408 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOliRi^AL. 



each afternoon at 1 o'clock in Apiar- 

 ian Hall, on Fair grounds. 



The place of meeting of the conven- 

 tion to be deciited at tinae of the Fair, 

 probably in the upper room of Apiar- 

 ian Hall. 



Everybody who is at all interested 

 in bees is invited to meet with the 

 Association, and all who can bring 

 articles for exhibition, as efforts are 

 being made to render this department 

 a grand success. 



The State Board of Agriculture 

 has furnished the bee-keepers a sep- 

 arate hall for their exhibits at tlie 

 State Fair, with an upper room in 

 which to hold meetings. Ample 

 room will be furnished tor all exhibits. 

 Dr. H. Besse, Pres. 



D. Spear, Sec. 

 Aaron Benedict, SupH. Apiary Hall. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Marketing, and Price of Honey. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



As our editor has told us in a late 

 iiumberof the Bee Journal, "sup- 

 ply and demand " is the great cause 

 <jf fluctuations in prices of all com- 

 modities, yet sometimes immediate 

 ups and downs in prices are caused 

 by sentiments flowing across the 

 minds of producers; sometimes al- 

 most creating a panic in prices. 



It is my opinion, at this time, that 

 bee-keepers over the country generally 

 have too much of an idea that our 

 present crop is going to be enormous, 

 and sell at a low figure. 1 got fright- 

 ened myself, and put ilOO pounds of 

 •comb honey on our market in the 

 shape of an out and out sale, 2 cents 

 lower than I need to have done. 

 There is $4 charged up to scare. 



There is a considerable quantity of 

 honey produced about here this sea- 

 son, notwithstanding the fact that we 

 have not an average crop, because of 

 the improvements in methods and 

 fixtures. The crop coming in rather 

 late, a good many country producers 

 held off from putting honey on this 

 market from the fact that so much 

 was produced here in my apiaries. 

 The merchants have held up the old- 

 time prices, which, from all indica- 

 tions, will carry through the year. 

 Notwithstanding I have been very 

 busy with many other duties besides 

 marketing honey, duties that most 

 other producers do not have, I have 

 thought it a duty, and have taken 

 upon myself the burden of manufac- 

 turing honey stands. These I made 

 with sloping shelves for jars of ex- 

 tracted honey, and case in top with 

 glass front, and back door for comb 

 honey. I have introduced, and am 

 keeping supplied one of these in each 

 ■of the principle groceries in our little 

 city. By this means I hope to market 

 3 times as much honey at home as I 

 did last year, even at the same price. 



Two things make honey sell rapidly. 

 First, putting up and keeping it in 

 attractive shape and place ; and sec- 

 ond, reducing the price. Between 

 the two I believe that the first is the 

 best card for the producer, and is far 

 less expensive. Let all honev pro- 



ducers do this as far as possible. Let 

 them also be in no great haste to mar- 

 ket the crop. Honey sells best in cool 

 weather, and is by no means a perish- 

 able article, and even grows of better 

 quality if properly kept. 



While there may be honey enough 

 to glut the market of a mouth, it is 

 my opinion that there is not enough 

 to overstock the markets of the year. 

 All we need is to act as a body^ and 

 put our honey into market along as 

 demanded, at a reasonable price, in- 

 stead of panic-stricken like, rushing 

 it all in at once to catch what we be- 

 lieve to be the highest price, which 

 will almost surely turn out to be the 

 lowest price for us. 



The best guide I can think of to be 

 governed by as to when to put honey 

 on the market, is to market it only 

 when it seems to be called for at rea- 

 sonable prices. This, of cmirse, is 

 owing to quality of honey and loca- 

 tion. I will give you my own indi- 

 vidual standard. \V'e live in a pretty 

 good honey-producing locality. We 

 raise more honey than can be con- 

 sumed at home. Some of it must be 

 shipped to the great cities of this and 

 other countries. 



When I realize 18 cents per pound 

 (it then sells at 20 cents retail) for a 

 nice article of comb honey in one- 

 pound sections, or 2-5 cents per pound 

 in half-pound sections, and 15 and 20 

 cents per pound for colored fall honey 

 in one and half-pound sections, and 

 12^2 and iO cents per pound for ex- 

 trated, early and late, I am ready to 

 supply such demand, not otherwise. 



just a word regarding half-pound 

 sections. I intend, when the season 

 is closed, to give the benetit of the 

 experiments my class and myself have 

 made regarding half-pound sections. 

 How we like them, how the bees like 

 them, and how my customers like 

 them ; also regarding honey boards, 

 cases, uroad frames, and various other 

 things. But will say just here that 

 the half-pound sections seem to be a 

 great favorite in the markets around 

 about our little country towns. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Aug. 8, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Excellencies of the German Bee. 



a. w. osburn. 



While the praise of the different 

 races of bees, the Italians, the Holy 

 Lauds, Cyprians and others is being 

 sounded far and wide ; and while the 

 best talent of our country is being 

 engaged to bring more prominently 

 before the public the superior quali- 

 ties of the above named races, there 

 are but few that have the boldness to 

 come forward and advocate the good 

 traits of character of the German bee 

 (not the black). I know that one who 

 lias the indepeudence to advocate the 

 good qualities of the German race of 

 bees, must expect to call down upon 

 his head the scorn, the disaprobation 

 and disgust of the great mass of bee- 

 keepers of to-d!iy. 



Let us go carefully over the ground 

 and see if the German bees liave not 

 some traits, that the honorable bee- 



keeper is bound to respect. In the 

 tirst place they excel as comb build- 

 ers ; they excel as rapid workers to 

 draw out foundation ; they excel as 

 pioneers to strike out from the brood- 

 chamber (and out of the queen's way) 

 to store their honey ; the queens thus 

 having no honey to bother them, can 

 lill their combs from top to bottom, 

 and from end to end ; they excel 

 in keeping their hives full of workers 

 to gather the crop ; all other condi- 

 tions being favorable, they excel as 

 non-swarmers, when you give them 

 plenty of room. 



While I would not wish to be un- 

 derstood that I think the German bee 

 possesses all the good traits to be 

 desired in "the coming bee," yet I 

 would wish them to have credit for 

 what good there is in them ; and that 

 their good qualities shall not be 

 ignored when looking around for 

 material to make up that long-looked- 

 for Apis- Americana. I am satisfied, 

 from my own experience, that the 

 crossing of the different races makes 

 better business-l)ees than either bred 

 pure. It is our intention to try the 

 experiment of mixing the best strains 

 of Italians, Germans and Holy Lands 

 together, and see what the coming 

 bee from these three races will be. I 

 have no fear of the result; there is 

 not one of the three but what have 

 excelent qualities, but the tine point 

 is to combine them all in one. 



I am aware that some of our most 

 successful apiarists are prejudiced 

 against the German and Holy Land 

 bees, but let them dispute the good 

 traits I have mentioned in the Ger- 

 mans, if they can, or the prolilicness, 

 tleetness of wing, and ambition of the 

 Holy Lands. For me to advocate 

 the good qualities of the Italians 

 would be for nie to take up your val- 

 uable room for nothing, for they are 

 too long and favorably known ; but 

 for me to say that they possess all the 

 requisites of what we will wish " the 

 coining bee " to possess, would be as 

 foolish as the other. 



Water Valley, N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Finding the Queen. 



F. M. chkney. 



My method of finding the queen in 

 populous colonies of black bees is as 

 follows : Early in the morning, I go 

 to the colony containing the queen I 

 wish to supersede, and divide it, plac- 

 ing half the combs and bees into an 

 empty hive. In a few minutes one 

 of the hives will show queenlessness 

 by the bees running over the front of 

 the hive. I place this hive on the 

 stand, and take the other, which con- 

 tains the queen, several rods away. 

 Near night this hive will be so thinned 

 of bees that the queen can be easily 

 found, and after olitained, the bees 

 can be returned. I concluded one 

 swarm was queenless, but by dividing 

 I found it was not, and captured the 

 queen which had ceased to lay, al- 

 tnoiigh she was only one year old, and 

 had been prolific previous to this. 



South Sutton, N. H., Aug. 1, 1883. 



