THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



51 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Voinill. Jan. 26, 1887, No,4. 



Mr. Scliroder, in Southern Austria, 

 writes us as follows concerning- the weather 

 and bees there : 



We had a very fine November, but it was 

 quite rainy during December, though there 

 ■were some fine, warm days when my bees 

 were on the wing. They flew on Dec. 20, 

 and worked on the Xespola Japontea. 



Prof. Foster* who predicted last summer 

 that this would be a cold winter, with great 

 fluctuations of temperature, now advises 

 ice men to put up large quantities of ice, as 

 there will be a large demand for it next 

 summer, and the opportunities of gathering 

 ice will not be so favorable the following 

 winter. 



That means that a hot summer followed 

 by a mild winter is predicted. 



Many of our readers have sent us the 

 names and addresses of their bee-keeping 

 neighbors, to whom we have sent a sample 

 copy of the Bee Journal, so that they may 

 sec just what it is doing for them and the 

 apicultural pursuitgenerally, and give them 

 an opportunity to become regular sub- 

 scribers. We hope others will feel free to 

 do the same. 



Take Time to Think.— This is the best 

 advice we can offer to our readers. Now, 

 while the bees are in their winter repose, 

 plan for the future. It will be money in 

 your pockets to do this. In the morning, 

 when the mind is the clearest, think and 

 decide what you intend to do, and then 

 devise the best method of doing it. Think 

 of what improvements you should make in 

 your apiary, in your bees, and in your bee- 

 pasturage, in your surroundings generally, 

 and then make your plans for accomplish- 

 ing these improvements. Think of the hives, 

 sections, cases and crates you will need, and 

 then procure them, so that they will be on 

 hand just when needed. This advice would 

 save thousands of dollars every year to bee- 

 keepers, if they would but heed it I Read, 

 study, and "post up" on the pursuit, and 

 you will never regret it. If you do this, 

 vi will be wiser, happier and richer ! 



Iliiining the Home Market.— L. W. 



It/.enhouser, of Lakeview, Mich., has no 

 doubt thoughtlessly ruined his home market 

 for honey, by selling fall honey in the comb, 

 after having sold all of his clover and linden 

 crop of honey in that town. It was a very 

 unwise transaction, and we mention it just 

 to warn others from a like fate. Have 

 nothing but the beat honey put into the 

 sections, e.\tracting the dark, and sell it for 

 manufacturing purjioses, or keep It for 

 feeding to the bees in the spring. 



Indignation ran high in that town, and the 

 honey was denounced as an adulteration ; it 

 was stated by some that he fed his bees with 

 "blackstrap molasses," and had the bees 

 store it in the sections. The buyers were 

 indignant, and said anything that came to 

 their minds, without waiting to know 

 whether it is true or not. 



A neighbor, Mr. J. Essinger, came out 

 with an explanatory card, in the Lakeview 

 Enterprise, on Dec. 24, In which he stated 

 the following : 



Ihadafleld of red Lancaster wheat that 

 was sown on low ground, and just when the 

 wheat was nicely headed out, we had a frost 

 that injured the heads so that there was but 

 very little wheat in them, and the juice that 

 should have filled out the kernels remained 

 in the stalks : therefore, the stalks remained 

 green, and after the wheat was cut the juice 

 began to ooze out of the stubble, and in a 

 couple of days it turned dark, just about the 

 color of molasses, and it was sweet and 

 sticky, and so abundant that in gathering up 

 the sheaves of wheat, our boots and clothes 

 became perfectly wet and daubed with it. 

 And here comes the secret of the dark, 

 strong honey. There were thousands of Mr. 

 Itzenhouser's bees gathering the juice from 

 the stubble and carrying it home. This I 

 can prove by Mr. Biidlley, Mr. White and 

 Mr. Bassett, who are my neighbors and 

 helped me harvest m.v wheat. I have eaten 

 some of the dark honey, and think it is the 

 same that was gathered from my wheat 

 field. 



Mr. S. J. Toungman, of Cato, Mich., wrote 

 us as follows about this affair on Dec. 27, 

 1886 : 



Mr. L. Itzenhouser, being a large producer 

 of honey, has taken great pains to control 

 the home market at Lakeview, having made 

 nice show-cases to hold his comb honey, 

 while the extracted is offered in cans and 

 other vessels with neat labels. Mr. Itzen- 

 houser put the honey on the market and 

 disposed of it as fast as the busy bees could 

 gather it ; first the white clover, then the 

 linden were disposed of. and the customers 

 were thus unsuspiciously led on to tackle 

 the dark honey gathered from the buckwheat 

 and other fall bloom, and perhaps some of 

 the "vile stuff " gathered from the stubble 

 is no better than the honey-dew which 

 troubled us some time ago. The only remedy 

 is to either keep the stuff off the market, or 

 soil it cheaply for just what it is, and thus 

 try and not to be unjustly charged by those 

 not well informed in the mysteries of bee- 

 keeping, of adulteration. 



This should be a warning to all— never to 

 allow any fall honey to be put into the sec- 

 tions, or offered for sale after being ex- 

 tracted without fully explaining what it is. 

 We cannot be too careful to maintain a 

 home market after having once created it. 

 Let us hang this red signal out as a warning 

 to all I 



The Oood Old Times,— On page 4 will 

 be found a q uery. why more bees die in win- 

 ter now than they did .'lO years ago. Of 

 course they do not; it is only one of the 

 fallacies of the times; as the replies to the 

 query show most conclusively. The same 

 discontent with the present, and admiration 

 for the past has been exhibited in every 

 generation. The "good times" havealways 

 been in the past ; and the present have 

 always been the "evil days." An exchange 

 remarks as follows on this subject : 



We are told that more children die now, 

 and that life is shorter. All this is untrue ; 

 there has never been, in the history of the 

 world, any time as good as to-day, and life 

 is growing longer. In Geneva, Switzerland, 

 they first kept an account of longevity. In 

 the IGth century the average life was 21 

 years ; in the 17th century, 2.5 years ; in the 

 18th century, :W years: from 1801 to 183.3, 

 30 vears ; from 1814 to 1833, 40 years. 



We see that in Geneva in the 16th century, 

 the average age was 21 years, and in the 

 mth century, 40 years. Fifty years ago, the 

 Life Insurance Company in Philadelphia, 

 used a table in which the expectation was 28 

 years. The life table of the United States, 

 calculated in 1860, made it 41 years. At no 

 previous period in the history of the race 

 has sanitary progresrf approached that of 

 the 19th century. 



"The Ontlook of BeeKeeping in the 

 Future," was the subject of an essay by Mr. 

 A. E. Manum, of Bristol, Vt., at the late 

 convention at Albany. As Mr. Manum is an 

 experienced apiarist, the subject was placed 

 in good hands. From 71.5 colonies of bees 

 he obtained 30,000 pounds of comb honey, 

 besides G.OOO pounds of extracted honey. 



Tlie Bee-Keepers of Cedar VaUey,Iowa, 

 have organized a society, which they have 

 named a "Produce and Supply Union." Its 

 constitution says : 



The objects of the Union are : 1. To 

 provide effective means for the even dis- 

 tribution of honey. 2. To prevent, as far as 

 possible, reckless sales. .3. To find a wider 

 market. 4. To secure higher and more even 

 grades of honey, uniform packages and 

 prices. .'J. To purchase supplies (as nearly 

 as practicable! of one house or firm, and 

 thereby obtain lower prices and a uniform 

 grade. 6. This Union is a compact between 

 its members to secure a more ready sale for 

 honey, even, uniform package and wider 

 market, but not a monopoly. 



The Secretary is H. E. Hubbard, of La 

 Porte City, Iowa, who will send copies of 

 the constitution and by-laws to all appli- 

 cants. 



Mr. E. C. Jordan, the apiarist of White 

 Sulphur Springs, Va., sent a Christmas 

 present to the Kev. T. DeWitt Talraage, con- 

 sisting of a Virginia ink-stand and some of 

 the excellent honey of " old Virginia." The 

 Winchester, Va., Times says his reply was as 

 follows : 



I received your valued Christmas present, 

 the inkstand, made out of a cannon of the 

 late war. Many thanks 1 Surely we must 

 be near the time when the sword shall be 

 turned into a ploughshare, for here we have 

 a gun changed into an ink-stand. I thank 

 you also for the honey that tastes of your 

 bright Virginia fields. 



Catalogues for 1887.— Those on our 

 desk are from 



G. B. Lewis & Co., Watertown, Wis.— 32 

 pages— Bee-Hives and .Sections. 



E. Kretehmer, Coburg, Iowa,- 32 pages— 

 Bee-Keepers' Supplies. 



J. H. Martin, Hartford, N. Y.,— 4 pages— 

 Chrorao Cards, etc. 



A. F. Stauffer & Co.. Sterling, Ills.,— 12 

 pages— Hives and Apiarian Supplies. 



Cole & Brothers, Pella. Iowa,— 40 pages- 

 Flower and Vegetable Seeds. 



Plant Seed Co.. St. Louis, Mo.— 64 pages- 

 Vegetable and Flower Seeds. 



James J. H. Gregory, Marblehead, Mass.— 

 .nO pages— \'egetable. Flower and Grain 

 Seeds. 



