GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



enjoy it. In the afternoon they repeat the 

 same, as regularly as clockwork, from day to 

 day. Some may think they might eat too 

 mnch of it, and so get tired of it; but care is 

 taken not to give too much at any one time. I 

 find that, when given honey in that way I'egu- 

 larly, they care little or nothing for the ordi- 

 nary candies we buy; and as for health, if you 

 can find healthier, rosier, or more active chil- 

 dren anywhere, I should like to see them; and, 

 by the way, friend R.. I have a theory that, if 

 they grow up accustomed to the daily use of 

 such pure sweets as honey, they will never re- 

 quire a taste or fondness for stimulants or in- 

 toxicating liquors. Have you ever observed 

 that any one given over to the use of intoxi- 

 cants seldom or never uses sweets in any form ? 

 When a young man I met at social gatherings 

 many friends and acquaintances: and when re- 

 freshments wei'e served I noticed on quite a 

 number of occasions that three of the young 

 men present never touched any thing sweet, 

 but were very fond of pickles and stimulating 

 dishes. In a few years every one of them died 

 of deUrlum tre»icns, from excessive use of in- 

 toxicants taken in secret. Since then I have 

 found it the rule that, in 99 cases out of 100, 

 those that use sweets rarely care for stimulants, 

 and vice versa. 



SELLING EXTRACTED IIONEl' LOW, AND WHY. 



I have just received a letter from friend Bal- 

 dridge, of St. Chai'les, Ills., in which he (in a 

 friendly way. of course), scores me for selling 

 extracted honey at retail at 10 cents per pound, 

 and says that he gets 20 cents for all he sells, 

 and that, if he had to take 10 cents, it would 

 drive him out of the business; and he further 

 states that it is more profitable to him to buy 

 extracted honey at 5 to 8 cents a pound than to 

 raise it. Now, I know that friend B. sells gilt- 

 edged honey, and he has, besides, a very tak- 

 ing way with his customers, and he keeps the 

 custom he makes, too, which shows that he 

 deals fairly and squarely; but notwithstanding 

 all this, I do not believe he could sell in my 

 vicinity at any better figui-es than I do. My 

 customers are mainly coal-miners, and laborers 

 in large manufacturing establishments; and if 

 you say to them 20 cents per pound for honey, 

 they will laugh at you and do without it. A 

 few will buy it at that price for colds, and to 

 use as medicine; but as food, never. I have 

 made it a point to go to every house, street by 

 street: and if this article were not too long al- 

 ready I could give some pointers too, as to how 

 to sell honey to those who think it too good, 

 and too high priced for food. 



You have to suit your prices to the class of 

 customers you deal with; for there are some 

 few who will pay any price asked, provided 

 they get what they want. Another thing, too, 

 is that no basswood and but little white-clover 

 honey is raised here. Our chief source of hon- 

 ey is fall flowers, and it is necessarily more or 

 less dai'k. Though Spanish needle and smart- 

 weed yield clear nice-looking honey of excel- 

 lent quality, it is not gilt-edge or "superfine, 

 and must bring a lower price, both wholesale 

 and retail, than the liner-looking grades of 

 white clover and basswood I'aised elsewhere. 

 _Belleville, 111., Feb. 7. E. T. Flanagan. 



[Friend F.. your suggestion is good in regard 

 to giving the children honey instead of candy. 

 For the ]mst four or five weeks we have been 

 having excellent maple molasses, and I fear I 

 have been using more of it than is conducive to 

 my health. A day or two ago I thought I 

 would substitute honey, and see whether it 

 answered any better, and I was agreeably sur- 

 jjriscd that, when taken in considerabl(» quan- 



tities, with its complement, a glass of milk, it 

 seemed to be much more wholesome, at least to 

 myself, than the maple syrup. Very likely 

 both are nature's sweets, designed by God for 

 human food; but the holy Scriptures lay very 

 much more stress on milk and honey than on 

 any other kind of sweet.] 



MOISTURE IN BEE-CELLARS. 



DOOLITTLE REVIEWS THE MATTER. 



On page 877 the editor adds quite a long foot- 

 note to what I have to say about the dampness 

 in my bee-cellar. On the whole he is perfectly 

 right; but his reasoning does not fully apply 

 to the cause of dampness in bee-cellars, as he 

 will soon see. I think, if he will stop to think a 

 little. As he says, the cause of moisture and 

 water collecting in drops on any surface is that 

 of warm damp air coming in contact with a 

 cold or cooler surface than the surrounding air. 

 From this he reasons that, at times when the 

 outside air is warmer than the air of the cellar, 

 this warm air will enter the cellai- through the 

 ventilatoi's and thus cover the walls with mois- 

 ture, making all damp and wet, and thinks it is 

 for this reason that I do not have any ventila- 

 tors to my cellar. Well, now, while this might 

 be the cause of dampness in a bee-cellar once 

 in a while, yet in 99 cases out of 100 it has noth- 

 ing to do with it. Without any ventilators 

 whatever in my new bee-cellar, the flagging 

 cover and the painted door at the entrance 

 have been running down drops of water on the 

 inside all winter, and no air from the outside 

 has been allowed to enter. The reader will re- 

 member that, at the front end, this cellar is 3 

 feet under ground, while at the back end it is 9 

 feet. Well, the air which comes from the 

 back end of this cellar, or. perhaps I should 

 say, the air wai'med by the lowei- back end of 

 the cellar and the breath of the bees, togeth- 

 er with the heat from their bodies, is warmer 

 than the flagging overhead or the door at the 

 entrance, which are affected by the cold and 

 frost from the outside, so that, when this 

 warmed air comes in contact with these cooler 

 surfaces, the moisture from it is condensed on 

 them; hence the moisture is continually trickl- 

 ing down on the inside. It is to be remembered 

 that the three feet of earth between the two 

 roofs is kept frozen the most of the winter, or 

 the upper half of it at least, and this is the rea- 

 son, or one of the reasons, that the temperature 

 of the cellar does not vary one degree inside, 

 although the outside temperature may vary 

 from 30" below zero to GO above. AVhen it comes 

 more steady warm weather, during the latter 

 part of April, then I have things reversed; for 

 at that time the inside of the cellar is cooler 

 than the dirt and temperature outside; hence 

 the moisture now condenses on the outside of 

 the door and flagging. Am I not right, friend 

 Root ? 



SUNDAY PLANNING. 



It was with gi'eat interest that I read tlie ai'- 

 ticle by friend Miller on " Planning,"' and your 

 comments on the same, especially that part 

 which touched on planning during Sunday and 

 while in church listening to the sermon. 

 Friend Root seems to think that Satan hasn?l 

 to do with it, but I think not all. There is a 

 great dilference in speakers, or in the way they 

 present the truth. I have sat in church trying 

 to follow a sermon which was presented so dry- 

 ly, and in such a sleepy way, that I had to use 

 all the powers which I was possessed of to keep 

 my mind on the discourse, at least half of the 

 time: and. again, I have listened to sermons in 



