1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



349 



furnished the queen, and he furnished young 

 bees by drumming them out of a colony of 

 his own. In the course of two or three 

 days tiie queen came out of the ol)servatory 

 hive, and all the bees followed her. She 

 then came straight to our ai)iary and enter- 

 ed the hive from which I had removed her. 

 Her own bees accepted her at once, but they 

 stnng to deatli the small swarm of young 

 workers she brouiilit with her. In that 

 case they certainly followed the queen, or, 

 at least, after they had all swarmed out to- 

 gether the queen led them to her old home. 

 — It seems to me, friend Cook, you are just 

 a little hasty in sa\ing you consider the 

 wintering problem solved ; and I think, too, 

 you do not give the cliaff hive proper credit. 

 We have wintered now from 100 to 200 col- 

 onies foi- quite a number of years, and the 

 loss has been so light we almost feel, as you 

 do, that there is no real need of losing bees 

 at all, where they are properly put up for 

 winter. Yes, we too winter weak colonies 

 now without any loss at all, or, at least, we 

 have during the past winter. I should be 

 glad to think that we have the upper hand 

 of this trouble which was, but a few years 

 ago, sucli a grie^■ous one ; but it now seems 

 to me we had better be slow in deciding 

 that we are clear out of the woods. — I am a 

 little surprised to see you decide that ammo- 

 nia or any thing else has any effect in reliev- 

 ing the pain of a bee-sting. Have you test- 

 ed first ammonia, and then nothing at all, 

 a sutlicient number of times to be sure it 

 produces any effect whatever? Perhaps 

 our agricultural colleges are the very places 

 to have tliis matter settled ; but if you set 

 some of the boys at it and let them give it 

 the same fair tests that they give artificial 

 fertilizers, etc., I feel quite certain that the 

 i-esult will show the ammonia has no effect 

 whatever on the bee-sting. The cold-wa- 

 ter bath is, of course, a remedy for the 

 symptoms you mention, but we have dis- 

 cussed this matter pretty thoroughly. The 

 point is. Is there any thing under the sun 

 that you can carry around in a bottle, that 

 will give any relief whatever by applying it 

 externally to the part stung? 



LOW^ PRICES FOK HONEY. 



CAN HONEY BE SOLD AT A REASONABLE 

 COMPENSATION ? 



SF late a good deal has been said in the bee- 

 journals about "overproduction, and the 

 low price of honey." Although my experi- 

 ence has been limited, I have carefully 

 studied the various points presented, and 

 have been very much interested in all that I have 

 read. The (juestion has been handled by abler 

 ones than I; yet many times things are brought 

 out by the lesser lights that are oV)scured by the 

 greater ones. I take the ground, that there can 

 never be an overproduction of honey until the 

 masses of the people of the country become con- 

 sumers; but, how is this to be brought about? A 

 small per cent of the people of this country are 

 consumers of honey, and why? Because it is not 

 brought within their reach. This can 'never be 

 done by sending our honey to the great centers. We 



must develop a home market. But some will say 

 that there are so many going into the business, and 

 who make a failure, they injure the business. This 

 point is not well taken; for wherever bee-keeping 

 has been attempted, and the people became accus- 

 tomed to the use of honey, and bee-keei)ing failed, 

 those who were the successful ones found a ready 

 market for their honey whenever they put it with- 

 in their reach. This was ray experience when I 

 located in Indiana. I was six miles from Ligonier. 

 When I went there, most of the farmers kept a few 

 bees and were accustomed to the free use of honey; 

 but the various casualties destroyed nearly all the 

 bees, and but few keep them now. I was success- 

 ful with mine, and many of my best customers 

 were farmers who formerly kept bees. 1 have 

 sold as much as 100 lbs. to a single person. 1 creat- 

 ed a home reputation and market for mj' honey, 

 which 1 have never been able to supply; and the 

 result has been that a good deal has been imported 

 from a distance. 



The last two seasons, I am aware that there are 

 many producers who have a large amount of honey 

 which they can not dispose of in their own imme- 

 diate vicinity; but if they will take a load of honey, 

 and canvass the country through, introduce it to 

 the farmers, make arrangements to supply future 

 demands, visit the towns around, introduce it to 

 the people, and leave some on commission with one 

 or more good men, they will invariably create a 

 permanent market. It is true, this is accompanied 

 with expense; but when once established it will not 

 amount to as much as the delays, shrinkage, etc., 

 mot in sending to the large markets; and by with- 

 holding shipments to the large cities, and thus re- 

 ducing their su|)ply, better prices would be obtain- 

 ed there. I do not claim that the large producers 

 can dispose of all their crop in this way, but they 

 may greatly extend their markets and obtain bet- 

 ter results. 



Then, again, they must get their honey in the 

 shape demanded by their markets, and not try to 

 bend the markets to their style or notion. I think 

 that Mrs. Cliaddock has hit upon a sensible plan in 

 Gleanings for 1886, page 887, in accommodating 

 herself to the demands of her customers, and no 

 doubt she will sell more honey in that way than if 

 she insisted upon her style. I think with her, that 

 there is too much style put on otir honey for the 

 general market. Let us put on all the style we can 

 with our honey to tickle the fancy of the rich, and 

 get as large a price as we can for it; but let us drop 

 all the style we can for the general market, and try 

 to get our honej- as cheap as we can, to bring it 

 within the reach of all. 



That honey can be produced and sold with a 

 reasonable compensation for money and labor in- 

 vested, at a much lower figure than the present 

 prices obtained, is fully demonstrated by many 

 reports that have been published. A very great 

 hindrance in accomplishing this end lies in the 

 tendency of the people to abandon the cheap and 

 simple hives and fixtures, and to experiment with 

 and adopt many so-called improved hives, against 

 which I have not a word to say, for they are all 

 nice and convenient to handle, and to talk and 

 write about; but any one will acknowledge that 

 they are accompanied with more expense and la- 

 bor, which I do not think is compensated for by the 

 increased amount of production. What we want Is 

 a simple, inexpensive hive, with few parts, and all 



