1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



(29 



the afflicted bees went to I do not know. One 

 thing, tliere were no more dead bees in front 

 of either hive. 



To make myself more clear I will state that 

 I exchanged an unwell colony for a well one, 

 the latter being placed on the stand occupied 

 by the former. It is now many months since 

 this transformation took place in these colo- 

 nies, and from that time to this not a single 

 " wig- wagging " bee have I seen in the apiary. 

 What caused this disease to disappear so rap- 

 idly under such an easy operation, where real- 

 ly nothing was done to change the former life 

 and conditions of the bees, is something that 

 puzzles me as much as the question, " What is 

 bee-paralysis? " Can it be that it was caused 

 by some electrical disturbance, the changing 

 of location causing a change of current ? Yet 

 I do not see how it can be this, for would not 

 the hive that took the place of the removed 

 one be soon afflicted also ? 



THE WEE BEE-MOTH. 



This little moth is becoming quite an an- 

 noyance in the apiaries in this part of the 

 State. While it does not usuall)^ carry on its 

 depredations within the hives as do the well- 

 known large bee-moth, still any combs that 

 are left exposed, especially those containing 

 pollen, are soon preyed upon by this little 

 fellow. They are not so easy to follow up and 

 destroy as his more lusty companion in de- 

 struction. My observations regarding them 

 during the past year show that they fly about 

 during the day, thus differing from the com- 

 mon bee-moth. I saw a lot of combs, some of 

 them nice new ones free from pollen, destroy- 

 ed by this wee moth, and the big fellows 

 could not have been more destructive. 



North Temescal, Cal., Aug. 27. 



[There may be no upward tendency in the 

 honey market in California ; but the scarcity 

 of our product in the East has had a very per- 

 ceptible effect on oi<,r market. Last year, 

 comb honey avenged 9 and 10 cents; but now 

 it runs more nearly 12 and 14 in a wholesale 

 way. I was a little surprised at this myself; 

 for in former years, when there has been a 

 scarcity, there has been little if any stiffening 

 of prices — at least not in proportion to what 

 we might expect; but the very poor yield this 

 season — the poorest that we have known in 

 years — has had quite a decided effect. 



Regarding the cure of bee-paralysis, I do 

 not know but the plan outlined above is the 

 most sensible of any thing that has yet been 

 proposed; and if it is a fact that it accomplishes 

 the result, it is high time we were trying the 

 cure. I wish, therefore, that those of our 

 friends who have bees afflicted with this 

 peculiar disease would try this exchanging 

 plan, and report. — Ed.] 



J. R. P., Ala. — It is evident from what you 

 state in your letter that one of the colonies 

 that swarmed out had no queen. As they 

 failed to find her in the new hive, they went 

 back to the parent hive. This is precisely 

 what they would do if they lost the queen 

 while in the air. 



[f^g, it@ a£[^ u^ -(^5. 



GRADING honey; D00I,ITTI<E'S POSITION 



AGAIN defined; does NOT RECOMMEND 



OR PRACTICE FACING. 



Question. — Have you read what is said un- 

 der " The Grading of Honey," found on page 

 276 of Review for September ? If so, will you 

 tell the readers of Gleanings what you think 

 of the ideas of friends Boardman, Koeppen, 

 and Hutchinson in this matter ? If we are to 

 follow these " lights," and put all the " Fan- 

 cy " and " No. 1 " white honey together, how 

 are we to do in the matter of "facing" the 

 crates? Or, in other words, which shall we 

 put next the glass in the crates — the fancy or 

 the No. I ? 



Answer. — I should have preferred that this 

 query had not come up just at the present 

 time, only such a little while after the editor 

 had shut down on any thing further regarding 

 the facing of honey; but as it is a //z',? ques- 

 tion, and comes just in a ''live'' time, I 

 think the editor will let it go in, even did he 

 think enough had been said on the " facing " 

 matter only a little while ago. I notice that 

 Bro. Boardman is quoted as saying that "we 

 get no more for our fancy than we would for 

 both fancy and No. 1 crated together." After 

 the fancy is sold. No. 1 is hard to sell, and 

 we must sell it at a low figure." And I wish 

 to say that the experience of Bro. B. is just 

 my experience, when both No. 1 and fancy 

 are shipped to the same commission house. 

 I have repeatedly said that no person can 

 carry the difference "in the eye " between 

 fancy and No. 1 honey ten rods, or even up a 

 flight of stairs. What I mean by this is, let 

 the best judge of comb honey look at No. 1 

 on the ground floor of a building, then go up 

 a flight of stairs and look at a lot of fancy 

 honey, and, upon close questioning, he will 

 tell you that he sees very little difference in 

 the two lots. Yea, more : Face one side of a 

 crate with fancy honey, and the other side 

 with No. 1 honey, and ask the ordinary man 

 which of the two sides is the nicer, and you 

 will see him step first from one side to the 

 other, then back again, then to the first side 

 again, then back once more, when he will tell 

 you he sees very little difference. But you 

 place a crate of fancy and a crate of No. 1 

 honey side by side, or one on top of the other, 

 and any " novice " will tell you that the fan- 

 cy looks the nicer. And why the No. 1 does 

 not sell as well as the fancy, where both are 

 shipped to one commission house, is because 

 the commission man sees the two side by side, 

 and forms the opinion that No. 1 is not as 

 good as the fancy, and so, after the fancy is 

 all sold, he tells his customers he has been 

 selling fancy honey at 15 cents, but he has 

 some on hand that is not quite as good, and 

 he will take 13 for it. When he admits that 

 ' ' not quite as good ' ' he gives the purchaser a 

 "leverage," and the purchaser uses it too, so 



