70 



THE AMEKICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Marl(eting of Honey. 



J. H. ANDRE. 



I am pleased to see that this lead- 

 ing part of bee-keeping is being thor- 

 oughly discussed. The business at 

 the present time looks more like a 

 regular stock gambling affair than 

 one of the legitimate branches of sus- 

 taining a livelihood. 



I expressed my opinion some time 

 ago, that the producer and consumer 

 were both at the meicy of the retail 

 dealers. They usually pay in trade 

 10 cents per pound, which is equiva- 

 lent to about 8 cents ; and retail honey 

 for 12 to 15 cents per pound. In this 

 vicinity some are selling splendid 

 comb iioney for 7 cents per pound, 

 and I do not doubt but some has 

 been sold as love as 5 cents. 



What we need is a dealer in every 

 city of 10,000 inhabitants, or upward, 

 who will take all honey that comes to 

 market, and handle it honorably ; If 

 it cannot all be sold in his home mar- 

 ket, let him ship it to some larger 

 city. In order to do this I do not see 

 how it can be done without a regular 

 " Union," and prices published 

 weekly, each member of the Union to 

 be furnished with price-list. Of course 

 it would have to be backed up by 

 funds, but let each member pay 50 

 cents or one dollar annually. 



This business of selling must be- 

 come a regular trade, or we may as 

 well stop bee-keeping. It needs a 

 dealer in every city that will give it 

 the same attention that a butter- 

 dealer gives his trade. There would 

 be no need of running the business 

 alone in a small city ; poultry, butter 

 or fruit dealing could be united with 

 it, but let the honey trade take the 

 lead. When the honey trade is rec- 

 ognized as a regular business, this 5- 

 cents-a-pound business will stop. 

 People will have some confidence in 

 it then. 



I am not at all afraid but what the 

 minds of those who have undertaken 

 the matter will set it to rights ; for it 

 has become a public necessity, and 

 such has been quickly righted in all 

 ages. 

 Lockwood,$ N. Y. 



FOUL BROOD. 



The disease first broke out in his 

 apiary about the first of last July. He 

 was not certain as to how it origi- 

 nated, but thougl)t it was started by 

 robber bees gaining access to a few 

 kegs of honey, which had been pur- 

 chased some time before. He said 

 that the incipiency of the disease was 

 difficult to describe. A few affected 

 cells appeared at first ; the larvce were 

 of a light coffee color, and as the dis- 

 ease advanced the larvae changed to a 

 dark coffee-color,like the coffee berry, 

 and finally dried up in one side of the 

 cell. If a tooth pick be inserted into 

 an affected cell, the diseased matter 

 will adhere, forming a sort of string. 

 He stated that during the past sea- 

 son they had sixty cases of it. Each, 

 as soon as discovered, was treated as 

 follows : All the combs of the affected 

 colonies, after the bees were shaken 

 off into a clean, new hive, were con- 

 signed to the boiler furnace. He 

 thought it cheaper to give the bees a 

 clean, new set of frames filled with 

 foundation, than to extract the old 

 diseased comb, render out the wax, 

 and boil the frames for use again. 

 The diseased hives were then scalded 

 out with steam. He was not sure but 

 that the disease might appear again 

 the coming season, but in no colonies 

 so treated did the disease re-appear. 



Dr. Besse said that he did not think 

 it was necessary to go to that great 

 waste of expense of burning the 

 frames, comb and honey. Why not 

 extract the honey, rendetthe wax and 

 boil the frames, and in that way save 

 that which would otherwise be 

 wasted V 



President Root thought that there 

 would be more or less risk attending 

 such a practice ; and that robber bees 

 might gain access to the diseased 

 honey and wax while so working. 

 After some further discussion of the 

 subject, the convention adjourned to 

 meet at l.p.m. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The OMo state Convention. 



The Ohio State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation held its annual convention at 

 Columbus, O., on Jan. 11, 12 and 13, 

 1887. The first day only an informal 

 meeting was held. 



The morning session of the second 

 day was called to order, with Dr. H. 

 Besse in the chair. The minutes of 

 the previous meeting, and the Treas- 

 urer's report were read and approved. 



The election of officers resulted as 

 follows : President, Ernest R. Root, 

 of Medina, O. ; Secretary-Treasurer, 

 Frank A. Eaton, of Bluffton. 



By request of the convention, Presi- 

 dent Root gave the following talk on 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



The convention was called to order 

 at 1 p.m., with President Root in the 

 chair. A discussion of questions 

 then followed. " How should a house 

 be constructed to keep honey best, 

 both in winter and summer V" 



Dr. Besse— Keep it in a dry house, 

 where it never reaches either extreme 

 of heat or cold. 



F. A. Eaton— Keep it in a honey- 

 house that gets quite warm in the 

 summer and fall, then remove it to 

 some room where the temperature 

 does not go down to freezing. 



"Is comb honey injured, or made 

 unsalable, by its freezing ?" After 

 some discussion it was generally 

 agreed that the quality was not in- 

 jured by freezing, but combs cracked 

 by the "freezing and thawing would 

 cause the honey to drip. 



" Which is the best method of con- 

 trolling or preventing swarming ?" 



J. W. Newlove— I use single-tier 

 crates, and give the bees plenty of 

 room by tiering up. Put a case of 

 sections on the hive about ten days 

 before the honey-flow starts. When 

 the bees are thoroughly at work and 



have filled the sections about half, 

 raise the case and put under it an 

 empty one. and so on, giving plenty 

 of room. I find that by this plan they 

 seldom swarm. 



F. A. Eaton — It is an easy matter 

 to control swarming when running for 

 extracted honey, as a liberal use of 

 the extractor will greatly aid. But 

 the difficulty is when working for 

 comb honey. I have practiced very 

 successfully extracting from the side 

 combs in the brood chambers, and 

 placing them in the centre. If the 

 colony is very populous I remove one 

 comb, placing in the centre an empty 

 frame with only starters, thereby 

 giving the queen plenty of room ; at 

 the same .time I put on one tier of 

 sections, then tier up as fast as the 

 honey-flow will warrant. 



" Which is the best to give to a 

 swarm, frames full of foundation, or 

 only starters V" 



I)r. Besse— I use starters only. 



President Root gave W. Z. "Hutch- 

 inson's plan. 



J. S. Rickets said that Mrs. Jennie 

 Gulp used full sheets of foundation, 

 and much preferred them. 



The convention then adjourned 

 until the following day. 



THIRD DAY— MORNING session. 



C. E. Jones gave a talk on the pro- 

 duction of fine comb honey. He said, 

 in brief, that he does not want a col- 

 on}^ very strong with bees, preferring 

 a hive of 6 or 7 frames only. He does 

 not put the sections on too early, but 

 waits until white clover is fairly 

 started, and gives starters only in 

 sections, placing the sections the 

 same w^.y as the brood-frames, so as 

 to insure straight combs. He recom- 

 mends removing the sections early, 

 and does not aim to secure the most 

 honey, but the best. 



" Does it pay to feed back partly- 

 filled sections to finish others V" 



It was not considered profitable. 



President Root then gave a detailed 

 description of the Heddon hive and 

 its management. 



Mrs. Gulp- 1 do not think it profit- 

 able to change the hives in an apiary 

 of 50 or 60 colonies, for any new hive, 

 discarding the old ones. She then 

 gave iiu interesting account of her 

 management of an apiary without 

 help. She works an apiary of 60 colo- 

 nies; keeps her queens' wings clip- 

 ped ; her report for the past season 

 was 5,600 pounds of comb honey, for 

 which she received 18 cents per 

 pound ; and 2,400 pounds of extracted, 

 for which she received 15 cents per 

 pound. Her bees are hybrids. She 

 prefers them for honey to any others. 



afternoon session. 



The discussion of questions was 

 continued as follows : 



" Does the queen determine the 

 sex of her progeny at will V" 



Mr. Miller— I have been taught that 

 the sex of the bee is determined by 

 compression, owing to the size of the 

 cell. 



C. E. Jones— I think that she has 

 the full power of determining the sex. 



F. A. Eaton— I have seen the 

 queen lay eggs in queen-cells only 



