AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



209 



generally be found in front of the hive ; 

 an empty hive, with a comb or two of 

 brood, should be placed on the old stand, 

 and the quoen introduced ; the swarm 

 will soon return, and in the majority of 

 cases, all is well. Do not clip the queen's 

 wings until after she has commenced 

 laying. By so doing, you would have 

 an unfertilized queen. — W. M. Barnum. 



1. I have often clipped their wings, 

 but took care in such a case to have a 

 good, clear spot in front of the hive, 

 and a board on edge for them to get from 

 the ground to the hive in case they drop 

 off in trying to fly out. 2. The advantage 

 is, they cannot leave in swarming. The 

 disadvantages I do not know, as I have 

 never experienced any. — J as. A. Stone. 



1. Yes, it has become necessary with 

 me. 2. The advantages are : It saves me 

 a great deal of hard work, and saves 

 several good swarms every year. Let 

 me illustrate : Last spring I had one 

 queen that I intended to supersede, and 

 therefore did not hunt her up and clip 

 her wing. The result was, while I was 

 at dinner, or absent for some cause, she 

 ran off with the swarm. There are no 

 disadvantages that I can name.— G. W. 

 Demaree. 



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Sellin£ Extracted Honey at Retail. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



I want to call your attention, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, to the article on page 111. After 

 reading it over carefully, will you please 

 tell me if you think you are entirely fair 

 with me? You made certain disclosures 

 as to the possibility of bee-keepers in 

 general obtaining something like double 

 price for their honey, and bee-keepers 

 would naturally be interested to know 

 how the thing was done. I asked you 

 about it, and instead of giving me any 

 answer, you open your columns to have 

 a page occupied by H. M. Melbee, not in 

 giving the information I asked for, but 



in something that approaches at least 

 toward mud-slinging. I asked bread and 

 you give me a stone. Is that fair '? 



From the fact that in your former de- 

 liverance you used the name Melbee as 

 a fictitious one, I have the right to sup- 

 pose that H. M. Melbee is not a real 

 name. Now granting that the delight- 

 ful occupation of throwing mud is a 

 legitimate one for your correspondents, 

 is it entirely fair, after letting him have 

 his fling at me, to let him hide behind a 

 fictitious name so that I can't see where 

 to throw ? You see, I've no means what- 

 ever even to make a tolerably fair guess 

 at anything that may be amiss in his 

 dealings with his bees or his fellow men. 

 Perhaps, however, it was kindness on 

 your part, not desiring to get me into 

 evil ways. 



Mr.. Melbee says, "I do not think the 

 Doctor desires any instructions that 

 would insure him 24 cents per pound," 

 etc. Honest Injun, Mr. Editor, I do de- 

 sire that very thing. You show me how 

 to dispose of extracted honey at that 

 figure, and see how quick I'll drop pro- 

 ducing comb honey. Why, bless your 

 heart, Mr. Editor, don't we all desire to 

 get as big a price as possible ? But 

 working on the principle that no one de- 

 sires information, Mr. Melbee has care- 

 fully refrained from giving any light all 

 through his article, with a single possi- 

 ble exception. That's where he talks 

 about the difference between honey in 

 sections and extracted honey. I haven't 

 the slightest desire to say a word to 

 weaken the force of any argument in fa- 

 vor of extracted honey. Possibly I 

 might go farther than Mr. Melbee, for if 

 two dishes were standing side by side on 

 the table, one extracted and the other 

 comb, the honey itself being exactly the 

 same in each, I'd take the extracted 

 every time. But I think you will see, 

 Mr. Editor, that Mr. Melbee has made 

 some mistake in his figures when he 

 talks abont a customer getting only % 

 of a pound of honey when he supposes 

 he is buying a pound. 



Looking at the account of the last 

 shipment of section honey I made, I find 

 that I sold 2,915 sections, weighing 

 2,754 pounds. The wood in the sec- 

 tions weighs K of an ounce each. A lit- 

 tle figuring will show that for every 

 pound of that shipment there should be 

 deducted an ounce for wood, instead of 

 4 ounces, as Mr. Melbee puts it. Even 

 if each section should be sold for a pound 

 without weighing, the deduction should 

 be less than Hi instead of 4 ounces. In 

 reality there should also be a little de- 

 duction for the wax, for that's a dead 



