614 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



per pound. He did not wait for customers, but his 

 stock was eagerly taken. Our eastern friends may 

 talk about their basswood and alsike-clover lioney, 

 but the Western Kansas man, with his fields of 

 constantly blooming alfalfa, can exclaim, " Eure- 

 ka!" and down all competitors with a marketable 

 product of the industrious bee, made from the 

 alfalfa bloom. 



It is true, that alfalfa honey is destined to take 

 the front rank. It has a most delicate and beauti- 

 ful flavor, and all who taste it are quite willing to 

 acknowledge that it has a little the finest flavor of 

 any honey they ever tasted. One peculiarity of it 

 is, it leaves no burning sensation to pensitive 

 throtvts, of which some people complain. 



We are negotiating for a carload of comb honey 

 to arrive from Reno, Nev., between the middle and 

 last of September. This is to come from W. K. Ball, 

 from whom we received some alfalfa of last year's 

 crop several months ago, which is the mildest, 

 most palatable honey we ever tasted. The honey 

 offered above is very much like it. 



JUDGING A QUEEN BY HER LOOKS. 



We had supposed that the day is passed when 

 any one would undertake to decide by a queen's 

 looks whether she produces pure bees— whether 

 she was imported or not, etc. But, twice this sea- 

 son we have had customers who claimed and pre- 

 sumed to call a queen not what she was represented 

 to be, simply from her looks, after an exhausting 

 trip through the mails. One man says he showed 

 her to all the best judges in his neighborhood, and 

 they all pronounced her to be a hybrid. In the oth- 

 er case, our customer had received an imported 

 queen, which, after a while, failed to lay. On be- 

 ing informed of this we at once sent him another 

 best imported— in fact, one of the best queens we 

 had in our apiary. Without introducing her at all, 

 he looked at her, then carried her to a friend of his 

 who was presumed to be a judge, and they together 

 looked at her, and decided that she was just like 

 the old one, because she Jnoked like her; where- 

 upon these two wise friends mailed her away to 

 Medina again. We are glad to say that she came 

 through all right. We do not propose to take any 

 more risks in trying to satisfy such unreasonable 

 people. Now, please let us have it understood, 

 that, if you are going to judge of a queen by her 

 looks, you had better not send to us. Our queens are 

 to be judged by the workers they produce, and the 

 work that these workers do. Of course, we like to 

 have a good-sized queen; and if she is light in color, 

 we are well aware that it goes a good way with 

 some people. Very few queens, after a long trip 

 through the mails, look very bright or large. When 

 the queen is received, if there is any life in her at 

 all, give her a chance, and do not complain until 

 there is something to complain of. 



3foraL— When anybody claims to be so wise as to 

 be able to tell what a queen is worth, simply from 

 her looks, set him down either as very ignorant in 

 bee culture or very dishonest. 



gPECI^L ]S[0¥ICEg. 



COMB AND EXTRACTED HONEY FROM ARIZONA. 



We hav3 just received from the Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation of Maricopa Co., Arizona, a carload of 

 very fine extracted and comb honey. There is only 

 about a ton of comb and about 16 tons of extracted. 

 It is principally alfalfa, and of very fine flavor and 

 color. The comb honey is in 34 and 48 lb. cases, 

 with no glass, and the price is 17 cts. per lb. In lots 

 of 5 cases or more, 16 cts. The extracted honey is 

 all in 601b. cans, 3 cans in a case; the price is 10 cts. 

 per lb. by the case of one or two cans; 3 cases or 

 more, 9 cts. per lb. Those wanting 1000 lbs. or more 

 will please write us for prices. From the number 

 of inquiries for comb honey that we have, you will 

 have to speak quick if you expect to get any of 

 his. 



SOME STATISTICS IN REGARD TO BUSINESS AT THE 

 HOME OF THE HONEY-BEES. 



It may be of interest to many of our readers to 

 learn something of the extent of the bee-ktepers' 

 supply business as carried on at the Home of the 

 Honey-Bees the past year. As we have had to col- 

 lect statistics for the census bureau, we give jou 

 pome of the results of our investigations. We give 

 figures in round numbers, within a very few of the 

 actual count, and more easily remembered. The 

 whole number of hives of the five styles we make 

 was a little over 36,()00, of which we sol 1 30,010 Dove- 

 tailed, 10,000 Simplicity, 3000 Portico, 1700 two-story 

 chaff, and 14.50 one-story chaft'. The previous year, 

 when the Dovetailed hive was introduced, about 

 March, it reached a sale of 4200, and 13,030 Simplici- 

 ty were sold. This shows that the Dovetailed hive 

 has taken its place rapidly at the head of the list, 

 and made the whole number of Simplicities dimin- 

 ish when every thicg else has increased. 



For convenience we will arrange the statistics in 

 the form of a table, comparing a few items with the 

 number produced a year ago, which was our largest 

 year until the present. By this you will see the 

 great increase, and the reason for our being (for a 

 time) so behind on orders, and having to run day 

 and night to fill them. 



Quantity produced and sold from Sept. 1888 I Sept. '89, 

 to Sept. 1889. I Aug. '90. 



Dovetailed hives I 4 200 I 20,000 



Simplicity hives 12,000 10,000 



Portico hives I 3.000 I 3.000 



Twostory Chaff hives I 1,100 I 1,700 



One-story Chaff hives | 900 I 1,4.50 



Brood frames. Simp, size 360,000 I 500,000 



One-piece sections 5,000.000 | 6,,500,000 



Weight of freight shipments. . I 1,350,000 lbs 2,25'J,000 



The number of shipments by freight or a year is 

 about 7000, and by express 3000. The average num- 

 ber of hands employed for a year has been 100, and 

 the amount paid them, 140.000. We have turned 

 out 30,000 Clark's smokers in a year; and 75 casks, 

 of 600 lbs. each, of sheet zinc, has been made into 

 queen-excluding metal, making about 80,000 sq. ft. 



Of the six and a half million sections sold, we 

 bought from other makers 1,310,000, and would have 

 bought many more if we could have got them, 

 rather than send out many made from dark and 

 poorly seasoned lumber that we had lo send in or- 

 der to fill orders at all. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE FUTURE. 



We have now well under way another two story 

 brick building, 37x100 ft., to be used on first floor 

 for making comb foundation and for a machine- 

 shop, and on the upper floor for tin-shoo, japanning 

 room, and making smokers. This will jiiveusthe 

 whole of both floors in the building 44x96, erected 

 in 1886, for wood-working machinery. As our 90 H. 

 P. engine is inadequate to run so much machinery 

 we are putting on a larger cylinder to increase its 

 power to about 150 H. P. Our Mr. Warner has been 

 to Michigan and secured a shipload of pine lumber 

 from which we expect to make a better quality of 

 hives than some we had to send out the past few 

 months. We are trying to secure suflicient bass- 

 wood lumber so that we may not be caught again 

 as we were last spring with the season before us, 

 and not half enough dry lumber. We are begin- 

 ning already to make up a stock of goods for next 

 season's trade, and as usual we will from this date 

 allow a 



DISCOUNT FOR GOODS FOR NEXT SEASON'S USE. 



The terms are just the same as they were a year 

 ago. You can refer to back numbers of Glean- 

 ings, or old discount sheet; or If you write we will 

 mail you terms. The discount will be 5 per cent up 

 to Nov. 1, when it will drop 1 per cent each month 

 till it has all vanished. The discount is allowed only 

 on goods of our manufacture, bought now for next 

 season's use, and does not apply to honey-packages, 

 counter-goods, and the like, that you will use this 

 fall, and which are already sold at close prices. 



