THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



Januai 



price for driving the bees out of the 

 way by means of smoke are now a reg- 

 ular article of merchandise. Bee veils 

 to put over the face; tents to set over 

 the hive; knives especially designed 

 for the beekeeper, are also to be found 

 with every supply dealer. 



Several years ago we fondly hoped 

 to find plants that could be grown for 

 honey alone, but in this we have been 

 disappointed. Perhaps this is because 

 the beekeeper must have acres or even 

 miles, if you choose, of honey yielding 

 plants to have them amount to much. 

 The principal sources of honey are the 

 clovers, and as these ail have a value 

 for other purposes than honey, they 

 stand well at the head. I should place 

 basswood next, and, as this wood is 

 getting to be quite valuable for timber 

 we can get large crops of honey from 

 it while it is being grown for that pur- 

 pose. A good -sized basswoud tree may 

 keep a considerable colony of bees 

 busily employed, at least, during the 

 early hours of the days, and I should 

 say, at a rough gnet-s, that such a tree 

 might furnish several pounds of nec- 

 tar every day while it is in bloom. 

 Buckwheat might perhaps come next. 

 In many parts of New York, not only 

 tons upon tons, but carloads of buck- 

 wheat honey alone are gathered each 

 year. A very beautiful, thick and 

 transparent honey is gathered in Cal- 

 ifornia from a species of mountain 

 sage, and this is thought by many to 

 be quite similar to if not the very 

 same as the famed honey of Mount 

 HymettUH, that is spoken of in both 

 prose and poetry in ancient history. 



"How TO Manage Bees," a 50c 

 book, and the American Bee-Keep- 

 RE a year for only 60c. 



(Written by E. Kretchmer for United State 

 Bee Keepers' Union.) 



THE SHIPPING or COMB HONEl 



That man never gets too old 1 

 learn , proves true to many of us. A 

 though I had shipped tons of hone 

 prior to 1893, it was during the Co 

 urabian Exposition in Chicago, whil 

 in charge of the Iowa honey exhib 

 that several heretofore unnotice 

 changes in the packing of comb hone 

 presented themselves, and which du 

 ing the second installment of hone 

 for that exposition was put to pract 

 cal test. Prior to the time named, a 

 though we packed the honey withdi 

 care, I had no knowledge of theactu: 

 condition in which it arrived at i 

 destination. 



Although the first shipment of hone 

 for the Columbian Exposition Wi 

 packed with great care, many of tl 

 cases, when unpacking them at tt 

 fair grounds, were not in as good coi 

 ditiou at we desired tln-y should b< 

 in some of the cases it appeared as 

 only a single comb had becon)e d( ,|j 

 tached from the section, and in i\ 

 moving of the crates, this loose com 

 had fallen against the next comb an 

 knocked it off the section, and tb 

 force of the two combined against th 

 next, had broken it out likewise, ui 

 til the entire row of honey from tb 

 glass to the back of the case, \\i 

 broken down; the leaking honey, a 

 though retained iu the case, soake 

 into the wood of the next sections,an 

 also damaged these. 



In the second shipment for the low 

 exhibit we effectually prevented th 

 above described damages by construe 

 ing the shipping cases wider an 

 deeper: We placed a sheet of manill 

 paper in the bottom with the edgelirii 



Id 



