;!!t4 



GLEANINGS IN 13EE CULTUllE. 



J r^E 



took a premium as loug as I exhibited. I took it, 

 ribbons and all, to one groceryman, and said, "If 

 you will sell this honey for 25 cents per lb. I will 

 agree to sell you all that I raise at 20c. per lb.; and 

 if it does not sell I will take it back." Produce nice 

 honey; keep your extracted honey until fall; put it 

 up in Mason's fruit-jars, and just bring- it in about 

 as fast as he needs it. It is poor policy to force a 

 market; just take a note how business men do in 

 establishing a trade in towns: they simply, as a 

 general rule, let one firm handle their goods. By 

 the above plan I never failed to get 20c. per lb. net 

 for extracted honey. Consumers would often say 

 that they could get honey cheaper from large cities; 

 but as they knew what they were getting, they did 

 not object to the price. Also, do you know when 

 you put your honey in those narrow 4^4 X iK^ sec- 

 tions that hold only 12 ounces, the producer getting 

 pay for actual weight only, that you are robbing 

 the consumer out of 4 ounces, or are the means, at 

 least. Now for proof: You all can see what honey 

 is worth in Kansas City, Mo. Now, a grocery dealer 

 here sent to Kansas City for some comb section 

 honey: it cost him 20c. per lb.; that is, each section 

 was counted 1 lb. to him. He sold it for 25c. per sec- 

 tion. Thej' weighed only 12 oz. each. When I 

 asked him he said they called it 1 lb., so he sold it 

 by the section. Now, the commission men got the 

 most benefit out of this honey, as they made 100 per 

 cent, as j'ou can easilj^ count up. That is one rea- 

 son they tell you that dealers prefer a light section 

 under 1 lb. H. F. H.\gen. 



Ellinwood, +o Kansas, May 15, 1885. 



Friend H., your suggestious are excellent 

 in regard to putting up Simplicity hives. 

 We try to have our lumber thoroughly sea- 

 soned before the hives are made ; but every 

 mechanic knows that, after lumber is dress- 

 ed and cut up into small pieces, it will 

 shrink considerably more ; and the worst 

 feature of this shrinking is, that the pieces 

 slirink unequally. Tour idea of select- 

 ing those of a width for each hive, 

 before you commence nailing them up, 

 is excellent. Another thing : If you can not 

 find pieces exactly of a widtli— that is, sup- 

 pose the end is a little narrower tlian the 

 side to which it is to be nailed, be sure to let 

 the side piece project equally beyond tlie 

 end piece at botli top and bottom. You 

 need not argue with me al)out tliis mat- 

 •ter, because I am old in these things. If 

 y*^u put them together so they are even at 

 ^y^ top or even at the l)ottom. when you 

 '''3'j9^, '^^'^ pile your hives up the crack left 

 will he t\\.vi,.e -i^ -^yi(jg as if tlie sl)ace were 

 divided. Worse, yet, if two hives having , 

 hirge spaces liappSen to come together it 

 w(.uld make a space, large enough to let l)ees 

 «)nt. Hy dividing tl,„e space as I have told 1 

 yon, tlieie will be h scarcely a possibilitv of 

 any such mishap. I'-jjese small openings in 

 the Nmiphcity hive wl.u ao no harm, but, in 

 tact, are a benefit. beca..,se no other provi- 

 sion tor ventilation is ma* .\q —Yquy itieas in 

 regard to keeping a unifoi*^ -ni pj-ice on your 

 honey are excellent. The. ve are many arti- 

 cles ot merchandise on whicfii the manufac- 

 turer is absolutely obliged t(S control the re- 

 tail price, to save his iMisit'ness HMie new 

 Ivory soap, for instance, that ; is advertised 

 so extensively, the niannfai«.turers sell to 

 every dealer at a fixed uniforn'i\ price. If he 

 u 



takes a certain number of boxes, it is laid 

 down at his door, freight paid. To prevent 

 cutting under, and rivalry, every order must 

 go through the hands of the nearest whole- 

 sale grocer. The soap goes in one fixed reg- 

 ular channel from the factory to the consum- 

 er, and there are no deviations. The ])lan 

 vou suggest in regard to it is the thing ex- 

 act) v. 



SOME QUESTIONS FROM CALIFORNIA. 



MAKING BEES WORK DOWN .\S WELL AS UP, ETC. 



WANT to ask you a little about transferring 

 some of my bees into my new Flory hive. Mr. 

 Flory says I can set the old swarm on top of 

 my new hive, and the queen will work down 

 better than they will up. Now, I fail to find 

 much about that in your A B C book. If I can 

 transfer my bees by setting my new boxes under 

 the old ones, that will save me lots of trouble; and 

 if you will five me your advice on the matter, I 

 shall be much obliged. 



CHAFF HIVES IN CALIFORNIA. 



What do you think about the chaff hive in Cal- 

 ifornia? Do you think it would pay out here? And 

 how about something to lay on top of my frames, to 

 keep the bees warm? Out here, people do not use 

 any thing to cover the bees but just the top board, 

 and I think they would do much better if they were 

 kept warm; that is the reason our bees are so 

 backward about swarming out here. Our bees have 

 been working a long time, and thej' do not swarm out 

 much, yet I have two swarms from .'J3 stands of bees, 

 and my neighbor Hoblcr has only four or five 

 swarms this season, yet he has got his from Italian 

 bees. Mine are blacks. 



HIVES WITH FRAMES OF DIFFERENT SIZES. 



The way mj' hives are, I can not take a frame out 

 of my old hive and set it in my new swarm, because 

 they will not fit; that is a drawback to me this sea- 

 son. If I can get them all in one kind of a box, it 

 will be more plain work. 



A I. FAT- FA. 



We have a big alfalfa crop out here this season. 

 Last season was a poor one for them, but it has got 

 to be a big business now in (California as well as oth- 

 er parts of the world. M. .1. Tw i n i sc. 



Ilanford, Cal., May 12, 1885. 



Friend T.. as a rule bees seem to prefer 

 working up rather than down, although 

 when crowded for room they \yill often fill 

 an empty hive placed under the old one. If 

 Mr. Flory has tried it, and finds that it 

 works successfully, 1 should try one or two 

 that way. In my opinion, however, they 

 will liave to lie cniwded more to get them to 

 take the new hive than if you would put the 

 new hive on top. Either 'mode is, however, 

 rather behind the times.— Von can not do 

 any thing very well until you get your api- 

 ary in sucli shai)e that "any franie will go 

 into any hive.— In regaid t() chaff hives in 

 ('aliforiiia, the matter would have to l»e de- 

 termined by actual experiment. If you have 

 cool nights, so cool, in fact, that it drives 

 the bees out of the surplus boxes, then chaff 

 hives would be a great advantage at such 

 times, and I think they would be an advan- 

 tage during your hottest weather in piDtect- 

 ing the bees "from the direct rays of the sun. 



