90 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



was upon my right with four observatory hives, 

 and a quantity of honey and implements. Mr. 

 Smith was on my left, with three observatory 

 hives, also honey, etc. Such displays, with the dis- 

 tribution of circulars and cards, and sale of honey, 

 does much to instruct people. 



I find, that if honey is sold cheap enough any 

 quantity can be sold. A very nice package that 

 goes ofif quite rapidly is a 5-lb. pail for 50 cts. Leaf- 

 lets and cards are good things to distribute. I send 

 herewith The Facts, that I am circulating. 



My crop of honey this season is about 10,000 lbs. 

 —7000 clover, 3000 dark. A good share of the clover, 

 which is of excellent quality, will be disposed of in 

 the home market, and earlier in the season than I 

 ever sold before, and at much better prices than I 

 can g-et when sending on commission. 



Hartford, N. Y. J. H. Martin. 



The above makes a very beautiful exhibit, 

 friend M.; but may I venture the suggestion, 

 that there may be an extreme in going to 

 more expense in time and money than is 

 warrantable V Where one has a large crop 

 of honey to sell, however, and deals in sup- 

 plies largely, the advertisement it furnishes 

 may make it a good investment, and perhaps 

 yoiir exhibit has been the means of selling 

 your large crop of honey so early in the sea- 

 son. Your " Facts about Honey" are so good 

 I should be glad to give place to them, did 

 space permit. I think I may say to our 

 readers, however, that you will be glad to 

 mail them to any one on application. 



THAT ESTIMATING COMMITTEE. 



FIXING THE PRICE OF HONEY. 



T DO not think that a honey-producers' association 

 ^ will ever be able to control the price of honey. 

 'Il It may be able to advance prices a cent or two, 

 "*■ or prevent lower prices, in the large centers; 

 but producers will ever be harrassed by low 

 prices. A few years ago, when wire nails were in- 

 troduced they were quite expensive, and the manu- 

 facturers made large profits. Competition was light. 

 Soon other firms commenced making them, and bet- 

 ter methods of manufacture were necessary. To-day 

 large factories, with expensive and ingenious ma- 

 chinery, employing hundreds of men, with division 

 of labor brought down to perfection, make them at 

 a profit of a very small fraction of a cent a pound. 

 Does any one think they will ever be made at a larg- 

 er profit to the makers ? Only a scarcity of iron can 

 advance their price. So only a scarcity of nectar 

 will appreciably advance the price of honey. Dar- 

 win's " survival of the fittest" comes inhere. He 

 who can produce honey the cheapest is the fittest. 

 He who sells too cheaply will go down, as will he 

 who produces at too much cost. 



An estimating committee can only estimate the 

 yield. I do not believe they can fix the price; how- 

 ever, they can estimate that too. But the bee-keeper, 

 knowing the estimated yield, can " fix " the price of 

 his own honey. However, let us have an estimating 

 committee, composed of two or more of the largest 

 honey-producers in each State of the Union, where 

 honey is produced; and let us have some sort of an 

 association for the purpose. J. H. Labrabee. 



Larrabee's Pt., Vt. 



Very good, friend L. But there is another 



thing to be done still, although the estimat- 

 ing committee may not be the ones to do it ; 

 and that is, to introduce the honey to every- 

 body, and make them understand the very 

 low price at which it is now offered to the 

 consumer. The point you make, that he 

 who sells too cheaply, as well as he who 

 produces at too much cost, must fail amid 

 the brisk competition that is coming, is 

 worthy of consideration. 



FROM 113 COLONIES, 13,000 LBS. OF 

 HONEY, SPRING COUNT, 



AN INTERESTING LETTER FROM OUR OLD 

 FRIEND J. P. ISRAEL. 



]^* EES have done tolerably well this season. I 

 pi sold over 19,000 lbs. of comb honey, and had 

 ^^ several cases of extracted. We had 113 col- 

 ■*^ onies to start with in the spring. We wound 

 up the season with 375 stands. If we get 

 through the dry season with 335, and reach the 

 black-sage bloom with that number, T shall be sat- 

 isfied. My brother and I have dissolved, but I ad- 

 vised him not to move his half of the bees away un- 

 til that bloom comes. 



OIL FOR IGNITING FUEL IN SMOKERS. 



I see you have a new kink, using oil for smokers. 

 It is not new, by aay means. I have used dry 

 horse-manure and oil for 4' 2 years. I blew up my 

 smoker the other day— too much oil. I have often 

 had it jump and kick, but this time it fairly blew 

 up— blew out of my hand, turned a summersault, 

 and split wide open in the bottom. 



THE SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOR IN USE FOR 35 

 YEARS. 



I see by the Oct. 15th No. that you say the credit 

 of the invention of the solar wax-e.\tractor belongs 

 to O. O. Poppleton. I can prove that it has been 

 used in San Diego and Sacramento Counties, this 

 State, for 35 years. I can likewise prove that there 

 is now, on the next farm below me, an extractor 

 which has been in use on that farm for 15 years. 

 It is made as complete and perfect as any of the 

 present day. It is 10 feet long, 3 feet wide at top, 

 and tapering to nothing at the bottom. These ex- 

 tractors are, and have been, used entirely for melt- 

 ing comb honey, and thus separating the honey 

 and the wax. It was the only way they had to 

 make "strained" honey. Many large apiarists 

 have them 16 feet long, 4 to 6 feet wide, and cover- 

 ed with hinged sash, made on purpose for them. 

 Only one thickness of glass is \ised. 



The only way here to keep combs is to put them 

 in the top stories of the hives; then you may calcu- 

 late on losing from one-fourth to one-third of them. 

 They dump these combs, frames and all, into the 

 solar extractor. The next morning (or that eve- 

 ning) they can take out their frames, perfectly 

 clean. For these two purposes the solar wax-ex- 

 tractor has been used in California for many years. 

 I used it for another purpose, and tried to say so, 

 but you did not appear to seethe point. I take a 

 large flat pan and fill it with the wax thus obtain- 

 ed, or even old dirty comb. Set it high up next to 

 the glass. Put in a pan, the shape you want your 

 wax for market; have a spout in the upper pan; let 

 it drip into the lower one. There your wax is, 

 ready for market. J. P. Israel, 



Encinitos, San Diego Co., Cal., Dec. 14, 1886. 



