83: 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUETUKE. 



Nov. 



some one whom I did not remember. It 

 now transpires that I got the suggestion 

 from an editorial in the ApicuUitrist. Mr. 

 Alley, in calling my attention to this fact, 

 writes that he has used this tao'; system for 

 years, and that it has given him excellent 

 satisfaction. From my present knowledge 

 of it I am well pleased witli it, and unless I 

 discover something bettei I shall use it in 

 (lueen-rearing next season, if (ah! there's 

 the rab) foul brood_should not favor us with 

 another visitation.' By the way, if any of 

 our readers know of a better system, dif- 

 ferent from the slate tablets and tacks for 

 recording the condition of the hive, let ns 

 hear froin you. It must be a record simple 

 ill plan, quick in operation, and one which 

 will be intelligible a short distance from the 

 hive, as well as in its immediate vicinity. 



D. A. JONKS'S ISOLATED FOUL-BROOD API- 

 ARY FOR EXPERIMENTAL PURPOSES. 



From the Canadian Bee Journal of Oct. 26, 

 page 634, we are informed that our energetic 

 friend Jones, the past season, established 

 an apiary in an isolated locality for the pur- 

 pose of experimenting with fovil tirood. The 

 location is ten miles from his home, and a 

 man is kept in this hospital yard the entire 

 season, daring which time it is visited fre- 

 quently by friend -Tones. Among other 

 tilings, in speaking of carbolic acid in treat- 

 ing foul-broody colonies, he says: 



Tt seemed to entirely jjimcnf the spreading of Ihe 

 (liseasc,hut it did nid srr'm to cure it, nithoug-h it ap- 

 parently did not increase, and in many instances 

 appeared to decrease ; and from apjiearances we 

 should not doubt that, commencing- this treatment 

 early in sprin"-. and continuing it all summer. It 

 raiffht bo cured; because where the sprayinar ot the 

 combs and bees was carried on and phenol given, 

 tlie bees were mere inclined to clean out the dead 

 larva': but it does seem like a waste of time, as far 

 as our exeriments have, gone unless it is to prevent 

 the spreading- of the disease. 



The italics are mine. The facts, as stated 

 above, agree exactly with my experience ; 

 and at different times I have mentioned the 

 fact that, while carbolic acid failed to cure 

 the disease, yet it evidently prevented its 

 spread. This is sustained from what I am 

 able to gather from correspondence, and from 

 both American and foreign journals. In 

 some cases I have seen reports where it ef- 

 fected an absolute cure. Certain it is, out of 

 a great many colonies I could not cure a sin- 

 gle one by spraying with carbolic acid alone. 

 Though repeated sprayings were adminis- 

 tered the whole season, sooner or later it 

 became evident we should have to go back 

 to the Jones plan, which we did at last. In 

 the^same article,'friend .lones says further: 



The fasting plan, in four^cxperience, is the quick- 

 est, safest, cheapest, and most perfect treatment 

 that I have been able to find. 



You are just right, friend Jones. The 

 only plan which I have found that would 

 effect an absolute cure in a stmrt time, is 

 your plan, or at least one ''embodying the 

 fundamental ])rinciples of it; but if foul 

 brood should break out in our apiary next 

 spring, I would use the fasting plan, or a 

 modihcation of it, accompanied with the use 

 of carbolic acid, the latter to keep the dis- 

 ease from spreading, and the former to wipe 

 it out. 



HONEY-HOLDING OFF FOR BETTER 

 PRICES. 



SOME IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS FROM FRIEND 

 MUTH. 



fRIEND ROt)T:— Almost everybody is convinc- 

 ed of the fact, 1 suppose, that prices of hon- 

 ey, as well as those of other products of 

 the farm, have been too low for the last five 

 or six years. Some of them have been and 

 are now below the cost of production. Better 

 prices are desirable. It is the good fortune of pro- 

 ducers and dealers, if the prices of honey advance 

 and the advance is sustained. But there is a cer- 

 tain limit, and it will be a mistake if extravagant 

 ideas are entertained by producers. Manufactur- 

 ers and consumers commenced to use honey ex- 

 tensively, because cheap, in the place of other 

 sweets, and they will drop it again if prices exceed 

 their views. We have been taking pains, perhaps 

 second to none in the country, to introduce ex- 

 tracted honey to manufacturers, and we thought 

 once that we had succeeded in establishing a de- 

 mand for the largest part of the honey produced in 

 the Southern States. The cheaper glucose, how- 

 ever, spoiled our expectations. Lower prices fol- 

 lowed, and a consequently better demand for honey, 

 besides new customers being added in different 

 branches of business. Your"prices are, to the 

 greatest extent, the result of a good demand; and 

 every dealer knows that belter profits are, general- 

 ly, synonymous with an advance in values. My 

 sentiments are, therefore, not so much of a phil- 

 anthrophic as of a selfish nature when I speak in 

 favor of better prices. But it would be a calamity 

 for Southern bee-keepers if the demand from man- 

 ufacturers should be lost again because of a mis- 

 taken idea. Although the present scarcity of hon- 

 ey is a change for the better, to the best of my 

 judgment, we should not forget that a short crop of 

 extracted honey is an exception to the rule, and 

 that all were complaining of an overstocked mar- 

 ket up to a few months ago. 



Extracted honey has fairly begun to be a staple 

 article, dift'ereut from comb houey, which will re- 

 main a fancy article only. It will be consumed 

 largely when plentiful and cheap, and less will be 

 consumed when the contrary is the case. 

 Cincinnati, O., Oct. 3;J, 1887. Chas. F. Muth. 



No doul)t you are right about it, old 

 friend ; and since we have got up to 8 cts. 

 for basswood and i» for clover honey, we 

 have had more offered than we need, and we 

 are not making many sales either. One dif- 

 ticulty in the way of making sales is, that 

 before we can sell the honey we are obliged 

 to put it up in smaller packages than it 

 comes in when we buy it ; and the cost of 

 these packages has to be added to the cost 

 of the honey ; therefore we can not retail it 

 out for less than from two to three cents 

 above what we pay by the barrel. I pre- 

 sume we shall lie oi)lig'ed to go back on our 

 offer a little— say 7 cts. for basswood and 8 

 for clover. I think it quite desirable that 

 the old honey be pretty much all moved off 

 and used up before we begin to get the new. 

 And now an interesting question comes up : 

 Where will the first new honey come from— 

 for instance, new clover or basswood honey? 

 How far south do clover and basswood 

 flourish ? Who can enlighten us ? 



