(jiT fc OLDEST BEE PAPER r\, 

 IN AMERICA 



_.«l»a 



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



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAGO, ILL., OCTOBER 5, 1881. 



No. 40. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



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Free of postage in the United States or Canada. 

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The Honey Crop for 1881. 



In the Bee Journal of September 

 14th, we requested the bee-keepers of 

 America to send us an abbreviated re- 

 port of the result of the season's 

 operations, and for the past week the 

 postman who delivers our mail matter 

 has been sorely puzzled as to "what 

 has broken loose among bee-keepers !" 

 to increase our daily receipts of postal 

 cards by hundreds. We must em- 

 brace this occasion, while thanking 

 our friends for the promptness with 

 which they have responded to our re- 

 quest, to congratulate them upon the 

 exceedingly favorable report which 

 they have presented. 



We had hoped to be able to give the 

 report in this issue, but over-rated our 

 ability to properly collate it in time, 

 and must content ourselves by briefly 

 summarizing. Our returns are from 

 more than 100,000 colonies at the com- 

 mencement of the season, the majority 

 of which were in bad condition for a 

 vigorous campaign, and had to be put 

 in shape after the harvest commenced. 

 The average yield per colony in the 

 spring we tind to be over 75 pounds of 

 surplus. The honey is of most excel- 

 lent quality, in fact much above the 

 average, and has found very ready sale 

 so far as we can learn, at remunerative 

 prices. 



The increase reported amounts to 

 over 65 per cent., and all report their 



bees in good to extra good condition — 

 with plenty of bees and the choicest 

 of stores. Several of those who have 

 reported were largely engaged in 

 queen-rearing, for which there was a 

 brisk sale ; so that, although their crop 

 reports are not so large as they might 

 have been, their receipts have not been 

 lessened. 



We have received no reports from 

 California, but at this writing they 

 are still coming in from all other 

 points, and in our next issue we will 

 be able to give an elaborate report. 

 Enough, however, is now known to 

 justify our wildest anticipations last 

 spring. The reports in some cases are 

 almost fabulous. Those who lost bees 

 last winter could attribute it to mis- 

 fortune ; those who have failed to re- 

 trieve their losses, can blame only 

 themselves— we advised them in time. 



It is especially pleasing to be able to 

 congratulate our readers on their gen- 

 erous returns, in view of the partial 

 failure of nearly all other rural pur- 

 suits; and it but confirms us in assert- 

 ing that apiculture is as little liable to 

 disaster as any other pursuit, that mis- 

 fortunes are more easily retrieved, and 

 that the percentage of profit is very 

 much greater as compared with the 

 capital and labor invested. 



li®" Mrs. L. Harrison, of Peoria, 111., 

 has kindly sent us a copy of The Great 

 West, and calls attention to the follow- 

 ing item : 



Bees have done unusually well in 

 Colorado this year. First class native 

 honey can be had for 25 cents per 

 pound. The dry atmosphere and the 

 great amount of flowers in Colorado, 

 make this a profitable State for bee- 

 keepers, and we wonder that more 

 people do not engage in bee-culture 

 and the production of honey. One 

 hundred pounds of honey brings about 

 S20 in the market— equal to an acre of 

 wheat, ordinary seasons. 



Undoubtedly Colorado has a prom- 

 ising future before it as a honey-pro- 

 ducing State, and a few such seasons 

 as this has been, will work wonders in 

 developing it. 



Transplanting Trees.— The Mich 

 igan Farmer makes the following very 

 timely remarks on this subject : 



Among all the forest trees recom- 

 mended for transplanting to our prai- 

 ries, there are none so valuable to the 

 bee-keepers as the linden. It forms 

 not only a beautiful shade, but its rich 

 perfumed blossoms yield to the bees, 

 a large quantity of excellent honey. 

 The tree bears transplanting well and 

 is a free grower, and should not be 

 overlooked in making a selection. 



Attractive Packages for Honey. 



As our readers know, the Bee Jour- 

 nal has always been very outspoken 

 in impressing upon apiarists the neces- 

 sity of employing the most approved 

 and attractive packages in preparing 

 their honey for the market. Not only 

 will it find a more ready sale, but gen- 

 erally at figures in excess of market 

 rates. To make our frequent allusions 

 to this subject more impressive, we 

 make the following extract f rem a pri- 

 vate letter dated Boston, Sept. 23, writ- 

 ten by Mr. Frank L. Ripley, of Crocker 

 & Blake, commission and wholesale 

 dealers : 



Our market, more than any other, 

 demands the most improved style of 

 packages and crates. We are selling 

 Salisbury's honey, of Geddes, N. Y., 

 who uses a crate 14x6, with glass on 

 the crate but none on the honey, 24 

 combs, weight from 20 to 23 pounds. 

 It is one of the most salable packages 

 we ever had. Honey will sell twice as 

 quick in a desirable package. I am 

 intending to go down in Maine and 

 work up the honey-raising. They have 

 the finest of honey, but in 10 to 15 lb. 

 packages, just as the bees happen to 

 make, in a frame they whittle out Yan- 

 kee style. While I glory in being a 

 Yankee, I think there are some things 

 to be learned yet. 



To further illustrate — in conversa- 

 tion recently witli our son (A.H.N.) a 

 honey dealer in Chicago, our attention 

 was called to some beautiful honey in 

 single comb box.es, which he said re- 

 tailed readily at 30c. in the grocery 

 stores, while some two-comb boxes (4 

 lbs., and slightly crooked), from the 

 same- producer, of the same quality 

 and collected at the same time, would 

 not retail at more than 23 to 25c, and 

 would " drag at that." He also called 

 attention to the fact that lie found it 

 necessary to repack much of his ex- 

 tracted honey from the barrels into 5, 

 10 and 15 gallon kegs, in order to meet 

 the requirements of the market. " Of 

 course," said he, " the cost of the new 

 packages and the time consumed in 

 repacking amounts to quite a little 

 percentage, but I can make my sales 

 much more readily, and therein lies 

 the profit derived from any business." 

 He said he thought another season he 

 might be obliged to discriminate in 

 prices, in buying extracted honey for 

 the market, in favor of the kegs. 



It must be apparent to every reflect- 

 ing bee-keeper, that if adiscrimination 

 is made, and if it pays the city jobber 

 to repack into the neat, convenient, 

 salable kegs, it will pay him to use 

 none other, and thereby not only effect 

 a quicker sale and realize a stiffer 

 price, but also save the cost of the 



barrel, which he otherwise throws 

 away. 



Since the above was put in type, we 

 have received the following letter bear- 

 ing upon the same subject, dated Sep- 

 tember 23, from Messrs. Stearns & 

 Smith, who have for years furnished 

 reliable San Francisco honey quota- 

 tions for the Bee Journal : 



In the Cincinnati market report, in 

 your issue of Sept. 7, 1881, C F. Muth 

 says that he " paid King Cramer, for a 

 lot of about 2,000 lbs. of comb honey, 

 17 cents per pound, and every comb 

 perfect and in the Muth section, which 

 speaks well for the producer," etc.; 

 we can beat it. A. W. Hale, of San 

 Bernardino county, stiipped us 83 cases 

 (about 5,000 lbs.) of comb honey, in 

 Harbison sections, which was straight 

 and fine. We have rendered him sales 

 at 20 cents per pound for part of it, 

 and will sell the remainder at the same 

 figure. We believe that figure speaks 

 better for the producer, as up to this 

 lot there had been no sales at over 16 

 cents. 



It not only speaks well for the ship- 

 per, but volumes for the house which 

 takes an emulative pride in getting 

 the highest prices for its patrons. If 

 bee-keepers will employ their better 

 talents in studying the wants of the 

 market, then exercise their nicest skill 

 in putting it up, there will be no need 

 of centralizing their shipments in one 

 or two commission houses, but, rather, 

 plenty of respectable and responsible 

 firms will not only solicit our consign- 

 ments, but will prove themselves quite 

 worthy of our confidence. 



igy In order to avoid misunderstand- 

 ing, we will now inform our readers 

 that our next issue may be two or three 

 days late, in consequence of our at- 

 tendance at the National Convention ; 

 but we trust it will possess sufficient 

 additional interest to compensate for 

 any annoyance from irregularity. 



The Bee Journal in Canada.— The 



Essex Chronicle remarks as follows : 



We have before us the Weekly Bee 

 Journal, which is devoted to the in- 

 terests of scientific bee culture, and 

 the production and sale of pure honey, 

 and we must confess that we are 

 highly pleased with it. It contains 

 many thoughtfully written editorials 

 and letters on bee culture ; is remark- 

 ably liberal in dealing with the views 

 of those who differ from it, and is a 

 reliable authority on this subject. 

 We, with others of this country, have 

 studied considerably this pleasing and 

 classic branch of industry, and can 

 fully appreciate such a journal as we 

 have before us. 



igT We learn, with regret, that Mr. 

 G. M. Doolittle is very sick with ma- 

 larial fever. 



