THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



699 



and asked why they did not give cor- 

 rect reports. They said they pub- 

 lished what was given them. I showed 

 them the statement of sales of my 

 own honey by a commission house, 

 and they said it was a revelation to 

 them, as they had had no opportunity 

 of looking •' behind the scenes " prior 

 to this, and immediately the quota- 

 tions were changed a few cents higher. 

 With no thought of doing any great 

 barm by it, the commission men 

 sometimes report a lower figure than 

 they are selling at, so that, when they 

 make returns to their customers, the 

 customers will be well satisfied when 

 they see they are getting more than 

 the market price according to the 

 printed quotations. But as these 



Erinted quotations are often used as a 

 elp in fixing prices elsewhere, any 

 other than a correct report may be 

 mischievous. 



Even if correct reports are given, 

 an incorrect use of them is often 

 made. Mr. Jones lives at such a dis- 

 tance from the nearest city market, 

 that, after paying freight and com- 

 mission, he receives net about 3 cents 

 less than the price at which the honey 

 is sold ; so, it the price at the city 

 market is 12 cents per pound, he re- 

 ceives 9 cents net, and will do better 

 to sell at home for 9 cents. Taking 

 this view of it. he settles upon the 

 plan of fixing his price in all cases 3 

 cents below the city price. This may 

 be all right, and it may be all wrong. 

 If his crop of honey, togetlier with 

 that of his neighbors, is so large that 

 some of it must be shipped to distant 

 markets, his plan may be all right. 



But suppose the crop is short, and 

 l/li. Jones follows the same rule, sell- 

 ing at 9 cents because the city price 

 is 12. The grocers sell out all of his 

 honey, vyhich he has sold to them at 9 

 cents, and then buy from the city, 

 paying 12 cents and freight for it. If 

 Mr. Jones bad none they would pay 12 

 cents and freight, say 13 cents for all. 

 Now, is there any reason why in this 

 case he should not sell for 13 instead 

 of 9 cents y The same rule holds in 

 other things. Years ago, the farmers 

 about Marengo shipped their grain to 

 Chicago, and I could buy corn from 

 them at less than the Chicago price ; 

 but of late, dairying is so extensive 

 that more corn is consumed than 

 raised, and I have to pay more than 

 the Chicago price. So the prices for 

 honey should be higher or lower than 

 city prices.according to circumstances. 



Marengo, 6 Ills. 



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 willing to pay for it. please send us a postal 

 card asking to bare it stopped. Be sure to 

 write your name and address plainly. Look 



AT YOUR WRAPPER LABEL. 



Vt^en Renewing your subscription 

 please try to get your neighbor who keepr 

 bees to .'Oin with you In taking the Be» 

 Journal. It Is now «o ehtap that no ont 

 can afford to do without It. We wiU preseni 

 a Binder for the Bek Journal to any on) 

 •ending us three subscriptions— with $3.00- 

 dlrect to this office. It wrtll pay any one to 

 devote a few hours, to get subscribers. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887. ririM and vtact of llttUno- 



Not. 18.— Western, at Kiitiaas City. Mo. 



J. A. NeUoD, Sec, Muncie, Kans. 



Nov. 16-18.— North American, at ChlcaKO. Ills. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, Flint, Mich. 



Nov. 19.— Marshall County.at Marshalitown. Iowa* 

 J. W. Sanaera, Sec, Lelirund. Iowa. 



Deo. 7-9.-MlchlKan State, at Bast Saelnaw. Mich. 

 H. D. Cutting, Sec. Ollnton, Mich. 

 1888. 



Jan. 7.— Susquehanna County, at New Milford. Pa. 

 H. M. seeley. Sec, llarlord. Pa. 



Jan. 20.— Haldlmand. at Cayuga, Ontario. 



E. U. CampDell. Sec, Cayuga, Ont. 



^F" In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward fall particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Ed. 



sci^^M^^i 



Legislation for Bee-Zeepers.— Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, Marengo,6 Ills., on Oct. 

 27, 1887, writes : 



I was not a little surprised to see in 

 the programme for the Chicago Con- 

 vention, my name attached to the 

 subject, "Legislation for Bee- Keep- 

 ers." Bro. liutchinson is, I suppose, 

 responsible for it, but I do not want 

 to scare any one away from what I 

 hope will be a good convention, by 

 the thought that I am anxious to take 

 up a large amount of time with a sub- 

 ject so generally misunderstood, and 

 when thus misunderstood so generally 

 disliked. I have had my say in the 

 matter ; I think I am right, and trust 

 to time and sober second-thought to 

 bring others to the right view, rather 

 thai] to take up the time of the con- 

 vention. 



I can imagine no more convenient 

 arrangement than having the conven- 

 tion at the hotel, especially one so 

 central as the •' Commercial," and at 

 the same time so good a hotel. 



True Condition of the Bees.— J. M. 

 Bailey, La Porte City,o»Iowa,oa Oct. 

 19, 1887, writes : 



About Nov. 15, 1886, 1 put into a 

 cellar 88 colonies of bees, and last 

 spring I took out 87 colonies in good 

 condition, being a loss of only one. 

 During this seson, however, they 

 have not done so well. I have now 

 only 62 colonies, a loss of 2-5, and they 

 are generally in poor condition. In 

 addition to this, I have realized no 

 surplus honey, and will be compelled 

 to feed considerably in order to pre- 

 serve the bees now on hand. I think 

 that it would be a good idea if all bee- 

 keepers would report the true condi- 

 tion of their bees. 



Eesnlts of the Season, etc.— W. H. 

 Shaner, Leechburg.Q Pa., on Oct. 24, 

 1887, writes : 



I wintered 13 colonies on the sum- 

 mer stands packed in chaff ; one- 

 fourth came out in good condition, 

 and the rest were very weak. I got 

 100 pounds of surplus, principally 



from a patch of Alsike clover. I 

 could smell the bloom 8 rods from the 

 patch. I sowed 3 pecks of Alsike in 

 the spring, and I hope to make a bet- 

 ter report next year. The drouth still 

 continues. Three Italians outstripped 

 the blacks by far, I got queens and 

 Italianized all my colonies without 

 losing a queen. I introduced five on 

 Mr. Dooliltle's plan, as given on page 

 309. I have fed 150 pounds of sugar 

 for winter. 1 have a good cellar where 

 potatoes and apples never freeze. 

 Would you advise me to winter my 

 bees in this cellar y 



[Yes ; if you can ventilate it prop- 

 erly, and can keep the temperature at 

 45°, it ought to be a good place for 

 bees in winter.— Ed.] 



The Season's Resnlts.— H. H. W. 

 Stewart, Galt,-o Ills., on Oct. 23, 1887, 

 writes : 



Last fall I put 91 colonies into win- 

 ter quarters, and in the spring I had 

 60 of them left. I made 100 hives at 

 $1 50 each, $1.50 ; spent 6 months tak- 

 ing care of the bees, at $30 per month, 

 $180; fed 600 pounds of honey and 

 suffar, $.50 ; expectations, $400 ; total, 

 $780. Increase: Two swarms, $5; 

 Honey, $0 ; total, $5. Loss, $775. We 

 must have a better season next year, 

 or there will be one less bee-keeper. 



Smart-Weed, Rag- Weed and Plan- 

 tain.— E. W. Councilman, Newark, 

 Valley,? N. Y., on Oct. 8, 1887, asks 

 the following questions : 



1. What is the name of the speci- 

 men of a flower which I send. I 

 noticed the bees working on it this 

 fall quite briskly. 2. Does rag-wood 

 and plantain yield honey ? I have 

 heard bee-men say that neither of 

 them yielded honey, only pollen. 



[1. The specimen is smart-weed or 

 hearfsease (Polygonum Pennsylva- 

 nicum), long celebrated as an excel- 

 lent honey plant. 



2. Neither plantain nor rag-weed 

 produce honey. The rule has no ex- 

 ception, that the flowers which are 

 neither conspicuous nor fragrant have 

 no nectar ; at least no such exception 

 is known to me.— T. J. Burrill.] 



Selected Honey.-Mrs. C. W. Mc- 

 Kown, Gil3on,»o Ills., writes : 



No doubt quite a number of sug- 

 gestions have been made, regarding a 

 new name for extracted honey, and 

 among others permit me to sugerest 

 the term " selected " honey. This 

 term itself signifies purity and ex- 

 cellence, as well as '"extracted" or 

 " drawn " from ; and then, too, the 

 word " selected " might possibly have 

 a tendency toward suppressing the 

 superstitious idea that exists in the 

 minds of some people, with regard to 

 the product being adulterated, and 

 also add new tone and vigor to the 

 sale of it. 



