556 



JUVENILE GLEANIKG3. 



Sept. 



press to you his most earnest thanks, friend 

 H., if he could, for the able and scholarly 

 way in which you have taken up his de- 

 fense, and interpreted his words and bright 

 thoughts to the bee-men of the present day. 



BREAKING DOTTN THE HONEY ITIAR- 



KETS. 



AN EXPLANATION. 



3 DO not know whether I am the " bee-keeper out 

 In the country " referred to by Mr. C. W. Young, 

 on page 537, Sept. Gleanings, or not; but as I 

 sold honey in Stratford last year at 12H cents, and 

 afterward sold it in other places at 15 c, wholesale, 

 I should like to give some explanations. 



Last year the honey-crop of Canada was very light; 

 and, not knowing what price to set on mine, I wrote 

 to Mr. D. A. Jones for advice. He advised me not to 

 sell for less than 15 cents. When I offered my hon- 

 ey at that price in Stratford and St. Mary's, I was 

 told all around that bee-keepers from a distance 

 were offering it at 13!^ c, and one store-keeper in 

 St. Mary's showed me a letter from Mr. Jones him- 

 self, offering it at that price. I then began to think, 

 that if I did not lower my price I should have to 

 keep a lot over winter; so I sold about half my 

 crop at 12^ c, to my sorrow, as, in a few weeks aft- 

 erward, I might have got 15 c. for any amount. I 

 thus lost about $50.00 by being in too great a hurry 

 to sell. I afterward learned that the honey Mr. 

 Jones was selling so low was old, and of inferior 

 quality. Of course, the store-keeper would not tell 

 me this. 



In regard to offering it at 10 c. the present season, 

 I had not made an offer in Stratford at all until a 

 few days since, when the lowest otter I made was 

 1354 to 14, in quantity; but I found the town pretty 

 well supplied by the " local men" at 12Vi, so I did 

 not make any sales. I hope this will satisfy Mr. 

 Young that I, at least, did not wish to do any 

 " small business," or "break down the smaller men." 



My loss last winter was 4 out of 77 colonies. The 

 greater part of those that survived were very weak 

 in the spring; sold 8 of the strongest, and three or 

 four weak colonies, before the honey season com- 

 menced. Have taken, up to the present, over 9000 

 Its. of extracted honey. There is probably 2000 more 

 yet in the hives. I probably lost 3000 or 40O0 lbs. by 

 not being able to extract fast enough to give them 

 room during the height of the honey-flow. 



That a queen will sometimes sting, I had proof a 

 short time since, having received a sting on the 

 finger from a virgin queen that I caught as she was 

 rising from the hive to join a swarm that had just 

 issued. A. G. Willows. 



Carlingford, Ont., Can., Sept. 5, 1883. 



Thank you, friend W., for the very court- 

 eous way in which you reply to those who 

 have censured you. It were always well to 

 bear in mind that there may be a reason we 

 do not know of, when we are tempted to 

 criticise the conduct of another. It is well, 

 however, to have attention directed to this 

 matter, and bee-keepers should be informed 

 of the consequences of even a little careless- 

 ness in regard to the price at which they sell 

 their honey.— I am very glad indeed to know 

 that we have such good reports from Cana- 

 da this season. 



HONEY>IiABEIiS FOR COMB HONEV. 



SOMETHING VALUABLE ON THIS SUBJECT PROMISED 

 BY D. A. JONES. 



^E^ULL well, brother Root, 1 knew I scribbled my 

 jirl last badly, but I did not think I said Jmney-can 

 labels. I intended to say comb-honey labels. 

 Now, section-honey labels will form one of the new 

 and grand features of the exhibition, "and those were 

 the labels I said I would have ready for you to take 

 home with you; and when parties see them they 

 will not growl about mildewed sections, or sections 

 made out of dark or common wood, so long as they 

 are strong, and the labels entirely cover all the 

 wood, strengthen the sections, and hide the usual 

 defects in comb honey. 



Now, I don't pretend to be a comb-honey man, but 

 I let them practice, so they will be able to produce it 

 if they wish; but if you should see some new fea- 

 tures in connection with its production, at the con- 

 vention, you must not be surprised; and if you can 

 sell your customers labels that are so attractive that 

 their comb honey brings in several cents more per 

 pound, and sells twice as fast, you will be assisting 

 them considerably. I will tell all who come to our 

 convention how to intioduce fifty queens into fifty 

 queenless colonies (even if they are all fertile work- 

 ers), in fifty minutes, and not I'.se a smgle queen; 

 at least, so my experiments this season prove. 



Beeton, Can., Sept., 1883. D. A. Jones. 



Friend Jones, ^e certainly ought to be 

 able to appreciate an invention that will 

 make mildewed sections handsome ; for dur- 

 irig our great rush the past season, we have 

 had some "■ sore troubles " when sections 

 were long on the way, or a trifle too green. 

 If you have managed to make a sitccess of 

 covering the wood of sections of houey, we 

 owe you still another vote of thanks. 



I have many times thought of this matter, 

 and have tried putting labels around wood- 

 en sections ; but it seemed to be quite a job 

 to cover all the wood perfectly, and I did 

 not make it work very well. I shall take 

 great pleasure in noting your success in the 

 matter. 



THE BEES ANB THE BABY. 



THE STATE OF AFFAIRS AT FRIEND SECOB'S HOUSE. 



ST would seem there is another household 

 besides ours that is blessed with a new 

 —' baby. Just setb what friend Secor has 

 to say about it. I wonder if any one be- 

 sides bee-keepers could appreciate such a 

 blessing as he seems to. 



We have a new baby at our house. A baby is not 

 such a novelty in itself, as we have had seven before. 

 But they were all boys. This one is a girl. The first 

 girl-baby creates as much interest at our house as 

 the first swarm of bees. I J are probably nearly as 

 enthusiastic over its arrival as Adam was when the 

 first woman appeared at his lodge. My time is now 

 divided between the bees and the baby. My wife 

 says it is hard to tell which has the stronger attrac- 

 tion to me. She maintains that this girl-baby is 

 "sweeter than honey and the honey-comb." I have 

 learned not to dispute her judgment in such matters. 

 In fact, I more than half agree with her. It is not 

 strange, then, if I leave the honey in the hive unex- 



