1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



657 



At the right of the picture is a riveting- 

 hammer, used by machinists and metal- 

 workers ; also a good deal by tinners. It 

 weighs 14 oz., and the price is 35 cts., as 

 shown. No. 4 is a very handy tack-hammer, 

 inlaid with blackwalriut ; price 20 cents. ; 

 weight 6 oz. No. 8 is a magnetic tack-ham- 

 mer, all-metal handle ; piicel5cts. It weighs 

 oz. No. 5 is the same with a wooden han- 

 dle ; price 15 cts. Its weight is 4 oz. These 

 magnetic hammers are especially handy for 

 driving tacks and small wire nails. No bee- 

 keeper can afford to be without them. No. 

 7 is our five-cent tack-hammer, weight 3 oz. 

 One might almost think that 5 cents was low 

 enough ; but in No. <i we have a hammer 

 that costs only 3 cts., and they are sold by 

 the thousands. They weigh 5 oz. The price 

 is so low you can afford one for each of the 

 children to crack nuts with ; and if they lose 

 them in the grass you can buy another cheap- 

 er than to hunt for it. No. 9 is our 15-cent 

 shoe-hammer. It has a broad round face, 

 you know, and when anybody has trouble by 

 not being able to hit the nail, just give him 

 this, for he could not very well miss it, even 

 if he should try. I believe the women-folks 

 have a sort of preference for the shoe-ham- 

 mer. It weighs 12 oz. 



Now, if you had one each of all the above 

 hammers, and had a place so that each one 

 could be put in its place, you would be like- 

 ly to liiul yourself prettywell supplied, and 

 you could then jiick out a liauiuicr accoidiug 

 to the work you wanted t(i do. Wv can send 

 you one of each kind right through for an 

 even $5.00. For prices of these hammers by 

 the quantity, and also for the amount of 

 postage needed to send them by mail, see 

 prices in the counter-store list, in our regu- 

 lar price list. 



As I have no more pictures, I think I will 

 not talk any further just at present. 



THE ROBBER-FLIES OF THE SOUTH. 



MALTjOPIIORA ORCINA. 



;NCL0SEU you will find an insect that catehos 

 boos; at least I have seen them with boos on 

 their bills many a time, and also seen one 

 catch a bee that was heavily laden with bnck- 

 wheat honey. He stuck his bill through the 

 bee, and I think it was dead by the time it struck 

 the ground. I do not know the name of this little 

 Turk; but, fortunately for the bee-keepers, they 

 are not very numerous hero. I have not only seen 

 them catchinf? honey-bees, but T saw one catch a 

 bumble-bee, and kill it in an instant. 

 Sparta, Tenn., Aug. 28, 1881. D. England, Ju. 

 Prof. Cook says: 



The insect is one of the common robber-tiies of the 

 South. It is the MaUophora orcina, described in my 

 Manual, p. 3^'0. The Axilkht, to which family this lly 

 belongs, arc very predaceous. There are two types 

 of these fierce robber - liies. One class, like the 

 Missouri bee-killer, are long, black, and exceeding- 

 ly strong and brave. These are illustrated on pages 

 317 and 318 of my Manual. The other type are very 

 hairy, yellow, and are easily mistaken lor bumble- 

 bees. They are hardly less fierce than the others. 

 To this tyiie belongs the yellow flj- sent by Mr. En- 

 gland. I question 11 these tiles are ever numerous 



enough to be a serious pest in the apiary, while in 

 killing injurious insects they may do great good. 

 Lansing, Mich., Sept., 1884. A. J. Cook. 



I suppose the reason these are called flies 

 instead of bumble-bees is because they have 

 no sting ; but from the looks of them I 

 should be inclined to call them a sort of 

 bumble-bee. Am I correct in concluding 

 that bees with no stings are classed as flies? 

 If he can put his beak through a bee, as 

 friend E. states, 1 should think the beak 

 was pretty nearly as bad as a sting. 



MRS. L. HARRISON ALSO GIVES US A 

 RATHER DISCOURAGING REPORT. 



ClTr,TlVATlN(i A HONKV MAHKIOT UATIIKH THAN A 

 HONKY FAKM. 



S far as I am able to learn, the honey crop in 

 this locality has been almost a failure. A 

 groceryman told me lately that bee-keepers 

 who had furnished him other years with hun- 

 dreds of pounds of honey tell him that they 

 can not supply him with a pound. These bee-keep- 

 ers live about twenty miles from the river. Apia- 

 ries located within range of the river bottoms report 

 nearly hall ol an average crop. Notwithstanding 

 this partial failure in the honey crop, choice white 

 clover in pound sections is retailing at 1.5 cts. per 

 pound. One reason for the low piico at present is, 

 that many persons coming to the lair brought a few 

 hundred pounds with them, and forced it upon the 

 market, selling it for whatever they could get. 

 Produce of various kinds is low, and the price of 

 honey will have tobeinthei-atioof otherswcets. 



You say, " It seems easier to tlnJ extracted honey 

 at 7 cents than to get equally good comb honey at 

 about twice that flguro." I produce only a limited 

 quantity of extracted honey, for the reason that it 

 takes more strength than it does to secui-e it in 

 comb. What I produce I sell at the same price as 

 comb, and many persons think it ought to bring 

 more, because wax doesn't digest, and there is none 

 in it. Grocerymen in this city of forty thousand in- 

 habitants have shown me tin pails of honey that 

 they had had for three years, and it had never been 

 called for. Extracted honey is a stranger; and 

 when it is introduced it meets with a cordial wel- 

 come. 



Mr. Muth says that at one time last fall he had 6(X) 

 bbls. of extracted honey. Now, this honey, before 

 it reaches the consumer (except in low gi-ades used 

 in manufacturing), has as much labor expended 

 upon it in Cincinnati as it had in the apiary where 

 it was produced. When I was at Cincinnati, Mrs. 

 Muth told me that she was going to cook four bar- 

 rels of honey the next day. The granulated honey 

 was dug out of the barrels, and put into buckets in 

 which it was melted. Mrs. Muth said, "I skim the 

 honey as long as any scum rises, and then it is pour- 

 ed into a tank." From this tank I saw how it was 

 drawn out into bottles, corked, tinfoilcd, labeled, 

 and then packed into boxes, which were also nicely 

 labeled, ready for shipment. I've no doubt that 

 honey put up by Mr. Muth is sent back to the locali- 

 ty where it was produced, and sold to dealers. 



Talk about raising a crop for honey! Better cul- 

 tivate a market. Choice white clover a begging at 7 

 cts. a pound! Give it an introduction to every ta- 

 ble in your neighborhood, and it will soon be known 

 and respected. 



