rtmm mmekickk mmm journhiil. 



145 



but, in the future, I propose to make a 

 si)et'ialty of comb honey. This lioney 

 I sent home, and have sold the same to 

 consumers for about 20 cents per 

 pound. The sections were only H 

 inches wide, and being only 41x41, 

 they would weigh, when well tilled, 

 only 12 to 14 ounces each. I used no 

 separators, for I do not tind it neces- 

 sary when the sections are of that 

 width, or 1§ inches. 



The proper way to sell houey, 

 whether in the comb or liquid, is b}' 

 weight ; but I did not sell mine that 

 way, as it was not convenient to do so. 

 I simply- sold six sections, when well 

 filled, for *1.00 ; but when a less 

 numl er was taken, for 20 cents each. 

 I solil direct to consumers. "Store 

 honey," not so nice and white as mine, 

 was being sold at the same time for 15 

 to 18 cents ; but I always find plenty 

 of people willing to paj' a fancy price 

 for a gilt-edged article of honey, or 

 anything else. 



COMB FOUNDATION IN THE SECTIONS. 



I did not use comb foundation the 

 full size of the sections, as many do, but 

 simply small V-shaped starters, only an 

 inch on each side. Some of ray bee- 

 friends use strips of thin foundation in 

 sections only an inch wide, and the)' 

 secured last year some of the largest 

 j'iekls of comb hone}' that have been 

 rep<n'ted. One of these parties lives 

 in Wisconsin, in Chippewa county, 

 and he reports to me a yield of 6,500 

 pounds of comb honej' in one-pound 

 sections, from 53 colonies, spring 

 count. 



Another lives in uorthwestei'u Mis- 

 souri, and he reports a yield of 5,800 

 pounds of comb honey in oue-pound 

 sections, from 30 colonies, spring 

 co\mt. I have some very good reasons 

 for my belief, when I assert that it is 

 not economy, nor advisable, to use 

 comb foundation, thick or thin, the full 

 size in sections. What have you to 

 saj' to this ? 



COMB HONEY IN T-SUPERS. 



I am still using the T-super, but I 

 must say that I am getting ilisgusted 

 with it ; and why ? Because the bees 

 daub, or soil, the outside of the sections 

 too much, and squirt too much bee- 

 glue into the openings. This can be 

 avoided somewhat by using an extra 

 set of T-tins on top of each set of sec- 

 tions, but this is an expense that 

 should in some way be saved. 



It is a big job to clean the outside 

 of sections properly when the crop of 

 honey is a large one. In the future I 

 must use a super that will enable me 

 to secure my crop of comb honey in 

 sections nearly as clean, on the outside, 

 as when first put on. What have you 

 to say in reply to this ? 



FUMIGATING COMB HONEY. 



I notice in the bee-papers that you 

 yet go to the trouble and expense each 

 year, of fumigating your comb lioney 

 in the sections to destroy the moth- 

 worm. This may be necessary in 

 your case, but not in miue. It seems 

 to me that your fears are more imagi- 

 nary than otherwise. 



MIGRATOKY BEE-KEEPING. 



I notice that Byron Walker, of 

 Michigan, is imljued with the idea that 

 he can make tlve traveling-apiary en- 

 terprise 211(1/. Perhaps he can, but he 

 must do better than he did the past 

 year. It seems that he bought 100 

 colonies of bees to start with, in Ten- 

 nessee last spring, and, in course of 

 time, went with them by rail to south- 

 western Wisconsin, thereby incurring 

 an expense, all told, of some $700, up 

 to the close of the honey season. 



He reports how much honey he se- 

 cured both in Tennessee and Wiscon- 

 sin, but the total is by no means as 

 much as he would, or should, have 

 secured in Wisconsin alone, had he 

 bought as many colonies up there at 

 the same date, and invested the same 

 amount of monej'. Nor did he close 

 the season with an apiary as large as 

 if bought in Wisconsin. This being 

 the case, his enterprise thus far has 

 been a failure — so far as demonstrating 

 that a traveling apiary will paj". 



Mr. Walker now proposes to take 

 his apiary down South, somewhere, 

 and perhaps has gone with it long 

 ago. His idea, or programme, is to 

 come up the Mississippi river by boat, 

 and to start in time to catch the 

 honej'-flow all along the route to Wis- 

 consin. When he has "gone through 

 the mill," as I and some others have, 

 he will find that catching honey-flows 

 all along the Mississippi river, is (luite 

 imaginative and unprofitable. 



What the past has taught me is this : 

 That it will pit//, or can be made to 

 pay, to travel with an apiary from 

 South to North, or vice versa, but that 

 it will not pay to make more than one 

 move from South to North, or back 

 again — not even when the southern 

 point is in the latitude of New Or- 

 leans, and the northei'n one as far up 

 as Wisconsin. The reason why is, 

 that there is then barely sufficient time 

 to leave one honey-harvest, and reach 

 the other, with colonies that have re- 

 gained the loss in bees and brood in- 

 cident to the journey. 



May is a good honey month near 

 New Orleans, and yet it, is absolutelj' 

 necessary to leave thei'e with bees, 

 even when transported by rail, early 

 in Maj', so as to give the bees sufficient 

 time to recruit to be in proper strength 

 to gather the crop of white honey — 

 from clover and basswood — in Illinois 



or Wisconsin, in June and July. The 

 one move also saves labor and expense. 

 It takes too long a time to move an 

 apiarj' from South to North by water 

 — two to five days is time enough to 

 lose in making the trip, and this can 

 only be .secured by rail. Bees can 

 then be moved in safety in case an 

 open stock-car be used, when the bees 

 ar(! properlj' prepared for the journey, 

 and properly arranged in the ear. 



The Oatraan Brothers inform me 

 that they have reccntl)' sold their en- 

 tire interest in the bee-busine.ss, and 

 simply because thej' have no time, any 

 longer, to give attention to it, they be- 

 ing directly and indirectly interested 

 in farming, and the management of 

 some 15 to 20 cheese and butter fac- 

 tories. No one, perhaps, in the State 

 of Illinois, has had greater success in 

 the bee-business, for a term of years, 

 than the Oatman Brothers, and it is to 

 be regretted by bee-keepers that they 

 are compelled to leave our ranks for 

 the reason given. 



Very truly yours, 



M. M. Baldridge. 



[Dr. Miller's interesting reply to the 

 foregoing letter, is as follows : — Eu.] 



Friend Baldridge : — In hauling 

 bees on the wagon, I have always 

 placed them as you have, so as " to 

 have the combs run from side to side," 

 or across the wagon, and I have been 

 inclined to maintain that it was the 

 only correct way, but others think dif- 

 ferently', and in this I think it will be 

 found that "circumstances alter cases." 



On roads as level and smooth as 

 they usually are with me, there is vei'y 

 little jolting, and the jarring is mostly 

 from side to side, and placing the 

 combs across the wagon is certainly 

 the right way to have the least dam- 

 age when the wagon shakes from side 

 to side. W^hen going up or down very 

 steep bills, however, it may be best to 

 have the combs run from front to rear, 

 and the same may be said about jolt- 

 ing down off a bridge, where there is 

 a fall of several inches. I think that 

 in some of the hilly places in California, 

 the hives are placed so that the frames 

 run from front to rear. 



The question is sometimes asked 

 whether bees can be safely put into the 

 cellar without a flight after being 

 hauled, and I have never dared to fol- 

 low your example, but always let my 

 bees have a flight after hauling in the 

 fall, before putting into the cellar. It 

 is reasonable to suppose that the ex- 

 citement of hauling makes the bees 

 cram themselves so that a flight will 

 be a benefit ; but facts are stubborn 

 things, and your success may encour- 

 age those who find it quite inconveu- 

 ient to give a flight after hauling. I 

 always supposed that jarring hives in 



