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For the American Bee Journal. 



Various Matters. 



Dear Editor:— The American Bee 

 JouKNAi. is still iiiipioviiig, and is a very 

 welcome visitt)r. In wortli, it is fully equal 

 to those voliuiies edited by Mr. Samuel 

 Wagner. Many single numbers alone are 

 worth the price of a year's subscription. 



HONEY MARKET. 



The potent skill and experience of older 

 bee-men have overcome all obsticles in tiie 

 business, and made it a sure one; tliat is, 

 practically so, except one enemy that we 

 still have to conquer; and when that is 

 conquered, all others (such as wintering, 

 foul brood, bad seasons, etc.), will fall into 

 insignificance. This enemy is a " Olnttcd 

 Mitrkety I have never had it to contend 

 with until this last season, from the fict 

 that we iiave had, during several years, a 

 series of bad seasons, and I had run my 

 bees for queen raising, mostly, and was 

 almost the only one who had honey for sale 

 in this section, so I had the market all to 

 myself. 1 had come down by degrees, year 

 by year, from 373^ cts. to 20 ots., and last 

 season had to come down to \(i% cts. retail, 

 and 123^ cts. by the barrel; and finally to 10 

 cts. by the barrel, for extracted honey. I 

 still retail my comb honey at 20 cts. 1 can 

 now appreciate the complaint of other bee- 

 men, in the want of a market for their 

 lioney. I would not have had such trouble 

 to sell my honey, had not other bee-keepers 

 around ihe got plenty last season; most of 

 them, for the first time for years. They 

 have done as James Heddon says, glutted 

 every grocery in the neighboring towns 

 with their broken and mashed up honey, at 

 any price they could get. Two of my most 

 successful neighbors came to me, aiid said 

 they had tried, all around, to sell their 

 lioiiey, but could not at any price. One of 

 them offered me all his bees at a very low 

 figure, except two colonies for family use.— 

 The other said he would sell me all but 2 or 

 3, as he could not make bees pay without a 

 market, and would not keep bees to give the 

 honey away. 



I see but one remedy for this evil, and 

 that is to create a market; and that can 

 only be done by a more extensive use of 

 the luxury, for "to this day, it is used only 

 as a luxury. I have never seen honey on 

 a table at hotels, or weddings, nor do 1 .see 

 it on family tables, only when visitors are 

 present. It is on my table, three times a 

 day, the year round, just as it is on D. D. 

 Palmer's. It is astonishing that people are 

 so ignorant of the healthfulness of extracted 

 honey, and of the unhealthfulness of all 

 other sweets that are constantly on their 

 tables, sucli as syrups, molasses, etc. But 

 the present age is an age of learning, and 

 I do not think people will continue to be so 

 ignorant many years. It is contended that 

 the low price of honey, at present, will 

 bring it into general use, and so create a 

 market. This does look reasonable, and I 

 hope may be so. Specialists would furnish 

 the market with the very best article, in the 

 most marketable shape, but I do not think 



they could afford it, at the low figures it has 

 come down to. It is only specialists who 

 fully understand it. and are able to furnish 

 it in the most marketable shape, for a 

 reasonable price. It is no little, or easy 

 labor. How friend Cook could call it such 

 a light and easy occupation, at all times, I 

 am not able to see. I have worn out, many 

 a time while extracting, hiving, etc. As all 

 practical bee-men know, bees frequently 

 require constant work with them, in just 

 such days as the apiarist would rather not 

 be out in the hot sun. I have frequently 

 had my clothing wet with perspiration, as 

 if I had just emerged from a bath with my 

 clothing on. Bees require everything done 

 at exactly the right time, or there is no suc- 

 cess with them. Can farmers, or others, 

 who take no pains to learn the nature and 

 habits of the bee, know how, or take the 

 time to attend to them, as the necessity of 

 the case requires? No; specialists only 

 will do this! 



1 will now ask practical bee-men a 

 question, which 1 have never settled l)y 

 experience yet. When extracted honey, in 

 barrels, sells at 10 cts., what ought honej'- 

 comb to sell at, to equal it? I have not had 

 experience with both attentively enough 

 to satisfy myself. The nearest I can come 

 to it is that there is 1.5 cts. difference per lb. 

 If extracted honey sells at 10 cts. per lb., 

 comb honey should be 2.5 cts. In the last 2 

 years, I have only made 5 cts. difference, 

 from the fact that people here have come to 

 understand the difference between comb and 

 extracted honey on the stomach, and I can 

 sell more extracted honey at l%% cts. than 

 comb honey at the same price. In fact, I 

 can only sell the comb to such as have not 

 learned that wax is unhealthy for the 

 stomach. 



COMB FOUNDATIONS. 



I am very glad to hear that the comb 

 foundation is a success. I have kept quiet, 

 and never tried them, from the fact that I 

 thought they would prove a failure, such as 

 fertilization in confinement, etc. If spared, 

 I expect to give them a fair trial the coming 

 season. 



FERTILIZATION IN CONFINEMENT. 



As to fertilization in confinement, I think 

 no (me has experimented with it more than 

 1 did, nor do 1 think any one succeeded. If 

 Mrs. Tupper succeeded, as she claims to 

 have done, why in the name of common 

 sense did she quit it? Who would succeed 

 with a thing of such vast importance, and 

 then quit right off? N. C. Mitchell comes 

 next, but you all '"knoto him." 



I will here relate a fact in my experience, 

 and leave you to judge, and remark as you 

 please how it was. To make you fully 

 understand the ca.se, I will inimber the 

 nuclei. No. 2 sat just 8 ft. from No. 1, in 

 front. The queen in No. 2 hatched with no 

 wings; but otherwise was a very fine and 

 sprightly one. I was, at that time, trying 

 fertilizing in confinement, and determined 

 to give her a trial, as she had no wings to 

 fly. A week after she was hatched, I went 

 to No. 1 to put in a cell. I then examined 

 No. 2; the wingless queen was gone; next 

 day I examined again, but could not find 

 her. Then I opened No. 1, and found the 

 cell was destroyed. I then gave both of 

 them another cell, and in 2 days after 



