252 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



were all lovely. Mr. B. had about 100 colonies; had 

 purchased a steam-engine, saws, many tools, had 

 invented a hive with a frame differing in size from 

 any other he ever saw; and now, after getting up 

 to 100 colonies, he wanted to sell out ! Reasons, a 

 large farm to manage, and he found raising pota- 

 toes, fighting bugs, milking cows, fattening pigs, or 

 hunting woodchucks, all a bigger bonanza than 

 bee-keeping. "Come, make me an offer for the 

 whole business. Why, that pestiferous Jones, 

 down by the toll-gate, has ruined my trade in the 

 village; and if he wants to go to Neu-u-braska, we 

 had better bundle him off to-morrow." 



Nothing would console our friend Beckwitb, and 

 we left him, considering that nothing could remedy 

 these casesof conflicting interests but co-operation, 

 or the purchase of the stock of the mischief-maker. 

 We find that, when the interests of many bee-keep- 

 ers center in one modorate-sized town for the sale 

 of their product, there is more or less conflict, re- 

 sulting, pern aps, in a few, who have a good stan- 

 dard article, in withdrawing entirely from the local 

 market and shipping to commission men. 



I would ask Mr. J. A. Buchanan, who has given 

 us much interesting information upon the sale of 

 honey, if he has had this damaging competition in 

 his experience, or how he could overcome it if it 

 should arise. The Rambler has had some experience 

 in selling honey through a farming community, and 

 thus far has had no competition ; but even if 1 here 

 were, we should be no worse off than nearly every 

 salesman of other goods of whatever description. 

 I find the best plan to sell honey is to combine it 

 with the sale of some other articles, and keep the 

 cart going all the year round. "A continual drop- 

 ping will wear a stone;" so continual trips will 

 wear away a big pile of honey in a year. If all the 

 honey in a certain district were placed in the hands 

 of a competent local traveling salesman, there 

 would be but little to go to commission men. Hur- 

 rah for the honey-peddler, the sweetest man on 

 earth! That's what all the gi--gir— boys say about 

 the Rambler. 



P. S.— In relation to the age of 

 pigeons when ready for market, I 

 do not know. The authority from 

 whom I got my information in re- 

 lation to growth was a fancier, 

 and] did not grow pigeons for sale. 

 I notice there is a difference of 

 opinion between our prominent 

 authors in respect to the prepar- 

 ation of food for the young bee. 

 Cheshire claims that larval food is 

 secreted by a gland located in the 

 head of the bee, around the eyes. 

 Cook claims that it is not a gland- 

 ular secretion, but chyle, and that the glands mere- 

 ly secrete a ferment that aids in digesting pollen. 

 Whoever may be right, we know there is a concen- 

 tration of food, and in the pigeon we have an un- 

 questionable demonstration of it on a comparative- 

 ly large scale. 



Thanks for your kind invitation to that California 

 trip. Nothing would please the Rambler better 

 than a visit to the Golden Gate; and as I have rela- 

 tives in Oakland, 1 fear my visit would be prolong- 

 ed should T get there. The editors of Gleanings 

 are cordially invited to come east. The Rambler 

 and many others are ready to extend such fare as 

 they have, and the best of it, to those they have 



known so long. Yes, that is the Rambler with his 

 hands on his knees, but that can not be the R. at 

 the blackboard— the person is too aldermanic. The 

 R. wears a smaller vest. That man weighs 200 lbs. ; 

 the R. only 140, and 5 ft. 10 inches. R. 



FIXING FOR HONEY- EXHIBITS AT 

 FAIRS. 



A BRIGHT SUGGESTION FROM FRIEND HOLTERMANN. 



fRIEND ROOT:— I was much pleased with Dr. 

 Mason's articles on the above subject, and 

 also with the display of honey and bee-keep- 

 ers' supplies at the Ohio Centennial. There 

 is one point, however, which I did not like at 

 all at Columbus; and now Dr. Mason has an illus- 

 tration of this objectionable feature — " so, there 

 now ! " 



The regular shelves (or irregular, if you like) as 

 illustrated are unsightly, and particularly so if not 

 completely covered by the exhibit. I have used 

 them, and now avoid them, and try to break the 

 monotony of the show as far as possible. In my es- 

 timation, a platform four or more feet deep, and 

 the height of an ordinary table to start on, is desira- 

 ble. Put your first shelf on this, as in Dr. Mason's 

 illustration, but run it back the same distance as 

 the table. Then place some of the boxes used in 

 shipping goods to the exhibition (height about 15 

 inches and the right size) on the shelf thus describ- 

 ed, and lay the boards which form the tops of crates 

 for Stanley honey-extractors (being eight-sided as 

 here shown) on top of these boxes. Upon 

 ithese eight sided boards place other but 

 I J smaller boxes, and then put on the top- 



\ / board of the crate for an ordinary extract- 

 or, which is the same shape (8-sided) and much 

 smaller. Ou top of this, put another box. Then to- 

 ward the right and left ends of the shelf 1 build an- 

 other pyramid, only smaller, and cover all with 

 white paper (I claim there is no better color for 

 covering), and then arrange my exhibit. The pyra- 



/~\ 



HOLTERMANN'S ARRANGEMENT OF SHELVING FOR EXHIBITS. 



mid I can make still higher by placing upon it first 

 a 10 gallon can, then a smaller; and on top of all, 

 glasses with honey. It breaks the monotony of 

 these shelves; and if you mix in comb honey in 

 crates, which is desirable, a very neat display can 

 be made. A few pots of flowers (the pot covered) 

 add greatly to the display. 



You can put a number of your cases in a safe 

 place— quite nn item when you would otherwise 

 have to put your cases with thousands of others, 

 and can not find them at the closeof the exhibition, 

 and realize you are not at home, where you could 

 replace them. 



There was a monotony about the extracted-honey 



