THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



299 



Forts for commission men of the cities, 

 would say that if we have our own 

 salesmen in the cities, then no honey 

 would go into the hands of the former 

 commission men, and they would 

 have no reports to publish ; but our 

 own salesmen would give us reports 

 that would be valuable, 



How easy it is for the present com- 

 mission men to " put their heads to- 

 f ether'' and report that extracted 

 oney is worth only 6 cents, and all 

 agree to get all they can from con- 

 sumers and only report to the pro- 

 ducer, '• sold at 6 cents I" It is very 

 plain to me that the commission men 

 are now fixing our wages, which is all 

 wrong! and in this, as in all other 

 important matters, the " fittest will 

 survive." If our fraternity has less 

 brains than our present; commission 

 men, then we must "perish;" but if 

 we have enough common-sense to do 

 our own business in a proper manner, 

 then we may yet survive. 



Kimball, 9 Dak. 



For tlie Amencan Bee JoumaL 



Items in Bee-Keeniiig, 



W. H. STOUT. 



Some years ago (say six or eight), 

 after reading many "gushing" arti- 

 cles on bee-keeping and its profits, I 

 started in, expecting from the iJatter- 

 ing reports to be rich enough to retire 

 in about two seasons ; but I was 

 doomed to disappointment, and after 

 the other years added I fail to see 

 that my wealth has increased to any 

 great extent in consequence of keep- 

 ing bees. 



ALSIKE CLOVER FOB HONEY. 



But I have it now, as I noticed in 

 some bee-periodical that an acre of 

 AJsike clover will yield 500 pounds of 

 honey in a favorable season. I have 

 now 2-5 acres seeded with Alsike, 

 which ought to make 12,.500 pounds, 

 which, even at the present low prices, 

 ought to net a clean " thousand." I 

 have 40 colonies of bees which contain 

 (by estimate) 1-5,000 bees each, or 

 600,000 bees ; requiring each one to 

 store only }^ of an ounce, and they 

 must be lazy bees, indeed, that can- 

 not gather above what they need to 

 the extent named. 



If this catches the eye of some 

 speculative individual, I wish to state 

 that a liberal discount will be made 

 for cash on the prospective honey 

 crop. 



BEE -LEGISLATION. 



In regard to bee-legislation, sugges- 

 tions are made, and some advocate 

 taxing bees and getting them recog- 

 nized as personal property. In this 

 State we can keep chickens, ducks 

 and geese without being taxed, yet 

 they are recognized as personal prop- 

 erty, and why any one should be 

 anxious to pay taxes on bees, when 

 pigs and poultry are free, is not very 

 clear ! 



nONEY-PUODUCERS' ASSOCIATION. 



So also in regard to forming a 

 honey-producers' association; it is 



perhaps possible to regulate the price 

 of honey, but scarcely probable, as 

 there are too many to unite for the 

 purpose, and we f'ennsylvanians are 

 from principle opposed to combina- 

 tions, monopolies and pools, since we 

 who are out of them have to pay 

 dearly on coal, coal oil, and other 

 things controlled by such combina- 

 tions, reaching far into other States, 

 and regulating mainly the prices of 

 'necessaries, and not luxuries, like 

 honey. 



If the articles could be dispensed 

 with, the combinations would soon be 

 "busted;" but honey can be dis- 

 pensed with, and the prejudices al- 

 ready existing are sufficient, without 

 adding " monopoly" to the weapon of 

 bee-keepers' enemies. 



MY LOCAL HONEY MARKET. 



Before this year I had the honey 

 market in this vicinity almost to my- 

 self, but now the stores are full at 

 low prices, with only little demand, 

 simply because wages are low and 

 business was dull, but shows signs of 

 revival. 



As I have no honey to offer, owing 

 to the light crop last year, I let them 

 sell all they can, brought here from 

 other States, but if I succeed in pro- 

 ducing any surplus, I mean to have 

 this market, as legitimately mine, and 

 no family shall be missed in canvass- 

 ing for the sale of my honey when the 

 proper time comes. 



By working my home trade I have 

 always succeeded in disposing of my 

 crops at fair prices, and I think I can, 

 by saving commissions and freight, 

 make a little more out of my product 

 than others at a distance. 



Pine Grove,CH Pa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Swarms Locating a Home, 



GEO. rOINDEXTER. 



When people " go West," some 

 have a home located, and others stop 

 and look around for a home after they 

 arrive. 



So it is with bees — some have the 

 home located, and the hollow or hive 

 cleaned up before leaving the parent 

 hive ; others leave the hive not know- 

 ing where they are going, and fly 

 until they alight on some bush or 

 tree, and then they begin to look for 

 a hollow or hive, sending out spies from 

 the swarm in every direction to dis- 

 cover the most favorable place. There 

 the bees will continue to come until 

 everything is clean ; then the main 

 swarm is notilied, and all come off 

 the tree and follow the house- 

 cleaners direct to their new home. 

 After the swarm has left the tree, 

 back comes a lot of spies, only to find 

 themselves alone. 



Some swarms remain where they 

 alight, and if a home is not found in 

 a short time, being full of honey they 

 start combs, and remain there until 

 Jack Frost drives them into winter 

 quarters. 



Kenney,© Ills. 



Local Convention Directory. 



IH87. Timt ana place of Meetino. 



May l.).-8hel)nycan County, at UluEliam, Wis. 

 Muttle B. Thomas, Sec. SlJeboyKan Falls, Wis. 



May ■J4.-N. W. His. & S. W. Wis., at Rocliton, Ills. 

 D. A. Kuller, Sec, Cherry Valley, UIs. 



May 26.- West Lake Shore Central, at Kiel, Wis. 

 Peril Zastrow, Sec, Miilhome, Wis. 



May :j7.— Darlie C'lunty Union, at Greenville. O. 

 J. A. Hoe, Asst. Sec, Union City, Ind. 



Oec. —.-Michigan State, at Bast Saginaw, Mich, 

 ll. D. Cutting, Sec, Clinton, Mich, 



flf~ In order to have this table complete, Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and pi'ace of future meetings.— Ed. 





Removing and Renewing Brood- 

 Combs.— Chas. Hill, Mt. Healthy,? 

 O., writes : 



I have read the answers to Query, 

 No. 409, but none who answered seem 

 \o have used my method of cleansing 

 old brood-combs. It is very simple, 

 and consists only in using them in 

 the second story for extracting combs. 

 Old brood-combs do not yield much 

 wax, but the oldest and blackest 

 combs, after being used for extract- 

 ing one season, will be as clean and 

 fresh as new ones ; and hence there 

 will be no need of having new combs. 



The Great Drouth in Texas.— J. 

 M. McDaniel, Peoria, ©Tex., on April 

 25, 1S87, says : 



Bees have done well here this 

 spring, and the prospects are favor- 

 able, provided we can have sufficient 

 rain. The drouth that has prevailed 

 in central and western Texas for the 

 last two years, has been very disas- 

 trous to bee-men. We have had some 

 rain lately, which would be sufficient, 

 but for the fact that the drouth has 

 penetrated deep down into the earth. 

 Our chief source for honey is from 

 horse-mint, which was almost a fail- 

 ure last year, and there is a bountiful 

 supply this year. It does not bloom 

 until June. 



Compelling a Swarm to Cluster.— 

 Dr. A. B. Mason, Auburndale,-o O., 

 writes thus on May 2, 1887 : 



My bees have been out of the cellar 

 8 days only, and ave in splendid con- 

 dition, some of the colonies having 

 built quite large pieces of new comb. 

 The last ." weeks have been quite 

 cold. Yesterday the temperature was 

 72°, being the warmest day for some 

 time, and the bees had a regular 

 jubilee. 



A few days since, a friend was 

 spending the day with me, and asked 

 if I knew of a good way to make a 

 swarm of bees cluster quickly. I told 

 him that I knew of nothing better 

 than to shoot sawdust among them, 

 as told me by H. D. Cutting, of Michi- 



