THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



297 



the higher. The winter just closed 

 has been milder than usual, snow not 

 having fallen to the depth of 5 inclies 

 ;it any time during the season. 



Forage for the bees is i)Ieiity, .■uid 

 the alfalfa grass, now becoming so 

 popular, is as lielpful to bees as a lield 

 of buckwheat. All the ordinary 

 honey i)i'odueers are plentiful. 



Denver is <ine of the ijest of mar- 

 kets for honey, wliich lirhigs 20 cts. 

 |)er lb. the year round. The Xatioiuil 

 Mining and Industrial Exposition, to 

 be held in Denver, in Augustfand 

 .September, may direct attention to 

 this proUiisiug industry, especially if 

 liee-keepers take interest in the sub- 

 ject, and aid them to <io so. 



Denver, Col. 



Uural New Yorker. 



•Is Bee-Keciuiijr rrofitaWe 2 



O. M. DOOI.ITTLE. 



My crop of hnney pi-odnced during 

 the season of issl was, mo.st of it, sent 

 to connnission mereliauts, as I was 

 not able to linil a sale for it at prices 

 which I tliouglit it ouglit to sell for, 

 hence tlie present time linds ine hear- 

 ing from tlie last lot which closes out 

 my entire croj). The most of my 

 crop was shipiied in lots of about MOO 

 pounds eacli to diftt-rent commission 

 men in Xew Voik. lioston, Philadel- 

 phia, etc.. and sold (juickly at 20 and 

 22c per po\ind. wliile tlie lot just 

 closed out. whicli was shipped to a, 

 large dealer, together willi a large 

 consignment of my neighbors' on the 

 co-operative plaii recommended by 

 some, brought from 12 cents per 

 pound u)) to 20. tlius proving that the 

 co-operative plan is not alwavs tlie 

 best. 



After placing tlie amount of this 

 last saleM)n my ledger, it was but 

 natural that I should look over the 

 debit and credit columns to see what 

 ray bees liad paid me for my season's 

 labor. After footing up the whole re- 

 ceipts, and deducting therefrom the 

 expenses incurred by the bees, I find 

 I have an average prolit of §29.63 for 

 each colony I had in the spring. Thus, 

 it will be seen, if a person can care 

 for 100 colonies of bees (and it is done 

 by many of our practical apiarists), it 

 will give an income of S2,9(i.3 a year. 

 But to be on the sale side, suppose we 

 call it .50 colonies, these will give a 

 salary of SI ,4«I ..50. 1 will admit that 

 the season of ISSl was better than an 

 average one for honey in tliis locality, 

 and therefore to be sure and not get 

 our hgures too high, we will take off 

 $481. .50 from the above, when we have 

 left Sl.OOO as an average yearly income 

 for one person. As proof that the 

 above is not overdrawn, 1 will say 

 that I have cleared, on an average, 

 over $1,000 from my bees each year 

 for the past nine years with an aver- 

 age of less than .50 colonies each year. 



That bee-keeping will compare 

 favorably with any other pursuit in 

 life I lirmly believe, and the cause 

 why so many fail in it is that they do 

 not properly attend to it. Men will 

 give their cattle and horses the best 

 of care, but, when it conies to the 



bees, they let them take care of them- 

 selves, with the exception of hiving 

 swarms and putting on and taking off 

 boxes. Wliat would they expect from 

 their cows if treated in that way V 

 The keeping of cows means milking: 

 twice a day for at least 210 days out of 

 the year, and feeding them three 

 times" a (lay for ISO days to .say noth- 

 ing about cleaning stables anil other 

 work necessary to carry on a dairy. 

 When men are willing to thus care 

 for bees, they will (ind they will give 

 a greater prcilit than can be obtained 

 from cows, or any other branch of 

 rural industry. Bee-keeping means 

 work, energetic work, " a place for 

 everything and everything in its 

 place," and to know how to do things 

 just at the right time and in the riglit 

 place, if we would make it profitable. 

 We also want the best bees, the best 

 bee hive, and all the modern appli- 

 ances, just as our enterprising dairy- 

 men would have the best breed of 

 cows and the best utensils to care for 

 tlie milk. A person will not succeed 

 in any business unless he has enongii 

 love "for his calling in life to iiiduee 

 him to be diligent and faithful there- 

 to. 

 Borodino, X. Y. 



[Mr. Doolittle's excellent article 

 abovfe touches iiponasul)j'ect in which 

 we have taken a deep interest — i. e., 

 marketing honey. We have long 

 entertained a doubt as to the feasibil- 

 ity of co-operation in the matter of 

 disposing of honey, and more espec- 

 ially as regards pooling the whole 

 product in the hands of a compara- 

 tively few commission merchants or 

 " middle-men." We could see no rea- 

 son wliy the laws of commerce would 

 be reversed for the especial aggrand- 

 i.sement of honey-producers, any more 

 than for the dairymen, the wheat or 

 corn growers, or the hog or stock- 

 raisers ; and we thought we could see 

 many good reasons why the wliole 

 scheme was not only imin-acticable, 

 but extremely visionary. Of cour.se 

 we had only one opinion, based, as we 

 tliought, on reason ; nor, on the other 

 hand, was there any proof positive 

 opposed to our opinion by those ad- 

 vocating the scheme. Mr. Doolittle, 

 however, in his first paragraph above 

 cites practical, positive experience 

 which strengthens our views, and is 

 worth more than all the theoretical 

 assertions which can be adduced. 

 Perhaps adverse circumstances com- 

 bined to force the unfavorable result 

 upon him ; but could the system be so 

 perfected as to prevent abuses, or to 

 revolutionize the laws of trade V "We 

 think not, when we consider the 

 many conflicting interests to be recon- 

 ciled, and the many expectant pro- 

 ducers to be satisfied as to prices and 

 speedy returns. — Ed.] 



%LfRi 



'L£', 



A Month Later than Usual.— Pros- 

 pects are not very flattering in regard 

 to the bee season here. It is a month 

 later than usual. J. P. Bassett. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., April 28, 1SS2. 



Bees in Canada.— Bees wintered well 

 in this neigborliood and have been 

 working since April 3d, w.'ienever it 

 was warm. There has been little loss 

 from cold winds this spring. I spent 

 last season with D. A. Jones, of Bee- 

 ton, Ont. I have 7.5 colonies in box 

 hives, all black bees, and intend to 

 transfer all to movable frame hives, 

 and put in Italian and .Syrian queens. 

 The fruit blossom prospects are very 

 encouraging. Should summer rape be 

 sown before or after fruit bloom V 



R. r. IIOLTKRJIAN. 



Fisherville, Out., May 6, 1S82. 

 [After fruit bloom ; in your latitude 

 from June 1st to 20th. — Ed.] 



Bees ill Loiiisi.ana.— I put into winter 



quarters last fall 3-5 colonies in good 

 condition, all in Langstroth two-story 

 hives; used one thickness of cottoii 

 cloth, and one thickness of jute bag- 

 ging as absorbents. They cairie 

 through in good condition, "with the 

 exception of 3 queenless, which I 

 doubled np March 1. I reared and 

 had fertilized 10 Hue Italian queens 

 during April. Bees are now biiiiging 

 in plenty of honey. Surplus arrange- 

 ments are all on and rapidly being 

 tilled. I am working them for sur- 

 jilus, not wanting any increase. So 

 far I have kept them from swarming. 

 The flood did not reach me, as I had 4 

 feet more to spare. Some of my 

 neighbors lost quite a numlier of colo- 

 nies, but not (jiiite all. Weather is 

 dry and cool. The overflow is gradu- 

 ally falling, with no places flooded on 

 the west bank of Bayou Teche in this 

 parish. The cane crop is ]u-omising. 

 W. R. Thomson. 

 Xew Iberia, La., May 1, 1882. 



Thin vs. Thick Sections.— Why do 



so many bee-keepers use sections 2 

 inches thick or more, thereby necessi- 

 tating the use of tin to get straight 

 combs V It is no trouble for me, and 

 some others, to get full racks of sec- 

 tions filled with honey, and the combs 

 all as true as a board, in sections not 

 more than ]?4 inches thick without 

 the use of separators; but when the 

 sections are 2 inches thick, tin must 

 be used or the combs will be crooked 

 or wavy. We can also get at least }i 

 more honey without separators than 

 with them, and as honey which is 

 thin will evaporate and become thick 

 niiicli quicker in a shallow dish when 

 exposed to heat, I hold that the bees 

 will ripen and seal more honey in a 

 good run in a comparatively thin 

 comb than they will in combs with 

 deep cells. Bees in chaff hives are 

 doing well. O. H. Townsend. 



Kalamazoo, Mich. 



