374 



THE AMERICAN B^E JOURNAL. 



June 11, 



to sell a large amount here. I did not come here to carry on 

 the bee-business, but on account of my health. 



On April 19 bees were working lively, and had brood in 

 from five to seven frames, and looked as if they would be ready 

 to swarm in three or four weeks. J. L. Hubbard. 



Hendersonville, N. C. 



A SAMPLE OP HONEY-POISONING (?) 



Apropos of poisonous honey which has lately become an 

 interesting subject, I wish to say that our doctor called to see 

 me professionally some time ago, and brought some of the 

 news of the neighborhood. 



" I had a case of honey-poisoning on the mountains a few 

 days ago," he said. 



As we are surrounded here by thousands of acres of moun- 

 tain laurel, which is given a bad name by some people, I was 

 Interested. 



" Yes," he continued, "it was a very bad case. He ate 

 honey for breakfast, and in a couple of hours he showed most 

 pronounced symptoms, violent purging and vomiting. He has 

 gotten over it now, but ho is weak." 



I am a little acquainted with mountaineers, so I said : 



" Doctor, how much did he eat ?" 



" Something over a pint 1" Jimson. 



[It seems to us that we have now had quite a good deal of 

 experience reported as to poisonous honey. Still, if any one 

 can throw any new light upon the subject, we will be pleased 

 to publish it. — Editor.] 



% 



The Bee-Industry iu Utah. 



BY JOHN B. FAGG. 



There are very few who know the extent of the bee-indus- 

 try in Utah. Although it is carried on nearly all over the 

 State, still there is not over one-fourth the honey produced 

 that there should be. I am often asked where I sell my honey, 

 and what I can do with it when I have a good crop. I have 

 kept bees for 16 or 17 years, and have had honey to sell most 

 of the time, and have not had too much. I would like to be 

 troubled that way for once. We cannot expect to get a dollar 

 for the same amount of honey that we could 15 years ago, 

 neither can we get the same price for a great deal of other 

 produce. 



There is plenty of room for bee-keepers yet, for in a State 

 like ours, where we irrigate, we are sure of a crop of honey if 

 the farmer raises anything, and it will get better for some 

 time to come, for every year large areas of new land are 

 brought under cultivation, and many thousands of trees are 

 set out every year, which helps the honey crop. We have not 

 given the attention to bee-culture that it should have. Many 

 of our wives and daughters might try the bee-business and 

 make a good living out of it, if they felt so disposed, for with 

 our improved methods of keeping bees, and movable-frame 

 hives and bee-escapes, they could look after a few colonies, 

 and they would find as much profit in them as they do in poul- 

 try or cows, and bees do not take as much work and attention. 



If I were starting in the bee-business again, J would try 

 to commence right. I would adopt some standard hive, and 

 stay with it until I found something better. I would work 

 for comb honey, for the most of it, and would only extract for 

 the home market, or as much as I thought I could sell. 



The greatest secret about bee-keeping is to keep your col- 

 onies strong ; watch them in the spring, and don't let them 

 die for the want of a little attention. Sometimes you can help 

 a dwindling colony by taking them in time and giving them a 

 little assistance from other colonies. 



Don't try to increase too fast, and don't think that be- 

 cause you see queens advertised as such wonderful breeders, 

 there are not just as good at home ; and sometimes you will 



find them better. Where a person has 20 or 30 colonies, 

 there must be as much difference as there is in that many 

 cows in regard to profit. You would raise your best calves, 

 so you must rear your queens from your best colonies. 



I am not afraid of producing too much honey, if we get 

 it in the right shape, and of good quality, for we can find a 

 market for a good article. Utah should export several million 

 pounds annually, and we shall do it yet, and in the near 

 future, I believe. 



I believe in dividing rather than natural swarming, for I 

 am not always there to watch them at the proper time, and 

 before I am around they may be gone, although I have had 

 some swarms come out and stay, and I always catch them if I 

 can, and they do well as a general thing. 



If any are contemplating starting to keep bees for a busi- 

 ness, I would advise them to select some good location, and 

 not get too near large apiaries, but get plenty of room, for 

 bees are like sheep — the more pasture they have the larger 

 will be the profit. If the pasture is short, there will not be 

 much profit in keeping bees. Some times you can get a fair 

 crop from 100 colonies, where if you had 200 colonies there 

 would be no surplus. 



I think we should have about 100 colonies at our Agricul- 

 tural College for the students to play with. I think some of 

 the students would be interested in them, and gain much in- 

 formation, and I don't think it would be all loss, either. 



In regard to laws for the protection of bee-keepers, we 

 should have them as simple as possible, and be made effective. 

 I do not think any one should "kick" if their bees have foul 

 brood to have them inspected, and a remedy prescribed for it, 

 if it is no other than to destroy them, and in very bad cases 

 that would be the cheapest in the long run. I know that 

 most bee-men will see to it that they will not have diseased 

 bees, for they know there is no money in them. 



I don't care how much people spray, so that they do not 

 spray while the trees are in bloom. I want to say one thing, 

 and that is, I do not believe that any one ever got any benefit 

 whatever, but it was in the opposite direction. In Utah they 

 wear out the material used, and their time, and washed the 

 pollen from their trees if they sprayed while the trees were 

 in full bloom, and lost fruit by the operation. 



I congratulate the bee-keepers on their success in the 

 past, and the prospect for the future, for I think they are 

 right, and they will yet be classed among the great producers 

 of the State. Utah honey is very little known in the East, 

 but what is known is that our honey compares very favorably 

 with any thaf is produced in the country. 



To be on the safe side, I would advise every bee-keeper to 

 have a label or a stamp with his name and address, for you 

 will find that good quality and neat packages will advertise 

 you, and if you follow this plan, the market will seek you in- 

 stead of you having to seek the market. 



East Mill Creek, Utah. 



Honey as Food au<l Me«liciwe. — A new and revised 

 edition of this 33-page pamphlet is now issued. It has 5 blank 

 pages on which to write or paste recipes taken from other sources. 

 It is just what its name indicates, and should be liberally dis- 

 tributed among the people everywhere to create a demand for 

 honey. It contains a number of recipes on the use of horey as 

 food and as medicine, besides much other interesting and valuable 

 information. Prices, postpaid, are; Single copy, 5 cts. ; 10 copies 

 30 cts. ; 50 for $1.00 ; 100 for ¥1.7.5. Better give them a trial. Send 

 all orders to the Bee Journal oflice. 



Only One Cent a Copy for copies of the American 

 Bee Journal before April 1, 189(3. We have them running 

 back for about 10 years. But you must let us select them, as 

 we cannot furnish them in regular order, and probably not 

 any particular copies. Just send us as many one-cent stamps 

 as you may want old copies, and we will mail them to you. 



