1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



251 



tlie bees day after day ; and if it really turns 

 out that he never gets stung, he will be a 

 novelty, to the bee-keeping world at least. 

 Even though the facts you present seem 

 positive and conclusive, yet 1 can not help 

 thinking it was somewhat accidental. I 

 have often been among enraged bees when, 

 although they were stinging others right 

 and left, they seemed to pass me by ; but 1 

 have always thought it was more the way I 

 behaved than any thing else. Another 

 point occurs to me here : While others are 

 complaining bitterly, and being bitten by 

 mosquitoes, I never get bit at all. This has 

 been verified dozens of times. I always ex- 

 plain it to my friends in a joking way, by 

 telling them that the mosquitoes don't con- 

 sider me *•' good to eat.'' I agree with you, 

 that if I could be insured to be free from 

 bee-stings without veil or smoke, I would 

 give quite a little sum of money to be taught 

 how. Can any of the brethren give any 

 further facts in regard to the matter V By 

 the way, friend 1)., were you not a little 

 wickedwhen you killed the bees and bumped 

 the sections in order to get our friend stung V 



In regard to the enameled sheets : Other 

 reports agree with what you mention, that 

 powerful colonies seem to do better for hav- 

 ing the thin impervious coverings over them ; 

 while with weak ones it seems to keep them 

 too damp. Very likely this will account for 

 many different experiences having been re- 

 ported from enameled sheets for winter cov- 

 ering. 



I am inclined to think your suggestions in 

 regard to setting out bees are very valuable. 

 I am the more interested in it because we 

 have determined to winter at least a part of 

 our bees next winter in the nice cellar under- 

 neath our new brick house I have been tell- 

 ing you about. One of the principal objec- 

 tions I have about cellar wintering is the 

 difficulty in getting the bees out and getting 

 them started to lly all right. The more ex- 

 perience I have with spring dwindling, the 

 stronger I appros^e of your idea, that bees 

 should remain in their winter repositories 

 until the tirst pollen begins to come. If I 

 raised only comb honey, and didn't rear 

 queens forthe market, perhaps I would still 

 stick to the chaff hives. In fact, reports 

 seem to be so very favorable with chaff hives, 

 even during the past severe winter, I should 

 hardly think of using the cellar instead of 

 them, were it not for the fact of our rearing 

 queens for sale as above mentioned. 



THAT HONEY-HOI SE, AGAIN. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT MARKETIKG HONEY. 



fHAVE been rather anxiously watching- to 

 see some plan for a honey-house something 

 — ' like the one Mr. Flanagan, of Belleville, 111.' 

 spoke of in last Dec. Gleanings*. I want to build 

 one this spring- with shop under the same roof, in 

 which to make hives and put sections together; in 

 fact, every kind of work pertaining to an apiary — 

 one suitable for storing, extracting, and preparing 

 for market the honey from 75 to ICO colonics of bees. 

 I should like one not too expensive. I think a house 

 so constructed as to allow a good cellar under it for 

 wintering, in case a person wished, would be a good 



idea. It is certainly not best to put bees in a cellar 

 under a living-room, or one used for storing veg- 

 etables. 



In writing to the bee-papers it would add to the 

 value of the reports if correspondents were to give 

 the prices they were selling their honey for. It 

 would enable us to get something like uniformity. 

 I had quite an experience the past season in that 

 respect, owing to our large yield of honej\ I was 

 forced to seek a market outside of the towns in 

 which I had usually sold my crop. In doing so I 

 went to a city some 35 miles off, containing about 

 40,000 inhabitants. There I of course met with more 

 competition than I had been used to, but I succeed- 

 ed in selling With but little trouble. Considei-ing 

 that I was a stranger, my honey did more to recom- 

 mend itself than any thing I could say. I learned 

 something of the way other producers placed their 

 crop on the market. Among other things I was led 

 to think that some of them sold at a much less price 

 than they could have received, simply because they 

 had large amounts of it, and were not posted in 

 general in regard to its worth. Such persons are the 

 means of injuring the market greatly for the prod- 

 uct of those who are fully posted, and have taken 

 pains to p-.it their honey on the market in good 

 shape and popular-sized packages. Another thing 

 I observed was, that the 4'.i,x4 J4 sections holding 1 lb. 

 were more in demand than any other size. Box- 

 hive men do a great deal toward depressing prices. 

 Thanks to the improved system of bee-keeping, 

 their numbers are growing " beautifully less." I al- 

 so found quite a prejudice existing against extract- 

 ed honey. I took only a small quantity with me, 

 for fear I should not close it out readily. I had it 

 well ripened in Mason quart fruit-jars, with some of 

 ttiose nice blue and bronze labels purchased of you. 

 The flrst grocer I showed a sample to bought the 

 whole lot "without a word." I have found the 

 above package to be the most popular for extracted 

 of any thing 1 have tried so far. My comb honey 

 was in sections holding IJ4 lbs., 4'/ox5. I received 

 $0.00 per dczEu for the extracted, and IT cts. per lb. 

 for the comb. 



I do not wish to be understood as dictating; but 

 with the rapidly increasing interest in bee-keeping I 

 should like to see Gleanings semi-monthly, allow- 

 ing tne matter in Juvenile to be put in the regular 

 Issues of Gleanings. 



Wh.y can't our bee-men who are writing and revis- 

 ing " bee books " insert some good plans for a build- 

 ing suitable for honey and the apiary? 



Duncan, 111., April, 1883. W. H. Graves, 38. 



Thank you, friend G., for your ideas in 

 regard to a honey-house. I know it ought 

 to be in the A 15 C book ; but with the pres- 

 ent stress of business, I hardly see how I 

 can undertake it jtist yet. Besides, there 

 are many points, it seems to me, as yet rather 

 undecided. It is growing, and will be soon 

 fully grown, I trust. — I heartily agree with 

 you in regard to marketing honey. If you 

 will take notice, most of those giving reports, 

 or at least many of them, do tell what they 

 receive for their honey. And I hereby ask 

 the friends, when sending in the reports, to 

 be sure to state what their honey sold for.— 

 We are considering the matter of making 

 the Juvenile full size ; but how about the 

 price, friend G.V An even dollar seems to 

 be so handy, we have hesitated to make any 

 change in the price. May be we can soon 

 make Gleanings semi-monthly at an even 

 dollar. "We shall see. 



