610 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



again, but tliis is an undesirable state 

 of affairs ; and if this article were not 

 already too long, I would demonstrate 

 the fact ; as it is, I will simply point 

 to the fact that the Syrians die in win- 

 ter just the same as other bees. But 

 I will accord to the Syrians one good 

 quality, and that is, tliey can be 

 shaken from the combs " like shot 

 from a shovel." To the gentleman of 

 leisure this may not be an advantage, 

 but to the man with aching back and 

 arms, who shakes off a barrel or more 

 of bees per day, this quality is quite 

 an object. 

 Rogersville, Mich., Nov. 12, 1883. 



Correction. — lu my article on 

 page 591, third line from the bottom, 

 " A thin strip of hear comb" should 

 read: " A thin strip of brace comb." 

 The same mistake occurs in the 86th 

 line from the bottom. In the second 

 column, same page, 2oth line from the 

 top,"stay" should read stage. — W.Z.H. 



Prairie Farmer. 



Bee Fever, Selling Honey, etc. 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



Bee-keepers, as a class, are very en- 

 thusiastic in their calling, and, as the 

 science is continually advancing in 

 the way of new discoveries and ap- 

 pliances, this tends to keep them so. 

 All students of the profession have to 

 be acclimated, as it were, for all be- 

 ginners, whether young or old, are 

 sure to be attacked by a malady known 

 to veterans as "bee -fever." Some 

 persons are subject to occasional re- 

 turns of it, during their natural life, 

 while others get entirely cured. 



We love to call to mind our own ex- 

 perience with it. A minister, who 

 combined bee-culture with preaching, 

 seeing how badly we were affected, 

 kindly laid his hand on our shoulder, 

 saying, " Take care, take care. Sister 

 Harrison : you are getting the bee- 

 fever too bad." Poor soul, we have it 

 yet, and are likely to liave it as long 

 as we are an inhabitant of a land of 

 flowers and sunshine. Our partner in 

 the sweets and stings often remarks, 

 "If I ever get to heaven, I expect to 

 see you coming around with a bee-hat 

 on.'^ 



The best known remedies for this 

 fever, are losses by wintering, poor 

 honey seasons, and an unreliable mar- 

 ket. Losses by wintering have become 

 obsolete in the hands of a few skillful 

 bee-masters, and they reap returns, 

 even in a poor season, by an intelligent 

 use of the extractor whenever a flow 

 of nectar occurs for a day or two, and 

 yet they fail to obtain '• tip-top " prices 

 for the product. 



Novelties in the way of labels are 

 the fashion now, its advocates claim- 

 ing that in order to sell honey, it must 

 be pleasing to the eye, look attractive, 

 and be adorned with bees, flowers, 

 and streamers gay. While it is true 

 that goods should be attractive to sell 

 well, there is a limit to adornment. 

 Bolts of muslin are adorned with 

 pretty litliographs of pearls, grapes, 

 etc., but what sensible house-wife ex- 

 amines these when slie is seeking a 



good fabric for wear. She may say 

 they are pretty, but then she directs 

 her attention to the goods, holds it up 

 to the light, examines the threads 

 with a magnifying glass, and looks for 

 the name of the mills. If we were 

 wishing to purchase a package of 

 honey; to-day, in the market of Cincin- 

 nati, it would not be a novelty in the 

 way of a label that we sliould seek, 

 but the name upon it. C. F. Muth, or 

 that city, has sold more honey than 

 any person living, and it has not been 

 by his labels eitlier, but by putting 

 upon the market pure unadulterated 

 goods under their own name. Buck- 

 wheat honey is not sold as white clo- 

 ver, nor dog- fennel as linden. Mr. 

 Muth has so educated his producers 

 that they keep each kind separate and 

 intact, and that enables him to call 

 each by its Christian name. Where 

 to-day are the dealers who, a few years 

 ago, flooded the West with beautiful 

 glass packages of pure glucose, adult- 

 erated with a piece of comb honey 

 swimming in it, and labeled White 

 Clover in gold letters ? Are they to 

 be seen adorning the shelves of gro- 

 cerymen, with their gold-embossed 

 labels y Bee-keepers do not need a 

 monkey and hand-organ to attract at- 

 tention, but their name stamped upon 

 the white wood of the package of comb 

 honey, or upon the keg, can, or barrel 

 of extracted. 



Honey that is shipped to cities is 

 produced almost entirely in one and 

 two pound packages, and shipped in 

 crates with glazed sides. We lately 

 saw one of these pretty crates in a 

 grocer's window, and thought "beauty 

 unadorned is adorned the most." 

 AVould it cater to the wants of the con- 

 sumer if the white wood of these 

 packages was covered with gayly tint- 

 ed paper ? Does he want to pay for it 'i 

 Some one must, for it will come out of 

 some person's pocket-book. These 

 crates should be graded, and the same 

 in the middle as shown next to the 

 glass, and have the producer's name 

 stamped on each one. A producer who 

 has a reputation to maintain, will not 

 be likely to put in the center of aerate 

 stamped packages that are black in 

 the center from being used as cradles 

 for a generation of bees, and then 

 filled in the fall with the juice from 

 apple and sorghum mills, and honey 

 from frosted buckwheat fields. 



White clover honey has no superior, 

 and should be graded as such, but lin- 

 den, goldenrod, buckwheat, etc., are 

 produced and relished by many, and 

 should be graded and sold under their 

 own name. A home market is neces- 

 saryj in order to keep bees for profit, 

 and if the producer has none, he should 

 make one. Milk routes have a money 

 value, and are sold according to their 

 merits, and honey roirtes will have a 

 pecuniary value when they are better 

 understood. 



We have noticed that when a family 

 eats honey at all, considerable is con- 

 sumed ; while another family cannot 

 be persuaded to buy a pound. Some 

 bee-keepers canvass their own neigh- 

 borhood, and leave a small package at 

 each house, and build up a trade in 

 this way. All undesirable lots can be 

 1 worked off at home and better prices 



obtained for it, than by shipping to 

 distant cities. 



Bee-keepers, as a class, have a mania 

 for shipping to large centers, and the 

 business has been injured in that way, 

 as honey is sold there for less than in 

 small towns. AV^e have known of 

 grocers in adjoining towns ordering 

 honey from here, when we knew of 

 producers near them that should have 

 supplied them, and saved transporta- 

 tion. 



Peoria, Ills. 



imitat and Baxu. 



<r^'' 



ANSWERS Br 



James Hcddoii, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Feeding Bees in Winter, etc. 



1. What is the best way to feed our 

 bees in winter, when we have them in 

 a cellar, and know they have not 

 enough to keep them through until 

 spring V Many that were late swarms 

 in this section, will be short of stores 

 wdiere tliey have not been replenished 

 from stronger colonies ; and, unless 

 fed some cluring the winter, many 

 colonies will starve. There was only 

 enough fall honey to keep up a good 

 brood. 



2. Will the division-board feeder, as 

 described in Prof. Cook's work, do for 

 a winter feeder, or would it be best to 

 feed from cups, covered with cloth, 

 bottom upwards, and placed over ^he 

 frames'? Please state the best and 

 safest way, and oblige many, who 

 from necessity or neglect, have de- 

 ferred this great necessity until now. 



J. W. Sanders. 

 Le Grand, Iowa, Nov. 16, 1883. 



Answers.— 1. I have never yet been 

 able to feed bees in winter, or at any 

 time, when they could not fly for a 

 considerable length of time, to my 

 satisfaction. 



2. I have never tried Prof. Cook's 

 feeder above referred to, but from my 

 experience with those working upon 

 the same principle, I should not dare 

 to depend upon it nor the cups covered 

 with cloth. A good feeder should 

 combine the following qualities : It 

 should not leak a di-op, whether the 

 bees desert it or not. It should not 

 daub the bees. It should not waste 

 heat, nor excite robbing. The 

 great trouble with all feeders, with 

 cloth attached, is that they do not 

 hold the feed, when from cold or any 

 other reason the bees abandon it for a 

 time, then daubing and robbing fol- 

 low. It is best to do all feeding nec- 

 essary before the bees cease flying, 

 but in your case I should use one of 

 the three feeders I have devised, 

 called a " Winter feeder." It differs 

 from the other two I use, inasmuch as 



