660 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



CONDUCTED BY 



Floyd, Hunt Co.. Tex. 



Pleasantry — But Not "Scientific." 



Under A. I. Root's " high pressure 

 gardening," the letters of his name have 

 taken deep Root at the " Home of the 

 Honey-Bees. " See his letter beads. 

 Well, when we see that vegetation is 

 well Rooted, we may expect a vigorous 

 " plant " — like the bee-hive factory of 

 Bro. Root. 



A Bee-Keeper living in this county, 

 not long since went out to rob his bee- 

 gum. The bees objected to burglars 

 coming after dark and taking their hard- 

 earned booby, and stung their intruder 

 badly, and run him away. He, to get 

 revenge, took down his gun and shot the 

 hive. Then he sat down in perfect 

 quietude, with the consoling thought 

 that he had his revenge. But the bees 

 went ahead with their work the next 

 morning, as though nothing had hap- 

 pened. 



Preparing Bees for Winter. 



South of Red river, in this sunny 

 clime, November is the time to see to 

 our pets for winter, as near the first of 

 the month as we can. See that each 

 hive contains a moderate colony, and 

 about 20 pounds of honey, a good queen, 

 and comfortable quarters. The hives 

 should not face north in winter ' or 

 spring, as our cold north winds are dam- 

 aging to them. Tip the fronts of the 

 hives a little down, so that water will 

 not stand on the bottom-boards. 



Our bees do need shelter from the 

 high, cold north winds, as well as our 

 stock. The south side of any building, 

 high board fence, or timber is a good 

 protection, and I think, if we look to 

 our pets more closely, we will have less 

 room to complain of spring dwindling, 

 diarrhea, etc. 



The nameless bee-disease has dam- 

 aged quite a number of our Southern 

 apiaries of late years, and I think that 

 exposure to cold and sudden changes, 

 and improper food, are the cause. 



Remember that burnt or scorched food 

 in winter is not good, but after spring 

 opens up may be fed with perfect im- 

 punity. Small, weak colonies and nuclei 

 can be successfully wintered, but in 

 some winters it is necessary to take 

 them into a warm building during our 

 worst weather. 



Arranging Honey in Stores, Etc. 



As this is the season when most South- 

 ern bee-keepers are looking to the mark- 

 eting of their honey, I will give my 

 experience in that line. 



Should you sell, or leave to be sold, 

 your honey with your home merchants, 

 you ought to volunteer to tastily arrange 

 the display for them if they are not 

 already versed in that line. A good way 

 is to place a small, nice case filled with 

 an average sample of your section 

 honey, right in front of the show-case, 

 on top of it, or where it will be seen by 

 every customer. A small candy-jar filled 

 with clear extracted honey, standing 

 right on top of the case of comb honey 

 is a nice bait, and if by transferring, or 

 otherwise, you have some nice " chunk 

 honey," it can be placed in a glass jar, 

 and exhibited in someway. In this way 

 we may aid our merchants in building 

 up a nice trade in honey. 



I have not described the fancy retail- 

 ing cases, as they seem too expensive for 

 us yet, and it is just beginning to pay in 

 our State to produce comb honey in sec- 

 tions. Ten years ago I could sell nice 

 "jchunk" comb honey in our markets 

 for just as much, and in some instances 

 a little more than section honey, the 

 purchaser not wishing to pay for the 

 wood, as he called it, or thought he paid 

 for the section. 



I have at different times both sold, 

 and left to be sold, honey at our stores 

 in cities and country towns, and the 

 clerks, or the proprietors, would put the 

 honey under the counters, and if a cus- 

 tomer did not call for it, he never would 

 know there was any honey sold in that 

 store ; and after I found out what was 

 being done, I have gone in and asked 

 how they were getting along selling 

 honey, when they would reply, "Oh, we 

 seldom have a call for honey. We will 

 not need any more this year." Then I 

 asked to have the privilege of arranging 



