1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



IS 



that it is indeed true, that you called at- 

 tention to this very important matter as 

 long ago as 1883. Very likely some of the 

 friends did think of the important truth 

 that your report indicated ; but it is a little 

 strange that nobody took it up and called 

 attention to it. Now. suppose the bees 

 have drawn the foundation out but a very 

 little, say from one-fourth to one-half an 

 inch. If the section is nice and clean, is it 

 not best to use it V I have, a good many 

 times, thought that extracted honey was 

 seldom if ever quite equal to some samples 

 of comb honey, especially if it is extracted 

 about as soon as it is gathered. Where an 

 upper story is left on the hive until the hon- 

 ey season is all over, and then extracted, 

 there is no question about it ; but it is verj' 

 likely true, that even then the honey in very 

 thick combs would be a little inferior to 

 that in shallow combs. Then comes the 

 question, Can honey be ripened by artihcial 

 means so as to be equal to that thoroughly 

 ripened in the hive ? 



STATISTICS FOR BEE-KEEPEKS. 



SOME TREMENDOUS FIGURES FROM OUR FRIEND 

 GEORGE E. HILTON. 



AY I add emphasis to what Prof. Cook 

 has said in regard to this matter, and 

 make additional suggestions? It is some- 

 thing I have been interested in for some 

 time, and, for the first time, the way now 

 seems clear; and it requires onlj' a little effort on 

 the part of bee-keepers themselves to receive this 

 much-desired information. The great newspapers 

 of the country, and even the (iovernment itself, 

 stand with extended hands to help us in this mat- 

 ter. Some time ago I received a letter from the 

 business manager of the N. Y. Tribune, asking me 

 for an article and a statistical report of the bee and 

 honey industry of the United States. I wrote him 

 quite at length, but was obliged to admit that I did 

 not consider my sources of information reliable, and 

 that certain portions were misleading. Perhaps it 

 would have been better not to have written at all, 

 but I desired to make the best showing I could, 

 the recapitulation of which was about the same as 

 friend Newman reports in a recent number of his 

 valuable journal; i. e., that the annual product of 

 North America is about one hundred millions of 

 pounds, and its value is about $15,000,000; the annu- 

 al wax product is about half a million pounds, and its 

 value about $100,000; that there are about .300,000 

 bee-keepers in North America; and at the very low 

 estimate of ten colonies each, this would amount to 

 3,000,000; and at f 5.00 per colony for bees and fix- 

 tures, it would make an investment of $15,000,000, 

 so the industry represents at least 30 millions of 

 dollars annually; and if the facts were known, I 

 think it would be nearer $50,(X10,000. You will re- 

 member the letter I read at the Michigan State 

 convention, from the U. S. Statistician, offering to 

 include our industry in the monthly crop reports if 

 we would furnish the corps of cori-espondents, or 

 inform him how to get them. 



Now, my suggestion is this: No one has better 

 facilities than yourself for selecting four or 

 five representative men in every State, to make 

 reports to you (I don't think there is a bee-keeper 



in the United States that would think of accepting 

 pay from you for his services). Well, after you 

 get your corps well established, just turn their 

 names over to Statistician Dodge, and we shall have 

 the whole thing in a nut-shell. The reports you 

 give will reach all who read the bee-journals, and 

 the crop reports will reach thousands that do not 

 read the journals, and they are the very ones most 

 in need of information. 



You may receive many better and more feasible 

 plans than the above; if so, I shall be very thank- 

 ful. In either case I shall be very glad to serve 

 you as suggested by my dear friend Cook, and 

 please do not say any thing about pay. 



Fremont, Mich., Dec. 13, 1887. Geo. E. Hilton. 



Why, friend H., your figures and values 

 almost take away one's breath. I did not 

 suppose it possible that our industry repre- 

 sents so much. Now, I presume that not as 

 many as one in twenty of the 300,000 take a 

 bee-journal of any kind. Many thanks for 

 your kind offers of service, friend H. We 

 shall be glad to call on you when we are 

 ready. Our industry is growing, and getting 

 to be a great deal better understood than it 

 was a few years ago. It has been long said, 

 that honey has never yet been served at our 

 first-class hotels. At the Morton House, in 

 Grand Rapids, we had beautiful honey for 

 supper, and hot cakes to match. They 

 brought us two hot cakes at a time ; and as 

 soon as we were ready they brought us two 

 more, and so on. The honey was served in 

 dainty little dishes holding square pieces of 

 about two ounces. I am pleased to notice, 

 that in the little pamphlets that are now be- 

 ing sent out, describing the resources of the 

 great West, and other localities, they are 

 begining to mention bee culture with other 

 things. 



BEE-KEEPING FOB WOMEN, ETC. 

 rubber bottles. 



Jp S you do not believe much in medicine, I 

 k think you will find rubber bottles, hold- 

 V' ing two quarts or one gallon of boiling 

 ^ water, invaluable. The one we use holds 

 two quarts, if filled only two-thirds full. It 

 will adjust itself to different parts of the body. You 

 would do a good work for humanity if you could 

 get them at reduced prices. Many could then afford 

 to buy them, as they come high; at least we thought 

 ours was high— $1.75. 



BEE-HATS. 



We have been troubled with our ill-fitting wire- 

 cloth bee-hats, as the wire makes them stiff, and. 

 unless fitted to the head, they flopped around un- 

 pleasantly upon the head whenever we stooped. I 

 thought I would try a lady's old straw bonnet with 

 long ear-points. The one I made for myself fit so 

 comfortably I made one for Mr. Axtell. Although 

 it does not look quite so genteel as a hat does, per- 

 haps, yet it is so comfortable and easy on the head 

 that we both conclude we never want to wear any 

 thing else, when made of wire cloth in front, 

 and a cloth curtain at back and side. Our hats be- 

 ing in constant use, we get holes torn through very 

 easily when using brussels net. Hence we prefer 

 wire cloth for constant use. For Mr. Axtell's bon- 

 net bee-hat I sewed a piece of braid on top, to 



