Seasonable Hints for December. 



The bees being now in winter quar- 

 ters, every wide-awake bee-keeper will 

 be looking around, and preparing for 

 next seasons' wants. Making hives, 

 honey boxes, &c., should be foremost in 

 the catalogue of preparations; and for 

 these, well-seasoned lumber should be 

 selected. The hives must be sub- 

 stantially and accurately put together, 

 and should be well painted. Hives thus 

 made cost a little more than the "heap- 

 by-cheap " ones, but are much the 

 cheapest in the end. 



Some will find it to their advantage 

 to purchase hives cut, ready to nail 

 together, and for boxes and sections, 

 this plan will be economy for almost all. 

 Care should be taken to have good 

 materials— quality being of more im- 

 portance than price. It will be well, of 

 course to buy as clieaply as is consistent 

 with obtaining first-class articles. 



If you order hives, or material for 

 them, boxes, crates, &c., do so early 

 enough to avoid delays caused by the 

 rush of those who neglect it till just as 

 they need them. 



The producer should bear in mind 

 that uniformity of packages for comb 

 honey is very important. To this end 

 let all use the prize box. It can be used 

 on any hive and may be glassed or not 

 as may desired. Use tin separators 

 between all combs of surplus, so that 

 they will pack well together, whether 

 glassed or not. Let tlie tin separators 

 come to within one-half inch of the 

 top and bottom of the boxes, thus 

 leaving a passage way for the bees 

 above and below, and preventing their 

 building out wider, as they will be likely 

 to do, if the separator leaves more 

 space than one-half inch at either top 

 or bottom. 



Use the prize crate for shipping ; it 

 will contain one dozen prize boxes or 

 sections and may be glassed, if the 

 boxes are not. Ship all honey with the 

 top bar downwards, as that often saves 

 ■weak combs from being broken down, 

 and all in the crate being " mussed up ' 



by it. If comb honey be sent by freight, 

 it is all important that it is properly 

 labelled ' ' this side up ; handle with 

 care;" and have crates all properly ad- 

 dressed. When possible, see to pack- 

 ing it into the car, and always have the 

 combs ride lengthwise of the car, so 

 that the " bumping " will not be likely 

 to break them down. Labels are just 

 as essential when sent by express. 



Exporting Honey to Germany. 



The San Diego (Cal.) Union remarks on 

 this subject as follows : 



"Mr. C.J. Fox expects to ship one hun- 

 dred barrels more of our first-class San Diego 

 honey to Germany by the next steamer. We 

 have a notion tliat when the German f»nlate 

 gets a good taste of our lioney tliere will be 

 a steady demand for it over there. It is tiie 

 cheapest sweet that the people can use, 

 while tlie quality cannot be equaled." 



The Los Angeles Star adds : 



" Tliose desiring to ship to Europe through 

 Mr. Fox, can consign their honey to his 

 agent. Robert Difan, 204 Sansome street, San 

 Francisco. The packages should be marked 

 P. Liefniannsohne, Jlanibiirg, Germany. 



"The Los Angeles Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion has pledged the patronage of its mem- 

 bers to the proposed new line of steamers to 

 ply between Santa Monica and San Fran- 

 cisco. The proposition set forth by tiie pro- 

 posed line is to the effect that they will carry 

 freights to 'Frisco at $2 per ton and passen- 

 gers at $8 for the term of ten years, provided 

 the business men of Lns Angeles will sign 

 an agreement to patronize said line for the 

 specified time. The annual shipment of 

 lioney from this county is no small item, and 

 we are satisfied that the bee-keepers of Los 

 Angeles will pledge themselves to a man to 

 such a measure." 



i^In the notes concerning our visit 

 to the East in the Journal for last 

 month, we inadvertantly omitted to 

 mention a very pleasant visit with Mr. 

 Theo. C. Van Allen, and his i)arents, 

 as well as the Albany County Conven- 

 tion, presided over by Mr. H. W. Gar- 

 rett, and held at Chesterville. In the 

 hurry succeeeding our absence from 

 home for over three weeks, it was 

 omitted. 



i^In the winter we enjoy the fruits 

 of the little honey bee's labor dm-ing 

 the summer. 



