246 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



much hard work as I can iu the past ten 

 years, in the interest of bee-keeping. If 

 it was not for liim who feeds tlie honey to 

 tlie public direct, what would your papers, 

 your hives, your queens and bees all be 

 worth? I have labored 16 to 20 hours a 

 day the greater part of the time since I 

 have been iu the business. I have searched 

 out in all our cities everybody that I could 

 sell a pound of honey to, and three-fourths 

 on credit too, in sums of 25c. to $2. trust- 

 ing almost indiscriminately everybody 

 who would buy, and had standing out 

 at times, after my business was enlarged, 

 in several cities, in these small sums, to 

 people I never saw, $5,000 to $G,000, of 

 which I usually lose from 2 to 10 per cent. 

 I have given away tons of honey for peo- 

 ple to try that I never received a cent for. 



For many j^ears I have worked for glory, 

 although I always made money; but after 

 learning that ni}' efforts were not appreci- 

 ated, I only worked for the dollar. 



I have been largely engaged in manu- 

 facturing maple syrup from the sugar, the 

 past few years, which has outgrown the 

 honey interest, and I may at some time 

 ask apiarists to relieve me entirely of 

 that interest. The maple sugar producers 

 seem to be a rather more pleasant people 

 to get along with geuerall}', although I 

 should pay a tribute of respect to my 

 many friends among apiarists. 



C. O. Perrine. 



Chicago, 111., Oct. 19, 1875. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 Honey. 



That there is no accounting for tastes 

 is an old saying, and to a considerable 

 extent it is true ; but our individual tastes 

 and preferences are largely a matter of 

 education. 



I live in a region abounding with white 

 clover, and nearly all the surplus honey we 

 get is gathered from the blossoms of that 

 plant. The few linden trees that bloom are 

 not sufficient to materially alter the flavor 

 of the clover-honey. In consequence of 

 this, we have a demand in our markets 

 for only choice qualities of honey. In 

 consequence of the short crop this year, I 

 purchased some bass-wood honey from 

 Michigan, and my customers complained 

 of the taste of bee-bread in their honey. 

 They were ignorant of the flavor of bass- 

 wood and mistook it for bee-bread. Many 

 of them would hear my explanation, and 

 then say, with a knowing shake of the 

 head : " Ah ! I know bee bread when I 

 taste it." 



A friend from the mountainous region 

 east of us remarked to me lately : " Yes, 

 white clover furnishes very pretty honey, 

 but nothing tastes to me lUm hoiwy except 

 that from the poplar bloom." 



I was lately at the business house of 

 friend Muth, in Cincinnati, and though 



short of clerks thai day, and besieged on 

 every side with customers, he took time 

 to show me over his large establishment, / 

 and to have a little bee-talk. "We went to > 

 the honey-cellar, and sampled numerous 

 casks of honey, with a view to compare 

 qualities. "This," said Mr. M., drawing 

 the bung from a cask, " came from a friend 

 in Michigan. He wrote when it was 

 shipped that if I ever saw, smelled or 

 tasted better honey, he would not charge 

 a cent for it. He called it white clover. 

 Try it." Upon tasting, it proved to be what 

 would pass in our market for medium 

 second quality. There was in the cellar 

 honey from the North, the South, and the 

 West as fiir as California. Honey from 

 that State was very thick, almost as clear 

 as water, and of a high spicy flavor, some- 

 what resembling that from peach and ap- 

 ple blossoms. Honey from Louisiana was 

 rather dark and of a strong flavor. Bass- 

 wood honey, from the Northern States, 

 was verj' light-colored and already (Sep- 

 tember) partially candied. 



Mr. Muth reports honey-crop very short, 

 no strictly first quality of this year's crop 

 seen, and no comb-honey on the market; 

 though he was expecting some iu Sep- 

 tember. 



From the honey-cellar we went to the 

 warehouse, where bee-hives and honey- 

 jars were stored in quantity. A car-load 

 of honey-jars had just come in from the 

 factory, and were piled up near the wai'e- 

 house. The nicest straw mats for winter 

 covering that I have yet seen were piled 

 up near-b3'. I have been using quilts, 

 but hereafter shall make only straw mats 

 to cover my bees; and I shall try a few 

 hives with eight combs and a smaller 

 mat on each side next the wood, in place 

 of the comb. I use Langstroth hives. 



I was much interested in Mr. Muth's 

 account of two cases of foul-brood that 

 had occurred in his apiary. He confessed 

 that he was very much alarmed when it 

 was discovered, but by prompt treatment, 

 he had conquered it, and that danger was 

 over. The bees were changed to empty 

 combs and the old combs melted and 

 hives burned. After thirty-six hours the 

 bees were again changed to clean combs 

 and fed sugar syrup for wintering. Mr. 

 M. can show as fine Italians as one would 

 wish to see. He cultivates them exclu- 

 sively, but can relate a little experience 

 with Egyptian bees of his own importa- 

 tion. As fighters, tlu^y were a decided 

 success, but they did not conquer friend \^ 

 Muth; for he routed them, " horse, foot 

 and dragoons." That is to say: Kings, 

 queens and guards. This was necessary 

 for the safety of himself and friends. 



September, 1875. W. C. P. 

 < ■ > 



Any numbers that fail to reach subscrib- 

 ers by fault of mail, we are at all times 

 ready to re-send, on application, free of 

 charge. 



