"novice's" gleanings in bee culture. 



20 



HEADS OF «.l( UN FROM IMItu;. 

 EST FIELDS. 



rHESE Will. HE NUMBERED HEREAFTER TO 

 FACILITATE REFERENCE. 



'jO. 42. — Please let us know some- 

 thing about shipping bees ; how far 

 could they be sent, probable cost. etc. 

 K. S. Becktill, Madison, Wis. 

 We believe that bees can be shipped 

 almost any distance, but do not think it 

 advisable to undertake very long ship- 

 ments when it can be avoided. As they 

 must be sent by express, it is necessarily 

 quite expensive ; perhaps $2.00 or $2.50 

 would be the charge on a hive (if h«es 

 from New York to Chic-ago, as an illus- 

 tration. As a general rule we think it 

 West to trade as near home as may be, 

 either in iiives, bees, queens or extractors, 

 unless it may be for a choice imported 

 queen, or for samples of implements ; and 

 some good mechanic in every neighbor- 

 hood .should make it his busiuess to fur- 

 nish hives, extractors, etc., unpatented, 

 and thus save expensive freight bills and 

 also allow the purchaser to examine his 

 goods before buying. 



No. 43. — Some five or six years ago 1 

 read with much interest in the American 

 [fro Journal the account of the astonish- 

 ing yield of over 300 pounds of honey 

 from one swarm of bees in oue season. 

 At that time I had but small experience 

 in bee cultivation, and although ray theo- 

 ries and enthusiasm had led me to expect 

 liberal proceeds, still that amount quite 

 came up to my most sanguine hopes. Not 

 being, as F think, in as good a location, 

 and also for want of time to give the at- 

 tention required. 1 have never, as yet, 

 gone over about 200 pounds. But 1 think 

 I could, with proper attention in a good 

 location, go as high as 'any other body. 

 Year before last 1 obtained 2200 bbs. from 

 about 40 hives. Last season was not 

 near as good, and besides my bees came 

 out. in the spring in very bad order: so 1 

 said I would never carry my bees into the 

 cellar again. So I have been trying tie' 

 experiment of out-door wintering, with- 

 out protection, ami two days ago 1 be- 

 came so fearful that all would he dead be- 

 fore spring that I hurried what were alive 

 into the cellar again, making up my mind 

 decidedly that in this climate, out-door 

 without protection is very unsafe. 



S. 1.. LtlCHAROSOX. 



Webster City, Iowa, .(an. 21, L873. 



We have been obliged to come to the 

 same conclusion with Mr. I! in regard to 

 out-door wintering. 



No. II. — I am 'tired of buying rights. 



Have you borage seed and (he Rockj 

 Mountain bee plant '! 



Who isn't tired qf "rights ?'' There's 

 plenty of borage at the seed stores. We 

 don't know about the other. 



No. 45. — Your advocation of the exclu- 

 sive use of the extractor, I must acknowl- 

 edge to a non-conviction of its profits. I 

 was offered last summer, in Chicago, 5c. 

 per lb. That is the reason I run most of 

 my bees last summer for box honey. 



Fked'k Ckathorxe, Bethlehem, Iowa. 



See pages 5, 23 aud 24 of "Gleanings,"' 

 and the following : 



No. 4(i. —Don't you think you can af- 

 ford to turn some of your surplus energy 

 towards the production of box honey ? 

 We think, in view of the slow sale of ex- 

 tracted honey especially in our Eastern 

 markets, that seme of the bee-keeping 

 geniuses should turn their attention to 

 producing box honey, so as to simplify it, 

 and make it more certain. It is easy t<> 

 learn to raise bees, increase stock, and ex- 

 tract the honey ; it is only a matter of un- 

 remitting labor, of persevering industry. 

 and don't require a very great amount ot 

 hard work, in fact, we think you wilt 

 be a Novice until you can get so you can 

 put any good stock of bees into boxes and 

 keep them there through the season, and 

 have them store the majority of their sur- 

 plus iu comb, without attempting to swarm, 

 and without a very great amount of troub- 

 le. That. is the problem, and when yon 

 get so you can do that, you will begin to 

 understand the science of bee-keeping 

 Not but what you have done much already 

 i for we have much to thank you for,) but 

 we would very much like you to try and 

 do as much for the box honey producers 

 as you have already done for the produ- 

 cers of extracted honey for this reason : 

 There is a class of consumers (and they 

 are the class who buy the moist of the hon- 

 ey, especially in these Eastern cities. ) 'who 

 will have comb honey, at whatever price. 

 Take the New York ([notations, for in- 

 stance. While box honey is quoted at 

 from 32 to 35 cts., the highest quotation 

 for extracted is 1.3 cts. Extracted is offer- 

 ed in a great many places in this city, but 

 it is a drug. There is scarcely any sale 

 for it, because the market is supplied with 

 comb honey. A great many customer 

 liny comb honey purely for its looks, be 

 cause it sets out a table, and would hot 

 buy it, for any other purpose; and then 

 they claim that the flavor is superior, which 

 we think you must admit. It is very true 

 that when it is first extracted it has a pe- 

 culiar fresh flavor; but it is always ex- 

 tracted at a time of year when there is no 

 sale. Eastern dealers don't deal in ex- 

 tracted honey until about November ; then 

 your extracted honey soon begins to can- 

 dy and lose its fresh flavor, and sales 

 stop Now we claim (although we have 

 no statistics to go by, and don't know as 

 there are any statistics that can be got 

 at,) that nine-tenths of all the honey pro- 

 duced in the United States and sold for t a- 

 ble use. ig comb honev. If we are wroiej:. 



