!88(i 



GLEAKlNCxS tN liEI-i (UTLTlTRE. 



75 



DOES IT PAY TO HAVE AN IMPORTED QUEEN IN 

 YOUR APIARY? 



This question often comes up, and I should be 

 glad of the experience of honey-producei-s in the 

 matter. Do you get more honey from Italian bees, 

 say only one or two generations from Italy, than 

 from stock bi-ed four or five years in our own coun- 

 try? Selecting for many generations the best hon- 

 ey-gatherers to breed from would probably improve 

 on the stock received direct from Italy; but, how 

 has it turned out in practice? A few years ago it 

 was decided that bees from stock not very long 

 from their native clime gathered more honey than 

 Italians that had been a long time on our shores. 

 Let us have some facts from actual experience. 



OUR CATALOGUE OF VEGETABLE SEEDS, PI,ANTS, 

 HONEY-PLANTS, ETC. 



When our last issue went to press, the type was 

 already up for this catalogue, or nearly so; but we 

 have been so crowded to get off promptly the circu- 

 lars and price lists for the bee-brethren, that our 

 own was obliged to stand still and is standing still 

 yet. We hope it will be out, however, within the 

 ne.vt ten days. Besides seeds and plants, it includes 

 also supplies for market gardeners, and some sup- 

 plies for the poultry business; also galvanized wire 

 cloth for carp-ponds, fruit-dryers, etc., etc. Our fa- 

 cilities for getting the above goods at a low price 

 are such that we believe we confer a favor in han- 

 dling them ; for by buying in large lots as we do, we 

 are enabled to give prices on such things at retail, 

 heretofore unknown. 



hatching CHICKENS IN .lANUAHV. 



There, I have gone and counted my chickens be- 

 fore they are hatched. Itis one of our nice Brahma 

 hens that is going to do the hatching, and she is un- 

 der one of the benches in the greenhouse. When I 

 put her there she would not sit down on her nest; 

 but after I took thirteen rggs out of my pocket, 

 and placed them beside her, she took her bill and 

 pushed them under with great satisfaction, and sat 

 down as motherly as one could wish. When itcame 

 breakfast time, however, she got into one of the 

 boxes of lettuce plants, and don't you believe she 

 made them fly? Some of them must have hit the 

 glass overhead; and after she did the same thing 

 next day, Mr. Weed, the gardener, wanted to have 

 her discharged forbad behavior. We didn't, though; 

 we just put some poultry netting around her, and 

 now she sits in one corner, and sits equal to any 

 new-fangled incubator. She started New- Year's 

 daj', so the chickens ought to hatch out on the 31st. 

 In our next number I will tell you how many she 

 brings out. I presume likely Huber will be able to 

 count them. 



SOLAR WAX-EXTUACTORS. 



Our friend Arthur Todd, of Germautown, Pa., 

 sends us a copy of the Bulletin de la Societe d' Api- 

 culture de la Somme, one of the most enterprising of 

 our foreign exchanges, dated July and August, 1879, 

 containing a picture of a solar wa.v - extractor, 

 made by putting a pane of glass over the top of a 

 machine that closelj' resembles Dadant'suncapping- 

 can; so it seems that solar wax - extractors have 

 been a good many years in use. And, by the way, I 

 do not know why an uncapping-can might not an- 

 swer excellentlj-, with a circular piece of glass 

 dropped down in the top a few inches, and then the 

 whole machine inclined at the proper angle toward 

 the sun. If the inside of the upper can is kept 



scoured with whiting it will be an excellent reflect- 

 or. I would drop the piece of gla^s down a few 

 inches, to be out of the waj- of the wind a little 

 more. Please let us have reports from this ar- 

 rangement. Meanwhile we extend thanks to friend 

 Todd, who was, we notice, an apicultural delegate 

 to the Paris Exposition in 1.878. 



THE NECESSITY OF LARGE PROFITS ON SEEDS OF 

 DIFFERENT KINDS. 



We oftentimes wonder why seedsmen pay, say a 

 dollar a bushel for a certain kind of seeds, and re- 

 tail them out for two or three dollars a bushel. 

 One reason why there must be large profits is this: 

 Every seedsman wants to have enough seeds to 

 suppl3' all demands; but in order to do this there is 

 no way but to bu3' a good deal more than enough; 

 and as it is not advisable to use many seeds more 

 than one year old, the surplus remaining on hand 

 must be burned up, or sold at an insignificant price 

 compared with first cost, or be fed to stock. Al- 

 most every year we have to throw away seeds of 

 spider plant and flgwort that cost us a good many 

 dollars, or else face the other dilemma of being un- 

 able to supply the demand. 



A BRANCH SUPPLY - HOUSE FOR THE FRIENDS IN 

 THE SOUTH. 



For years there has been much talk about some 

 arrangement whereby our friends in the South 

 might have their supplies, without paying the enor- 

 mous express and freight charges that they have 

 had to pay for years back. For instance, if a man 

 wants ten pounds of foundation, and wants it right 

 away, there is no way he can get it very well by 

 mail, freight, or express, without paying about half 

 its worth to him in the way of charges— that is, pro- 

 viding he deals with us, and a great part of our 

 trade comes from the Southern States, especially 

 the latter part of winter and early in spring. It is 

 true, we have supply-dealers in the South, whom I 

 would by no means forget; but none of them have 

 ever felt like keeping the extensive and varied as- 

 sortment that wc keep. Well, for months past we 

 have been corresponding with Mr. J. M. Jenkins, 

 of Wetumpka, Ala., and he has recently paid us a 

 visit, and looked the whole matter over, and we may 

 say the arrangement is now completed. The goods 

 are to be shipped to fi-iend Jenkins by the carload, 

 so that the freight is really but a small item. Where 

 he has customers near to us be will have the orders 

 filled from our place, and vice verm, and he will fur- 

 nish nearly all we advertise, at our prices. Friend 

 J. is not only a bee-keeper, but he is a railroad man, 

 and has been for many years perfectly conversant 

 with the whole matter of freights, north and south; 

 and as he has also served as express agent, he is at 

 home in regard to all express business. Further- 

 more, he is a man held in high estimation by all rail- 

 road companies in his section, and many of the 

 managers of the different companies have express- 

 ed their willingness to assist him in the enterprise. 

 Friend J. being a railroad man, has, by the assist- 

 ance of other railroad officials, arranged to secure 

 a wonderfully, low rate of freight from our place 

 to his. He manufactures Simplicity hives from 

 southern Avhite pine, so as to sell them at our prices 

 in Wetumpka. 



Now, then, if we can not help in this great matter 

 before us, of bringing about friendlj' relations, and 

 especially friendly Jnisinrsn relations, between the 

 North and South, it will be funny. 



