THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



331 



these newly hatched bees would do 

 what they could to care for the grow- 

 ing brood ; but in all ordinary cases 

 they could not care for it all, and 

 there would be a serious loss. 



3. It may be said that the drumming 

 is not intended to l)e so thorough, 

 and that enough old bees are to be 

 left in the old hive to care for all the 

 brood, both capped and uncapped. 

 But the gentlemen in giving direc- 

 tions say nothing about this, and the 

 natural inference is that they expect 

 that very few bees are to be left in 

 the old hive, and yet that all the 

 brood is to be taken care of until it 

 comes to maturity. In this last, I am 

 sure they will be mistaken. 



A gentleman near Iowa City began 

 bee-keeping a year ago. Last sum- 

 mer he followed the new method of 

 transferring, and in a few days after 

 he had drummed out the bees his old 

 hives gave out a disgusting stench. 

 On examination he found that this 

 stench came from the large quantity 

 of dead and putrid brood in the 

 combs— brood that had chilled and 

 died because there were not enough 

 bees to warm and feed it. He is not 

 to-day a very enthusiastic advocate 

 of the new method. Will those who 

 advise this method tell us how many 

 colonies they themselves have trans- 

 ferred by it, at what season it was 

 done, and how much brood they lost 'i 



Iowa City,o+ Iowa. 



Uead at the N. Y. State Convention. 



The Honey Market. 



L. C. ROOT. 



The one great interest which comes 

 before us most prominently, demand- 

 ing the attention of all who are in 

 any way interested in the production 

 of honey, is, how shall we create a 

 more general demand for our products 

 and establish a permanent and well 

 regulated market for the same ? It 

 may be well first to notice some of the 

 causes which have brought about the 

 present condition of the market, that 

 we may be better able to work intelli- 

 gently in placing it upon a better 

 basis. 



Twenty-flve years ago, honey in 

 boxes weighing from 5 to 10 pounds 

 each, would wholesale readily at from 

 30 to 40 cents per pound, and retail in 

 proportion. With this advantage, 

 had the minds of bee-keepers gen- 

 erally been fixed upon the idea of es- 

 tablishing a reliable and permanent 

 honey market, and had they worked 

 as faithfully to that end as they liave 

 in the direction of producing a greater 

 quantity of honey, we should not 

 have the unsettled market of today. 

 Besides, if we had kept this matter 

 fully in mind in all of its bearings we 

 should have found that by producing 

 less surplus honey in better shape, we 

 should have experienced far less loss, 

 particularly in wintering. There are 

 many who have lost in bees during 

 the winter much more than they have 

 gained by their elforts to produce a 

 large amount of surplus. 



I do not fail to recognize the grand 

 progress which has been made during 



the past in the production of lioney, 

 and yet I repeat that far too little at- 

 tention has been given to fostering 

 and encouraging a demand for honey 

 which would sustain a permanent and 

 substantial market. 



Now, in the direction of bringing 

 about a needed reform, let me suggest 

 that the one thing at which we should 

 aim in an unselfish, thoughtfid and 

 energetic way is, a higher standard of 

 our products. This, I believe, should 

 be our motto. And our standard 

 should be liigli ; we should not be 

 satisfied with anything less than the 

 best. We should remember, that 

 from the very earliest history of the 

 world, honey has been considered a 

 desirable article of food. We should 

 also keep in mind the fact that it is 

 the oidy entirely natural saccharine 

 product that we have given us as 

 a food. It is secreted in the blossom, 

 gathered by the bees, and stored in 

 the combs ready for our use, without 

 undergoing any change or process of 

 manufacture by man. When properly 

 cured and kept under favorable con- 

 ditions, it will not granidate. 



To furnish this natural and desir- 

 able product with its delicious flavor 

 pure and unchanged, whether in the 

 comb, or freed from it, is the first and 

 highest standard which can be placed 

 before bee-keepers, and in my opin- 

 ion will do more towards establishing 

 permanency in a honey market than 

 any other one thing. 



It ia very apparent that we have 

 made great progress during these 

 years, in neatness and form of pack- 

 age ; and while this is true, it is also a 

 fact that we have made many sad 

 mistakes which have resulted harm- 

 fully. The honey-box of earlier date 

 was glassed before it was filled, and, 

 as a rule, was left upon the hive until 

 late in the season. The effect of this 

 was, that the boxes were thoroughly 

 sealed with propolis. The honey was 

 perfectly cured, and was covered with 

 an extra coating over the capping of 

 the cells, protecting it more entirely 

 from moisture. If any cells were left 

 partly filled and uncapped, the honey 

 was removed by the bees. 



With such products we should hear 

 no complaints of honey dripping from 

 the boxes, souring in the comb, or 

 presenting a watery appearance. So 

 long as we find honey ollered for sale, 

 partially sealed, produced without 

 separators, without being glassed, 

 improperly cured, and in leaky pack- 

 ages, we need not expect a substantial 

 market. We must conform in some 

 degree to the earlier methods. We 

 must use separators to secure straight 

 combs, be sure it is well sealed and 

 firmly secured in the boxes, have it 

 well cured, nicely glassed, and cased 

 in a neat and substantial manner in a 

 standard package. 



One of the oldest and most reliable 

 honey dealers in Xew York told me 

 recently that much confusion arose 

 from the irregularity in sizes of cases. 

 The cases should never contain but 

 one tier of boxes. Those for two- 

 pound sections should hold twelve, 

 and for one-pound sections, twenty 

 boxes to the case. 



Mohawk, 5 N. Y. 



l/Aplculteur. 



The Caucasian Bee. 



These questions were asked at the 

 German Congress of Apiculture held 

 at Erf urt : " Is the race of bees, re- 

 cently introduced from the Caucasus, 

 of any value whatever, viewed as a 

 race io be reared V " What other 

 race would be particularly suitable 

 for crossing V" 



Mr. Ililbert, of Mariejewo,said that 

 the State Reports of the Russian 

 Counsellor, Dr. Butterow, having 

 made known the Caucasian bee, he 

 had procured through this gentleman, 

 two queens direct from the Caucasus. 

 A Mr. Gunther had also sent three 

 more to him, so that he had com- 

 menced with 5 Caucasian queens. 

 "Three words," he said, will indicate 

 the value of this bee; viz., "gentle, 

 lazy, and unprolific." He believed, 

 lu)wever, that a cross with the Italian 

 and Egyptian bees produced good re- 

 sults ; though a cross with the Cyprian 

 did still lietter ; but he would not 

 have only Cyprian bees to work for 

 him, for their sting is abominable. 



Mr. ^'ogel, of Lehmannshcefel, in 

 the spring of 1879, had also received, 

 tlnough Dr. Bntterow, 12 queens, 

 which, by mistake, did not come 

 direct from the Caucasus, but from 

 the lower Don. The colonies, with 

 their Caucasian queens, increased in 

 strength wonderfully ; in .July the 

 hives were crowded with bees, but — 

 there was no honey. .So gentle were 

 they that in the warmest days he 

 could not get them to sting him. 

 They wintered well. In the summer 

 of 1880, the product in honey was 

 again naught ; the hives were crowded 

 again, in June and July, with brood 

 and bees, but in the fall there was no 

 honey— our season for honey-gather- 

 ing ending with the harvest. This 

 Caucasian bee being of no value for 

 our country, he ceased to keep them. 

 They may do very well, however, in 

 regions where there is mucli lioney to 

 gather in the fall. In the summer of 

 1879, he again received through Dr. 

 Butterow, -1 queens direct from Wlad- 

 cawkas in the Caucasus ; of these 4 

 queens, 2 did very well in 1880 ; their 

 hives were populous, and very rich in 

 honey. The colonies reared by him 

 from these 2 queens, distinguished 

 themselves also very advantageously. 

 Again, in 1881, the Caucasian bee was 

 remarkable, more than any other race, 

 by its wealth of population and of 

 honey. 



Mr. Ilaus, of St. Petersburg, said 

 that in the spring of 1879, Prof. But- 

 terow had received from Caucasus, 21 

 queens, 12 of which were sent to Mr. 

 Vogel. They were pure Caucasians. 

 and did not come from the region of 

 the lower Don, as Mr. Vogel sup- 

 posed. These bees, though very ac- 

 tive, do not always yield remarkable 

 results ; they are inclined to robbing. 

 Their wintering lasts 218 days, after 

 which tbey lay rapidly. 



Mr. Lehzen, of Hanover, thought 

 that this Caucasian bee demonstrates 

 tlie correctness of an old assertion of 

 his, namely, that we must utilize, 

 something like the lever of our rear- 

 ing, solely the power of the individual 



