1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



295 



be open to the upper hive. It will help matters if you will 

 moisten the combs, unless they have been kept in a damp 

 place. 



If no other bees are about, you can have the work done 

 more rapidly by setting the hives filled with the combs a few 

 rods away from the bees, having them properly arranged to 

 catch the granules thrown out from the cells. Better clean 

 out every evening after the bees stop flying. 



^ I I 



AVhat AiU the Bees { 



There are lots of bees in the hive, but they don't work 

 much, if any. They have lots of honey. I have been trying 

 to feed them syrup made of granulated sugar and a little 

 maple syrup. I put it inside the hive, and then outside, and 

 they would hardly touch it. A colony by the side of it would 

 take it fast enough. Once in a while a bee goes in with a 

 load of pollen, while the colony beside it brings in lots. The 

 combs are built from one frame to the other, so I can't take 

 them out. C. C. 



Belleville, Mich. 



Answer. — Hard to tell what the trouble is. Maybe they're 

 lazy bees, and maybe they're queenless. Unless the combs 

 are too badly crossed, it would be a good plan to straighten 

 them up, cutting loose the attachments, and getting them so 

 they are movable. 





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"Oil-Can Frauds" in California. 



On page 2"20 of Gleanings for March 15 I find an item 

 entitled " Coal-Oil Can Frauds," copied from the American 

 Bee Journal, which strikes me very forcibly, and so I should 

 like to ask a few questions for information. 



1. What do new cans cost in the East ? 



2. Is the American Bee Journal interested in a can-fac- 

 tory ? 



3. Is not a good, bright coal-oil can as good as any 

 if thoroughly cleaned and deodorized ? 



I think we must use coil-oil cans in this part of California, 

 as long as we can get them, while new cans cost 29>^ cents 

 apiece. The strongest argument in favor of new cans is that 

 they do not have to be cleaned. Some men are slovenly about 

 anything they do, while others don't care so long as they can 

 get their goods ofiE their hands. This class should suffer, and 

 not those who do their work thoroughly. In this warm cli- 

 mate it is an easy matter to make a coal-oil can as sweet as a 

 rose. Perhaps you will not believe this unless T give the recipe 

 for cleaning the can and removing the odor. It is this : 



Keep the cans prepared some two or three weeks ahead 

 of the time they will be needed. To clean, first take off the 

 oil-faucet; punch a small hole in one corner of the can ; drain 

 out all the oil that will run ; expose in the sun for a few days 

 the cans thus drained, then use hot water and gold-dust wash- 

 ing-powder thoroughly. Follow this by rinsing till clean, and 

 again place in the hot sun. In a few days it will be impossible 

 to perceive the scent of oil in them. Cans must be left open 

 while taking their sun-bath, and the open end up, to give the 

 evaporating water a chance to escape. 



We need some cheaper method than we now have for put- 

 ting up our extracted honey ; but what shall it be ? We have 

 no honey-barrels on this coast — not to my knowledge, at least; 

 and even if we had, they would not hold honey in this climate. 



[Mr. York is in no way interested in the sale of square 

 cans; in fact, I do not believe he even knows what the cans 

 can be bought for. It is true that second-hand oil-cans may 

 be bought cheaply ; but when we come to figure the fuss of 

 cleaning them up, and the risk of not getting them clean, I 

 am very much of the opinion that they will not be found any 

 cheaper than new cans, especially when bought in car lots by 



bee-keepers clubbing together. But now since the Exchange 

 has come into existence, every member of it can buy at car- 

 load rates. But there is one thing that you evidently do not 

 count on; and that is, that dealers here are prejudiced 

 against any California honey put up in old oil-cans, ox o\A 

 cans of any sort. I have no doubt that ynu can make the 

 cans clean and sweet; but I am a little afraid that some bee- 

 keepers will make a bungle of it. Let a few cans of this oily 

 honey get in with a lot of good honey, and the whole will be 

 condemned. Dealers will, on the slightest pretext, knock the 

 price down, and California bee-keepers cannot afford to take 

 any chances. — Ed.]— Gleanin'gs. 



The Low Prices of Honey. 



I happen to know that, within less than 100 miles of San 

 Francisco, amber extracted sold last summer at 15 cents per 

 pound, or two pounds for a quarter, and comb honey is un_- 

 known save at the holidays, when it brings from 20 to 2o 

 cents. The grocers in Los Angeles to-day, February, lSfJ6, 

 charge their customers from S to 10 cents per pound for 

 honey that the producer receives only from 4 to iH cents for. 



Is the consumer benefited by the low prices the producer 

 has to take? Certainly not. I believe a part of those profits 

 belongs to the producer and a part to the consumer. The 

 question is. How are we to obtain what justly belongs to us? 

 It is possible that, in order to help ourselves, we may have to 

 first help the consumer. 



I contend that the real remedy for low prices with us is an 

 enlarged demand. It goes without saying, that a demand far 

 in excess of the present supply can be created by placing honey 

 before the consumer at a price that he can afford to pay. The 

 consumer is the poor man ; the masses are poor, and the 

 masses must have cheap food. It is said, that for every ill 

 there is a remedy. I believe we have our remedy within our 

 grasp. Let us establish, through our Exchange, selling- 

 agencies for our honey in every town and city we can reach. 

 Let the honey be packed by the Exchange to suit any market ; 

 let it be covered by the Exchange guaranty, and he sold at 

 Exchange prices. Make those prices such as will afford a fair 

 price to the producer, a fair compensation to the agent, and it 

 surely will be a much lower price than he now pays, to the 

 consumer. When an agent tampers with Exchange goods or 

 Exchange prices, bounce him. Sell no honey under any cir- 

 cumstances to wholesalers to be repacked— glucosed. If they 

 want honey in small packages we will pack it for them, and 

 put our seal upon every package.— C. H. Clayton, in Glean- 

 ings. 



An Object Lesson. 



I made up my mind that the people wanted educating, 

 and I proposed to give them an object-lesson. I had some 

 cards printed, saying that, if it was warm and pleasant Satur- 

 day, I would give a free exhibition on the public square at 

 2:30. The next Saturday was a fine, warm day, and at the 

 appointed time I drove up with a large farm-wagon, having 

 on it an observatory hive, a three-frame nucleus, one large 

 hive without bees, an extractor, oil-stove, tin pails to heat 

 water in, uncapping-knife and box, ten supers with uncapped 

 combs, water-pail, and the same old " barrel of molasses." 



Mounting the deck seat of the wagon, and taking an old 

 fish-horn, I gave them a fish-horn and bell solo (it was not so 

 low but that the whole village could hear it). Collecting my 

 audience, I gave them a talk on bees and honey with a great 

 deal of truth and information, and some nonsense mixed in, 

 showing them the bees in the observatory hive, taking a frame 

 from the nucleus aud then from the supers, explaining the 

 mode of uncapping and throwing it from the combs. I got a boy 

 in the crowd to turn the crank of the extractor, letting it run 

 into the pail ; and when it was about half full I turned it into 

 the barrel. Some of the combs I ran through the extractor 

 five or six times, and it worked just as well. 



The result was I sold my barrel of honey and all I had in 

 the combs, and could have sold more if I had had it, and con- 

 vinced the public that honey could be in barrels and not be 

 molasses. 



When 1 got home and counted up my cash, I found I had 

 $79.75 for about 2)4 hours' work. As nearly as I could 

 judge, I got about 20 cents per pound for the honey. 



A week after, I went to a town of about 7,000 inhabi- 

 tants, about six miles from here. I had the same show, and 

 two barrels of honey. The police saw that no one disturbed 

 me. I sold all my honey, took .^HiS in cash, and never moved 

 my wagon. Another community was educated. I go^ there 

 now and supply the grocers, and have no trouble.— Geo. L. 

 ViNAL, in Gleanings. 



