803 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



flelfi of iilsike clover helped me in securing the 

 quantity as well as the superior quality. After us- 

 ing- 2000 of the 4^4X4i4Xl''8 sections with separators, 

 and 4000 of the i%X4:'\/iXl% without separators in 

 the last two seasons, 1 am so well pleased with the 

 1% section I shall use rhem in the future. 



By working hard I have made a home market for 

 all my honcj-. The secret is, I think, to be found in 

 putting- it up in the most neat and attractive shape 

 jiossible. This report is from an A B C scholar who 

 commenced four years ago, with bees in box hives, 

 which 1 transferied to the Langstroth hives. 



M. G. Chase, 1.5— 6.')— 98. 



Lafayette. O., Oct. 5, ISSO. 



Our I'lidid Mr. Chase has furnished us, 

 for uvo or three seasons back, tlie nicest 

 section honey it has been onr lot to handle. 

 Ill evi ry inshuice. wlu rever his iioney has 

 come in coni|)etition witli otlier honey, his 

 lias commanded a higher pi ice. We sell his 

 honey at IS cts. per lb. on the market-wagon, 

 while our other comb honey commands but 

 12 and ITi cts. Why is this ditterence? Be- 

 cause the Chase honey-comb is always pearly 

 Avhite,and the sections are never soiled with 

 propolis or dirt. He packs his section honey 

 in the 24-lb. single-tier shipping-case, and 

 tliese in a light spring wagon which lie takes 

 wherever, he can get the best price. Brother 

 bee-keepers, are we all as careful to have 

 our honey in as nice marketable shape as we 

 can put it? In securing this honey he prac- 

 tices contraction, and uses tlie Heddon crate. 



A GOOD REPORT FROM A BEGINNER. 



ALSO A FEW KIND WOK^JS. 



TTp S the honey season is over, I feel as though I 

 ^iJbii should like to say a few words in regard to 

 jN|? the season, and other subjects of interest. 

 •*^^ I began last spring with si.v colonics, three 

 Italian, one hybrid, and two black. Two of 

 the Italians had about a pint of bees in each. I 

 built them up, and they gave me one swarm late, 

 but no honey. The other four I have increased to 

 twelve, and taken 230 lbs. of honey— 7.5 lbs. extract- 

 ed, the rest in 1-lb. section boxes. The best 

 Italian colony gave me three natural swarms and 

 two artificial ones, and have given me 100 lbs. of 

 honey. The season began early here, but there 

 was hardly any honey in fruit-blossoms, rasp- 

 berry, or dwarf maple— just the reverse of last 

 year, when every thing was full of honey. The 

 first of the season the bees got just enough to 

 carry from one day to another, until clover, which 

 also yielded sparingly, but lasted longer than 

 usual, with just enough linden and buckwheat to 

 keep them breeding well until goldenrod and asters 

 opened about the first of August. Th -sb have 

 given me all the honey I have taken, exceijt 20 lbs. 

 of clover in July, and from 20 to iJO lbs. in each 

 hive to winter on. in nice heavy combs; they 

 weigh from 5 to 8 lbs. each, capped, most of them 

 clear to the bottom-bar. The honey is so thick that 

 T could hardly throw it out with the extractor, and 

 it weighs plump 13 lbs. to the gallon. It doesn't 

 seem as though they would have raucli disease on 

 such food. 1 don't think they have much pollen. 

 I have sold 16J lbs., almost all at 25 cts. There is 

 another bee keeper about three miles from me who 

 - has itbout 5fj colonics, He sold his honey lagt 



year, what little he had, at 2.5 cts.; and when I be- 

 gan selling at 25 he did not like it so very well. 

 He siiid I should keep the price up to 30 cts. for 

 comb, for he was selling extracted at 25. There 

 are few places where honey sells as high as here; 

 but the town is small, and the people don't eat 

 much honey, so it is rather hard work to sell at 

 that price. I know that it is a good price for hon- 

 ey. I suppose 20 cts. is about right for it here; but 

 if I should drop to 23 cts. this friend of mine would 

 be very much offended, and give me another 

 lecture on underselling. He said he could sell all 

 the honey he could raise, at that price, and mine 

 too, but I don't think he could. Some will buy hon- 

 ey at any price, and there are a lot more who Avill 

 not unless they can get it cheaper. I took about 

 40 lbs. to Plymouth, quite a large town twelve miles 

 away. I sold it after a while, a little in a place, 

 but the most of them said they could send off and 

 get it and then sell it for less than I ottered it to 

 them. I have pint li4-lb. jars at 45 cts. ; how do 

 you suppose it would work for me to fill all the 

 stores with them at 30 or 35 cts.? Could I make 

 more in the long run by so doing? 1 want to sell 

 a lot of honey, but I want to do right, and use 

 everybody well. Of course, it would not do to sell 

 for less in one town than another. I should like 

 a little of your advice on this subject, if you 

 would be so kind as to give it. 



How the bees did work for four or five weeks! 

 If they had done as well the first of the season, 

 I might have had quite a little report; but five 

 good swarms and 100 lbs. of honey from a colony is 

 not very bad. I am well satisfied with my work 

 this season, and I owe most of my success to what 

 I have learned from Gleanings. How any one 

 can find fault with the contents of Gleanings is 

 more than I can conceive. Every word of it is 

 interesting to mo, and instructive. Your talks 

 about gardening, carp, poultry, and every thing 

 else, is, to my mind, good enough. I wish it came 

 every week. 



I am sorry you have foul brood, and hope you 

 will soon get rid of it. The smoker you sent me 

 last year, for quitting the use of tobacco, has done 

 me good service this season. I liave not tasted 

 the weed since, and don't intend to again. I am 

 very much obliged to you. I have thought, this 

 summer, if the men of this town would use the 

 money to buy honey with that they pay for tobac- 

 co, 1 could sell Iioney enough; but they think 

 tobacco is more of a necessity. C. E. Watts. 



Rumney, N. H., Sept. 23, 1886. 



As a general rule we should get as good a 

 price as our honey will bring, and I hardly 

 think 2) cts. per pound is too mucli if our 

 patrons ;ire willing to pay that for every 

 pound we can raise. On the contrary, if 

 customers will not buy at this figure, then 

 v/e must sell for less. Your neighbor and 

 yourself, I think, can come to some amicable 

 agreement as to the price per pound you can 

 dispose of your whole crop of honey. In re- 

 gard to the U-lb. jars, if tliey will sell so as 

 to in time close out the whole lot at 45 cts., 

 I do not think I sliould drop the price. 

 Questions of this nature, each one must de- 

 cide for himself to a greater or less extent ; 

 and while we should command, as high a 

 price as we can get. we should a-so remem- 

 ber the " Golden Rule." 



