(;leaning.s in bee culture. 



Jan. 1. 



broiiglit out is a revei-sihle hyney-extractor. Tt is 

 not automatic, but tlie liaskets can he reversed so 

 (juickly that but little time is lost, while much is 

 jfaiiied in the way of making- the can smaller, and 

 in lesseninof the expense. 



Yes. T saw tliat biig-lit joung-ster of eifi^ht months, 

 Lehind Ives, wlio is now able to sit u|) in a high- 

 chair and make a noise in the world. T did feel a 

 little {iuilty for .coiiiint!- away without calling- on 

 his new cousin, Howard Hoot Calvert; but he is so 

 young- that 1 feared he wouldn t take much notice of 

 ine. 



As some of you may know, Ernest's liobbj', or one 

 of his hobbies, is that of photog-i-aphy; and when I 

 tell you that he brought home his fourth or fi/(?i 

 camera on the day of my arrival, it is not to be won- 

 dered that his wife said, "What! oy«/f/)er one '•'" us- 

 ing the same tone and expression that my wife 

 sometimes uses when T bring liome a new font of 

 displa.v type. 



When I woke up in the night it took me some little 

 time to decide that it was A. I. 's windmill that was 

 going " squeak, squeak, s-q-u-e-a-k." " Yes," T 

 thought to myself, " its master's hand is away in 

 the West. If it were here that windmill would be— 

 greased." 



But, enougli of incidents. I could till the Review 

 with them, but there are so many things that must 

 go in this issue that I must cl().se by saying, " Suc- 

 cess to the Home of the Honey-bees and those who 

 work therein." 



[Brother Hutchinson in a few words has de- 

 scribed very vividly the inside workings of the 

 Home of the Honey-bees. If we do indeed de- 

 serve all the kind things he has said of us. we 

 are pleased. We really vvere not aware that 

 we kept things neat, although we have for 

 some time back taken considerable pride in our 

 system. 



\Ye had a delightful visit, and freely talked 

 over all the kinks of the trade. No secrets or 

 pointers were held back for fear that the " other 

 fellow ■■ might get the advantage. The feeling 

 was that we were all of one family, and need 

 not be jealous of each other's prosperity or new 

 hits. 



We enjoyed ]Mr. Hutchinson's vi.sit because 

 he is somewhat of a hobbyist himself. Yes, he 

 guessed right. It was the fifth camera that we 

 brought in that day. Mrs. R. does not object to 

 the camera craze, only the wonder is. what we 

 are going to do with' so many instruments. 

 Well, to tell the truth, by the death of a rela- 

 tive we came in possession of quite a lot of pho- 

 tographic apparatus. Two of the cameras are 

 very tine ones, and we advertise them in this 

 number for about half their original cost. Five 

 cameras! Even (ce have no use for so many. 

 Bro. H. is peculiarly graphic when he speaks of 

 the windmill " .squeak." We presume the sen- 

 ior editor will see this, and wonder whether it 

 is .squeaking now. After W. Z. H. spoke of it 

 we forthwith sent a man up to oil it. It does 

 not squeak nosv. 



We not only enjoyed our visit together, but 

 we traveled together to Albany, occupied the 

 same sleeper and the same berth: and. as if 

 that were not enough, when we got to the hotel 

 we registered together for the same room; and, 

 fiu'thermore, we were frequently seen walking 

 up and down the streets together. It was a sort 

 of contindriim to luany at the bee-convention 

 how two bee-editors could with conflicting in- 

 ten^sts agree .so well together. Mav this feeling 

 long continue: and we hope the day of old jeal- 

 ousies between bee-editors is past and gone.] 



GRADING HONEY. AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 



HOW CIIK.M' (;I{.\NII,.\TEI) STGAR IS .SUP- 

 I'LANriXG HO.NKV IX BAKKKIES, 



of the Albany convention. However, one fact 

 we will state: and that is, that the commence- 

 ment at the Northwestern convention, relative 

 to grading honey, was a step in the right di- 

 rection: and now if a bee-iuan writes that he 

 has a first grade of buckwheat honey we know 

 that it is such. If he writes he has a third 

 grade of basswood honey, we can also answer 

 him intelligently as to what it would sell for in 

 this market. Color and flavor should not be 

 considered in gi'ading. by any means. 



A point that has been much argued, namely, 

 ■• Does the low price of sugar afifect the sale of 

 extracted honey '?"" we desire to answer by stat- 

 ing that a manufacturing firm to whom in past 

 seasons we have sold carloads of honey in one 

 order writes that, after having e.\i)erimented 

 with granulated sugar, they find it far superior 

 to honey, since the article manufactured, with 

 honey as an ingredient, will sour in time, while 

 with granulated sugar it will not: and since it 

 is cheaper in future thev will not ptirchase any 

 honey. " S. T. Fish .<: Co. ' 



Chicago, 111., Dec. 19. 



[This is certainly not welcome news, if it is 

 becoming general among bakers. We should 

 like further information from others on this 

 point, from those who are in position to know. 

 By all means let us face the lion, if there is 

 one. that we may be prepai-ed to tight it.] 



CUBA A BEE-KEEPER'S PARADISE. 



We perused with interest the article of Mi.ss 

 Wil.son on page VMi(). and would respond thereto 

 at length, but we desiie tirst to learn the action 



AX IXTEKESTING LETTER FROM FRED fH.W- 

 CRAFT, OF .irVENILE GI.EAXIXGS. 



Deitr Sir: — I am in Cuba. You will ask. 

 '• Who are you f I will refei' you to Juvexilk 

 Gleanings of July. 1883. page 4.5. There you 

 will see that you give a ten-year-old bee-boy 

 credit for being the cause of your starting the 

 ••Juvenile." You will see. on page (31, my 

 name appears in connection with our friend 

 E. E. Hasty as one of the boys who weighed the 

 bees and their loads. lam still with the bees, 

 and love them dearly. I came here from Astor 

 Park. Fla.. in October; and through the kind- 

 ness of Mr. Osborn I secured the situation 

 which I now occupy. Before coming to my 

 new home I spent a few days with Mr. Osbnrii 

 at Punta Brava in looking over his large apiary 

 and admiring his mammoth e.xtractor: and I 

 also had the great pleasure of seeing it run. It 

 is a fine piece of workmanship, and runs as 

 smoothly as a sewing-machine. The apiary 

 which I have charge of. called the "• Two Sis- 

 ters,"' owned by Mr. Manuel Gomez, Portuguese 

 consul-general at Havana, is only a small one 

 now, it being the desire of the proprietor to 

 ■have the bees increased to an apiary of .500 or 

 •MX) colonies, and then put in an extractor run 

 by steam. Mr. Gomez has contemplated hav- 

 ing an apiary here for some time, and has built 

 sheds to put the bees under, and also a large 

 honey-house and workshop, all furnished with 

 every thing needed for taking care of a large 

 apiary: but he has not had time to give it his 

 personal attention, he having one of the largest 

 importing and comtuission houses in Havana. 



The kind of hive in use here is diff'erent from 

 the Simplicity. It is a two-story hive, the sec- 

 ond story being used to extract from. The size 

 of each is 13 x Ki. and lO'.j inches deep, each 

 story containing nine frames 10xl.">. set cross- 

 wise to the entrance. When I came here the 

 bees were not getting much honey, owing to 

 rain and stormy weather: but we are having 

 better weather now, and the bees are doing 

 well. The principal honey source, the campa- 

 nola. is just beginning to bloom, but there are 



