414 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Oct. 



little plants, by mail, for 5c, if you would like to try 

 one, or a small package of seeds from cultivated 

 plants, for the same amount. Our cultivated plants 

 are far ahead of the plants in the woods. If you get 

 plants from the woods, they will give you plenty of 

 blossoms next year. I do not know how well the 

 plants will stand frost, but the roots are very hardy. 

 You can sow the seed as soon as it is gathered.] 



PRICES OF HONEY, SEPARATORS AND 

 NO SEPARATORS, PROFITS OF 



THE BUSINESS, &€. 



HAVE just heard from C. O. Perrine, and he is 

 giving 6 to ti 1-2 c. for extracted clover honey, and 

 12 to 13 c. for nice clover comb honey, but every 

 comb must be straight so it can be glassed. Now, 

 that is just a little "too thin." If there are people 

 who can afford to pay for glass, &c, they can afford 

 to pay us 2c per lb. more, so we can pay expenses: 

 but we can't nor won't raise the best honey at (i and 

 12 c per lb. This is the only season in 8 years when 

 I have had a good yield of clover honey, and that 

 was 251b. oomb and 4Clb. extracted to each old colony 

 and their increase. I have worked hard to get this 

 much, and the work is worth about 1-2 of what I get 

 for the crop at S and 11 c. My comb honey was built 

 without separators, and I have to take even less 

 than C. (). Perrine offers for; combs straight as a 

 board. 



By advertising in Gleanings, I have sold nearly 

 all my extracted honey at 8c Most people, and es- 

 pecially those about here, want it if they can get it 

 about as cheap as sorghum; but, as we positively 

 cannot raise it at that price, those who are not will- 

 ing to pay as much for it as for the best quality of 

 sugar will have to do without it. For my part, I 

 won't raise honey, if it must get any lower. If peo- 

 ple keep talking about there being so much money 

 in honey, I shall tell them, if they think so they can 

 have my .bees, honey houses, &c, at one half what 

 they cost me. 



But what are we to do about the price of honey? 

 Other things are going up, and honey is about 2c 

 per tt>. lower than last year, and, although it is so 

 low, it must be in much nicer shape than 6 years ag< >, 

 when we got 25c per lb. gross, in rough boxes. 

 Now it costs us much more to put up comb honey in 

 nice shape, and we get just about one third as much 

 for it. 



I don't think the seasons have averaged near so 

 well cither for a few years past, so that makes the 

 profits of the apiary much less. We have had such 

 dry, cold weather here that I don't get any golden 

 rod honey, only just enough to induce the bees to 

 breed moderately. Basswood was never so full of 

 bloom as this year, but the weather wasn't favorable. 



R. S. Becktei.l. 



NewJBuffalo, Mich., Sept. 18, 1879. 



Gently, friend B. The facts you give are 

 important ones, but you do not seem to feel 

 very cheerful about the prospect ahead. As 

 we shall have to sell our honey for what 

 people will give, shall we not face the fact 

 and take it cheerfully V Hard work and 

 small pay is many times better for us than 

 the reverse. Shall we not try to think that 

 God knows best, and be cheerful and happy 

 any way? Business is very dull here, anil 

 more than half of my hands are out of em- 

 ployment, but while I am sorry for them, I 

 have been very happy, picking up all the 

 little odds and ends, utilizing every thing 

 that had been carelessly thrown aside, and 



coming down to the most strict and careful 

 economy. I know it has been a good thing 

 for me, and I do not know but that it will 

 be a good thing for all of us. Stop the out- 

 goes, and, instead of buying things, raise 

 them on your own ground, or make them 

 yourself, of materials lying about, useless 

 and in the way. Above all, get up early in 

 the morning and work. 



OUR CARTOON FOR OCTOBER, 



THE BEE KEEPER WHO CANNOT AFFORD TO 

 TAKE A REE JOURNAL. 



fT is the fellow who is trying to climb over 

 the tall picket fence instead of walking 

 — ' through the gate, on a good graveled 

 path, that is like the man who is too poor to 

 take a bee journal. He is not only choosing 

 a much more difficult and laborious path 

 than the beaten track, but he usually tears 

 and soils his clothes, runs the risk of break- 

 ing his limbs, and is, even then, far behind 

 the well informed man who saves his time 

 and strength until it is really needed. Those 

 who are too poor to take a journal have their 

 honey stored in old boxes, and sell it for a 

 much lower price ; have their bees in old 

 boxes too, and have to sell them for about 

 half price, if they happen to winter them 

 during a time of scarcity. Their wax, hon- 

 ey, and bees are seldom sold at the best time 

 and for the best prices ; and they are invari- 

 ably the ones who hand over or send their 

 money to such as Mitchell and Mrs. Cotton. 

 The strings of complaints we have, month 

 after month, from those who have lost their 

 money on "•division boards''' and "valuable 

 recipes," are from persons who are not sub- 

 scribers. "Whenever I get money from a 

 beginner, for something which I am sure, 

 from the tone of the letter, he or she does 

 not need, I invariably find toward the close, 

 that they "regret they cannot afford to take 

 a bee journal." Although the money they 

 send, or a small part of it, would be far bet- 

 ter invested in getting the information they 

 need, I dare not disobey orders, but have to 

 leave them climbing over high, dangerous 

 fences, instead of taking the well beaten 

 gravel path. 



The price of those beautiful honey labels, in col- 

 ors, already gummed, has been reduced from $3.25 

 per 1000 to only $2.15, and they are nicer than ever 

 before. 



