646 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Best bee-hive, R. L. Meade, $3. E. 

 L. Goold& Co., Brantford, $2. Kev. 

 W. F. Clarke, $1. 



Best wax-extractor, E. L. Goold & 

 Co., diploma. 



Best honey-extractor. E. L. Goold 

 & Co.. diploma. 



Best and largest display of apiarian 

 supplies, E. L. Goold & Co., silver 

 medal. 



Guelph, Ont. 



For tne American Bee JoumaL 



MMm Honey— Feeding Snpr. 



G. A. BKUNSON. 



I have been an observer of the 

 course of bee affairs and interests for 

 some years, and I have come to the 

 conclusion that bee keepers give the 

 profits of their enterprise to the re- 

 tailer, as I have learned that the con- 

 sumers pay 20 cents per pound to the 

 grocers in Chicago for the same honey 

 that I sell at home for 10 cents. This 

 exorbitant retail price exacted by the 

 grocers for honey in our large cities, 

 limits the sale of our produf^e to a 

 few who have money for luxuries. 

 This class of purchasers are in such a 

 minority compared to the number of 

 honey lovers, that the market in our 

 large cities is easily overstocked ; 

 hence our cheap wholesale prices. 



I notice in the address of Mr. S. C. 

 Gridley, on page 582, a plan which I 

 think if followed out would be of un- 

 told benefit to the bee-keepers of 

 California, and not only that, but a 

 like system in other central localities, 

 or chief commercial centres of the 

 United States would be a great benefit 

 to the bee keepers— a place where 

 they could ship all their surplus over 

 horiie consumption, to some ware- 

 house where it would wait its turn 

 and not have to be sold at a sacrifice 

 in order to get rid of it, as we have 

 heard of parties who have large 

 quantities, getting scared by market 

 reports, or not knowing where to 

 ship or what to trust. Such bee-keep- 

 ers sacrifice on a large quantity, kill- 

 ing the market for all others the rest 

 of the season. 



There is the item of feeding sugar, 

 which we bee-keepers, I believe, are 

 apt to look at in the wrong light. My 

 observations have been that for every 

 pound of sugar the bee-keeper buys 

 for feeding bees, throws one pound of 

 honey out of the market. Sugar is 

 an inferior food for bees, and often 

 costs more per pound than fall honey 

 can be sold for; and if the apiarist 

 has been feeding a large quantity of 

 sugar, he will have all the more fall 

 honey to crowd on the home market, 

 or to sacrifice on in a foreign market, 

 or perhaps carry over until anotfier 

 year. Then he will see that he is out 

 just what he paid for sugar, and the 

 sale of an equal number of pounds of 

 honey that nobody wants. 



I found myself in about the same 

 predicament the past summer, as my 

 old dark honey weighed about the 

 same as tlie amount of sugar I had 

 fed the fall before, and now I feel 

 quite sure that I will not feed any 



more sugar as long as I have the dark 

 honey ; but I shall follow the course I 

 did this season, as near as I can, and 

 that is, to take off the supers of white 

 honey before the fall or dark honey is 

 brought in, and not put on any more 

 supers until the hives are heavy 

 enough for winter, then put on the 

 supers if more room is needed, and 

 take whatever they put in for my 

 share of that season's crop. 



By the above plan it is easy to be 

 seen how we can prevent the buying 

 of sugar or f 'eding honey, and have 

 our colonies heavy for the coming 

 winter, with nice capped stores, as 

 they seem to cap it better when they 

 bring it from the fields than when it 

 is fed to them. 



Plymonth,Os Mich. 



Canadian Bee Journal. 



Snlisoil Ts. Jones, 



S. CORNEIL. 



A case against a bee-keeper tried at 

 sea, and successfully defended with- 

 out aid from the Manager of the Bee- 

 Keepers' Union. 



On Board S. S. Sardinian, 

 North Atlantic, Aug. 26, 1886. 



Bee-men are noted for being ready 

 to talk about their specialty on every 

 possible occasion ; the delegates in 

 charge of the Ontario honey exhibit 

 at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition 

 are no exception to tlie rule in this 

 respect. Conversations with their 

 fellow passengers on board were often 

 turned so as to bear a reference to 

 bees and honey. Should a passenger 

 tell a story about the methods by 

 which travelers are often black- 

 mailed, Mr. Jones would match it by 

 telling how he got even when the 

 custom house officers and boatmen 

 at Beyrout attempted to levy " back- 

 sheesh " on him when bringing bees 

 from the Holy Land to Cyprus. One 

 of his cylinders was so full that he 

 feared the bees would be suffocated. 

 Pretending to abandon the bees rather 

 than submit to their demands, which 

 amounted to about $2-') for two hives, 

 he opened this hive and allowed about 

 a gallon of bees to escape. This 

 caused a general stampede, the bees 

 driving botli boatmen and officers 

 under cover, lie then deliberately 

 placed his bees in a boat and rowed 

 to the steamer, which had been wait- 

 ing for him lialf an hour, the owner 

 of the boat lying in the bow with his 

 head covered most of the time. Before 

 long the Canadian bee-men on board 

 were the best known among the pas- 

 sengers. Their statements regarding 

 the benefit of bees in fertilizing the 

 crops of the agriculturist, and the 

 virtues of honey as a food and medi- 

 cine, were not always allowed to pass 

 unchallenged. The outcome of the 

 opposition was that Capt. Hamilton, 

 manager for a shipping firm in Scot- 

 land, over the assumed name of " Sub- 

 soil," made a demand in writing upon 

 Mr. .Jones for $1,(:00 for damages done 

 to his pastures by Jones' bees in ex- 

 tracting the honey from the clover, 

 and for annoyance to his family from 



the stings of the bees, and loss of 

 property caused by the bees stinging 

 his sheep and cattle. Mr. Jones re- 

 fused to accede to any such demand, 

 stating that the bees were not only 

 not injurious, but were a positive 

 benefit to his neighbors' pasture. 

 Here was a direct issue. Arrange- 

 ments were soon on foot for the or- 

 ganization of a court to try the case. 



Capt. Smith, of the " Sardinian " 

 was consulted, and he fell in with the 

 idea at once, expressing his willing- 

 ness to go into the witness box him- 

 self and testify against Jones. Soon 

 the arrangements were all complete. 

 Mr. Dennistoun, of Edinburgh, Scot- 

 land, arrayed in a fur cloak and 

 ample wig, made by the boatswain 

 for the occasion, filled the position of 

 judge with dignity and ability. Mr. 

 S. Carsley, a leading merchant of 

 Montreal, acted as counsel for the 

 prosecution, and Mr. R. McKnight, 

 registrar for North Grey, Ont., acted 

 as counsel for the defence. Mr. An- 

 drew Allan, of Allan Bros. & Co., 

 Montreal, was chosen as foreman of 

 the jury. Amongst the jurors were a 

 gentleman recently from Hong Kong, 

 China, an editor from London, a 

 banker from Ontario, a stock raiser 

 from British Columbia, and another 

 from Manitoba, and a gentleman from 

 Stratford, England. 



Mr. Carsley, in opening the case for 

 the prosecution, stated in a clear and 

 succinct manner that his client's 

 land produced the clover blossoms 

 whijh supplied the defendant's bees 

 with honey, that the secretion of 

 honey in the clover-heads increased 

 the food value of his client's pasture, 

 or it would not be there ; that since 

 the defendant established his bee- 

 farm in the neighborhood his client's 

 stock had been failing ; that his cows 

 gave less milk and of poorer quality 

 than formerly ; that his sheep were 

 poor, and, therefore, less valuable; 

 and that his client's family required 

 medical assistance more frequently 

 than tliey did previous to the estab- 

 lishment of the defendant's bee- 

 tarra. Since these losses were di- 

 rectly traceable to the defendant's 

 bees, he claimed that it was only just 

 that defendant should remunerate his 

 client to some extent for the damages 

 he sustained. Evidence was pro- 

 duced to sustain this contention. 

 Great merriment was caused by Capt. 

 Smith, who as Hodge, a servant of 

 the plaintiff, testified that his mas- 

 ter's stock were failing of late; that 

 this was caused by Mr. Jones' bees, 

 and not by carelessness, especially 

 since he took charge ; that on one 

 occasion he took Miss Buttercup, the 

 dairymaid, out for a drive with his 

 master's horses and carriage, that one 

 of Jones' bees attacked the " bosses " 

 causing them to run away and break 

 the carriage ; that he captured that 

 bee to show to his master, and that it 

 was about 214 inches long, and was 

 one of those Eastern bees Jones 

 brought from somewhere. This evi- 

 dence was confirmed by that of Miss 

 Buttercup. The counsel for the de- 

 fense, in cross-examination, labored 

 unsuccessfully to induce her to admit 

 that at the time the accident occurred 



