THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



139 



J3ee-Keepcr's Magasine for 187:5, makes 

 quality of houey very poor, ■while he says 

 the country is no better for quantity than 

 Ohio. I think he is as he says, iu a poor 

 locality. (Santa Clara Valley.) 



J. W. INIoutgoniery, of San Bernardino, 

 says : "I am satislied that the poorest 

 honey we have Avill compare with your 

 best basswood." That is good enough, for 

 I sold mine last fall in Pittsburgh, Pa., 

 for 3;} cents per pound. 



Brother Ives says come to Austin, 

 Texas, but does not say anything about 

 the quality or price of honey there. I 

 want, if I move, to go to some warmer 

 country and among a friendly people, as 

 I must leave my family here at present. 

 If I engage in the business alone, I will 

 have to work bees for box honey, as I 

 cannot handle frames well. I have a 

 neighbor who offers to furnish capital to 

 start a small apiary and divide profits, 

 but he is Texas inclined, while I am Cali- 

 fornia inclined. 



How much of an apiary of Italian bees 

 could I start for five hundred dollars ? 



Westfield, N. Y. H. B. Rolfe. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Peabody Extractor. 



]\[r. Editor : I was both surprised 

 and pained to see that friend Peabody 

 had put my name among the testimonials 

 in favor of his extractor in your May No. 

 Had he given the date of that letter, it 

 would not have been so apt to mislead, 

 but even then, after the correspondence 

 that had passed between us on the sub- 

 ject, I cannot but think it unkind. In 

 1870 we took about three tons of houey 

 from 48 colonies, with a simple home- 

 made extractor, and one of the girls then 

 in my employ iu the jewelry busmess, 

 undertook it as a kind of recreation, did 

 it all, and found it "just fun." In the 

 spring of 1870 Mr. Peabody made me a 

 present of one of his extractors, and I 

 was so much pleased with it that — after 

 a very hasty trial — I purchased, I think, 

 a half dozen. These were sold so quickly 

 — upon my recommendation — that M'e 

 sold also the one presented to us and 

 used our old one during the season. In 

 the spring of '72 I purchased one dozen, 

 at $11.00 each, of Mr. Peabody, and sold 

 a part of them, and when the honey sea- 

 sou opened we prepared to use one of the 

 Peabody machines, and iu fact sold our 

 old one for .f5.00, as Messrs. Fay ifc 

 Winder had sent us one of theirs, also. 

 AVell, Miss A. commenced with the Pea- 

 body machine, but it took all her strength 

 to get the can shirling up to the required 



speed, and more than her strength to stop 

 it as ([uickly as siie had been doing. She 

 declared she could not use it. I at first 

 stubbornly insisted tiiat it must work as 

 easy as the old one, but on trial found my 

 mistake. AVe then tried (4ray & Win- 

 der's, a revolving can machine, also, and 

 found it but little better. The honey was 

 coming in, and Avhat was to be done? 

 We were needed in the shop and apiary 

 both, but rather than to use the revolving 

 can one more day, we went to work and 

 built an improvement on our old one. 

 That one now docs service in our apiary, 

 and is light, easy work for a woman to 

 use. The Peabody machines we sold 

 can be made to do, if a man uses them, 

 but most of them are laid aside, and all 

 will be soon. The half dozen we had 

 left we sold at $7.50 each. 



The letter Mr. P. extracts from was 

 written after that first hasty trial, and, if 

 we are correct, we added something that 

 he has seen fit to clip off", iu this, however, 

 we may be mistaken. As soon as we 

 saw our error, we wrote him entreating 

 him to make a stationary can machine, as 

 we did also Gray & Winder. And when 

 none of the makers of extractors would 

 furnish a stationary can machine made all 

 of metal, like the one we have described 

 some years ago iu these pages, we had no 

 choice but to make them ourselves. But 

 when we objected to the revolving can 

 machine so vehemently, w^e had no 

 thought of ever engaging in such busi- 

 ness. With a sincere desire that none 

 of our friends may invest in implements 

 that may prove a disappointment to 

 them, and that every one may be fairly 

 represented, I remain, as ever. 



Your old friend. Novice. 



For the Anieiican Bee .TournaJ. 



Hives for Farmers. 



I am pleased with the Ameiucax Bee 

 JouKSAL. Its monthly visits ai-e gratify- 

 ing to me. I read all its eommuuicatious 

 with interest; whether according to my 

 views or not. 



C. R. Isham's communication in j'our 

 May number on "Patent Hives and Ven- 

 ders," I hope will be re-read by vast 

 numbers. It is certainly amusing to 

 read very stringent articles against pat- 

 ents, in patented books. No doubt the 

 public are often imposed upon by patent- 

 ed articles, articles that are useless; and 

 also by useless articles that are not pat- 

 ented. Every one must judge of the val- 

 ue of an article from its characteristics, 

 and use. No one, very wise, would buy 



