1370 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



Around Monterey is an immense territory very 

 suitable for bee-keeping, whicii must sooner or 

 later appeal to American bee-keepers, and I 

 imagine it will not be long before some of our 

 enterprising be^-men will exploit this new territory 



THE PRICE OF HONEY IN BELGIUM. 



On a number of occasions it has been noted 

 in these columns that, in many parts of Kurope, 

 the price of honey is established by the local 

 bee-keepers' society. In Le Progress Apicole, of 

 Belgium, for October, the retail prices in various 

 sections are announced. As they are interesting 

 to many they are appended here. (The cost of 

 the package is borne-by the buyer.) 



Section of Binche, crop rather small; price 22^ 

 cents; wax, 36 cents. Section of Bioul. 18 cents; 

 wax, 36. Section de Cul-des-Sarts, 22>^ cents 

 for honey. Section de Fayt-lez-Manage, 20 

 cents. Section de Geronsart, 18 cents Section 

 de Jurbise, 18 cents. Section de Maredret, 20 

 cents. Section de Solre-sur-Sambre, 20 cents. 

 Section de Thy-de-Chateau, 20 cents. Section 

 de Trazegnies, 22^ cents. Section d'Yvior, 18 

 cents. Section de Rosel, 18 to 20 cents. 



There is nothing very arbitrary about this 

 plan. If a bee-keeper feels he should sell his 

 honey for less he may do so; but the prices 

 quoted are generally adhered to, and in time 

 buyers are satisfied. Of course, honey not up 

 to the standard will have to be shaded. 

 * 



LE LIVRE DE L'aPICULTURE BELGE. 



Monsieur Desire Halleux, of Spa, Belgium, has 

 very kindly sent me a copy of his new book on 

 bee culture, of which he is the author. Few men 

 are better situated to get out a first-class bee-book 

 than he. As editor of L'Abeille et sa Culture he 

 keeps in touch with current literature. He is 

 professor of apiculture at the Huy School of 

 Agriculture; president of the bee-keepers' union 

 in his section, and a counselor on bee-kee ing to 

 the Belgian government. The result is, he has 

 turned out an excellent manual for Belgian and 

 French bee-keepers. It has 383 pages, almost as 

 large as Gleanings, and yet it costs only 50 cts. 

 (postage extra). The paper and printing are both 

 good. From the American standpoint it would 

 not be considered up-to-date; but " Le Livre de 

 r Apiculture Beige" has some ideas well worthy 

 of introduction into this country. It shows, for 

 example, a robber-trap that is very ingenious and 

 cheap. The honey and wax presses are ingenious 

 and well built, and there are several other clever 

 inventions illustrated. The subject-matter is ex- 

 tra good, showing a comprehensive grasp of the 

 subject. It has a strong chapter on the uses of 

 honey, which I may allude to later. One asser- 

 tion is worthy of note. On page 359 it says: 

 " Sugar is to honey what margarine is to butter. " 

 — Rusticus. That sentence is worthy of constant 

 reiteration. 



# 



WESTRALIA. 



We have received the " Fleet Number" of the 

 West Australian Times, published at Perth. The 

 special number is published, of course, as a me- 

 mento of the visit of the American battleship 

 squadron to the city of Albany, W. A. A good 

 deal of it is taken up with a description of the 



country from a settler's point of view, and a 

 synopsis of the land laws. The latter seem to be 

 extremely liberal — IftO acres for $20. The cli- 

 mate is similar to California, and the crops grown 

 are about the same. A " land bank," owned by 

 the state government, lends money to settlers for 

 the purpose of improving the homestead and pur- 

 chasing stock; also for clearing off the land. The 

 country is timbered with very fine hard woods, 

 eucalyptus being plentiful; also wattle and bank- 

 sia and other famous honey-producing plants. I 

 am under the impression West .Australia holds 

 the record for the greatest yield of honey ever re- 

 ported from one colony of bees. In some years 

 their yields are wonderful It is an immense 

 country, being four times as large as Texas. Po- 

 tentially it is very rich, and in time ought to be- 

 come one of the great nations of the earth if only 

 a sufficiency of the Caucasian race of men settle 

 there. An American farmer would probably feel 

 more at home in West Australia than any other 

 foreign country in the world. Every thing seems 

 to be managed on American lines, and the people 

 are sincere admirers of the great republic of the 

 west. They are equally optimistic and demo- 

 cratic. More details can probably be obtained 

 from the Colonial Secretary's Office, Perth, West 

 Australia, by any one who has an idea of going 

 there to settle. 



PARCELS POST CRITICISED. 



A friend who keeps a hardware store at Wil- 

 bur, Nebraska, sends me a very courteous criti- 

 cism of my stand on the parcels-post question, 

 and in addition he incloses a pamphlet written by 

 C. W. Burrows, one of the largest booksellers in 

 the United States. Mr. Burrows' article I have 

 read before, and, so far as I am personally con- 

 cerned, his arguments have no weight, because 

 he denounces mail-order concerns when he him- 

 self does a very large mail-order business in 

 books. Of course, he pays only 8 cents per lb. 

 postage on books. If he had to pay 16 cents it 

 would probably make quite a difference in his 

 attitude. Furthermore, many of his statements 

 are not true. In Europe there is a parcels-post 

 service in every country, and from one country 

 to another ; and, though it has been working for 

 many years, it has not had the effects he says it 

 will have in this country. Just the contrary is 

 the case. Country merchants in Europe like 

 parcels post. They do a lot of business by cata- 

 log. There, when a man steps into a country 

 store where hardware is sold, and inquires for an 

 article, the merchant does not send him away, 

 but tells him he can get it for him in 24 hours. 

 He orders it sent straight from the wholesale 

 house to the customer, so he never sees it. He 

 makes a profit just the same. Let us suppose a 

 case. A bee-keeper in Nebraska goes in a great 

 hurry to a hardware store and inquires if they 

 have a little comb foundation or a few sections. 

 The merchant says, " No, but we can send them 

 to you in a day or two if you will leave your 

 order." The bee-keeper goes home, and in less 

 than two days the mail-wagon leaves the goods 

 at his house. It is the same in every other kind 

 of business, and very much so in the case of 

 hardware, for no country dealer can afford to 

 keep a complete stock. He keeps a full set of 

 catalogs, however. 



