THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



280 



(not the consumer) no net weight 

 label will be required, but in turn 

 the bottler who puts the honey up 

 for the retail trade will be the one 

 who must place the net weight la- 

 bel on each package. As the net 

 weight law does not take effect 

 until September 3rd, 1914 all honey 

 of this year's production put up for 

 market before that date will not 

 have to have the net weight mark, 

 EVEN THOUGH IT BE NOT SOLD 

 UNTIL A LATER DATE. 



Another member writes and 

 asks if he can write the net weiglit 

 on his labels by hand, (Presumably 

 with ink) would say that we find 

 no ruling along this line, so we in- 

 fer that the hand writing if leg- 

 ible would be sufficient. 



All bee-men are familiar with the 

 tone assumed by the average com- 

 mercial newspaper (be it daily or 

 weekly) in writing up anything per- 

 taining to Bees. Apiculture to the 

 uninitiated appears but an opportun- 

 ity for display of wit (?) and the 

 only way an average reporter can 

 treat any bee incident is by at- 

 tempting to be facetious. The reas- 

 ons for the fact mentioned are 

 probably two in number, — first, the 

 average newspaper man knows as 

 much about the size and appear- 

 ance of the men on Mars, as he does 

 about MODERN Bee-keeping. Con- 

 sequently if he writes at all of 

 bees, he is in the position of the 

 late Mark Twain, who said he 

 "liked to talk on a subject he 

 knew nothing about, because he 

 was not HAMPERED by PACTS." 

 Secondly, the average man comes 

 into contact with that wonderful in- 

 sect, Apis Mellifica, the Honey Bee, 

 only through the POINTED end; 

 and as a sort of revenge, he seeks 

 to get even, as it were, by dip- 

 ping his fluent pen in the venom of 

 his spleen, and fabricates a Canard 

 full of caustic wit, at the expense 

 of fact, with great demands made 

 on the imagination. Such an arti- 

 cle the usual Daily treats as it 

 would a bit of "write-up" on "The 

 Great Sea Serpent," or "The Buried 

 City of Atlantis, Discovered," or 

 such reportorial junk; it is used 

 merely to "fill up" space, when 

 news is scarce. 



In delightful and refreshing con- 

 trast to the above mentioned trend 

 the majority of periodicals is an 



article that we read recently. It ap- 

 peared in one of the largest dailies; 

 the Phila. "Evening Bulletin," for 

 June 16th, 1914. Ihe heading ran 

 thus: "When hunting bees, go with 

 an expert," with the sub-head "An 

 Art at its best." Out of curiosity I 

 began reading, my curiosity turned 

 to surprise, and the further I read; 

 the more my wonder grew. The 

 suDject was bee-tree hunting — 

 Here is what I read: 



"Most people are familiar, theoreti- 

 cally at least, Avith the manner in 

 which wild bees are hunted and their 

 treasures located, though the men who 

 engage in that sport or business, 

 whicnever it may be called, are com- 

 paratively few, owing to the hardships 

 involved and the peculiar skill reqrdrod. 



The man who hunts bees cannot 

 choose his route or set a limit to his 

 travels in the wilds if he is to succeed. 

 He must go where the insects lead and 

 as tar as the necessities demand. He 

 mast have an eye as sharp as that of' 

 the eagle." 



Could anything be more safe, 

 and sane and sensible, than the 

 tone of this? It is fit for the 

 pages of any bee journal or work 

 on apiculture. 



Again I read further on: 



"The harvesting of the honey is call- 

 ed 'taking up' the tree. But the tree 

 is not taken up. It is cut down, the 

 wood is chopped away from the cavity 

 m which the bees have lived and i^laced 

 their -o-inter stores, and the honey is 

 taken out and placed on pails and lug- 

 ged away, leaving the swarm to gather 

 another crop or starve to death, which 

 in most cases they undoubtedly do, as 

 the hunters rob them so late in the 

 season that there is not time for the 

 industrious insects to retrieve their loss 

 before the coming of cold weather." 



One paragraph particularly at- 

 tracted my attention. It was a re- 

 mark that denoted unusual acumen 

 on the part of the observer. Speak- 

 ing of the well known peculiarity 

 in the conduct of bees under dis- 

 turbed conditions, — the writer re- 

 marked 



"They will attack some men who are 

 not molesting them at all while ignor- 

 ing the man who is laying wast^ their 

 home and preparing to walk off with 

 food supplies." 



Most beemen are aware that the 

 operator over a hive will often 

 escape molestation, while an ob- 

 server near by is usually the 

 first to be assailed. 



Altogether the article, appearing 

 as it did, in one of the largest 

 Dailies of Phila. was remarkable 

 for the sane and rational tone, and 



