12 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Jan. 1 



summers have often been put to queer shifts 

 in order to survive at all. As a con*=equence 

 they readily resort to the fluids excreted by 

 aphides, to damaged fruits, etc. These un- 

 wholesome substances may either set up ac- 

 tive gastric trouble or cause such a lowering 

 of vitality that an organism hitherto quies- 

 cent is able to commence active interference 

 with the life activities of the bee. The free- 

 dom from disease shown by the Italian bee, 

 therefore, may be partly the result of clean- 

 er living, as they are far less inclined to 

 gather these noxious honey-substitutes. 



The theoretical parts of the foregoing are 

 put forward as an explanation of the facts 

 as they are at present recorded. I quite re- 

 alize that, with increase of knowledge, the 

 theory may require considerable modifica- 

 tion. To the primitive astronomers the 

 theory that the earth was fixed and the sun 

 moved sufficed as an explanation. With 

 increase of knowledge we hear of a fixed sun 

 and a moving earth. At the present time 

 it is postulated that both the sun and the 

 earth are moving. In our knowledge of 

 bee diseases I fear we are only at the fixed- 

 earth stage. 



Albury, Herts., England. 



SELLING HONEY AT HOME. 



Better Prices Secured than by Shipping to the 

 Cities, 



BY C. W. PHELPS. 



Of late a good many are recommending 

 the sale of honey at home, and this I am 

 glad to see, for I believe in developing the 

 liome market. In 1879 I commenced keep- 

 ing bees in the country, and I had hard 

 work selling the few pounds of honey that 

 resulted from my efforts the first season. I 

 soon had one hundred colonies, and in 1882 

 or '3 I sold 1650 lbs. of honey to eight fami- 

 lies — poor people at that. 



After this I began putting up my honey in 

 butter-firkins and selling it for $12.00 a fir- 

 kin,, which consisted of 150 lbs., or 8 cents a 

 pound. For what I sent to the city at the 

 same time I received only 7 cents, and I had 

 to pay all expenses myself. Furthermore, 

 the honey had to be very light and of good 

 quality, while that which I sold at home 

 was off grade or dark. If I remember cor- 

 rectly I received 10 cents a pound for the 

 small lots sold at home at that time. 



Remember, all this was in the country. 

 The way I sold the honey was to prove that 

 it was the cheapest of any thing my cus- 

 tomers could buy of like nature. I gener- 

 ally took my pay in any thing the custom- 

 er had to sell that I would have to buy any 

 way. For instance, of one man I took lum- 

 ber for hives; of others, meat, butter, pota- 

 toes, etc. Of course, I also took pay in 

 money as well. 



At the present time we haye a different 

 market, for we sell in a small city. We put 

 up the honey mostly in dollar packages, 

 eleven pounds for one dollar. We make a 

 reduction of a few cents for 60-lb. cans. 



We always sell our honey as fast as we 

 extract it, and in this way we have no can- 

 dying, no melting, and no bother. We tell 

 our customers if tiiey want our honey they 

 will have to take it when we are ready to 

 sell it, and they know that our honey is 

 pure. We are now booking orders for next 

 year, and we could sell a number of tons 

 more if our bees produced it. 



We have a friend near us who deals in 

 honey, usually at the same prices. He says 

 he can not sell honey until fall, and he 

 commences to sell about the time we leave 

 off. We send him what trade we can after 

 our honey is sold. We sell much more than 

 he does, although we tell people his honey 

 is as good as ours. The difference is, we 

 have bees, and produce all our own honey, 

 so that people know what we are talking 

 about. 



If bee-keepers would follow a few simple 

 rules, honey markets would never be over- 

 stocked. 



Give good weight. 



If you have poor honey, say so; never lie 

 about your own goods nor about your neigh- 

 bor's. 



Explain that your honey is pure, but 

 never joke about it. Do not argue about 

 other honey, and never run it down. 



Never sell one pound of honey to a cus- 

 tomer who is able to buy more. 



Binghamton, N. Y. 



CAN SOUR AND SWEET HONEY EXIST TO- 

 GETHER IN THE SAME CAN? 



BY STEPHEN ANTHONY. 



On page 479, Aug. 1, Mr. Holtermann, in 

 substance, asks the above question. Some 

 years ago I was asked to set aside fifty pounds 

 of liquid honey for a party who would call 

 for it later. I used a kerosene-tin, covered 

 only with a cloth, as the top had been cut 

 out, and added small amounts of honey to 

 the can from time to time until the right 

 amount was reached, and after that it stood 

 for about six months. When I removed 

 the cloth I found about a cupful of sour liq- 

 uid honey on top in a sort of hollow in the 

 candied honey. This I poured off and scrap- 

 ed the rest clean, the cup-like hollow espe- 

 cially, as a portion of the honey near it was 

 quite soft. I found that the remainder was 

 excellent. 



A lady who seems to be pretty good at 

 raising sour honey once gave me about 25 

 or 30 pounds of it which she had been keeji- 

 ing, thinking it might improve in the two 

 years that had elapsed. Upon digging out 

 the honey with a spoon to put it into the 

 vinegar-cask I came upon some very clear 

 amber honey that was still liquid and per- 

 fectly sweet. This I strained in order to get 

 all of the sour honey out of it, and filled 

 three quart jars. In these jars this honey 

 has been standing for seveial months, and 

 it continues to be perfectly sweet and entire- 

 ly liquid. 



Waitete, Amodeo Bay, Auckland, N. Z. 



