218 



AMERICAN BEE JOURJNAx-. 



among farmers there are not now 25 

 per cent, of the bees kept at that time. 



We will here give what we believe to 

 be the general and greatest cause of this 

 decline, viz : the constantly decreasing 

 ability of the laboring and wealth-pro- 

 ducing classes to pay for and use the 

 luxuries and good things of life. 

 Twenty-five years ago all the fine comb 

 honey that we could produce found a 

 ready home market at 25 cents a pound. 

 Now it takes a skillful salesman to get 

 more than 123.f cents for a far better 

 grade ; and the price will go still lower 

 unless bee-keepers begin to develop 

 their home markets. At present, nearly 

 all rush their honey to some great city 

 market, thus, even in a year of poor 

 crops, centralizing the surplus, over- 

 stocking their markets, and lowering 

 prices. We must change all this for a 

 more rational system. For the last two 

 years we have been giving attention to 

 our home market, and find we can easily 

 sell all our honey at fair prices, without 

 the risks of shipping to distant points. 



The 700,000 colonies named at the 

 beginning of this essay would, at 50 

 pounds a colony, produce 85,000,000 

 pounds, a fraction over 8 ounces for 

 each one of our people, and if the 1893 

 crop was, as believed, one-half less 

 than that, then the present crop would 

 give but four ounces for each of our 

 people — a small supply, surely. In our 

 home we use not less than 20 pounds to 

 each person, and we believe health and 

 comfort are promoted by it. We believe 

 that every man, woman child of our 

 population could use five pounds of first- 

 class honey with healthful economy. 

 This would take 325,000,000 pounds. 



Friends, there is plenty of room for 

 our pleasant calling. The flowers will 

 no doubt continue to yield nectar. We 

 must produce better goods, market them 

 more wisely than heretofore, and we 

 shall easily find room for a greatly in- 

 creased product at fair prices. 



Barnett Taylor. 



'*XIie Honey- Bee : Its Natural 

 History, Anatomy and Physiology," is the 

 title of the book written by Thos. Wm. 

 Cowan, editor of the British Bee JournaJ. It 

 is bound in cloth, beautifully illustrated, 

 and very interesting. Price, $1.00, post- 

 paid; or we club it with the Bee Journal 

 one year for $1.65. We have only three of 

 these books left. 



Have You Bead the wonderful Pre- 

 mium offer on page 197 ? 



^^ Do not write anything for publication 

 on the same sheet of paper Avltn business 

 matters, unless it can be torn apart without 

 interfering- with either part of the letter. 



Mild Winter Thus Far. 



Our winter in this section of the country 

 has been very mild thus far. My bees;,en- 

 joyed a good flight to-day. 



Elisha Cart. 



Doylestown, Pa., Jan. 14. 



Good Honey Season in 1893. 



The past year was a good one in this 

 locality. Bees averaged about \h\) pounds 

 of white clover honey per colony. Bass- 

 wood yielded very little nectar, although 

 there was an abundance of bloom. 



Peosta, Iowa. Jan. 18. D. G. Fextox. 



Bees in Good Condition, Etc. 



I have had a poor honey crop the past 

 season — it was only 450 pounds from 30 col- 

 onies, spring count. It was too wet in the 

 spring, and too dry in the summer, but all 

 my bees are in good condition to winter. 

 We have had a good winter so far. We 

 have not had enough snow to track a rab- 

 bit. I winter all my bees on the summer 

 stands, in single-walled hives, without any 

 packing about them. Phillip Rath. 



Oraville, Ills., Jan. 18. 



Southwest Texas — The Other Side. 



I think the Bee Journal will lose a part 

 of its reputation for being the '• Old Re- 

 liable," if it continues to raise so many 

 oranges and bananas — on paper — in south- 

 west Texas. I am receiving several letters 

 every week requesting my assistance to 

 locate orange-ranches and bee-ranches. 



Oranges and bananas can be grown in 

 southwest Texas, if money enough i& ex- 

 pended, and so they can in the Dakotas. 

 and they can be grown in the Dakotas 

 about as successfully as they can in south- 

 west Texas. All of southwest Texas is like 

 Presidio county — a good description of 

 which was published in a recent number of 

 the Bee Journal, but in a milder form, 

 going east from the latter county until the 

 rain-belt of the State is reached. 



Men who have been in southwest Texas a 

 long time, 'think this the portion of the 



