1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



361 



a forage-plant. The fields whea in full blossom present a 

 lovely picture ; one field of 100 acres, as level as a table, 

 with clover as high as a man's knees, lookt like a great crim- 

 son carpet on the field, and the bees were working on It about 

 one to the square foot. 



The cold winds of April held my bees back, and when the 

 weather settled every colony I had swarmed, so my honey crop 

 will be very short, but as this honey sells itself at a good 

 price, I will realize about as much as some of the bee-keepers 

 who are not so fortunate as to be in a clover neighborhood. 

 Almost all the honey put on this market is poplar, and after 

 one gets a taste of clover honey, no more red honey for him. 



I think the flavor of this honey could not well be improved 

 upon. Please advise what your opinion of it is. 



All my bees are strong, and will go Into winter quarters 

 with good queens. I am gradually Italianizing my apiary. 

 Yours truly. T. H. Sherman. 



The sample of crimson clover honey was duly received, 

 and we can pronounce it exceedingly fine in flavor, tho not 

 quite so heavy in body as some honey. Crimson clover honey, 

 like the honey from any of the other clovers, is all right. And 

 Mr. Sherman should be able to harvest lots of it with such 

 extensive fields of crimson clover growing In his vicinity. 



Relation of Bees to Horticulture— the able 

 paper prepared by Hon. R. L. Taylor for the Buffalo conven- 

 tion of last year — we find is copied entire in the 40th Annual 

 Report of the Missouri Horticultural Society, which has just 

 •come to our desk. It was read at their winter meeting by J. 

 W. Rouse, a prominent bee-keeper and apiarian writer in that 

 tState. It was a wise thing to do. More of the State horti- 

 •cultural organizations ought to do the sa'ne thing. It con- 

 tains just such information as horticulturists should know 

 concerning the value of bees in the pollination of fruit-blos- 

 soms, and it also answers many interesting questions that 

 often arise on the subject. 



Honey-Recipes.— Mrs. R. C. Aikin— the good wife 

 of the President of the Colorado Bee-Keepers' Association — 

 sent the following recipes to Gleanings : 



Cherries Canned in Honey — Five pints stoned cherries 

 and one pint extracted honey. This makes 13^ quarts. 



Gooseberries Canned in Honey. — Four pints gooseber- 

 ries and 2 pinis of cold water. Cook slowly until partly done, 

 then add 13^ pints of extracted honey, and cook until done. 



Honey Nct-Candv. — Use the recipe given in [Honey as 

 Food] honey-leaflet for honey-caramels, cooking till it hardens 

 in cold water, then pour over nut-meats. When cold, break 

 ill pieces. 



Grand Rusb for Bee-Supplies.— In a notice 

 being sent out to its customers by one of the large bee-supply 

 firms, we find the following, which will serve as a sample of the 

 busy times now upon the manufacturers of apiarian goods : 



We have been running our factory day and night since 

 March 1, working a force of about 250 people (all we can 

 make room for). We are turning out 500 to 600 hives, 80,- 

 000 to 100,000 sections, and 1,000 pounds of foundation 

 every day, and other goods in like proportion. Shipments 

 aggregate 1% to 2 carloads in weight every day. We have 

 bought 10 carloads of two other factories to help us keep 

 pace with our orders, but all the other factories are behind as 

 well as we; and, from all the data we can gather, the demand 

 for bee-keepers' supplies seems to be double that of any pre- 

 vious year. 



You may say we ought to have been better prepared ; but 

 reflect a little, and think what it mean? to provide for such an 

 unexpected increase. If we were not shipping constantly wo 

 should, in less than a mouth's time, fill up all our available 

 storage capacity, manufacturing at the present rate. Unless 

 more bee-keepers and dealers are more forehanded, and order 

 early in the fall and winter what they are likely to need, such 

 times as we are having now cannot well be avoided in such 

 seasons as this by any amount of preparation by the manu- 

 facturers. 



We expect to put in a 500 horse-power engine, and build 

 an addition to our wood-working factory nearly twice the size 

 of the present one, and will do our part in getuug ri ady fur 



another year ; but that does not help us much for the present. 

 If you cannot wait your turn to have you order filled, let us 

 know at once and we will cheerfully cancel it and return the 

 money you have sent with it. If we knew where to refer you, 

 where you could get more prompt service, we would gladly do 

 that ; but (as far as we can learn) all factories are behind. 



It is hard to discover the reason for such an increast demand 

 for bee-supplies, unless it is that old bee-keepers are extend- 

 ing their apiaries, and new recruits are entering the ranks, as 

 a result of the large honey crop of 1897. Perhaps there are 

 other causes. But there is no time to huntthem up now. It's 

 " busy as bees," and then fall behind in the work. 



Honey Gingfer Cookies. — A correspondent of the 

 British Bee Journal sent in a recipe for publication, and also 

 a sample cooky, upon which the editor of that paper remarkt : 

 " After tasting the sample forwarded, we have no hesitation 

 in saying they are by far the nicest honey-cakes we have yet 

 tasted." The recipe reads thus : 



Flour, 114 lbs.; honey, lib., warmed; cane sugar, 2 oz.; 

 butter, ^i lb.; ground ginger, 1 oz.; candied peel, 1 oz.; one 

 good teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda dissolved in a little 

 lukewarm milk. Rub the butter into the flour, add the sugar, 

 ginger, and candied peel (chopt tine) ; then add the honey, 

 and last of all the bicarbonate of soda, mixt with enough 

 lukewarm milk to make the mixture into a rather stiff paste. 

 Roll out, cut into shapes with a small glass, and bake on a tin 

 sheet in a quick oven. 



Editor Leahy, in the Progressive Bee-Keeper for May, 

 tells about his visit to the home and apiary of Mr. G. M. Djo- 

 little, of New York, last fall. It makes us want to go there, 

 too. 



Rev. a. B. Mettler, of Will Co., III., dropt into our office 

 last week one day. He's one of the preachers who find that 

 Methodist preaching and bees mix very well. But all other 

 kinds of good gospel preaching ought to.mix'with bees just as 

 well as the Methodist brand. 



Elder Daniel Whitmer, of St. Joseph Co., Ind., made 

 us a very pleasant call last week. He has about 100 colonies, 

 and reported the prospects good. We shall expect to hear 

 from Elder Whitmer through his pen. He has been a reader 

 of the American Bee Journal about 20j years. Evidently 

 likes it. 



Mr. W. T. Richardson, of Ventura,' Co., Calif , after 

 disposing of his 60-ton crop of honey, and finding that he 

 would get no honey this year, has gone East, accompanied by 

 his wife. He will spend several months with friends in the 

 New England States. Mr. Richardson is not enjoying good 

 health ; and it is hoped that the journey and the rest from the 

 busy cares of a busy life will have a beneficial effect. — Glean- 

 ings. 



Mr. J. H. Martin, In Gleanings, mentions the estiblish- 

 ment of a " joke department " in the bee-papers. If that 

 funny thing is ever done we will name Mr. Martin for the 

 position as editor. One of the jokes he calls attention to, is 

 the one about Mr. Wilkin's " fire-proof, concreted cistern " in 

 which he stores his extracted honey. Of course, everybody 

 thought Mr. Wilkin just poured the honey into the cistern 

 and pumpt it out as sold. Instead of so doing, he first put 

 the honey "in five-gallon tin cans and in the good old or- 

 derly orthodox way." So much for the California "honey- 

 cistern." 



Mb. J. W. OoLKSBY, of Logan Co., Ark., when renewing 

 his subscription May 23, said: 



" Enclosed find the ever needful to pay for the ' ever need 

 fur to all bee-keepers. I don't know but what I get my 

 money's worth out of the 'Contributed Articles,' it no other 



