AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



457 



Supply Factory Burned.— 



Mr. J. W. Bittenbender, of Knoxville, 

 Iowa, we regret to learn, was burned 

 out on Sept. 28th. We copy the follow- 

 ing from a local newspaper report of the 

 fire: 



At a few minutes after 12 o'clock 

 yesterday (Sept. 28th) the alarm of fire 

 was given, and it was soon ascertained 

 that the manufacturing establishment 

 wherein J. W. Bittenbender & Co., man- 

 ufactured apiarian supplies, was in 

 flames. They were putting in a new 

 engine and boiler, and had just fired up, 

 and it is supposed that the fire origi- 

 nated from a spark which ignited the 

 roof of the old building. When it was 

 discovered, it had but just started, and 

 an effort was made to put it out, and 

 nearly succeeded, but the roof was so 

 dry, and the wind so strong, that it got 

 beyond the control of the men, and the 

 building was soon enveloped in flames. 



Considerable lumber, the honey-house 

 and factory were consumed. The loss 

 cannot now be fully estimated, but will 

 amount to some $3,000 or $4,000, 

 without any insurance. 



It is a very severe loss to Mr. Bitten- 

 bender, who has worked hard to build 

 up a paying business, and was just in 

 shape to fill all orders for supplies. 



In a private letter from Mr. Bitten- 

 bender, dated Sept. 29th, he says : 



We w'll rebuild with brick, and much 

 better than before. We always carried 

 half insurance, but 16 days ago the 

 company rejected our insurance on ac- 

 count of our building being of wood 

 material. We had made arrangements 

 to put iron all around it, and it was to 

 be commenced in a few days. 



Our buildings are a total loss. We 

 saved about $ 1 ,000 worth of machinery, 

 with a stock of linden lumber of 60,000 

 feet, to start with again. 



The Stray-Strawer of Glean- 

 ings — our good friend, Dr. C. C. Miller — 

 always has a head of plump grain at- 

 tached to every "straw" that he 

 "grows." 



A farmer who, one spring, was com- 

 plimented upon his sleek and fat horses, 

 said, " Why, I fed 'em only oat-straw all 

 winter, and then it wasn't half '-thrashed!" 

 No wonder his horses were so fat, if 



they had oat-straw with over half the 

 grain in it. Well, that is just the way 

 with Dr. Miller's "Straws"— only they 

 are clean, "straight, and wholly un- 

 thrashed, and that's why there is so 

 much " intellectual fattening " in them. 

 In Gleanings for Sept. 15th, we find 

 the following, which we select as sam- 

 ples of what the Doctor there has 

 " strawn :" 



"Hope springs eternal in the" bee- 

 keeper's breast. I'm getting my bees in 

 good shape for the flood of honey next 

 year. 



What is travel stain ? If it's dirt 

 from the feet of the bees, how do they 

 get their feet so dirty when working on 

 clean white flowers ? 



Young queens wrong end foremost in 

 queen-cells have been unusually plenti- 

 ful this season. Last week we found 

 three of them on one comb. 



Double-tier shipping-cases are used by 

 Frank Rauchfuss, a piece of corrugated 

 paste-board being placed in the bottom 

 of the case, one between first and second 

 tier, and one over second tier. Good 

 idea. 



Shaving-soap is not a necessity, even 

 for those who shave. I have used none 

 for some time. Give the beard a good 

 rubbing with the end of a towel dipped 

 in hot water : strap your razor, then rub 

 the beard again, and see if it doesn't go 

 just as well without the soap. 



A writer in Deutsche Imker says he 

 made continual use of honey for catarrh, 

 only to find the difficulty, aggravated. 

 He then tried it reduced with milk or 

 lukewarm water, and was astonished at 

 the beneficial results. Two table-spoon- 

 fuls of honey in half a pint of water at 

 bedtime. 



Honey consumed by a colony wintered 

 out-doors, says the Imker, averages for 

 October, 2 pounds ; November, 1 pound; 

 December, 1 pound ; January, 2 pounds; 

 February, 3 pounds ; March, 4 pounds ; 

 April, 6 pounds ; total, 19 pounds. But 

 you cannot tell which colonies will go 

 below or above the average, so the safe 

 way is to allow 50 per cent. more. 



This season is unusual at both ends. 

 Clover unusually abundant in bloom, but 

 a failure as a honey-yielder, preceded 

 by the most wretched spring I ever knew, 

 made the first end of the season one 

 long to be remembered ; while at pres- 

 ent, and for some time preceding this 



