214 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



largest to the smallest as much in propor- 

 tion as our sections, but still the price is the 

 same. The first caller, of course, takes his 

 picii out of the lot; the next one does the 

 same, and every one following is sure to 

 take the best he can find, until the load is 

 sold. Every one of the purchasers had his 

 choice, every one paid the same money, and 

 every one is satisfied. 



Another neighbor has among other stuff a 

 couple of crates of cauliflower. Like the 

 cabbage, one crate runs a little larger than 

 the other, and he sells them at 5 cts. apiece, 

 while the smaller ones are sold at 3 cts. each. 

 It is needless to say that they are in either 

 crate no more alike than the other man's 

 cabbage. Every buyer as he comes along 

 follows up the game tactics of taking his 

 choice of the kind he prefers, and no com- 

 plaint is made. I could cite hundreds of 

 similar instances all along the line if neces- 

 sary; and why should honey in sections be ex- 

 empt from this generally adopted practice? 



The little conversation between Dr. Miller 

 and the editor on the weight vs. piece sub- 

 ject, pages 1118, 1119, is highly amusing. 

 Each one is trying to get ahead of the other. 

 Dr. M. is generally pretty sound in his writ- 

 ings; but this time, if 1 understand him 

 aright, his argument reminds me of the 

 drowning man's straw. He says, "Now, 

 what kind of talk is that? Haven't the 

 scales been used in making up those ready- 

 weighed packages? " To be sure, the scales, 

 or some device to that effect, has been 

 used, but not to weigh full weight. I have 

 been connected with one of these manufac- 

 turing estabUshments, and I know jast how 

 these things are managed. If the expense 

 of the package is about the same as the value 

 of an equal weight of its contents, that 

 much is deducted from the full weight; in 

 other words, the ready-weighed package, 

 when placed on the scales, balances at its 

 nominal weight But if the same weight of 

 the contents does not pay for its enclosure, 

 cans, boxes, wrappers, or whatever it may 

 be, the full weight is reduced enough more, 

 or the price of the goods raised sufficiently, 

 to meet this expense. 



When we take a view of the endless vari- 

 ety of fancy packages we find stacked up on 

 the shelves of our grocery stores, common 

 sense will teach us that some one has to pay 

 for all this convenience and attractiveness. 

 We know very well that it is not the manu- 

 facturer who bears this expense, nor the 

 wholesale dealer, nor the retailer, but it all 

 rests on the shoulders of the consumer, and, 

 strange as it may seem, he is perfectly sat- 

 isfied with this state of affairs. If you 

 should tell any consumer among the long 

 line, from the aristocracy down to the com- 

 mon day laborer, to bring along his former 

 day's flour-bag and you would sell him 100 

 lbs. of flour in bulk at 25 per cent less than 

 he has to pay at the store for the same 

 quantity (?) in 10 or 25 lb. paper sacks, he 

 would not even listen to you. 



Another instance of fashionable extrava- 

 gance we have in the line of baked goods. 



When we order a pound of crackers, the gro- 

 cer brings us a square oblong package, elab- 

 orately labeled, and done up in fancy style. 

 The few crackers it contains are first wrap- 

 ped up in a sheet of paraffine paper. This 

 is enclosed by a pasteboard box with a han- 

 dy adjustable lid, and this again is done up 

 in a nice color-print wrapper. The whole 

 package weighs 13 ounces with a net con- 

 tents of 10 ounces, and the grocer charges 

 10 cts. for the package— just one cent an 

 ounce, when crackers in bulk could be had 

 for 8 or 9 cts., or about half the price of the 

 other. I have tried, in a small way, to stem 

 the tide of this unpardonable wastefulness 

 by buying crackers in bulk, but without suc- 

 cess. We hear expressions like this: "Yes, 

 they are cheaper, but not nearly so nice. 

 We'd rather have them in packages." 



It is useless trying to swim against the 

 stream. Convenience and style, no matter 

 how expensive, are all the go. Then to 

 claim in the face of all this indifference to 

 economy that people will not buy honey in 

 sections because they are a little short in 

 weight, when their chance is equally good 

 to get one of that much overweight the next 

 time they buy. is all imagination. 



Naples, N. Y. 



To be continued. 



BEE-KEEPING IN THE PHILIPPINES. 



Bees Twice as Large as Italians; Wax Used as 

 Money. 



BY W. H. COONS. 



The Christmas number of Gleanings has 

 just come, and I have read with much plea- 

 sure the article on The Stingless Bee, by 

 Mr. Green. In the last paragraph of the 

 article he alludes to what seems to be the 

 "missing link" in bee culture in regard to 

 an apparently undiscovered sr'ecies of larg- 

 er bees than are at present known. He 

 says: "Some hope to find a still larger bee 

 than is now known, and there is no reason 

 why such should not exist." 



Now, Mr. Editor, I consider it a great 

 privilege to be able to contribute a few 

 lines to you. I can say that they do exist, 

 and authentically state that this speiecs of 

 large bees is by no means a myth. I can 

 vouch for their reality by the testimony of 

 three of my five senses : I have seen them, 

 and eaten their honey; and the sensory 

 nerves of my skin tell me they are not sting- 

 less. I spent nearly two years in their na- 

 tive haunts, and "tracked them to their 

 lair," which is the large forest wilderness 

 that entirely covers the great mountainous 

 island of Mindinao of the Philippine group. 



I was engaged in trade with the natives 

 in those islands, whose principal occupation 

 is the collecting of wild honey, and whose 

 currency and stock in trade is the wax pro- 

 duced by these bees. This account may not 

 be of much scientific or practical value, but 

 I presume it will be of interest to those who 

 have looked forward to the day when the 



