Jan. H, 1900 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



19 



97 cents per 100 £-foss weig-ht, which is just about even $13 

 on the lot. A lot of 1,200 pounds at 6 cents is $72 ; plus $13 

 freight, and the honey costs on the car at Chicago T/z cents 

 per pound. 



If the buyer ia the city puts his money into the honey 

 he will not want to sell again for a bit less than 10 percent 

 advance, perhaps usually not less than 20 percent. If he 

 were selling to manufacturers in original packages and in 

 large lots the margin may be quite small ; but if it goes for 

 table use, and he sells in the original package to go into 

 families by the 60-pound can, there can not be less than 30 

 percent added— the wholesale dealer 10, and the retailer 20. 

 Cost of honey — 10 cases — on car in Chicago, $85 ; plus 30 

 percent for dealers, total $110.50 ; or about 9 1/5 cents per 

 pound it costs the consumer. 



To repack this honey would cost quite a little, but I 

 scarcely know how much to estimate, much depending upon 

 the equipment for doing the work ; we vrill drop that item 

 and see about cost of packages. The very cheapest tin 

 package will cost at least one cent per pound, while glass 

 packages cost from 3 to 4 cents per pound. This makes the 

 cost of the honey about an average of 12^2 cents per pound 

 when it gets to the consumer. 



Extracted honey shipt to market in 60-pound cans and 

 repackt for retail trade costs the consumer at least 12'2 

 cents, many times considerably over this — 12,"2 is very con- 

 servative. Now buy 6 cents worth of granulated sugar and 

 make a syrup by adding a little water, then place this be- 

 side 12 cents worth of honey and see how many customers 

 will buy the sugar rather than the honey. Sugar competes 

 with extracted honey, and there is no use in ignoring the 

 fact. 



THE REMEDY IN THE MATTER. 



The producer mast pack his honey??/ re fat/ packages 

 and case it in some way that it may be handled cheaply. 

 One great trouble with apiarists themselves is, first putting 

 up honey in barrels or 60-pound cans, then later repacking 

 it for retail, melting when candied, and also taking back 

 that which candies in stores. All this is piling up cost on 

 the consumer, or reducing the profits of the producer. The 

 producer of extracted honey needs a storage-tank between 

 the extractor and the marketing-package in all cases. After 

 settling, draw from the tank into retail packages, and let 

 it candy as quickly as it will, then sell in the candied con- 

 dition. 



Consumers will buy it candied, and liquefy for them- 

 selves, and many want it candied when spread on their 

 bread. People buy new things because they are always 

 wanting " something new," and if 'tis new to buy candied 

 honey they will do it and soon learn to melt it. I sell my 

 extracted honey in lard-pails nicely painted and stenciled — 

 that is, I used to — now our pails are lithographt. This is the 

 cheapest package, and nice, and with the honey candied 

 there is no drip or leak. In my home market the prices are 

 very close to that of granulated sugar, the honey being sold 

 when candied. I do not put liquid honey in stores, ^nA my 

 honey sells right along, and is fast becoming a staple. 



L/arimer Co., Colo. 



The Season of 1899— Other Matters. 



BY G. \V. DEMAREE. 



THE past season has been so disappointing to the bee- 

 interest in these parts that one must make a distinction 

 . between the "science" and the " practical " in bee- 

 literature and bee-culture in order to feel enough interest in 

 the matter to talk or write on bees. 



Last spring, after the Arctic blast of February, the white 

 clover crop showed up more than an average prospect, and 

 bloomed in season in great profusion, and the bees made a 

 splendid start in the section-cases as well as in the extract- 

 ing-supers ; but a wave of heat in the absence of moisture 

 dried up the clover bloom right in the midst of the begin- 

 ning harvest. And the result was few finisht sections, and 

 a great lot partly filled or not toucht. 



In the past ten years the little white aster — "last rose 

 of summer " — has gained a foothold here in waste places 

 and on old pasture-lands, and the bees store a surplus in the 

 late autumn, if the weather is propitious. 



For the last few years I have adopted the plan of leav- 

 ing the fall surplus on the hives during the winter months, 

 and extract what the bees do not need just before the white 

 honey harvest begins to show a surplus, the following sea- 

 son. In our climate the honey in sealed combs does not 

 granulate in quantity to hinder the work of extracting in 



warm weather. This plan carried out in a climate that will 

 permit extracting of carried-over sealed combs insures 

 strictly clast honey. The dark honey- fall and spring — is 

 brought together by this management, and the white clover 

 surplus of June and July is strictly pure, after its class. 

 My dark honey is sold as " fall and spring honey " at a re- 

 duced price, and all of it is taken by the home trade. The 

 past fall was even too dry and hot for the droQth-proof 

 white aster, and the flow from this source was below the 

 average. 



GETTING UNFINISHT SECTIONS CLEANED. 



Bee-keepers are still asking how to get unfinisht sec- 

 tions emptied and cleaned by the bees. With me it is only 

 a matter of work and proper management. Prepare the 

 section-cases by clipping the capping from any sections 

 that may have been partly sealed ; place a bee-escape board 

 on the hive, or hives, that are selected to do the cleaning ; 

 remove the escape from its place, and this will leave a pass- 

 way for the bees to enter the section-case of unfinisht sec- 

 tions, while the board practically disconnects the case from 

 the hive below. If the work is done just after the honey- 

 flow has past, it will work like a charm. 



TIME BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND SWARMS. 



I was of the impression that the question as to the time 

 that intervenes between the first, or prime swarm, and the 

 first after-swarm, under normal conditions, was settled long 

 ago, but it seems that it doesn't stay settled. In the first 

 place, it should be remembered that changeable weather, 

 cloudy, rain-storms, etc., and in the rare cases when bees 

 under sudden excitement swarm before any preparation 

 has begun, does not enter into the question as to the habit 

 of bees under normal conditions in respect of swarming. 

 According to my experience of a quarter of a century in the 

 apiary, the time between the first and second swarms is 

 about ten daj's. 



No cause, or causes, to interfere with regularity ; if you 

 open the hive just after the first swarm issues, you will find 

 at least one queen-cell sealed over, indicating that the 

 oldest of the royal developing family is about eight days 

 old, counting from the time the egg was laid, and in eight 

 more days she will leave her cell, and in about two more 

 days she will be strong enough to bring on the excitement 

 resulting in the first after-swarm. 



CUPPING THE WINGS OF QUEENS. 



It seems to be lookt upon by many bee-keepers as a 

 manipulation difficult to perform. To rae it is a very easy 

 and simple operation. Find the frame that contains the 

 queen, adjust it in your revolving frame-holder, lift the 

 queen from the comb by clasping her wings between the 

 thumb and forefinger of the right hand ; now place her legs 

 between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, and 

 with the scissors clip off about half of one pair of her wings, 

 and let her run back on the comb. Restore the frame in 

 the place it was taken from, and close up the hive carefully, 

 so as to excite the bees as little as possible. 



QUEENS FROM ADVANCED L.^RV.-E. 



There are exceptions to all rules, perhaps, and it is not 

 safe to say that queens reared from advanced larvai are 

 always inferior. I once had a queen hatcht in just eight 

 days from the time the cell was started. The case being an 

 exceptional one, I kept a close watch over this queen, and 

 she showed up as good as the average of the best queens in 

 the apiarj'. Some of the best queens I ever owned were 

 hatcht in ten days after the cells were started. 



Shelby Co., Ky. 



No. 4.— An Apiary —How to Get the Most Out of 

 It in Beeswax, Queens, Etc. 



BY " OLD GRIMES." 



ALTHO it is lookt upon as an incidental, beeswax is a 

 very important product, and in the markets of the 

 world it has a more standard value than honey. There 

 is no substitute that can take the place of beeswax in the 

 many uses to which it is put in the industrial arts, and when 

 we have a pound of wax we know there is more gold in it to 

 the square inch than there is in an equal amount of honey. 

 Bee-keeping is an industry full of little details, and the 

 neglect of them will have an eifect upon the earnings of 

 the apiary, and the detail that seems to receive a little more 

 than its share of neglect is the saving of wax. Old Grimes, 

 in his early days, lived near an honest German bee-keeper, 



