10 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



January 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT 



First Nat'l Bank Bldg., Hamilton, 111. 



Entered as second-class matter at the 

 Hamilton, Illinois, Postoffice. 



C. P. Dadant, Editor. 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Associate Editor. 



Frank C. Pellett, Staff Correspondent. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE 



THE SUBSCRIPTION PRICE of this Jour- 

 nal is $1.00 per year in the United States of 

 America and Mexico; 3 years, $2.50; 5 years, 

 $4.00; in Canada, 15c extra, and in all 

 other countries in the Postal Union, 25 cents 

 a year extra for postage. Sample co y free. 



THE WRAPPER LABEL DATE indicates 

 the end of the month to which subscription is 

 paid. For instance, "decl7" on your label 

 shows that it is paid to the end of December, 

 1917. 



SUBSCRIPTION RECEIPTS.— We do not 

 send a receipt for money sent us to pay sub- 

 scription, but change the date on your ad- 

 dress, which show that the money has been 

 received and credited. In case of errors, 

 please write us. 



(Copyright: 1917, by C. P. Dadant.) 



THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



We are just now making plans for 

 an extended trip through Texas by 

 our staff correspondent, Mr. Frank 

 C. Pellett. He expects to start in the 

 latter part of February and be gone 

 six or eight weeks. We are anxious 

 to have him visit as many beekeepers 

 as possible and see every important 

 honey-producing region of our larg- 

 est State. His journey will be en- 

 tirely planned by the Extension De- 

 partment of the Texas Agricultural 

 College, under direction of Prof. F. B. 

 Paddock, the State Entomologist at 

 College Station. 



Sugar for Feeding Bees 



A few days ago Mr. E. R. Root, 

 editor of Gleanings, wrote Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips, Apiarist in charge at the 

 Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington, mentioning the inability of 

 beekeepers to secure sugar for feed- 

 ing bees where there was a shortage 

 of honey and suggesting possible re- 

 lief by interviewing the Food Admin- 

 istrators. Dr. Phillips immediately 

 replied with the following telegram, 

 both to Mr. Root and our editor; 



"Food administration, realizing im- 

 portance of saving bees, has willingly 

 endeavored to help beekeepers se- 

 cure sugar in urgent cases reported, 

 but no announcement of this made, 

 as shortly after January 1 sugar 

 should be generally available. Bee- 

 keepers can save colonies by using 

 hard candy or syrup on warm days. 

 "E. F. PHILLIPS." 



This is satisfactory information 

 for the beekeepers who may need to 

 buy sugar for spring feeding. The 

 colonies that were not fed in fall, if 

 short, would be in poor shape to take 

 Food by this time. 



The United States cannot afford to 

 do less for the beekeepers than the 

 uients of Europe. We see by 

 the European magazines that France 

 allows 3 kilograms per colony (6.6 

 pounds) and Switzerland 8 kilograms 



(17.6 pounds.) The French were pay- 

 ing 1.50 francs (30 cents) per kilo 

 and the Swiss 2.50. We are much 

 better off and the shortage is more 

 imaginary than real. 



Carniolan and Banat Bees 



We have a request from an experi- 

 mental station for the addresses of 

 parties in the South having pure Ba- 

 nat bees, also for Carniolans and 

 Caucasians. 



It is the intention of the experi- 

 menters to test ten or a dozen colo- 

 nies of each kind of bees side by side 

 for honey gathering, swarming, win- 

 tering, etc. 



We would be glad to have subscrib- 

 ers who are able to furnish pure 

 bred queens of these races earl) 

 write us so that we may give their 

 addresses to the parties in question. 



Russian Beekeeping 



The high value of the gray Cau- 

 casian bee as a producer of honey is 

 quite readily shown by the large 

 number of bees kept in the several 

 States of Southern Russia. The cuts 

 which we are reproducing from time 

 to time from this region show that 

 the honeybee has been, from time im- 

 memorial, one of the resources of 

 that country. 



We have been in correspondence 

 with Professor Gorbatcheff, manager 

 of the experimenting apiary of the 

 "Station Sericicole" (silk culture 

 station) of Tiflis. But at this time, 

 while the world is aflame, postal in- 

 tercourse between America and Rus- 

 sia is rather slow. A letter addressed 

 to this scientist, from here, April 18, 

 was 104 days on the way. His reply 

 took 86 days to reach us. At this 

 rate only about two letters a year 

 could be sent and the reply received. 

 But ought we not to consider our- 



selves lucky that the letters did ar- 

 rive at all? However, it is noticeable 

 that very few letters get lost, in spite 

 of the Kaiser's piratical undersea 

 war. 



Professor Gorbatcheff sends us his 

 explanations in the French language 

 and we translate them for our read- 

 ers. He remarks that "in Tiflis the 

 people well acquainted with the Eng- 

 lish language are about as rare as 

 Russian scholars in the United 

 States." French, for them as well as 

 for many other nations, is the inter- 

 national tongue. 



We are glad that our Tiflis cor- 

 respondent seems quite optimistic re- 

 garding the Russian position. He 

 says: "We thank you for the com- 

 pliments you pay us concerning our 

 revolution. We are proud of having 

 shaken off the autocratic yoke and to 

 have stepped up to the ranks of free 

 people. We are delighted with the 

 position of America in this terrible 

 conflict. Your wonderful country is 

 showing the force of its elan and the 

 greatness of its soul, well-known 

 qualities of the American nation. We 

 are not the enemies of democratic 

 Germany, but we despise and hate 

 the sanguinary despot and his mili- 

 tarism which is trying to oppress the 

 world." 



Let us hope that the time is not 

 distant when we may have peace and 

 commercial intercourse with the 

 breeders of the Caucasian bees. The 

 contribution of Professor Gorbatcheff 

 will be found in another column. 



The Chicago Northwestern Meeting 



The editor and his wife left home 

 on November 28, with two purposes 

 in view. They wanted to spend 

 Thanksgiving with their youngest 

 daughter, Harriette, who is now Mrs. 

 F. A. Bush, wife of a lieutenant in 

 Uncle Sam's army, stationed at Camp 

 Grant, near Rockford. Thence the 

 editor went to the Chicago meeting, 

 to return again to Rockford and from 

 there reach the Des Moines Conven- 

 tion. It had also been his intention 

 to get to Michigan, at Saginaw, and 

 to Wisconsin, at Madison. But his 

 endurance in travel was not equal to 

 the task and numerous occupations 

 at home also compelled him to 

 shorten the trip. 



The Chicago Northwestern meeting 

 was only fairly attended, some 35 

 beekeepers being present. But they 

 were all in great earnest. A very 

 interesting talk on honey sales was 

 given by our old friend and honey 



