THE AMERICAN APTCULTURIST. 



79 



mins belongs the difference between 

 failure and success. If I am right, 

 Mr. Simruins' non-s wanning sys- 

 tem will speedily perish. If I am 

 wrong, his system is not like the 

 one I have described above, for 

 patent law declares that abandon- 

 ment and subsequent adoption of 

 things claimed to be alike, is evi- 

 dence sufficient to negative tliat 

 claim. I have no doubt but that 

 Mr. Simmins is original in his in- 

 vention, but it seems to me he is 

 not prior. However, dead priorit}^ 

 cannot antedate living utility. Let 

 us be honorable if we do not see 

 all things alike. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



ROW TO CREATE A HOME 

 MARKET FOR HONE Y. 



MRS. S. E. SHEARMAN. 



There seems to be great depres- 

 sion in tlie honey market as regards 

 a paying price for the production 

 of honey. Many fearing that there 

 is already an over-production, and 

 not any room left for a novice or 

 beginner, and more especially if 

 the beginner is a woman, I beg 

 leave to differ somewliat with those 

 of the above opinion, especially as 

 long as there is so much " sweet- 

 ness wasted on the desert air," for 

 the want of the bus}"^ little bee to 

 gather it and so many children in 

 these United States of ours that 

 do not so mueli as get one good 

 square mess of honey ayear. Then, 

 I say, rear all the bees you can to 

 gather all the honey tliey can and 

 then instead of shipping it all to 

 the large cities, sell it at home in 

 the country. If you cannot sell it 

 for tlie cash, barter it off for other 

 produce or anything else that 3'ou 

 can make use of. I have in tliis 

 way worked up a verj- good honey 



trade at home. Only yesterday a 

 nice young lady came and wanted 

 to barter meal, flour screenings or 

 anything from the mill. I gave 

 her six lbs. of honey for a bushel 

 of meal ; she went off rejoicing say- 

 ing that she would not take five 

 dollars for that jar of honey for she 

 loved it better than anything that 

 she ever tasted in her life and never 

 tired of it. I have in this way 

 made many good customers. I ex- 

 tracted 1,036 pounds and took 100 

 pounds of comb honey last year 

 all of which is sold except about 

 75 pounds of extracted. I got 12^ 

 cents per pound for the extracted 

 and 162. for tlie comb while a gen- 

 tleman living a few miles from 

 town only got 10 and 12^ for his. 

 Last year and the present winter 

 have been very hard on bees in this 

 portion of Texas, especially the 

 black or native bee. Many have 

 lost all they had ; so far I have not 

 lost a single colon}'. Tliey are 

 bringing iu pollen this evening. 

 "Feb. 6, 1887. 



Salado, Bell Co., Texas. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



APICULTURE IN CALI- 

 FORNIA. 



A. Norton. 



BEES, ETC. 



Bees were first brought to Cali- 

 fornia somewhere about 1854. 

 What must have been the relations 

 of insect life to i)lant life for ages 

 before this, one has only conjecture 

 for the basis of an opiiuon, save 

 when he wanders to some more 

 distant mountain wild, where bees 

 do not happen to abound, and sees 

 the variety of blossoms frequented 

 only b}' tlie few bumble bees and 

 the smaller kinds of insects. Then 

 he realizes how nectar has been 

 produced be^-ond estimate, an in- 



