THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



387 



honey on the market in their own 

 small packages and reap the profits. 



We hope the determination ex- 

 pressed to investigate the matter, and 

 if glucose has been used in honey, to 

 institnte legal proceedings, will prove 

 no idle boast, but that the law will be 

 enforced to the fullest extent. Bee- 

 keepers in California owe it to them- 

 selves to sustain the ApicuUurist in its 

 efforts to elevate the standard of their 

 honey. 



It has become a fixed maxim in the 

 Eastern, Northern, and Central 

 States, that pure honey will granulate 

 to a greater or less extent, and with 

 this as a test, it is becoming an easy 

 matter to dispose of pure extracted 

 honey at all seasons ; but California 

 honey has become more difficult of 

 sale, because of its usual liquid state, 

 and the claim put forth that it does 

 not granulate. Its most extensive 

 sale in our Eastern markets has been 

 to unprincipled parties, who have 

 bought it solely with a view to mix- 

 ing with glucose syrup, and retailing 

 as " strained " honey. With a pure 

 article, put up in neat, popular pack- 

 ages, there will be no necessity for 

 California apiarists to discount the 

 prices of any other country in the 

 world. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Bees in California. — Mr. J. E. Pleas- 

 ants, in the California ApicuUurist, 

 gives the following item on the present 

 prospect for honey in that State : 



It were useless to deny that the fre- 

 quent drouths which have been expe- 

 rienced in the last few years have a 

 discouraging look for the business, 

 but a man can scarcely be called wise 

 who neglects to gain wisdom from his 

 failures, and disasters are often of 

 value in the way of experience, and 

 many a lesson has the pohre abejero 

 learnt from the drouths which, even 

 in this muchly favored country, he is 

 freely treated to. 



In the last 7 years there have been 

 two total failures in the business — 

 1877 and 1879, and a partial one in 1880. 

 As a natural consequence, many who 

 were engaged in this pursuit got very 

 much behind linancially, and they 

 were looked upon with pity for being 

 so simple as to be engaged" in such a 

 precarious occupation, and the ques- 

 tion was often asked of the poor Dee- 

 keeper by thoughtless ones, "Why 

 don't you have an orange orchard, or 

 a vine yard, such business' pay much 



better all the time ?" The prudent 

 bee-keeper thinks of the wise proverb, 

 " Speech is silver — silence is gold," 

 and refrains. If he would, he could 

 say: '-There is no human under- 

 taking that is certain. In this vale of 

 tears every occupation has its lights 

 and shadows, and our turn will even- 

 tually come." It has come. Tlie 

 future now looks very bright for the 

 bee-keeper. He has had a long rest 

 of more than a year, therefore he is 

 more than ready to put on his visor, 

 and buckle on his armor, and go into 

 service with renewed strength and 

 vigor, for his prospects are very en- 

 couraging. The yield of honey will 

 be large judging from appearances up 

 to date. 



The editor of the California Apiciil- 

 turiat adds his testimony as follows : 



The season, as we have heretofore 

 stated would be late, in consequence 

 of the late rains. In our locality, as 

 in many others, the sages, wild alfalfa 

 and other leading honey plants are 

 now beginning to bloom, and the bees 

 have commenced storing surplus 

 honey. We are informed that in other 

 localities bees have not commenced to 

 swarm, which may be attributed to 

 their weak condition, and that some 

 apiarists are discouraged and are 

 rendering their surplus comb into 

 wax. In our own apiary our bees are 

 storing honey well, considering the 

 season, which we fear will fall short 

 of our previous expectations 



It may be better than some expected 

 it to be, but we will wait and see, at 

 the same time advising those who 

 have any to hold on to it, as the price 

 is bound to go up. By the telegraphic 

 dispatches we notice that "Old Nick," 

 or something else, is playing havoc 

 back in the East. The laugh won't 

 be on their side this time, at any rate. 



Mrs. Eairchild, of Pomona, under 

 date of May 20 ,writes : 



" The honey harvest in this section 

 will not sustain tho hopes that were 

 entertained by bie-keepers a month 

 or more ;igo. "Like the prospective 

 wheat crop, liouey will be short. We 

 v.'il be satislied this season with half 

 acrop, and many others will not fare 

 so well as that. In fact, we have as 

 yet no assurance that we will have 

 any to dispose of. Our hopes all hang 

 on the quantity and quality of the 

 wliite sage blossoms. Last year there 

 was very little nectar in the flowers. 

 With 600 healthy colonies of indus- 

 trious workers yet to hear from, we 

 must wait for further returns before 

 we can form any definite conclusions 

 regarding the coming crop. The 

 oldest apiarist avoids answering the 

 question : What will the harvest be V 



Mr. C. M. Drake, of Santa Paula, 

 writes May 10, as follows : 



The honey prospects look dubious. 

 1 don't expect more than half a crop 

 at utmost. Fog is coming up to-day 

 for the first time in several weeks. 

 If it continues it will help us out, but 

 the ground is not wet down far 

 enough. The hills are drying up. but 

 the sages look fair as yet. I think 



the bloom will not last long when it 

 does open on them. Still, all is guess 

 work till June. Then we can tell 

 pretty well what the crop will be. 



Use of the Honey Extractor.— The 



Indiana Farmer gives the following : 



The full benefit of the honey ex- 

 tractor can only be appreciated in 

 seasons like the indications predict 

 the present one will be. When honey 

 comes on slowly, bees are very loth to 

 build comb, and will fill every empty 

 cell in the hive before commencing 

 the construction of new comb. At 

 times the honey will come in very 

 fast for a day or two. then again slack 

 off, and in times like these, we can 

 only get the benefits by having plenty 

 of empty combs in which they can 

 store the honey without stopping for 

 itsconstruction. We frequently secure 

 twenty-five or thirty pounds from 

 weak colonies or nuclei late in the 

 season, by giving them plenty of 

 empty combs which probably would 

 not have made a pound of comb 

 honey. 



i^A rather curious circumstance 

 happened in the country, not far from 

 Somerville, one day this week. It 

 was sunshiny and warm and a young 

 lady sat in the parlor playing the 

 piano, with all the windows thrown 

 open, when a swarm of bees, attracted 

 by the music, entered a window and 

 settled on the piano. — Somerville (Ala.) 

 Falcon. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1882. Time and Place of Meeting. 



July 25— Western Iowa, at Winteraet, Iowa. 



Henry Wallace. Sec.. Winteraet, Iowa. 

 Aug. 10— Maine State, at Harnionv, Maine. 



Wm. Iloyt, Sec. 

 Sept. 5-N. W. 111. and S. W. Wis., at Rockton, 111. 

 Jonathan Stewart, Sec. 

 Oct. 5— Kentucky Union, at Shelby vi lie, Ky. 



<j. W. Demaree, Bee. ('hrisliansburg, Ky. 



Tuscarawas Valley, at Newcomerslown, O. 



J. A. Bucklew, Sec, Clarks, O. 



^^~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetinKs.— Ed. 



The Western Iowa Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met at Winterset, Iowa, 

 May 25, 1882. 



Reports were received from the 

 various bee-keepers, from which it 

 was gathered that the loss since last 

 autumn has been about 16 per cent. — 

 nearly all from spring dwindling. 

 The winter was one of the most favor- 

 able for bees ; the spring the worst 

 known for years, being cold and wet. 



The main topic for discussion was 

 " Methods of Increase." The univer- 

 sal opinion was in favor of artificial 

 swarming and judicious dividing. 



Samples of domestic preparations 

 made from honey were dulv sampled. 



Convention adjiirned to meet in 

 Winterset, July 2.5, 1882. 



Henry Wallace, Sec, 



