1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



817 



flavor it is very nearly equal to the best clo- 

 ver ; perhaps some judges would call it fully 

 equal. It ought to compete with any honey. 



I^EPe^ ENceu^6iN6. 



PROM 4 TO 10, AND 318 LBS. OF COMB HONEY. 



Prom four stocks I have increased to ten, and 

 taken 218 lbs. comb honey. I believe all are in good 

 condition to winter. A. A. Lewis. 



Waterbury, Vt., Sept. 23, 1889. 



FROM 61 TO 1(3, AND 7000 LBS. HONEY. 



The three pecks of Japanese buckwheat did well. 

 We sowed it on an acre and a half, and got 40 bush- 

 els. We started in the spring with fll colonies; in- 

 creased to 103, and have about 5000 comb and 2000 

 extracted. There was hardly any fall honey, on ac- 

 count of dry weather. C. J. Schafer. 



Eddyville, Iowa. 



FROM 30 TO 73, AND 5800 LBS. OF SECTION HONEY. 



My bees have done well. I had 30 colonies in the 

 spring. 1 now have 73, and 5800 pounds Of one- 

 pound section honey— an average of 193J6 pounds 

 per colony, spring count. The queen I got of you 

 was a good one. I have some of her daughters 

 that have made 200 pounds of one-pound section 

 honey since they swarmed. One colony gained V>% 

 pounds in one day, the 13th of June. We had plenty 

 of rain, and the clover looks fine— better than last 

 year at this time. Put me down as one of those 

 lucky bee-men. Score one for the Italian bees. 

 They are good enough for me— any way, the kind 

 you sent me. John Blodget. 



Empire Prairie, Mo , Sept. 26, 1889. 



I tlo not remember to have had testimony 

 from the queens we have sold before, in just 

 the way you put it ; but it strikes me as be- 

 ing a "sensible way — that is, some of the 

 daughters of the queen you bought of us 

 have produced colonies giving 200 lbs. of 

 comb honey, after they swarmed. Nineteen 

 and one-fourth pounds a day is tremendous. 

 Now, please do not get the opinion that we 

 want to boast of our stock of Italians, nor 

 to claim that they are better than other 

 sto^k ; for, in fact, we have done nothing to 

 make them better, except to make frequent 

 importations every season, of queens direct 

 from Italy. Of course, our agent there is 

 instructed to give us good strong healthy 

 queens, and no other. 



]^EF@Iv¥g DlgC0H^6IN6. 



ALMOST THOROUGHLY DISCOURAGED. 



You may discontinue my Gleanings, and put 

 me in Blasted Hopes, as I had 80 colonies this 

 spring and have not got one pound of honey. I do 

 not think that the bees will get enough to live on 

 this winter. I have been a subscriber to Glean- 

 ings for 15 years, and I suppose I shall be lost 

 without it; but I am almost thoroughly discourag- 

 ed, as there has not been a good honey year here 

 for about six years. John Baxter. 



Crothersville, Ind., Sept. 20, 1889. 



It is a little singular that you have had 

 six consecutive bad years. Have none of 

 your neighbors around you had good crops 



of honey in all this time V One might be 

 tempted to decide that your locality is a 

 poor one ; yet I am inclined to think, from 

 reports, that every part of Indiana does, at 

 least occasionally, give good honey-yields. 

 Perhaps your very next season, after you 

 give up the business, may be one that would 

 have made amends for all the poor ones. 

 If you examine our column of Reports En- 

 couraging, you will see that great yields are 

 occasionally reported where there has been 

 a dearth of honey for perhaps several sea- 

 sons. Before you give up, however, be sure 

 to go around and visit your neighbors, and 

 see whether there are not some who get 

 good yields in spite of poor seasons. This 

 is one of the good things about conventions. 

 We are liable to fall into errors in thinking 

 as well as errors in management ; and a 

 comparison with successful men will often 

 show us where we have missed it. 



0a^ (|aE$3Fi0]\[.B0£, 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



All queries sent In for this department should be briefly 

 stated, and free from any possible ambiguity. The question 

 or questions should be written upon a separate slip of paper, 

 and marked, " For Our Question-Box." 



Question 146.— a. Do you propose to sell your honey 

 on commission this year? b. If not, will you sell it by 

 peddling or otherwise? 



a. No; b. In our home market. A. J. Cook. 



a. Yes, I always do when I have any. 



Geo. Grimm. 



No. I have an outlet for my honey, which I pre- 

 fer. O. O. Poppleton. 



By commission, when T know the commission 

 merchant is reliable. P. L. Viallon. 



Yes, unless I get a chance to sell it at wholesale. 

 G. M. Doolittle. 



a. No; b. We sell to dealers for cash, and to ba- 

 kers for cash. I don't do much with commission 

 men. E. France. 



a. No. b. To the jobber or the retailer, or 

 wherever I can get the most for it, and get the cash 

 with the least trouble. H. R. Boardman. 



a. I have not decided yet. I should prefer to sell 

 direct to jobbers, and save commission, b. Ped- 

 dling is too expensive in my locality. 



A. E. Manum. 



a. I will sell in part on commission, b. I have 

 worked up some trade in Texas and elsewhere, 

 where I sell considerable direct to merchants. 



R. Wilkin. 



a. I prefer to sell for cash. b. I may have some 

 peddled ; but the only peddling I ever had done, the 

 peddler kept all of the money but wanted more hon- 

 ey. P. H. Elwood. 



a. No, sir. b. Yes, sir; that is, mostly "other- 

 wise." Some customers in Toledo, and our gro- 

 ceries here, get away with all my surplus, and 

 sometimes more. A. B. Mason. 



We have for 20 years sold it by several methods. 

 We ship on commission a little. We sell largely on 

 orders. We sold a little by hiring peddlers, and we 

 think this method very good. Dadant & Son. 



