THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



147 



:3S3RlOAlKrv^^ 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Vol, nil, Marcli 10, 1886, No, 10. 



w^ f% r^ It inH""l! I'"' - 



The Australian Bee-Keepers' Jour- 

 nal is the name of a new bee-paper edited 

 by R. L. J. Ellery and J. H. Kitchen, Mel- 

 bourne, Australia. No. 1 is on our desk ; it 

 contains 16 pages, and presents a neat 

 appearance. 



"Flowers that Bloom In the Spring." 



— A bouquet of blooming flowers from Mr. 

 J. W. Winder, of Louisiana, is on our desk. 

 Among: them white clover with stems 12 

 inches long ; several blossoms from Cuba, 

 gathered there on Jan. 26 ; and several 

 others from Louisiana, gathered on the 1st 

 inst. While everything is frozen up solid 

 here at the North, it is refreshing to think 

 that our Southern brethren are enjoying 

 ** the flowers that bloom in the spring." 

 Truly, this is a vast country. 



Tlie American Bee Journai is regu- 

 larly sent to almost every civilized country 

 in the world. It has regular subscribers in 

 England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, 

 Italy, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway, 

 Russia, Asia, Africa, Australia.New Zealand, 

 South America, Mexico, Cuba, and all the 

 Provinces of the Dominion of Canada, as 

 well as in every State and Territory of the 

 United States. Advertisers should note this 

 fact when reaching out for business. The 

 American Bee Journal offers them induce- 

 ments which cannot be obtained elsewhere. 



Wm. Dyer, of Hastings, Minn., has sent 

 a reversible-frame attachment to our Mu- 

 seum. It consists of a piece of wire of the 

 length of the side-bar of a frame, with each 

 end twisted into a ring, but in opposite 

 directions from each other. The wire is 

 fastened to the centre of the side-bar by 

 little staples, and when the frame is reversed 

 the ring that was under the bottom-bar 

 turns out to form the projection to hang 

 the frame ; the one motion turning the 

 projecting end out carries the other under 

 the bottom-bar. It can be made for and 

 attached to any frame Id use, by simply 

 cutting off the end-bar, and without dis- 

 turbing the comb. 



Scliaclit & Lenicke, of San Francisco, 

 Calif., have issued their annual market 

 review of the honey and beeswa.x business 

 of California, from which we e.vtract this : 



The honey crop of 188r>, like that of the 

 year before, was not a remunerative one for 

 the producer on this Coast. The reason that 

 the expected improvement in prices did not 

 take place, was partly in the general depres- 

 sion of trade, in the Jew sugar prices, and in 

 the decrease of the foreign and Eastern 

 demand for our hone.y, in consequence of a 

 full supply there ; but particularly we may 

 attribute the low prices rulingsince August, 

 1H84, to the circumstance that a large por- 

 tion of the crop of 1884 was held over by 

 the producer for a raise in case of a short 

 crop in 188."), or a better demand for the 

 article from any cause. Consequently, the 

 quantity put on the market during 188.') 

 was not small, but larger than could be 

 handled without a larger foreign or Eastern 

 demand. 



To Europe very little honey has been ex- 

 ported during the last nine months of 188.5 

 (about 2,000 cases), for the reason that 

 supplies on hand there were full too, and in 

 consequence of a new tariff in Germany, 

 raising the duty on honey from :! to 30 

 marks per 100 kilos, since July 1, 1885. Sales 

 to Germany, therefore, stopped entirely 

 since that date, and supplies increased in 

 England, in consequence of the heavy 

 arrivals in the first six months of the past 

 year, and end of 1884. The low prices result- 

 ing from these causes have, however, 

 increased a good deal the consumption of 

 this article, both here and abroad. 



The supply on the market and in the 

 hands of producers now is not large, par- 

 ticularly of the better grades of liquid honey 

 and comb hone.v, which are getting scarce ; 

 for which reason prices for choice extracted 

 honey and comb honey, the crop of which 

 was especially short in 1885, are a good deal 

 higher than at this time of the previous year. 



The estimated quantity in first hands is 

 about o,.jOO cases of extracted honey, and 

 1,200 cases of comb honey ; against about 

 15,000 cases of extracted honey, and 5,000 

 cases of comb honey, at the close of 1884. 



During the last six years, the quantity of 

 honey arriving in this city has been reported 

 as follows : In 1880— :!,000,000 lbs. In 1881 

 —1,200,000 lbs. In 1882— 1,. 500,000 lbs. In 

 1883—1,4(10,000 lbs. In 1884—3,600,000 lbs. 

 In 188.5— 2,000,000 lbs. 



Up to July 1, 1885, we received about 

 1,200,000 pounds of honey, and since then 

 the balance of about 800,000 pounds ; show- 

 ing that most of the honey received during 

 the past year was honey of the crop of 1884. 

 Even among the 800,000 pounds received 

 since July 1, 188.5, was a good deal of old 

 honey, and we may therefore safely say that 

 if all. or nearly all, the honey of 1884 would 

 have been consumed. sold or exported before 

 the new crop of 1885 came into the markets, 

 we should have had a small supply on hand, 

 and no doubt much better prices during the 

 last season. We estimate the crop of Cali- 

 fornia for 1885 at about 1,2.50,000 pounds, 

 against nearly 8 times that amount in 1884. 



The whole honey crop in the United States 

 for the past year is estimated at about 

 26,000,000 pounds Of honey, and the States 

 of New York, Tennessee, Ohio, North Caro- 

 lina, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois and 

 Iowa were the leaders in the honey-produc- 

 ing States— producing, each of them, more 

 than California in 1885 ; for which reason, 

 prices in the Atlantic States did not encour- 

 age shipments from here. 



Comb honey has improved a good deal in 

 prices, in consequence of the small yield ; 

 and we may mention that a much greater 

 demand in the East, with better prices, 

 could be obtained, if our apiarists would use 

 one-pound sections instead of the two- 

 pound sections. In the East the prices are 

 about two cents higher tor comb honey in 

 one-pound sections, and the demand is 

 better for these packages than for California 

 honey in two pound sections. 



The prospects for better prices are not 

 very bright for the next season, especially 

 as it now promises to be a good crop for 

 1886 ; but values are now so low for ex- 

 tracted honey that they can hardly go lower; 

 and we even may expect higher prices, 

 should we have a good Eastern and foreign 

 demand, and a general improvement in the 

 trade, which we trust will be the case. 



To Doable the Postage on fourth-class 

 matter (which includes bees and all kttids of 

 bee-keepers' supplies), the Hon. James F. 

 Wilson, of Iowa, has introduced a bill In 

 Congress. We have written to our Congress- 

 man to use his influence to defeat the 

 measure, and he has replied assuring us of 

 his willingness to do so. Prof. Cook says : 



"The postage on fourth-class matter is 

 now lb cents per pound ; before 1872 it was 

 only 8 cents per pound ; in Canada it is 4 

 cents now, I think. A Canadian bee-keeper 

 can send a pound of queens or bees to any 

 place in Canada or the United States for 4 

 cents, while we now pay 16 cents, and 

 possibly may have to pay 32 cents This 

 matter deserves the immediate attention of 

 all bee-keepers. I have written to our Con- 

 gressmen, and wouhl urge all others do the 

 the same, hew, except the seed-men, would 

 teel this oppression more than bee-keepers. 



The proposed increase would make the 

 rate the same as letter postage, and would 

 benefit only the express companies. The 

 Postoffice Department would lose the busi- 

 ness, and hence would not be benefited. 

 Every one buying or selling bee-keepers' 

 supplies should immediately write to Con- 

 gressmen to use their influence to defeat the 

 measure. If any change is made, it should 

 be decreased instead of increased I 



Hints concerning Bee-Keepiuo- for 



Mareli-. — The experience of many bee- 

 keepers, not all novices, is that while they 

 can get their bees through the winter well 

 the early spring is the most trying time! 

 Thehteof the worker-bee is short at best, 

 and the great proportion of those that go 

 into winter quarters die before the season 

 is half over. New brood must be reared to 

 maintain the strength of the colonies. It is 

 often fatal to success to start colonies at 

 work rearing brood too soon, which is done 

 when they are placed too early upon the 

 stands before the weather remains continu- 

 ously propitious. It is better to wait. Colo- 

 nies coming through the winter very strong 

 may be trusted out earlier than weakly 

 ones. Warm weather will excite the bees to 

 activity; if this occurs unusually early, the 

 colonies should be kept as quiet as possible. 

 When the red buds of the soft maple put 

 forth, the bees, as a rule, may be safely 

 released from their imprisonment. Queen- 

 are liable to disease and death, and i '^ 

 happens that sometimes a colony is withoi t 

 a queen. In such a case it may well 1 e 

 united with a weak one that has a queen if 

 both.after close examination, prove healtl y. 

 If honey is exhausted, feed ; and it is well 

 to place fine, unbolted rye flour where it is 

 accessible to the bees. They will use it in 

 place of pollen, if few flowers are open or 

 the weather rough,— ^mericon Agriculturist 

 for March. 



New Price-Itists have been received 

 from the following persons : 



J. D. Goodrich, East Hardwick, Vt.— 2 

 pages— Bee-Keepers' Supplies. 



Iowa Seed Company, Des Moines, Iowa.— 

 16 pages— Seeds. 



Andrew Banks. Reisterstown, Md.— 48 

 pages— Chatsworth Herd of Jersey Cattle. 



T. L. Von Dorn, Omaha, Nebr.— 6 pages- 

 Apiarian Supplies. 



Joseph E. Shaver, North River, Va.—l page 

 —Bee-Keepers' Supplies. [By an oversight 

 this address was given as Pa. instead of Va., 

 in a recent issue. — Et>.] 



J. A. Everitt & Co., Watsontown, Pa.— 50 

 pages— Seeds. 



Oliver Foster, Mt.Vernon, Iowa— 7 pages- 

 Italian Bees and Queens. 



J. W. Clark, Clarksburg, Mo.— 16 pages- 

 Apiarian Supplies and Bee-Keepers' Diary. 



Any one desiring a copy of either of them, 

 can obtain it by sending a postal card to the 

 address as given above. 



