894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



THE LOS ANGELES CONVENTION, .JAN. 6 AND 7. 



Friend Root;— Since reading Prof. Cook's and 

 A. I. Root's program for this State, in Glean- 

 ings for Oct. 15, I have conversed with quite a 

 numbei' of the bee-keepers of this section in re- 

 gai'd to your coming, and the prospective con- 

 vention referred to. Tlie interest manifested is 

 very great, so I can assure you both a royal re- 

 ception by the bee-keepers of this whole sec- 

 tion. It has been ray good fortune to have 

 heard Prof. Cook at Indianapolis, and to have 

 met A. I. Root at the N. A. B. K. A. metiting at 

 the same place in October, 1886. 



As I'eferred to in my letter of last week, the 

 S. C. B. K. A. will meet Jan. 20, and I know every 

 member of it is doubly anxious to meet A. I. Root 

 and Prof. Cook; .so, in conversing with the 

 members, they have suggested a change of date 

 for our meeting, to Jan. H and 7. I will consult 

 our president, Mr. Abbott, in regard to this, 

 and will inform you as to the result as soon as 

 possible. Mr. J. F. Mclntyre writes: '"Why 

 not take advantage of Prof. Cook's and A. I. 

 Root's presence, and organize a State associa- 

 tion in honor of them ?" 



You are not trespassing at all, Bro. Root, in 

 your suggestions, as I consider it an honor to 

 aid in the least in presenting such men as your- 

 self and Prof. Cook to the bee-keepers of Cali- 

 fornia. I will see to securing a hall immediate- 

 ly. Geo. W. Bkodbeck. 



Los Angeles, Cal., Nov. 5. 



SHIPPING COMIJ HONEY IN CRATES; .1. T. RIP- 

 LEY's RULING ALL RIGHT AS IT IS. 



Friend Root: — After reading what you say 

 on page 865 about crating comb honey, I can't 

 help feeling that the shippers and not the rul- 

 ing are to Ijlanie. As for myself, I am grateful 

 to Mr. Ripley for making that niling, for I 

 think it is the only safe way to ship comb hon- 

 ey, provided it is done right. In former years, 

 whenever I shipped comb honey I always had 

 more or less complaint of the glass being bro- 

 ken and the honey spoiled. This year I shipped 

 nearly 3000 lbs., putting eighteen 13-lb. cases 

 into a crate similar to the one you described in 

 Gleanings, hauled it nine miles to the railroad 

 over very rough roads, such as we have in Ver- 

 non Co., Wis. It was reshipped once in Madison, 

 and arrived at destination, as one of the com- 

 mission men wiote me, with every box safe and 

 sound. The crates were made to hold three 

 tiers of six boxes each, and the boxes fitted it 

 very snug. I did not put in any hay and straw 

 at the bottom, as you recommended, as there 

 was no room for it. Each crate had four han- 

 dles nailed to the corners for handling, the 

 handles projecting about four inches. We 

 found that the crates were heavy enough to re- 

 quire two men to carry them, and on that ac- 

 c*ount they had to use more care. The handles 

 were useful foi' the further purpose of prevent- 

 ing the railroad men from rolling them ovei', as 

 they would be apt to do without them. It may 

 be that, where honey was injured, as J. T. Fish 

 says, the glass fronts had been covered by a 

 thin piece of board without crating. I had 

 thought of doing that myself when I read about 

 Mr. Ripley's ruling; but Gleanings came aft- 

 • erward, and gave me the better way of crating. 

 Milford. Wis., Nov. 9. (iUSTAVE Gross. 



A big report from THE ALFALFA FIELDS. 



About two and a half years ago I wrote to 

 Gleanings about the alfalfa fields of South- 

 west Kansas, and stated I thought bees would 

 do well here. As a result of that letter, a Mr. 

 Howard, of Illinois, and Mr. Colton, of Iowa, 

 each brought bees to Garden City in the spring 



of 1800, to test their work on alfalfa. I here- 

 with report the result of their experiment: 



They each have from .50 to 60 stands of bees. 

 They average 90 lbs. of comb honey to the 

 stand, and two swarms of be(>s per stand. Some 

 hives have made as high as 180 lbs. of comb 

 honey during the season. We no longer con- 

 sider this as an experiment, as tliis is the second 

 season they have done this. Bees begin work 

 on wild flowei'S and fruit-bloom about April 1st 

 to 10th. Alfalfa is ready for them about May 

 10th, and continues in bloom until Oct. 15th to 

 Nov. 1st. Many farmers are just now cutting 

 their last crop of alfalfa, and the weather is 

 like summer. Bees sell readily for *10 per 

 stand. Our bee-men can not supply the de- 

 mand. Extracted honey sells here atwholesale 

 from 123'^ to 15 cts. per pound, and comb honey 

 from 20 to 25. These gentlemen have given 

 their lives to bees, and say this is the best bee- 

 country they ever saw, and say they can han- 

 dle 100 stands of bees here as easily as they 

 could care for .50 stands in Iowa or Illinois. I 

 herewith send a clipping from a report made of 

 the bees here: 



The new enterprise of raising bees and saving- 

 lioney lias proved a most remarkable success liere 

 at tliis time, the close of the second season. One 

 hive has produced not less than 180 lbs. of comb 

 lioney and two swarms of bees, which latter pay- 

 all the expense, lenvlng' tlie lioney clear profit at 20 

 cents a pt)uiid, or $:S6. The average yield has been 

 90 lbs., and the increase two swarms. Tlie little 

 honey and money makers have gathered all this 

 from the thousands of acres of alfalfa meadow 

 around here, and they could easily have gathered 

 one hundred times more if the bees hud been here 

 to pick it up. This alone otters an illimitable open- 

 ing for a big fortune to the painstaking man or 

 woman who chooses this pursuit for a li\ing in this 

 vicinity. 



There is surely a fine opening here for pi'acti- 

 cal bee-men. There are thousands and tens of 

 thousands of acres of alfalfa bloom that go to 

 waste for want of bees to gather the honey; 

 and to any person desiring to enter this field we 

 should be glad to give all the information and 

 aid we can. A. C. McKeever. 



Garden City, Kan., Nov. 5. 



AN AVERAGE OF 100 LBS. 



Our honey season is past and gone. My bees 

 averaged 100 lbs. of comb honey to the colony. 

 They made a very good honey, and a majority 

 of what they did make came from black-jack 

 acorns. Some insect would puncture the acorn, 

 and during the night a honey-like substance 

 wood ooze out. and the bees, by daylight, would 

 come in loaded down and fall "down all around 

 the entrance to their hives with the honey. 



J. D. WlIITTENBURG. 



Marshfield, Mo., Nov. 5. 



DOCTORING WITHOUT MEDICINE. 



If you wish help for the small intestine, try 

 kneading the bowels. Dr. Kellogg says this will 

 aid digestion by Increasing the digestive juices 

 and muscular action. Count 400 or more strokes 

 each 24 hours. If it is too much trouble, go to 

 the Battle Creek Sanitarium. There a machine 

 will do the work for you. Couuter-irritants are 

 excellent for internal pains or aches. 



Miss LiBBiE Williams. 



Delavan, Wis., Oct. 3. 



A LETTER FROM LUTHER W. GRAY. 



I am sorry I am still unable to settle with my 

 creditors. My health is still improving, but it 

 is not yet advisable for me to go to work. I 

 hope, however, to wipe out some of thisj dis- 

 agreeableness next spring and summer. ^a 



Zanesville, O., Oct. 23. L. W. Gray _.. 



