500 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Keviewing the Situation. 



Mrs. L. Harrison gives the follow- 

 ing in the Prairie Famier of last 

 week: 



Clover and linden bloom in this 

 locality are now nearly over, and we 

 are looking after the dehnquen s. 

 The voiuig queens, reared from cells 

 taken from the best colonies, are lay- 

 ing and if not built up into full colo- 

 nies for the late harvest, will be 

 introduced whenever a delinquent 

 tax-payer is found. Sometimes a 

 young queen is lost on her • bridal 

 tour", and the bees have no eggs to 

 rear another. In such hives, laying 

 workers are found, and it is exceed- 

 ingly difficult to introduce a queen 

 there, as these aspiring mothers can- 

 not be distinguished from the work- 

 ers, and will destroy every queen that 

 is put into their hive— there may be 

 several of them. I have known them 

 to let a virgin queen live, and destroy 

 her when she returned from her flight. 

 I have sometimes exchanged their 

 frames for frames of brood, with 

 another colony, and when the young 

 bees emerged, they were not satished 

 with laying workers, and protected 

 the queen given them. The presence 

 of these workers may be known by 

 the brood in worker comb being all 

 drone and in irregular order. The 

 eggs of an unfecundated queen pro- 

 duce drones only, and the sooner she 

 is supplanted the better. 



During the interim between the 

 early and the late flow, is a good time 

 to utilize the odds and ends of unmar- 

 ketable honey. At this season there 

 has been in many localities a large 

 amount of dark honey, the product of 

 plant-lice. This can be fed during a 

 scarcity, and the bees will rear young 

 for the autumn harvest. It should be 

 . fed slowly so as to keep them breed- 

 ing, and not enough for them to store 

 it away. I feed weak colonies in the 

 caps of their hives (so no bee can gain 

 access to rob from the outside) the 

 cappings from honey that is to be 

 extracted, and all leakage and odds 

 and ends of every sort, during wet 

 days, when the bees cannot be in the 

 fields. 



The Marketing of Honey. 



The Indiana Farmer gives the 

 following timely hints on the above 

 subject : 



One might infer by the haste with 

 which some of our friends rush into 

 the market with their honey that it 

 was a perishable article, or that it 

 was a matter of life or death that 

 their honey should be disposed of at 

 once. Many again have an idea that 

 by getting in a little ahead of their 

 neighbor they will secure better pri- 

 ces and quicker sales. While the 

 facts in the case are directly the 

 reverse. But very little honey is con- 

 sumed until the cool weather comes. 

 Customers will buy a taste of new 

 honey and there they stop, and are 

 satisfied until the berry, fruit and 

 vegetable crops are out of the way. 



Then we may expect a good sale for 

 our honey. 



For the most satisfactory results in 

 disposing of our honey crop, the home 

 market should first be taken into con- 

 sideration, especially when the crop 

 to be disposed of is not very large. 

 Honej', like all other commodities, 

 loses in the price to the producer, the 

 the farther from home it goes to find 

 a consumer. Large crops, of course, 

 must seek large markets At present 

 we are considering only those who 

 have a few hundred pounds to dispose 

 of. There is scarcely a family in the 

 land but can be induced to purchase 

 a few pounds of honey, if offered to 

 them in the right manner. 



Our people are large consumers of 

 sweets. The adulteration of syrups 

 has been carried to such an extent 

 that they have become disgusted and 

 nauseated with them, and are in 

 search of something to fill the want, 

 and now is the time for bee-keepers to 

 take action and offer to the people 

 the products of our apiaries. Pure 

 honey is about the only jiure sweet 

 now obtainable. As to just what 

 shape in which the honey shall be 

 offered depends entirely on the kind 

 of trade you wish to supply. To 

 home-consumers, extracted honey in 

 fruit jars, tin buckets or cans holding 

 from three to thirty pounds, seem to 

 give best satisfaction, but for fancy 

 grocers' trade, the one-half pound, 

 one and two-pound glass jars suit the 

 best. Each package, let it be what it 

 may, should bear the producer's name. 

 People of to-day rely much more on 

 brands and producers' names than 

 many suppose, or than was formerly 

 the case, when adulteration was so 

 little practiced. 



Comb honey is marketalile only in 

 sections, the one-pounds finding pref- 

 erence in our larger markets. These 

 should be packed in neat shipping- 

 cases, holding about 20 pounds each, 

 as such find quicker sales and are less 

 liable to be damaged in handling. 



Melting out Beeswax. 



A lady correspondent in the Pacific 

 Rural Press gives her experience in 

 melting out beeswax, as follows : 



I will not say who of our family can 

 make the most muss while melting 

 out wax, but even the worst one can 

 not make much muss in my way of 

 melting ; but by the boiling-out pro- 

 cess there is too much chance for it. 

 I have tried both ways, and know of 

 what I say. I take the pieces of comb 

 and press them together in as small 

 a compass as possible, without too 

 much trouble ; then put it into the 

 large dripper that fills the oven, or 

 into two small ones if preferred. 

 Make a good fire and put the pans in 

 the oven ; in a very short time it will 

 be all melted. Then have a dish 

 ready, also a hoop covered with house- 

 lining, and pour the melted comb into 

 tlie dish through the cloth. Then fill 

 up the pan, set it back into the oven, 

 and take the impromtu strainer, from 

 wliich all the wax will have dropped 

 by this time, and empty the refuse 



into the stove to make fire for melting 

 out more wax. The wax, in that way, 

 is pure and clean, and much whiter 

 than when boiled, because the water 

 takes out the dirt and coloring-matter 

 in the comb and mixes it with the 

 wax ; and in this way I can do it 

 much faster and with much less wood, 

 which is quite an item in some places. 

 Try it and see if it is not the best way. 



Honey and Beeswax Market. 



Office of the American bee journal, > 

 Monday. 10 a. m., Aug. 4, 1884. ( 



The following are the latest quota- 

 tions for honey and beeswax received 

 up to this hour : 



CINCINNATI. 



HONEV.— The demand for extracted is fair, 

 and to all appearances, gradually Improving. It 

 brings 6(gj9c per pound on arrival. There is a 

 small demand for comb honey, but we had small 

 offers only, and a good deal could be sold. It 

 brings 14c per pound on arrival. 



BEBSWAX-Offerings plentiful at 30®3->c on 

 arrival. C. F. Mcth, Freeman & Central Ave. 



NEW YORK. 



HONEY— Sales of comb honey continue slow. 

 As yet there are no arrivals of this season's crop. 

 We have receive"! several small shipments of new 

 e-Ytracted honey, which sold readily. For prices 

 on this year's crop, we quote ; Fancy white, l-lb„ 

 16@18c: fancy white, L'-lb., 15@16c: fair to good, 1 

 and2-lb., I2ei4c: fancv bucltwaeat, 1-lb., 12@13c: 

 2-lb., ll(*12c. Extracted, white clover, in kegs or 

 small barrels, SH&^c; dark grades, 7{3i7Hc. 



BEESWAX— Prime yellow. 3l)@32o. 



MCCAUI. & HILDHETH, 34 HudSOn St. 



BOSTON. 



HONEY.— New honey Is coming In, and selling 



at 16'sil8c. for best white land 2-pound sections. 



New extacted, H&^c. Honey in unglassed sections 



sells the most readily. Old comb honey all gone. 



BBK8WAX-3->c. 



Blake & ripley. 57 Chatham Street. 



CHICAGO. 



HONEY— This week we have had liberal receipts 

 of comb honey, and the prices are irregular. As a 

 rule, the honey is of first quality, and put up in 

 good shape; a gradual improvement is noted In this 

 respect. Prices range from 14t&10c for the best; 

 occasionally a case sells for more than that, but it 

 is in a retail way. The extracted honey is still 

 sluggish, at nominal prices— ti(*8c per pound. 



BEBSWAX-Fair receipts; prices, 30@37c. 



R. A. Burnett. I6I South Water Bt. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 



HONEY— Receipts are increasing. There is no 

 improvement to note in the inquiry. Buyers are 

 few and bids low. There is not a single transfer 

 of a wholesale character to report. Strictly choice 

 extracted was otfeicd at .'-'ic. Comb from the San 

 Joaquin, and of clioice quality for that section, 

 sold for I2c. Stocks are distributed in so many 

 hands that sellers are placed to much greater dis- 

 advantage than if offerings were more concen- 

 trated. White to extra white comb. 12@l5c; dark 

 to good, I0@l2c; extracted, choice to extra white, 

 rt(aCy: dark and candied, 4c. 



BEESWAX- Wholesale, 2,5c. 



STEARNS * SMITH. 423 Front Street. 



KANSAS CITY. 

 HONEY— Choice new 2-lb. sections are now 

 bringing 17® ISc, and 1-lb. 180190, ;.2-lb. 19<a20c. 

 Extracted in fair demand at 7(§l8c; extra choice 

 would bring Itc in barrels. No other packages 

 wanted in this market. 

 BBBSWAX-Nomlnal. 30®3.5c. 



JEROME TwiCHELL. 514 Walnut Street. 



ST. LOUIS. 

 HONEY' — Steady; demand and supply both 

 small. Comb, 12®14c per lb., and strained and ex- 

 tracted 6(SteMc. . 

 BEESWAX— Firm at 32(3l32)ic. for choice. 



W. T. ANDERSON & CO.. 104 N. 3d Street. 



CLEVELAND. 



HONEY— There are some arrivals of new- honey 

 which is very nice, unusually so. Our market 

 does not seem to be quite ready for it, the demand 

 not having begun, and no sales made worth men- 

 tioning. It is our aim to get 18c for best 1 -pound 

 sections, and Hie for 2-pound8. Extracted, as 

 usual, is dull. 



BEESWAX-30C. __ „, . 



A. C. KENDEL. 115 OntMlo Street. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 

 HONEY— We quote comb honey in 2 lb. sections. 

 1 5® 1 fie; extracted, 7®7>4c. ^ • o. 



GEO. W. MEADE & CO.. 213 Market St. 



