496 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



looked fine in the picture, so I attached 

 a pipe to our water works, and run it 

 into the center of my bee-yard. I at- 

 tached a hose, and by turning a cut-off I 

 could throw water 20 or 30 feet high, 

 and from 10 to 15 barrels per" hour. 

 After trying it three or four seasons I 

 abandoned it, and if asked if it was a 

 good way to make bees cluster low, I 

 would have to answer, " I don't know." 



After the North American Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association met in Canada, I read 

 what our Canadian brethren said about 

 spring packing, and the Norwegian 

 bake-oven. It looked very reasonable, 

 so I lined seven hives with paper asbes- 

 tos, taking care to break-joints with 

 tbe paper on solid board so there should 

 be no cracks to let in air, or allow heat 

 to escape. I filled the caps seven or 

 eight inches deep with dry straw, then 

 covered all with a broad shade-board to 

 carry off rain, and then watched, ex- 

 pecting to see them build up much faster 

 and swarm much earlier than any other 

 colonies. But imagine my surprise to see 

 a colony in a single-walled hive (with 

 only two thicknesses of burlap, and a 

 shade-board over the brood-frames, and 

 the shade-board raised to give ventila- 

 tion over the burlap), the first to get 

 strong and send out a swarm. After 

 using those lined hives for three seasons, 

 and having 5 out of 7 of the colonies die 

 from spring dwindling, the past season, 

 if asked if there was any advantage in 

 spring protection, more than given by a 

 single-walled hive, I should have to say, 

 "I don't know." 



I have used several bee-smokers, most 

 of them with a valve to the bellows, 

 which often gets wheezy, and for the 

 last two or three years I have used one 

 without a valve to the bellows, and if 

 asked what is the use of a valve to the 

 bellows, I should say, "I don't know." 



Last fall I had fears about the so- 

 called honey-dew being suitable for 

 winter stores, and my fears continued 

 all winter, aud when the fearful mor- 

 tality came in the spring, I had fully 

 made up my mind that honey-dew caused 

 it ; but afterwards I met a friend in my 

 own county, whose losses were far 

 greater than mine, and received a letter 

 from a friend at Dunlap, whose losses 

 were about the same as mine, and they 

 both assured me that their bees stored 

 no honey-dew, so I am obliged to say 

 about the cause of the great mortality, 

 when I lost 52 out of 100 colonies, that 

 "I don't know." 



I have used three different kinds of 

 bee-escapes to get the bees out of the 



surplus arrangement, and found them 

 all good ; but if asked which was - the 

 best, I would say, " I don't know." 



O. B. Bakkows. 



After the above essay, Mr. W. C. 

 Frazier, of Atlantic, read the following, 

 on 



Beginners and the Honey Market. 



" How can beginners be best educated 

 not to ruin a market for those more ex- 

 perienced ?" has been asked. 



Honey is a luxury. In order to attract 

 purchasers it must be put up in an at- 

 tractive form. Not only the honey itself 

 must be clean, but the case, or jar, in 

 which it is exposed for sale must also be 

 neat and attractive. 



After securing the honey and casing 

 it neatly, there is just one other thing 

 that must be done to make it sell, 

 namely, put a price on it that will be as 

 attractive as the honey. 



To produce the finest grade of comb 

 honey costs money. Supers, sections, 

 separators and comb foundation must 

 all be the best. More attention should 

 be given to the foundation — " thin sur- 

 plus" is too thick. Some seasons the 

 bees will thin foundation ; some seasons 

 they eat holes in it and spoil it, and 

 some seasons (and this year was one of 

 them) they use it just as it is when given 

 to them. 



Last spring I received a sample, per- 

 haps 6 inches square, of foundation, 

 " extra heavy," 4% square feet to the 

 pound. I thought it would be a good 

 thing to try, to see how much the bees 

 would thin it, so I cut it into 4 triangu- 

 lar pieces, and placed them in sections. 

 The bees built it out just as it was. The 

 comb they built can be scraped off, and 

 no one could tell that the foundation 

 had ever been used. 



If a man has spent time and money 

 building up a market at home, he surely 

 has a better right to that market than 

 any one else. The trouble with begin- 

 ners is, when they secure a tolerable 

 crop of honey, they become panic- 

 stricken ; the demand for honey is not 

 great until the winter months, and they 

 think they must sell, and sell at once ; 

 consequently they unload at a price that 

 ruins the market. The remedy for this 

 is hard to prescribe. 



If the beginner produces an article 

 worthy of being shipped, and sells at a 

 price that will ruin the market, buy his 

 crop of him, and either ship or retail it 

 at a price that will pay to produce 

 honey. If he is contrary, and will not 



