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DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., SEPTEMBER 7, 1881. 



No. 36. 



8358KSSB? 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



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di 



The Honey Season of 1881. 



It is, perhaps, rather early in the 

 season to conjecture With any degree 

 of certainty as to the honey-harvest 

 for 1881 ; but enough is already known 

 to justify the assertion that the yield, 

 generally, has been very satisfactory. 

 In a territory so vast as that of North 

 America, embracing, as it does, every 

 variety of soil and every degree of 

 climate, it cannot be anticipated that 

 each portion will be equally product- 

 ive even in the most favorable season, 

 nor will all parts be unproductive 

 alike in times of general failure. These 

 remarks are quite as applicable to the 

 production of honey as any other com- 

 modity, and the present season has 

 very forcibly illustrated it. 



From all portions of the country we 

 learn that the white clover bloom was 

 unusually profuse and the linden was 

 much above the average, while less 

 important honey blossoms were quite 

 as satisfactory ; but owing to the deci- 

 mation of the bees during the past 

 winter and spring, but few apiarists 

 were prepared to take advantage of 

 the bloom in time to secure the best 

 results. Those, however, who were in 

 condition to make the most of it, are 

 more than jubilant over their yield. 



The summer harvest, however, has 

 not been so generally satisfactory. In 

 several of the Southern, and particu- 

 larly in the Central States, a drouth of 

 long duration set in about the middle 



of June, which continued in many 

 States till the last week in July, and 

 entirely suspended the honey flow. 

 Later, the drouth struck Illinois, In- 

 diana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mich- 

 igan, Missouri, and districts in other 

 States. This, to a large extent, will 

 be detrimental to the fall honey yield, 

 and yet, with immediate general rains 

 and tardy frosts, we anticipate a more 

 than average fail honey crop. 



The increase in bees has been re- 

 markable everywhere, both by natural 

 swarming and by division — some hav- 

 ing increased tenfold. Bee-keepers 

 are almost unanimous in reporting 

 colonies in strong and excellent condi- 

 tion, and in most cases with plenty of 

 honey for winter ; therefore, whatever 



die-men or jobbers; these men, with 

 an eye to business, will drive the most 

 advantageous bargains. It is mainly 

 attributable to a nervous anxiety on 

 the part of producers to sell. 



Notwithstanding the disasters of the 

 past winter, bee-keepers in general 

 have occasion to congratulate them- 

 selves on the results of the year's 

 work. Where cold, rigorous winter 

 killed the bees, there also did itdestroy 

 cattle, sheep and hogs, or consume 

 nearly their value in feed to carry them 

 through ; where storms and hurricanes 

 have wrought to their disadvantage, 

 other descriptions of property have 

 been flooded or ruined, and even 

 human life has not been exempt from 

 destruction ; where drouth has inter- 



there may be to gather in the fall 

 bloom, will be harvested to the best 

 advantage, and may yet be a consider- 

 able addition to the season's report. 



As we advised our readers in the 

 early portion of the season, prices for 

 honey are good, and the tendency is 

 upward. This is not the result of a 

 short crop, for the crop is not short, 

 but is fully up to the average ; nor is 

 it the natural sequence of a partial 

 failure in the California yield. It is 

 the result of an increased demand for 

 good honey at home and abroad. No 

 longer does prime honey beg a market, 

 but is eagerly sought for, and finds a 

 ready sale. Every price current in 

 each considerable mart gives quota- 

 tions, and nearly all the metropolitan 

 dailies publish prices in their market 

 reports. That these prices fluctuate 

 and vary greatly with each other can- 

 not be attributed to the absence of a 

 demand, nor is it the fault of themid- 



rupted the bees In their labors, fruit 

 has been shriveled where it hung, corn 

 parched in the fields, cotton shrunken 

 and burned before matured, and gen- 

 eral, pinching want stares the hard- 

 working husbandman in the face. All 

 in all, bee-keepers in general have less 

 cause for despondent gloom than any 

 other chosen occupation in America, 

 involving a relative amount of capital. 



Unfortunate.— We are in receipt of 

 the following note from Mr. J. T. 

 Wilson, dated Mortonsville, Ky., Aug. 

 30, 1881 : 



I received an injury last Saturday 

 morning from the falling of an old 

 shed, and for twenty-four hours did 

 not know anything that transpired. 

 The doctor thinks I had better keep 

 out of the sunshine for a while, so if 

 my patrons do not receive their queens 

 this week, they will know the cause. 



Our readers will join with us in sym- 

 pathy for Mr. Wilson in his misfortune. 



Plan for an Apiary. 



Dr. L. C. Whiting has furnished us 

 with the following description of a 

 plan for an apiary, which will be found 

 delineated in the engraving on this 

 page: 



After looking at the engraving, in 

 No. 27, of Mr. Root's picturesque 

 apiary, I thought of sending you a 

 draught of a plan adopted by me some 

 years since, which for sonie reasons 

 gave me more satisfaction than any 

 other. 



It will be seen from the accompany- 

 ing engraving that the hives radiate 

 from a central point, in double rows, 

 about 5 feet apart. These spaces are 

 for passage-ways, and from which the 

 bees are manipulated. The front (or 

 entrance) faces out from this passage- 

 way. 



The point gained by this arrange- 

 ment is the facility of seeing any un- 

 usual action among the bees. I could 

 stand at the hub and glance down each 

 row and see if any robber bees were 

 threatening any colony, and in swarm- 

 ing time I could see from which col- 

 ony the bees issued, with the least ex- 

 pense of labor or time. 



When I commenced bee-keeping I 

 thought it necessary to have the hives 

 5 or 6 feet apart each way, but want 

 of room caused them to be placed 

 nearer, and I now find one foot apart 

 in the rows to give ample room. 



East Saginaw, Mich., July 20, 1881. 



(g" Mr. Henry Jones, of Chesan- 

 ing, Mich., presented a box of honey 

 to the editor of the Oakley Cyclone, 

 who "noticed" the honey in the fol- 

 lowing words : 



Mr. Jones, of Chesaning, will please 

 except our thanks for a cap of that 

 superb honey of his, which he kindly 

 presented to us, and which was pro- 

 nounced immense by all the young 

 Cyclones in the family, which includes 

 one little zephyr, and several small 

 whirlwinds. 



That little local notice will do much 

 to assist Mr. Jones to sell his honey at 

 home, and thus create a local market 

 for years to come. We cannot give 

 better advice than to keep the local 

 market well supplied— send up only 

 the overplus to the large marts. 



(@T A commercial exchange says 

 that the American honey trade with 

 Great Britain is growing rapidly. A 

 recent English order calls for 5S.000 

 one-pound cans of pure extracted 

 honey. 



<@" Mr. Fisk Bangs, of South Haven, 

 Mich., who resides in the great fruit 

 belt along the lake, gives the dispirit- 

 ing information of the " almost total 

 failure of the peach crop. Apples, 

 too, except close to the lake where he 

 lives, are reported almost nil." 



