680 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



5. Would be the means of getting better 

 prices than if there were a glut in California 

 honey. If the honey crop in California is short 

 it stands to reason that New York State honey 

 will do better in prices; for in many cases, if 

 the consumer or manufacturer can buy State 

 goods for }{ to }4c per lb. more than California 

 honey they prefer State honey, and pay the 

 advance. 



6. Too early to judge yet, as the weather has 

 been very warm up to the present time. We 

 have advised our shippers to hold back their 

 consignments till the weather is a little cooler. 



Chas. Israel & Bro. 

 New York, Aug. 29. 



1. Single-tier, containing 20 to 2.5 combs, one 

 side glass, to display the honey and to caution 

 handlers. This case is to be made of clean 

 basswood or whitewood, as these woods do not 

 " weatherbeat " and discolor as pine does. The 

 cover should be nailed on outside, and not rab- 

 beted in, and should be made roomy so that the 

 sections are not crowded, and will come out 

 easily. Twelve-comb cases are not popular. 



2. No difference in price of (lO-lb. square cans 

 or 150-lb. kegs; but barrels are not so desirable, 

 and have to sell at some discount in price. 



3. Three-quarter pound sections, if well filled, 

 are the best-selling size of section, as thin as 

 possible, thereby displaying more comb surface. 



4. From September 15th to November 15th. 

 California honey cuts no figure on this market, 

 and sells only in the absence of white clover. 



5. Receipts lighter, so far this season. Both 

 receipts and demand seem to be later, which 

 we think a good indication. 



Albany, N. Y^.. Aug. 17. H.R.Wright. 



[These two came after the reports from the 

 commission men that were published in our 

 Sept. 1st number and are, therefore, given at 

 this time. — Ed.] 



DISPOSING OF UNPROFITABLE STOCK. 



My 35 stands of black bees failed to increase. 

 Some of the old ones died off, and their yield of 

 honey was quite moderate, so I decided to dis- 

 pose of them in the most profitable way. No- 

 ticing in Gleanings an advertisement from a 

 Cincinnati firm for live bees, I wrote them that 

 I presumed they wanted them for medicinal 

 purposes, and that I had a lot of infeVior bees 

 that I would sell cheap. After passing a few 

 letters the company shipped half a barrel of al- 

 cohol, and on the 23d of October a member of 

 the firm called on me to oversee the preparation 

 of the apis. We put 35 colonies of bees and 25 

 gallons of alcohol into a fifty-gallon barrel, and 

 shipped them back to Cincinnati as medicated 

 bees. I have so often read of the weight of a 

 swarm of bees that I expected to get from 5 to 7 

 lbs. from each hive; but I was quite a little sur- 

 prised to find these figures divisible by two. 

 The average weight was about 3 lbs. This, I 

 suppose, was due to the lateness of the season. 



After killing the bees I extracted probably 

 1}4 gallons of honey, on an average, from each 

 hive. My combs were old, and many of them 

 ill shaped, so I rendered the most of them into 

 beeswax, getting about 2 lbs. to the hive. 



I have yet 125 stands of Italian bees, but have 

 a contract with the same firm for another year, 

 so I shall cull out undesirable bees all through 

 the summer, and mark them for destruction at 

 the close of the honey season. 



W. W. Brayshaw. 



DuQuoin, 111., Feb. 19, 1896. 



WILL BEES KILL A HORSE ? 



Bro. Root;— Your Story of Mr. Nicholas J. Van 

 Patten's calf and his bees, page filS, reminds 

 me of an experience of my own, to know which 

 may be of benefit to some of our friends should 

 they get into a position similar to mine. 



It was four or five years ago when I hitched 

 a spirited five-year-old English shire mare to a 

 buckboard to visit a friend, in company with 

 one of my boys. A three-months-old colt fol- 

 lowed the mare. After a ride of five miles on a 

 pleasant forenooon our friend's farm was reach- 

 ed. He had his hitching-rack near the gate, 

 while about 2U feet on the other side of the 

 fence, under the shade of cherry and pear trees, 

 stood his hives of bees, similar to my own ar- 

 rangement on the farm. My friend was down 

 in the corn-field. We hitched our mare, and 

 went down to meet him. The bees were flying 

 lively. When my friend was reached we saw 

 our mare rearing and trying to tear loose. Af- 

 ter awhile she quieted down, and my friend's 

 son motioned and hallooed to us; but at the 

 great distance we did not know what he meant. 

 My son went up; and when near the house his 

 motions could not be misunderstood. There 

 was danger, and we lost no time in getting up. 

 We found the mare with her neck hanging 

 over the rack. A swarm of bees had settled on 

 her head between the ears, and she had, appar- 

 ently, given up to the unavoidable. Mare and 

 colt were covered with bees. I tried in vain to 

 extricate the latter from under its mother. 

 There was no time for long consultations. I 

 unhitched the mare, pulled her around, and, 

 when the wheels of the buckboard went over 

 the colt, it jumped up and joined us in a slow 

 walk down the pike. Walking alongside of 

 the mai'e I mashed between my hands every bee 

 of that swarm. When the head was cleared we 

 stopped, and ears and nostrils were cleared out. 

 After the bodies of mare and coll were cleaned 

 of bees (and they sat everywhere) we went on. 

 They were as docile as lambs, so I could do 

 with them all I pleased except make them go 

 faster than a slow walk. We went through the 

 Blue River. In a deep place I immersed the 

 colt, and, with my hat, gave the mare a thor- 

 ough soaker. After they had been in pasture 

 for a week they still showed swollen heads, but 



