i887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



433 



namely, a dealer, purchasing or ordering honey, 

 will just as readily take a large crate as he would a 

 small one. This way more honey would be disposed 

 of at less expense to the producer. 



3. We prefer to have the crates glassed on both 

 sides (provided the sections arc unglassed), as the 

 honey will show up to better advantage, besides 

 improving and adding to the appearance of the 

 crate. 



3. For a single-tier crate, we prefer the crate to 

 hold 24 or 2.5 combs, either 4x6 or .5.Y.5. 



For a do>ible-tier crate we would recommend a 

 crate to hold 32 combs, 16 to each tier, 4x4, showing 

 8 combs on each side. We can not indorse a larger 

 crate; for instance, one holding 48 combs, as it is 

 too heavy to be handled carefully while in transit. 

 H. Segelkkn, 

 Manager of Honey Dep't of 



ThURBEH, WHYL.4ND & CO. 



New York, May 9, 18H7. 



After receiving the replies above, and as 

 the answers seemed to favor tlie single-tier 

 case, we wrote to Dr. Miller, knowing tliat 

 he rather preferred the double-tier case, and 

 requested him to give his preferences, and 

 brietly how to construct the case. His an- 

 swer appears below: 



1. The double tier shipping-case has the objection 

 that there is danger of injury to tlio lower tier of 

 sections by the upper tier resting upon them. It 

 also presents a bad appearance, to have the bot- 

 toms of the upper tier and the tops of the lower 

 tier show iti the center of the glassed side. These 

 are the two principal objections to the double tier; 

 but by putting a bar across the middle of the glass- 

 ed side, and using, instead of a single piece of glass, 

 two pieces of the same size as are used in the single- 

 tier cases, the second objection disappears. 'I'he first 

 objection is removed by using a false bottom be- 

 tween the two tiers, so supported that no weight 

 comes upon the lower tier. We have, then, in favor 

 of tlie double tier, less cost per section, and a finer 

 appearance when piled up, as a greater proportion 

 of glassed surface appears in the double-tier pile. 

 Thus the double tier has the preference. 



2. On one side, as it shows just as well and costs 

 less. 



3. Twenty-four one-pound sections. 

 Marengo, 111. C. C. Mii.lkh. 



CALIFORNIA. 



HONKY-YIELUING PLANTS AND TKEES OF EI.,DOBA- 

 D(l COUNTY. 



flUR honey season in Eldorado County com- 

 mences about the first of February, and ends 

 about the last of June. July, August, and 

 September are the dry months. In October 

 the fall Howers commence to bloom, and 

 continue in bloom until about November 1511). 

 The first thing that the bees work on here is the 

 willow, from which they obtain a great amount of 

 pollen. Manzanita commences to bloom a few days 

 later, and continues to bloom for about six weeks. 

 Manzanita is a pretty good honey-yielding bush. 

 I never saw a season yet that bees did not work on 

 It. Chaparall is next in bloom after manzanita. 

 Bees worked pretty hard on chaparall this seasoti. 

 California lilac commences to bloom after chapar- 

 all. There are five or six different species of Cali- 

 fornia lilac, all of which are good honey-yielding 



bushes. California lilac is the most important of 

 all the honey-yielding bushes of the Sierras. 



Maples, dogwood, wild cherry, and plum are good 

 houey-yielders. There are several species of wild 

 clover which the bees work on. The most imj)or- 

 tant one is Indian clover. Al)out the 15th of March, 

 madrona commences to bloom, and continues for 

 about two weeiis; bees work very hard on it some 

 seasons. Sometimes thousands of bees are at work 

 on a single tree. 



Poison oak, snge, pennyroyal, and cardinal Hower 

 are good honey-yielders. Folocio commences to 

 bloom in May, and continues until the last of June. 

 It is the best honey-plant that we have here. Cal- 

 ifornia lilac yields more honey, but it is not as 

 good. The honey from folocio is of a beautiful 

 straw color, and weighs about 11 lbs. to the gallon. 

 Holl.v, buckeye, and wild coffee are good j-.oney- 

 bushes. In July and August, bees do not work 

 much— just enough to keep out of rol)liing each 

 other. Mints, smartweed. and hartshorn Ijlooni in 

 the fall. Hartshorn yields consideralile lioney. 

 Italian bees stored several pounds of hone.^• frotii it 

 while the black bees did nothing. S. L. W,\tkins. 



Grizzly Flats, Cal. 



HOW^ t DISPOSED OF 4600 POUNDS OF 

 HONEY. 



SOME OOOD SUGGESTIONS FROM G. F. ROBHINR. 



TTIRmND ROOT:— I have about finished my crop 

 E^ of lioney for I88fi, and now shall I tell you how 

 P' I did it? When the gathering season closed 

 '^ and the marketing season opened, I had gath- 

 ered in what I had carefully estimated at 4fi(.(i 

 lbs., of which 30,50 was comb honey and 1550 was ex- 

 tracted. Squads of honey had been raised, and city 

 and viUage markets were alike glutted. How 1 

 should dispose of this, the largest crop 1 have had. 

 with more competition in a day than I had ever had 

 before in a week, was the problem. This is how I 

 solved it : 



1. I got one or two merchants in the three \'illages 

 near, to sell for me. They did from a little to noth- 

 ing for me. They sold for me about 2.50 lbs. 



2. I worked my home market by personal effort foi- 

 all it was worth. No one. to whom I thought I had 

 any chance of selling, escaped me. I was more suc- 

 cessful. I sold nearly 800 lbs. in this way. Much of 

 this patronage was secured in exchange for work 

 and various commodities — nearly half, perhaps, in 

 which no money was handled. 



3. By corresponding with parties in Kansas, with 

 whom I had had some business or personal ac- 

 quaintance, I sold 430 lbs. Another man in that 

 State ordered, through a relative here, 115 lbs. of 

 extracted honey. 



4. I canvassed the hotels of Springfield. At only 

 one did I succeed in making a sale. That concern 

 took in, at difterent times, nearly 21K) lbs. 



5. I worked, when convenient, with private pai-- 

 ties in Springfield, including business men. I even 

 tried peddling a little, commencing with reluctance 

 and quitting with disgust. My efforts in these direc- 

 tions were the most barren of all. I sold in that 

 way, and traded, about 175 lbs. 



6. I shipped about KiS lbs. to Cincinnati, about the 

 holidays, in 4S-lb. cases. It was the finest of my 

 honey — the very pick. But being in large cases it 

 seems to have dragged along- until in March, when I 



