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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Xeeping Bees on Shares, etc. 



CHAS. DADANT & SON. 



In reply to the question asked by 

 Mr. T. W. Dougherty, on page 796, 

 ■\vhich Mr. Ileddon answers, allow us 

 to give a report of the difEerent ways 

 in which we do it. and which give 

 satisfaction to all parties. 



There are three ways in which we 

 take and give bees on shares, and 

 there are often also three persons in- 

 volved in the transactions, the owner 

 of the bees, the owner of the loca- 

 tion, and the bee-tender or bee- 

 keeper. The bee-keeper who takes 

 bees on shares, usually has some of 

 bis own,~and it is, therefore, prefer- 

 able to put them on the premises of a 

 third party. The rule is to give the 

 owner of the bees two-fifths of the 

 surplus, the apiarist gets two-tifths, 

 and the land owner one-tifth. In the 

 bar.gain it is understood that the lat- 

 ter is to furnish room for the empty 

 hives, boxes, extractors, honey, etc., 

 and board the apiarist and his horses, 

 while at work. 



The only risks of loss to be incurred 

 are, that of winter or the absence of 

 a crop. These risks should be in- 

 curred by the owner of the bees ; that 

 is, he must stand the winter loss, and 

 the expense of feeding the bees if 

 necessary. On the other hand, the 

 apiaiist must put the bees in winter 

 quarters as safely as possible, and if 

 there is a crop lie must keep enough 

 surpUis honey to feed the bees until 

 the next crop. If there is no crop, he 

 must do the work of feeding if needed. 



As for the increase of bees : All 

 depends on the manner of it. If 

 swarming by division is intended, the 

 terms depend on the quality of the 

 hives, the amount of comb founda- 

 tion used, and the more or less purity 

 of the race of bees employed. If 

 n.atural swarming is the only source 

 of increase, then the increase belongs 

 to the owner of the bees, provided he 

 pays for hiving the swarms ; otherwise 

 the apiarist has a right to one-half of 

 the increase, but he must furnish 

 bives, comb foundation, etc., for his 

 share. The price which we pay for 

 hiving swarms is 7-5 cents per swarm. 

 It would be unreasonable and bad 

 policy to request the apiarist to hive 

 the swarms free of charge, for swarm- 

 biviug is a tedious job. and takes 

 much valuable time. Besides, an 

 apiarist who tends three or four 

 apiaries cannot be expected to hive 

 all the swarms. It becomes the part 

 of ihe location owner. 



Our method, therefore, is as fol- 

 lows : When a man lets bees to an 

 apiarist on the apiarist's land, the 

 owner of the bees gets two-fifths, and 

 the apiarist three-fifths ; the owner 

 pays 7.5 cents for each swarm hived, 

 and furnishes hives, etc., to suit him- 

 self, and the swarms are his ; or if he 



pays nothing, each of them gets half 

 of the swarms, and each furnishes his 

 own hives, foundation, etc. 



When a man lets bees to a land- 

 owner, and tends the bees himself, 

 he gives one-fifth and pays 7.5 cents 

 per swarm. 



When a man lets bees to an apiarist 

 on a third man's laud, he gives the 

 apiarist two fifths, the land-owner 

 one-fifth, and pays 7.5 cents for the 

 swarms hived. If the apiarist pays 

 75 cents, then he gets half of the nat- 

 ural increase. 



DOES BEE-ICEEPING PAT? 



One more word. Messrs. Doolittle 

 and Ileddon claim that bee-keeping 

 does not pay because honey is too 

 cheap, or something to that effect. 

 The great trouble is that they want a 

 man to try a living with 100 to 200 

 colonies of bees. We say and prove 

 by facts, that a man can keep from 

 400 to 700 colonies of bees, and keep 

 them properly. Of course additional 

 help is needed during the honey 

 harvest, the hives and implements 

 must be ready before spring, and the 

 colonies must be in running order to 

 start with. We also say and prove by 

 our own experience that extracted 

 honey can be produced at 6 cents per 

 pouncl and pay its producer. The 

 production of honey has not yet been 

 and cannot be overdone, for the con- 

 sumption increases as fast as the pro- 

 duction, and honey will always be 

 the highest priced of all sweets. 



Mr. D. \y. McDaniel. of this city, 

 has done the greater part of the work 

 on some 4-50 colonies of bees for us 

 this summer, and was not busy more 

 than half of the time either. 



Hamilton,*© 111., Dec. 12, 18»4. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Honey as a Staple Article. 



H. U. ACKER3IAN. 



The following from the Indianapo- 

 lis Evening Neios of Dec. 10, 1884, 

 I should like to have published in the 

 Bee Journal, believing that it will 

 be appreciated. After fighting, for 

 montlis, the " Trof. Wiley scientific 

 pleasantry" (lie), it is quite refreshing 

 for a bee-keeper to read in a news- 

 paper an article like this, speaking a 

 good word for his pursuit, and I would 

 suggest that bee keepers generally 

 send a copy of the Bee Journal 

 containing it, to their local papers re- 

 questing them to copy it : 



HONEY A SUBSTITUTE FOR BUTTER. 



" Times are bad and likely to be 

 worse," said a prominent member of 

 the Franklin Institute to a reporter 

 yesterday afternoon. " Butter is be- 

 coming scarcer and dearer every year 

 and it will be beyond the reach of 

 poor people this winter. Unless poor 

 people who are out of work find a 

 substitute that is cheaper than but- 

 ter, they will have to eat their bread 

 dry. They will not eat butterine or 

 oleomargarine ; they would turn up 

 their noses at that, if they were 

 starving." 



" What can they use, then ?" 



" I do not know ; but if some enter- 

 prising man would take hold of the 

 honey question, I believe he would 

 make a fortune." 

 "Honey'?" 



"Yes, sir; honey. There is an 

 opinion going around that honey is a 

 luxury. There never was a bigger 

 mistake made. If it does not make 

 much muscle, it gives warmth to the 

 whole system, arouses all the nervous 

 energies and gives vigor to all the 

 vital functions. I can talk about 

 honey because I know about it. I 

 know that most children would rather 

 eat bread and honey than bread and 

 butter, and that a pound of honey 

 will go as far as two of butter. Be- - 

 sides, honey will keep forever and 

 never get sour or rancid like butter 

 does. Then look how much cheaper 

 it is. Honey can be bought at 1.5 

 cents and 20 cents a pound, and a fair 

 profit made by the retailer. Butter is 

 seldom less than 40 cents, and this 

 winter it will reach .5.5 cents a pound. 

 Of course I am only speaking of the 

 best kind of honey. Buckwheat honey, 

 which has a slight flavor, can be re- 

 tailed at a profit at SI for 8 pounds. 

 But, Lor' bless you, the people would 

 not eat that. Only the best is good 

 enough for them.'' 



" Could enough honey be brought 

 into the market to substitute it for 

 butter r' 



" Well, that is not exactly the ques- 

 tion. It is not likely that honey will 

 supersede butter altogether; but just 

 now, when wages are low and butter 

 is getting higher and higher every 

 day, it would be a good thing if peo- 

 ple knew that they could buy a good 

 substitute, if it is only a temporary 

 one. What is wanted to make it a 

 paying one is the introduction of the 

 barrel trade. If retail dealers would 

 take their honey in barrels and sell it 

 in small quantities at the rate of 

 about 1.5 cents a pound, they could 

 make a large profit. You know work- 

 ing people look twice at a quarter 

 before they spend it on what they 

 think is a luxury. But if they 

 thought they could buy .5 or 10 cents 

 worth at a time, they would be glad 

 of it, and they would soon learn that 

 honey is cheaper and preferable to 

 butter. In the winter honey candies 

 and becomes hard enough to cut with 

 a knife and spread like butter, so it 

 can be used in the same way. If a 

 demand for pure honey arose, a hun- 

 dred barrels could be brought into 

 the city every week all the year round, 

 or a hundred dozen if the demand in- 

 creased.'' 

 " How about adulteration "i"' 

 " The principal adulteration is glu- 

 cose, but it is not ditlicult to detect. 

 Honey mixed with glucose will not 

 candy at the lowest temperature, 

 whereas pure honey candies very 

 freely. The best way to keep honey 

 is in those five-pound Mason jars. If 

 it candies, so much the better. A 

 little heat will soon liquify it, if that 

 is desired. If people generally knew 

 what a nutritious, wholesome food 

 honey is, it would not be long before 

 the bee-keepers would have all they 

 can do to keep up the supply." 

 Xorth Indianapolis,© Ind. 



