1886 



GLEANLNGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



44!) 



to this size of package as kindly asit does to smallei- 

 cases of 20 or 25 poiiuds. 



We find that Missouri has a g-reatcr variety of 

 packaffes than has any other State. We urge that 

 your society exert its early and strongest influence 

 to establish some uniformity in this direction. We 

 suggest that, for one-pound frames, you pack two 

 or three dozen in a case; and for two-pound frames, 

 one or two dozen in a case— our preference in the 

 latter instance being for one dozen in a case. We 

 had so little call for the half-pound frames that we 

 would recommend the abandoning of that size of 

 section. Another suggestion, by M'ay of improve- 

 ment, is to mark plainly on every package the cor- 

 rect gross weight, tare and net, as well as the uum- 

 ber of sections. 



Wc can not, in this connection, refrain from re- 

 ferring to the highly important subject of the use 

 of glass with honey packages. We have always in- 

 sisted, and still affirm, that it is improper to 

 glass every section. It does not take the consumer 

 long to discover, when he is buying a pound sec- 

 tion, that one quarter of it is glass. The conse- 

 quence is, that you can not sell him many more 

 such sections; and V(C suggest, therefore, that glass 

 be used only in the front of each case. 



In reference to the comparative merits of the 

 different shipments of honey from different sections 

 of the country, we will add that we have received 

 consignments of e.x'tracted honey from North Caro- 

 lina, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Te.xas. The finest- 

 flavored honey came from North Carolina, and it 

 was made from the huckleberry. It brought the 

 highest price. The poorest honey came from Louis- 

 iana, and it was almost impossible to sell it; it 

 looked and tasted more like molasses than honcj'. 



PUTTING HONEY IN PROPER PACKAGES. 



Now permit us to say a word respecting the pi"es- 

 ervation of honey, in taste or flavor. Some pro- 

 ducers seem to think that all that is necessary is to 

 preserve it in bulk— to see that none 'of it is lost. 

 Now, the best of honey, like the proof of the pud- 

 ding, is in the tasting. For illustration: We re- 

 ceived a shipment of comb honey from Texas, 

 ■which was made in water-buckets. The only virtue 

 of this receptacle is, that the bees could have abun- 

 dance of room for working in it. The bee had done 

 his part, and brought to this " bucket-shop " of na- 

 ture's choicest sweets, but the beekeeper had de- 

 teriorated the honey just one-half its original worth 

 by giving the bee an improper package in which to 

 work. We suppose that he, with others, thought 

 that Kansas City was such a " mushroom-opolis" of 

 a market that, no matter what the quality of the 

 honey might be, or the style of the package in 

 which the honey was shipped, it would still com- 

 mand as high a price as his neighbor's honey 

 which was shipped in a proper package. Let him 

 take a lesson from the busy bee, and prepare his 

 packages as thoroughly as the little insect worker 

 makes his cells, and the honey will retain its natural 

 flavor. 



In regard to next season's crop, wc have no direct 

 information, except from California, which State 

 promises a yield worthy the searchers after the Gol- 

 den Fleece. This State has been blessed with an abun- 

 dance of rain this season, which has made the val- 

 leys and hillsides bloom like the rose. A profusion 

 of wild flowers encarpets the low grounds, while 

 the mountain-sides arc draped with an extraordi- 

 nary growth of the white sage, which shrub consti- 



tutes three-fourths of the bees' supply. While those 

 active insect-workers are improving each shining 

 hour, Ictus put in our time with honest endeavors, 

 both to pr(>serve in perfection all the native quali- 

 ties of this delightful product of dame Nature's del- 

 icate art, and to impi-ove all the facilities for put- 

 ting it in easy reach of the consumer. 



Clemons, Cr.ooN & Co. 

 Kansas City, Mo., May, 1886. 



Friends C, C. & Co., we pronounce the 

 above tiptop, and we take pleasure in laying 

 it before our readers, even if it does savor a 

 little of advertising your house. Our read- 

 ers will hnd the package you recommend 

 for shipping extracted honey, illustrated 

 and described on page 274, April 1. 



THE MATTER OP DISPOSING OF SEW- 

 AGE. 



SOME SUGGE.STIONS FROM ONE OF OUR ENGLISH 



FRIENDS, IN KEGARD TO THE WAY THEY 



MANAGE IT. 



T" SEE in Gleanings that you ask your readers 

 ,s|? to let you hear what they know about the dis- 

 W posal of sewage. In England we have: 1. The 

 "^ earth system; 2. The precipitation system; 

 3. The water system. 



The first of these is most applicable to country 

 places: we have several in our small village. In- 

 stead of a wheelbarrow we use a tin pail and ashes, 

 or dried earth, which the owner removes as suits 

 him. The second system is mixing the sewage with 

 chemicals in tanks. The water is discharged ap- 

 parently clear, and the residue is mixed scaveng-er's 

 refuse, which has been passed through a riddle, 

 and the larger matter calcined. The third system 

 is the hooding of land with sewage by gravitation 

 or pumping. Cheltenham, a town of 42,000 inhabit- 

 ants (10 miles from here) sends the whole of the 

 sewage water to a distance of about 3 miles, over a 

 face of 131 square miles. The houses, some 8000 in 

 number, are generally jirovided with watei'ciosets; 

 it is conveyed, first, to tanks 44 yards by 10 yards by 

 eight feet deep, in which, by a certain rough filtra- 

 tion, it is separated from its heavier mud, and the 

 remainder flows onward to the land. The overflow 

 is made to drive a turbine, bj' which the sludge is 

 lifted above the level of the ground close by, where 

 the house-ash, with other town refuse, wheeled by 

 the scavenger-cart, is placed so as to receive it, and 

 is doled out to the farmers at about 2 shillings per 

 yard. Few of the sewage farms pay, I have heard, 

 and then only on very light land. 



I suppose you have heard we have had a long and 



bad winter for bees, and I hear of a good many 



losses. I believe we have over 10,000 bee-keepers, 



and our honey was down to 7 @ 8 pence, best comb. 



Arthur W. Leatham. 



Misardcn, Cirencester, Eng., March 9, 1886. 



Thanks, friend L. Since my articles on 

 the subject quite a number of very ingenious 

 plans have been submitted to me. Perhaps 

 the best one in use, especially in large pub- 

 lic buildings, is the plan adopted in the 

 schools of Toledo, Ohio, and several other 

 places. This plan is somewhat as follows : 

 The buildings are warmed by hot air. The 

 hot air, after having performed its office, 

 is carried down beneath the water-closets 

 (which in this case are closets without wa- 



