XHE^ Mvmmmi^mM mm^ jQiummmi^. 



283 



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$700, incliKliii';- first cost of bees, 

 while he obtained about 7,000 ijouuils 

 of extracted honey from 50 colonies. 

 True, lie obtained a larger ratio of in- 

 crease than I did, but as bees worked 

 for extracted honey do not commonly 

 winter as well as those worked for 

 comb honey, the difterence in this re- 

 spect will not be apt to be an impor- 

 tant item. 



Perhaps the figures given justify Mr. 

 B's conclusion ; if so, I fail to see why, 

 especially as his bees were located (if 

 I am correct)on a selected, unoccupied 

 location, while mine, at both cuds of 

 the route, were almost of necessity 

 placed on preoccupied ones. 



In writing upon this subject before, 

 I gave ray reasons for the partial fail- 

 ure of this venture ; but while Mr. B. 

 has read these, he has seen fit in writ- 

 ing up this matter, to ignore them al- 

 together, while at the same time he 

 would have us believe that he, a 

 veteran specialist, while handling but 

 50 colonies of bees, allowed half of the 

 harvest to be wasted. 



Again, Mr. B. tells us that it will not 

 pay to make more than one move in 

 shipping bees from New Orleans to 

 Wisconsin ; and that this becomes ab- 

 solutely necessary (Italics are mine) be- 

 cause of the loss iu bees and brood 

 incident to the journey. Now I can 

 conceive that this might be true, if the 

 colonies shipped were not provided 

 with water, and the shipment delayed 

 until the hot weather that comes in 

 May, in that latitude (as Mr. B. thinks 

 best) ; as under these conditions, the 

 long confinement, and constant jar- 

 ring, inseparable from such a trip bj^ 

 rail, coukl hardly result otherwise than 

 in depleted colonies. 



Mr. Stevenson, of St. Charles, Mo., 

 who has had not a little experience in 

 this direction, prefers (if I mistake 

 not) to ship early in April, after the 

 main harvest from willow has been 

 secured. This would give plenty of 

 time to stop in Arkansas or southern 

 Tennessee for the poplar flow, even 

 when shipping by boat ; and as the 

 weather is then far more favorable for 

 shipping, and the distance in this case 

 being only about one-third as great, 

 the liability of loss is not an important 

 factor. In fact, if the bulk of the old 

 bees are sent iu cages in advance, by 

 express, this risk wold be trifling in- 

 deeil ; anil as a much larger numljer of 

 colonies in this event can be safely 

 sent in a given compass, the expense 

 would not be much greater. What 

 would be true in this instance, would 

 also apply to other moves, to points 

 further north, to secure other harvests. 



By the by, I fail to understand how 

 Mr. B. reconciles the very positive 

 statement given above, with that made 

 in a letter which I now have before 



me, bearing no very ancient date, in 

 which he favors two stops instead of 

 one — the first in Tennessee or Ken- 

 tucky, and the second, and final one, 

 in Illinois or Wisconsin. Mr. B. says 

 further: "It is Mr. Walker's idea to 

 come up the Mississippi by boat, to 

 catch the honey-llow along the route to 

 Wisconsin (Italics are mine). When 

 he has gone tlirough the mill, as I and 

 some others have," etc. No doubt 

 " the mill " referred to was the floating 

 one started by ('. O. Perrine, through 

 which we are told that he succeeded 

 in running $5,000 in cash and 2,000 

 colonies of bees on its trial trip. Well, 

 I am happy to say that I had nothing 

 to do with that ill-conceived and worse 

 executed project ; and fail to see what 

 bearing it can have on one that is 

 properly planned and conducted. 



My reasons for regarding the plan 

 of moving bees up this river by boat 

 for securing different harvests, as a 

 practical one, have been published, 

 and need not be repeated here. I will 

 simplj- s-xy that the plan included only 

 one more stop than Mr. B. favored, 

 but proposed starting a month earlier 

 than he would. 



But Mr. B's rehearsal of my pro- 

 posed plan of procedure, it seems, has 

 had the effect of a'^ousing the ire of 

 other correspondents. Mr. Ehl, ou 

 page 219, from the somewhat vehe- 

 ment language used in freeing his 

 mind on this subject, has evidently 

 already caught a view of a huge boat- 

 load of bees fitted up expressly to take 

 the honey-flow nil along the river — an 

 expression that he does not hesitate to 

 construe in its most literal sense. 



Now I wish to say for Mr. E's bene- 

 fit, that the reason why Mr. Walker 

 cannot stay at home and make the 

 business pay, is because a once first- 

 class home location has of late (like 

 the one Mr. E. speaks of leaving) be- 

 come " no good for bees." This is 

 parti}- because too many have been 

 anxious to share its benefits with me 

 (there being now some 700 colonies on 

 the range), and partly because of ter- 

 rible fires devastating the country. 



No, I can assure Mr. Ehl, that I 

 have suffered too much from other 

 apiarists locating on my range, to 

 willingly interfere with others iu like 

 manner — even though self-interest 

 should fail to teach me better ; and I 

 trnst that it will be a relief to Mr. E. 

 to learn that it is not a part of my 

 plan to make even one stop in the 

 whole State of Iowa — except, perhaps, 

 to buj- a few tons of honey, as is mj' 

 cu.stom each year ; and as the parties 

 of whom I bought last year in Wiscon- 

 sin, expect me to buy their crops 

 again the coming season, I may not 

 stop at all. 



Capac, Mich. 



CONVE^VTIOIV DIRECTORY. 



1890. Time and place of meeting. 



May 1.— Southwestern WIeconsin, at Boscobel. Wl8. 

 Benj. B. Ilice, Sec, Boscobel, Wis. 



May 3.— ausquehanna Co.. at Hopbottora, Pa. 



H. M. Seeley, Sec. Uartord, Pa. 



May 7.— Capital, at Sprinefleld, Illsi. 



C. K. Yocom. Sec, Sherman. Uls. 



May 7, k.— Texas State, at Greenville. Tejt. 



.1. N. Hunter, Sec, Celeste, Tex. 



May 17.— Ualdimand, at Cayuga, Ont. 



E. C. Campbell, Sec, Cayuua, Ont. 



May 20.— Northern Illinois, at Cherry Valley, Ills. 

 D. A. Fuller. Sec, Cherry VaUey, Ills. 



July 17.— Carolina, at Charlotte, N. C. 



N. P. i,yles, Sec, Derita N. C. 



In order to have this table complete. 



Secretaries are requested to forward full 

 particulars of the time aud the place of 

 each future meeting. — The Editor. 





Afraid of Spring: O-windlins. 



Bees have wintered well in this section, 

 owing to the unusually mild winter; but 

 the spring, so far, is as severe as we are 

 accustomed to. March was, as usual, full 

 of cold winds; we had the heaviest fall of 

 snow and the coldest weather during its 

 blusters, and although we did not get "six 

 weeks sleighiug in March," we did get a 

 little ice, and it was a little — not exceeding 

 six inches in thickness. I have 5 1 colonies 

 of bees in good condition out of 54 packed 

 on the summer stands last fall. We are 

 afraid of "spring dwindling," as the mer- 

 cury continues so low (below freezing to- 

 day), and we have so much north wind. I 

 hope for a prosperous season. 



Clarence W. Wilkiss. 



Cortland, N. Y., AprU 11, 1890. 



Salt tor 4jirttins: Rid of Ants. 



On page 173, John H. Christie speaks of 

 ants being ver}^ troublesome. He wishes 

 that preserve and honey stands were made 

 with a little cup around the stand that will 

 hold a spoonful or so of coal-oil, so that it 

 will keep out the ants. In my opinion, 

 coal-oil should never be placed near honey, 

 especially upon the same glass vessel, if 

 you want to try such an experiment, place 

 the preserve or honey stand in a plate with 

 a little coal-oil in the plate, and see what 

 the results will be. 



I will give a recipe for keeping away 

 ants — a recipe that I give to all to whom I 

 sell honey ; it should be on every honey- 

 label. It is this : Spread a little salt on the 

 floor or shelf before placing upon it the 

 honey, milk, butter, lard, or any thing that 

 ants will bother, and they will never find 

 it. I hope that this will be of some benefit 

 to Mr. C. and his customers, as well as to 

 many others, for ants should never stand 

 in the way of selling honey. Also, where 

 ants are troublesome about the hives in 

 early spring, a little salt will make them 

 leave quickly. Salt will not iniure honey 

 as coal-oil would. I eat salted butter with 

 honey, and it adds to the flavor of both. All 

 who are subject to honey-cramp, may add 

 a little salt to their honey while eating, and 

 receive no bad effects from it. My bees 

 are ready for the honey when it comes. 

 They wintered without any loss. 



J. M. Pratt. 



Todd's Point, Ky., April 7, 1890. 



