. 

 Root Co.'s office in New York. The groom 

 is a brother of A. L. Boyden, the Secretary 

 of the company, and who married Con- 

 stance, the second daughter of A. I. Root. 



The young couple will be at home after 

 Feb. 1 at 1384 Bristow St., New York city, 

 where they will be glad to see their friends, 

 as well as those of The A. I. Root Co. Ow- 

 ing to ill health A. I. R. was obliged to leave 

 for Florida earlier, and was therefore una- 

 ble to be present. 



THE NATIONAL-CONVENTION PICTURE. 



On the last day of the convention of the 

 National Bee-keepers' Association at San 

 Antonio, General Manager France called us 

 all over to the steps of the city hall to have 

 ovir pictures taken. An engraving of this 

 picture is shown on pages 34 and 85. When 

 we from the North left Chicago we wore our 

 overcoats and had no trouble in keeping 

 cool. But down in San Antonio our over- 

 coats and even vests were laid aside, and 

 then we suffei'ed from the heat. It was like 

 wearing winter clothes in August. So on the 

 day that the picture was taken the sun was 

 shining brightly (entirely too brightly for 

 comfort), and the air was as warm as it oft- 

 en is in summer here in the North. 



In a way this is a remarkable picture, for 

 it represents a large nitmber of bee-keepers, 

 almost half of whom came from out of the 

 State. While the attendance was not so 

 large as at Chicago the year before, yet, in 

 the full sense of the word, the convention 

 was national in its character. Local meet- 

 ings are valuable, but in some ways a nation- 

 al meeting is more so, for it is to the advan- 

 tage of every bee-keeper to know how the 

 work is done in other parts of the country 



