248 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[May, 



This is not so necessary in extracted honey. He 

 says : " The Arctic explorers or shippers to cold cli- 

 mates would certainly choose a well cured, good, 

 solid article of extracted honey." Well, suppose 

 they do. is that an argument that box honey is 

 not preferable, and that it should not be made ? 

 Is it not well understood that artificial honey is 

 and can be made, and that extracted honey can 

 be and often is adulterated, and that many per- 

 sons on that account will not buy, much less 

 use it? that extracted honey, even if pure, will 

 not sell near as readily or for as good a price as 

 box honey? Mr. Grimm doubtless understands 

 perfectly well, and probably acts in a great 

 measure upon it, notwithstanding all that Mr. 

 Marvin or other men may say. "All dealers 

 would certainly dispense with boxes and wax if 

 they could acquire the knowledge." (What 

 knowledge?) "And especially in the tropics." 

 I would like the gentleman to explain. Again, 

 he says : " How will it be with boxes with wax 

 comb." I did not know that the bees made any 

 other but wax combs, and as for breaking down 

 in cold weather, and moth worms hatching in 

 warm climates, the former can be remedied by 

 making the boxes of a proper size and secure 

 packing, and the latter is no great evil, as honey 

 hardly ever stands over long enough to be dam- 

 aged in that way. Upon the whole, I think the 

 gentleman's article is too highly colored, and 

 that very little good is derived by beginners from 

 such writings. I, however, must confess that I 

 am yet a novice at the business, and have much 

 yet to learn. With due regard for all, I hope 

 that I have not offended any one, and sorry, in- 

 deed, would I be, if 1 had. This has been a hard 

 winter in our section. Many bees have died, 

 and I fear many more, if not attended to, will 

 die before the spring ariives. Few bees kept in 

 the old-fashioned way, will get over, and I think 

 such a season as the last, will convince old fogies 

 that luck has little to do with successful bee- 

 keeping, and that good management and plenty 

 of it, alone will prove the best luck. 



Wm. Baker. 

 Milford Station, Pa., March 16, 1872. 



A 



Dronings. 



Anticipating what some critics may think of 

 my desultory comments and questions, I beg 

 leave to "take out a patent" on the above 

 caption. 



1. Would it not be of great service, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, to many of your readers, and especially be- 

 ginners, if you would give us every mouth, a 

 brief list of " Hints?" You would in that way 

 save many a tyro from that fearful "too late," 

 which so often throws him back a whole year 

 in indispensable bee work. You may answer 

 that the lati'nde of your circulation is so gi-eat 

 that your "Hints" would not suit all, but as 

 your journal is issued with such admirable punc- 

 tuality, the first of every month, surely within 

 the thirty days, your suggestions would come 

 home to every beekeeper from Florida to Maine. 



2. Let me advise my brethren, against transfer- 

 ring from box hives to movable frame hives in 



April, or at any time before swarming— unless in- 

 deed they have some urgent reason — and it must 

 be vei'p urgent to compensate for the almost inevi- 

 table loss of brood, danger of robbery, and cer- 

 tain delay in swarming, accumulation of honey, 

 &c., i^c. Last April I transferred a swarm from 

 an old box hive to one of Alley's, and apparently 

 with great success, but in a day or two, the 

 robbers set in persistently, and I had a long and 

 wearisome fight with them. I conquered them 

 at last, but the bees did not store one pound of 

 surplus until nearly the close of the season. 

 Wlien they did get into the side boxes, they 

 worked splendidly, but I firmly believe that if 

 I had waited until June to transfer them, I 

 should have done greatly better. 



3 Wont Homebody tell us of a certain plan for 

 securing straight combs ? I have tilted my 

 hives at every practicable angle. I have put in 

 the nicest bits of comb guides. I have used 

 Colvins' separators, and still "one event con- 

 founds them all," the obstinate wretches in the 

 majority of cases Clike the Irishman's hog, that 

 " i-an up all manners of streets ") will run every 

 way but up and down ; the only guaranty, as far 

 as I know, is to have full sheets of empty comb, 

 to alternate with empty frames. 



4. The more attractive we can make our 

 honey, the more salable will it be, obviously. 

 In England (as I find from a recent work of 

 Alfred Neighbour's), it is all the fashion to 

 secure honey in glasses, most of them with flat 

 toi)s, of various sizes, some of them with aper- 

 tures of three inches in the tops to allow the 

 passage of the bees to and from upper glasses, 

 they have (in most of them) ventilating tubes, 

 which would soon be useless eo nomine, on ac- 

 count of propolis, but would answer admirably 

 as nuclei for tlie combs. These glasses need not 

 be of first quality, and if ordered in sufficient 

 quantities, might be furnished (I should think) 

 at such rates as would justify us in using them 

 largely. Nine purchasers out of ten would pre- 

 fer to pay the additional price, especially for 

 that particular pattern of glass, which being 

 flat topped (and provided with a lid), can be 

 inverted, placed upon the table, and when empt- 

 ied, could be used until next spring as an ordi- 

 nary preserve jar. I would cheerfully furni.sh 

 this book to you, Mr. Editor, if you think well 

 enougli of my suggestions to have the illustra- 

 tion of these glasses transferred to the Journal. 

 They could readily be gotten up in time for the 

 honey season. 



5. I have heard that the editor of our Jour- 

 nal has translated the full works of Huber, with 

 notes and appendix, bringing the science up to 

 the present day. If so, let us start a snbsciip- 

 tion list, and insist upon the publication. I 

 offer the modest sum of ten dollars to begin 

 with. B. 



In some seasons bees will get very little honey 

 from the white clover, although all the conditions 

 are apparently favorable. In the same way, Ital- 

 ian bees will in some seasons get little or no 

 honey from the second crop of red clover, while 

 in others they will store largely from this source, 

 while black bees are losing weight. 



