294 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



buys. I believe nothing would restore con- 

 fidence in the purity of comb honey sooner 

 than to have every producer of comb honey 

 place his name and address upon ever}' 

 section of his best grades. 



D. I. Wagar. 

 Flat Rock, Mich., Mar. 11. 



[There is some truth in what j'ou say. 

 But this is the contention of the commission 

 man; and, for argument's sake, suppose I 

 am that man. I have sold, we will say, a 

 good deal of Mr. A's honey — a very fine 

 honey which bears A's stamp. Mj' cus- 

 tomers are well pleased with it, and call 

 for more of the same brand. I get out, and 

 can't get any more because A is sold out. I 

 may have tons and tons of B"s honey that is 

 just as good, or better, bearing the brand 

 of B. I ship it, and my customer "kicks," 

 retorting that he ordered honey branded 

 with A's stamp. The point is here: If 

 neither A's nor B's honey had been brand- 

 ed or stamped, the B lot of honey, of the 

 same grade and quality, would have passed 

 muster readilj'. But, taking it all in all, I 

 am rather of the impression that, if all 

 comb honey were labeled by the producer, 

 it would have a strong tendency to bring 

 about confidence in that product. If Mr. A 

 can produce an extra-fancy grade of honejs 

 and certain customers demand it at an}' 

 price, rather than take any other honey 

 "just as good," why shovild not A receive 

 credit for his skill, and get a corresponding 

 price? I believe Dr. Miller always sells 

 his comb honey to one man; and, if I am 

 not mistaken, that man is willing to buy 

 his crop in advance. Why ? Because he 

 knows that Dr. Miller's honey is always of 

 a certain quality and grading. 



There is a great deal to be said on both 

 sides of this question; but I think the weight 

 of the argument is in favor of labeling or 

 branding. It certainly would redound to 

 the credit of producers to put up a fine 

 qualit}' of goods. There is not a doubt 

 that such honey would bring a higher price 

 in the open market. — Ed.] 



VRNTILATION AND DAMPNESS IN BEE-CEL- 

 LARS. REPLY TO G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Mr. Root: — I have just read Bro. Doolit- 

 tle's review of my ventilation article, and 

 find no complaint to make. However, it 

 would be a great pleasure to know if he 

 ever recommended the experiment of win- 

 tering, indoors or out, bees with from onlj' 

 5 to 10 pounds of hone}'. I get some gen- 

 eral facts regarding bees from Mr. O. J. 

 Hetherington, and have not in mind now 

 that bee-keepers in Eastern New York have 

 ever so recommended. 



It is not impossible that the weight of ten 

 feet of dry pine lumber should have doubled 

 in weight in Mr. Doolittle's cellar, and con- 

 tributed very materially in balancing the 

 loss of honey between the dry hives put in 

 cellar and the "equal to green " taken out. 

 Practically, 5 or 10 lbs. honey consumption 



will not prove to be the weight recommend- 

 ed for safe wintering. 



I like the allusion to trouble incident to 

 ventilation. The plan I have adopted as an 

 experiment would render the experiment 

 useless, rationally considered, if no notes 

 of temperature and conditions had been ob- 

 served. Would bee-keepers have been any 

 better informed had Gleanings made no 

 mention of the bees under the machine-shop? 



I have doubts about the arrangement I 

 made in my flue for closing it. I am not 

 sure that closing it would have raised the 

 temperature. I have never closed it, and 

 don't know. It is generally admitted that 

 dampness lowers the temperature; if so, to 

 have closed it would have defeated the ob- 

 ject. 



The temperature these warm days ranges 

 from 32 to 45 outdoors. My bee-cellar shows 

 no variation of any account, showing SO 

 morning and evening, when I pull up out 

 of the top of the cellar my thermometer. I 

 was g'lad to hear from your machine-shop. 

 We may all be glad to run an engine to 

 winter our bees yet. T. F. Bingham. 



Farwell, Mich., Mar. 10. 



[One thing we have proven is that noise 

 does not disturb bees. And another thing 

 we have proven to our own satisfaction, 

 and that is, that ventilation, and lots of it, 

 keeps the bees quiet. — Ed.] 



200 LBS. (half comb honey) FROM ONE 

 QUEEN. 



It was a very poor season here last year. 

 I harvested over 1000 lbs. of honey from 25 

 colonies. I had one queen that I bought 

 from J. P. Moore, of Morgan. Ky., whose 

 bees gathered 200 lbs. of the 1000 lbs. This 

 Moore stock gathered 100 lbs. of comb honey 

 (white clover), and their queen did not 

 swarm. I had a little over 100 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted froin what you call heartsease, 

 which is very plentiful here some seasons. 

 I have had very good success for a begin- 

 ner, which I give your valuable ABC and 

 Gleanings credit for. I could never have 

 been so successful in so short a time with- 

 out them. The Homes department has been 

 a great comfort to me. L. C. Medkiff. 



Salem, N. J. 



COVERS COVERKD WITH CANVAS INSTEAD 

 OF PAPER. 



As regards hive-covers, I would give con- 

 siderably more for one covered with canvas, 

 and painted, than one with Neponset paper 

 on it. One covered with canvas will stand 

 (if painted once in three years), ten times 

 the hard usage that the paper one will. In 

 fact, after it has had three coats of paint 

 when made, you cotild walk on it and not 

 hurt the canvas. After one has tried the 

 canvas I don't think you could get him to 

 use the paper. F. P. Briggs. 



Ayer, Mass., Dec. 26. 



