1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



523 



clover honey, extracted, was held over from 

 last year. There will also be quite a quanti- 

 ty or this year's white clover and basswood, 

 but returns indicate that it will be slow in 

 coming in. It is probable that prices on a 

 sh'ictly pure clover honey, both extracted 

 and como, will advance some over quotations 

 for last year. While there has been a light 

 iTop of clover and basswood, there is no 

 question but that there has been a pretty 

 good yield of alfalfa in most of the Western 

 btates. This will have a tendency to level 

 prices on clover. Mountain sage from Cali- 

 fornia will also be somewhat in evidence in 

 the Eastern markets. 



The prospects for New York buckwheat 

 from present reports are somewhat unfavor- 

 able. Good rains and hot weather which 

 have come in since may change this. 



The following report from a commission 

 house came too late for insertion in our last 

 issue, and we use it here. As this house 

 has been gathering data from the West and 

 Southwest, their summary will be read with 

 interest. 



Afr. ^00/.— Your favor of a recent date is received, 

 asking for information as to the prospects, receipts, 

 conditions, and range of prices this year as compared 

 with an average year. As to prospects, we have re- 

 ports from twelve States as follows: Utah, one re- 

 ports good, one poor; Colorado, ten good, one poor; 

 Idaho, one poor; Kansas, seven good, two poor; Ne- 

 braska, one good, one poor; Iowa, eight good, seven 

 poor; Missouri, ten good, three poor; Nevada, one 

 poor; California, two good; Mississippi, two good; 

 Pennsylvania, one good; New Mexico, one good; also 

 have quite a number reporting "too early to estimate," 

 or "season backward on account of rain and cool 

 weather." 



Our receipts up to this time have been better than 

 last year; have had no trouble in selling upon arrival; 

 in fact, the demand far exceeds the supply, but we do 

 not really look for as heavy receipts this year as last. 



It is a little early as yet to predict prices. We are 

 getting S3.25 for No. 1 white comb in 24-section eases; 

 ^.00 for No. 2 white and light amber. There is no new 

 extracted on the market as yet, Ijut a fair supply of 

 last year's crop is selling at 6I2 for amber, and 7 for 

 the white. We really look for prices to settle down to 

 about $;5.00 for No. 1 white comb and $2.75 for No. 2 and 

 light amber. We hope and really believe that we will 

 not have a repetition of last year's prices. 



We should like to express our opinion right here in 

 regard to grades, especially for our market. We do 

 not believe it pays the producer to make two grades of 

 his fancy and No. 1 comb, as it is very seldom that a 

 retailer will pay any more for fancy than he will for 

 No. 1. for the reason that he can get just as much for a 

 section of No. 1 as he can for a section of fancy in 

 retailing it. We advocate a No. 1 and a No. 2 grade 

 for white honey and the same for amber. 



.\s to conditions and quality, we will say that so far 

 the quality has been good. We are not troubled here 

 with black honey-dew, but are troubled considerably 

 with poor grading. Some producers think it a good 

 way to work off their off-colored and light-weight sec- 

 tions by putting them in cases faced up with No. 1, 

 but they usually find out that this does not pay. 



Kansas City, Mo. C. C. Cle.mons Produce Co. 



HIGH-WHEELED AUTOS FOR OITT-APIARY USE. 



Mr. Byron Walker, in his article, this is- 

 sue, page 533, incidentally refers to the fact 

 that he is using with some satisfaction a high- 

 wheeled Holsman automobile for his outyard 

 work. We wonder if there are not some 

 others of our readers who have tested this 

 or some other type of machine. If there are, 

 we hope they will give us the benefit of their 

 experience. While some of these reports 

 may seem like free advertising forjsome of 



the machines. Gleanings will be glad to have 

 the facts brought out for the benefit of its 

 patrons who desire some cheap, quick, and 

 reliable method to get to outyards. 



We may say incidentally that high-wheel- 

 ed automobiles, with solid rubber tires, are 

 fast coming to be an assured success. They 

 will go over muddy roads without skidding, 

 in a way that some of the high-priced pneu- 

 matic-tired machines can not. In a limited 

 way we have tested the two types of ma- 

 chines, and have become convmced that, 

 for bee-yard work, the buggy type of auto- 

 mobiles with its sohd rubber tires and high 

 wheels has almost reached, if it has not al- 

 ready done so, a stage where the bee-keeper 

 can adopt it to advantage. 



Where there are several apiaries from 20 

 to 25 miles away, it is important to have some 

 quick means for reaching these yards in any 

 kind of weather and over any kind of roads. 

 We are using the pneumatic-tired machine; 

 but when the roads are bad and slippery we 

 have to wait till they dry up. In the mean 

 time work at the yards is neglected. 



It is fair to state that the high-wheeled 

 autos have not yet reached the state of per- 

 fection that has characterized the lower- 

 wheeled machines with pneumatic tires. 

 The engines of the buggy type are cheaper 

 in construction, in most cases air-cooled, run 

 at a comparatively high speed, and are more 

 or less noisy. In country districts, where 

 horses have not become accustomed to them, 

 a high-wheeled, high-speed, air-cooled en- 

 gine mounted in one of these horseless ve- 

 hicles, is likely to put the horse-drawn affair 

 out of business, from the fact that the horse 

 itself may have a regular "conniption fit." 

 The motors of the pneumatic-tired outfits, on 

 the other hand, are of a higher grade, usual- 

 ly water-cooled, slower in speed, and, in 

 some of the best makes of machines, com- 

 paratively noiseless. So far for our own use 

 we have continued to use the pneumatics, 

 principally because they are more reliable, 

 better made, and are comparatively quiet 

 while on the road. In our own locality, for 

 example, we can pass almost any sort of 

 horse-drawn vehicle with little or no danger 

 of scaring horses. 



We consider this question of the rapid 

 means of reaching outyards a vital one. We 

 believe the day is almost at hand when the 

 horseless carriage will be the cheapest means 

 of reaching these yards. The ordinary cost 

 for gasoline and oil will not exceed a cent a 

 mile as a rule. The ordinary horse, if he be 

 maintained the year round, can not draw a 

 vehicle to a yard short of five cents a mile, 

 if we take into consideration the fact that he 

 has to be fed oats and hay for over six months 

 in the year when he is not in use. The gas- 

 oline horse, to carry out the figure, eats only 

 when he is in use, and, moreover, does not 

 require attention three times a day when he 

 is idle in the barn or garage; and, what is 

 more, when he is driven he can be steered 

 among the hives without any danger of spill- 

 ing the whole load because of a stray sting 

 or two. 



