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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 3, 



of the trouble are? The first thing to do in the cure of a dis- 

 ease is to remove the cause ; and if the disease were a cancer 

 it would be a poor doctor that would apply poultices as a 

 remedy when it was possible to remove it completely by other 

 means. 



Tbe causes are mentioned, and the remedy hinted at in 

 the items quoted. The causes are " leeches," '• competition," 

 and "nimble-fingered machinery." The remedy — co-opera- 

 tion. 



The leeches are profit-takers of various kinds. Consumers 

 are generally obliged to pay several times as much as ihe pro- 

 ducer receives for his labor, or the products of his labor; the 

 profit-takers get the rest. As the profit-takers are a compara- 

 tively small portion of the population, and the producers are 

 also the immense majority of the consumers, it is impossible 

 for them to purchase the equivalent of the products of their 

 labor with what they receive for it. And the profit-takers, 

 being comparatively few in number, are unable to consume 

 the balance. This condition is aggravated by " nimble-fln- 

 gered " machines, which produce without being consumers; 

 and the usury system, rent, etc., which the "toiling masses," 

 as the great body of consumers, are obliged to support, further 

 lessen their ability to purchase the products of labor. It leads 

 to what demagogues call "over-production." 



All classes of producers suffer from the same causes, and 

 you may "educate the public" as to the food values of honey 

 till the crack of doom, and, unless their ability to purchase is 

 increast, the trouble will not be remedied. Immense numbers 

 are thoroughly satisfied as to the food value of roast beef, who 

 are not able to gratify their longing for thisf staple article of 

 food. 



Labor-" saving " machines are here to stay; the only 

 question is, how to make a Christian use of them. (The pro- 

 ducers should own and operate them, and divide the product 

 equitably.) For a few to enjoy the products of the work of 

 machinery which formerly went to partly satisfy the needs of 

 human beings, can scarcely be called a Christian (Christlike) 

 act. 



"Competition is said to be the life of trade, tho In fact it 

 is the death of it," says Mr. Aikin. " Perzactly." Competi- 

 tion is the opposite to co-operation. 



There are estimated to be 8UO,000 bee-keepers in the 

 United States. Under a competitive "system " (?) of industry 

 necessity will compel a large number of them to dispose of 

 their crop as soon as it is produced, and honey-dealers and 

 commission-men will continue to largely regulate the price. 

 Commercial fruit-growers are generally more "well-to-do," 

 and fewer in numbers, and they can come nearer co-operating 

 in the sale of their products. But why, in suggesting co- 

 operation, should bee-keepers exclude other classes of pro- 

 ducers? Not until all producers unite and adopt a system of 

 production and exchange which will largely or altogether 

 eliminate the profit, will they improve present conditions to 

 any considerable extent. 



I would urge all who are interested, to procure and help 

 extend the circulatiou of Edward Bellamy's book, "Equality," 

 recently publisht. Price, §1.25. Holt Co., Nebr. 



[We can furnish the book referred to above, by Dr. Mas- 

 tin, upon receipt of the price named. — Editor.] 



^ 



Selling Honey Produced In Frames Holding 4 

 or 5 Pounds Each, Etc. 



BY W. W. M'NEAL. 



The pound section, when properly filled with nice, white 

 honey, aside from being so very convenient for retailing pur- 

 poses, certainly looks temptingly good. But now let me tell 

 how I managed to dispose of several hundred pounds of very 

 nice honey I secured last season in frames holding about four 

 or five pounds. 



Well, there was nothing wrong with this honey, more 

 than that there was too much of it to the frame for the 

 grocery trade. I got a number of bright, new tin pans that 

 were just large enough to fit in my regular honey-cases, cross- 

 wise, putting in four to the case. This honey was cut into 

 blocks of something near a pound, so that a given number 

 would fit the pan snugly. The comb was first laid on a frame- 

 work with a wire covering so that the drippings would run 

 through Into a pan placed below. Then each piece was taken 

 and neatly folded in paper, the same that the creamery-men 

 use for their butter. This paper Is entirely different from 

 that usually found in the groceries. 



Take a cake of this honey in your hand, turn back the 

 corners of the clean, white paper, and take a look at the edge 



of the rich, sparkling thing inclosed, and if. it doesn't make 

 you want to lick it, it's all because you havn't got a natural 

 taste. 



QUEEN STINGING A WORKER — WORKER-BEE IN A IJUEEN-CELL. 



Here are two things I witnest the past summer : The 

 stinging of a worker-bee by a virgin queen ; and a dead 

 worker-bee in a capt queen-cell. The queen was the largest 

 virgin I ever saw, and had been caged two or three days iu the 

 hive. When I turned her loose on the comb she seized a 

 worker and quickly stung it to death. But this did not pacify 

 her, for she immediately caught two more, and tho she did not 

 kill these she handled them so roughly that when releast they 

 showed plainly they did appreciate her action. 



The worker-bee iu a queen-cell was evidently due to its 

 having crawled into the cell for a final inspection when it was 

 being constructed, the cell being capt over by others. The 

 young queen was also dead. Scioto Co., Ohio. 



Buying High or Low Priced Queens — Which ? 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I am led to write a few words on the above subject, be- 

 cause many, apparently, do not seem to understand how to 

 discriminate a long the line of buying queens, especially those 

 just entering the enchanted field of apiculiure. Why I say 

 "enchanted field" is because many go wild over the pursuit 

 before they are hardly initiated therein, thus causing them to 

 pay out money unwisely (money earned through sweat and 

 toil in other pursuits that is often actually needed in the 

 family), for high-priced queens, wheu such queens are of little 

 if any more value to them thau would be queens costing not 

 over one-fifth as much. 



The wohderful traffic which we have of late years in 

 queens, has sprung up for two reasons, the first of which is a 

 desire for the improvement of stock ; and the second, the call 

 for queens by those who donot wish to rear their own, but wish 

 queens to keep as a reserve force, ready to use in case of 

 queenless colonies, or in giving to the queenless part of a 

 divided colony, whether divided by the apiarist or by natural 

 swarming. 



This latter class have in view only one object, that of 

 procuring fairly-good queens at a minimum cost, expecting no 

 more of them thau that they will produce plenty of fairly- 

 good worker-bees to secure the honey which their field sup- 

 plies, and preside over their colonies as all good queens do. 



The first or other class buy queens, or should do so, with 

 a different object in view; that is, they want queens which 

 have other value beyond being fairly-good queens in produc- 

 ing bees for the only purpose of honey-gathering, as they wish 

 them for " brecdui;; pui'po.scs," with a view to the improve- 

 ment of the stock they already have. The greater the im- 

 provement which can be obtained by rearing young queens 

 from the one purchast, and crossing them with drones from 

 the bees we already have in our apiaries, the greater the value 

 of the purchast queen ; for therein lies nearly all of the extra 

 value there Is in a selected imported queen, or one from the 

 apiary of the best breeder in the world, above a queen reared 

 in your own apiary, without painstaking on your part. 



Mr. Alley surprised the world a few years ago by telling 

 that he had a queen worth SlUO, and others have told us 

 about queens whose bees workt on red clover. Still others 

 have spoken of queens of extra value as giving bees with 

 longer tongues, giving bees that were hardy for wintering, 

 bees that capt their combs so as to present a snowy whiteness, 

 etc. But had you askt any of these if they considered there 

 was SlOO, §50, $25, $LU, or even §5 worth in such queens 

 to place in a box-hive, or in a frame hive that was workt only 

 for the honey which could be obtained, they would have told 

 you at once that their worth did not consist in the amount of 

 honey the bees from this individual queen would produce, but 

 in the good qualities she possest as a breeder, which good 

 qualities were expected to be perpetuated in her queen off- 

 spring, and in this way, when multiplied by 25, 50, 100, 

 1,000, 10,000 or 50,000 times— just in accord with the 

 number of queens reared from her — would the real value be- 

 come apparent. No one queen can be worth even five dollars 

 for what extra honey her bees will produce over the ordinary 

 average of queens ; hence It comes about that a costly queen 

 should be procured for only one purpose, which is for the 

 improvement of stock. That all do not buy for this purpose Is 

 often very apparent. To illustrate : 



Two parties in one of the Western States ordered queens 

 of a $5.00 class, one ordered three, and the other a single 

 queen. Supposing that each knew what he was about the 

 breeder sent on the queens without questlonl^ig in the matter. 



