158 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



My honey is nearly all sold without any 

 effort, and I could sell as much more if 

 I had it. Most of it was sold in Texas, 

 one lot went to England, and one to 

 West Point, N. Y. It netted me 6 cents 

 per pound at home, which is the best 

 that can be done here. 



The season was very dry after the 

 middle of May, but the bees continued 

 to gather honey slowly all the Summer 

 and Fall. There was no great honey- 

 flow at any time. The bees are now in 

 excellent condition. 



The Winter has been dry, and very 

 little freezing. Roses were in bloom in 

 the garden until Christmas. Bees are 

 flying nearly every day. My bees scarcely 

 ever attempt to rob each other, and 

 never give me any trouble in that way. 

 This is a prairie country, with some tim- 

 ber along the streams, but some of my 

 bees are a mile from any timber, and 

 appear to do as well as the others. 



In regard to telling which hive con- 

 tains the queen when divided, my ex- 

 perience is that, when the queen is taken 

 from a colony, they always show un- 

 easiness for a few hours, searching every 

 where for her. 



My apiaries are situated from 11 to 

 16 miles north of Austin, the capital of 

 the State, and I have had no failure in 

 the honey crop for the 8 years I have 

 been in the business. I think that there 

 are even better situations in Texas than 

 this ; then, again, there are plenty of 

 places where bees will not do well. I 

 like the new form of the Bee Journal 

 so well that I send 50 cents for a binder. 

 It will make a nice volume. 



Round Rock, Texas, Jan. 14, 1891. 



AMterateil Honey aM Protection, 



W. HARMEE. 



With your permission I would like to 

 say a few words to my brothers of the 

 National Bee-Keepers' Union, for I see 

 breakers ahead, which means something 

 for us to do. 



First, I would mention the fact that 

 the sugar men are getting a bounty of 2 

 cents per pound on the production of 

 sugar. Did it ever occur to you, that 

 honey-producers are just as much en- 

 titled to a bounty as the sugar-men. For 

 myself I do not believe in tariffs, re- 

 bates, or bounties, but have wondered 

 why McKinley, or some of his belief, do 

 not think of the honey-producers. Where 

 is our advocate of legislation for bee- 

 keepers ? Perhaps he, like myself, has 

 gone back on class-legislation. If this is 



the case, let us ask to have the sugar- 

 bounty law repealed. Why should 

 honey-producers be taxed to pay that 

 bounty, for we not only have to help pay 

 it, but we have also to suffer the conse- 

 quences, viz : the cheapening of sugar, 

 which means a lower price for our 

 honey. 



Another point I would like to touch 

 on (and I would especially solicit the 

 ears of our California brothers), and that 

 is, a package, or rather a jar (vase 

 shaped) is sold by a Milwaukee, Wis., 

 firm, labeled California Honey* ; no pro- 

 ducers' name or other wording is on it. 

 A friend of mine bought a jar of it, and 

 I being at his house, he would have me 

 sample it, and as he handed me a spoon, 

 he said, "I like it, and yet I don't 

 like it." 



I at one time, perhaps eight years ago, 

 tasted what they call here corn-syrup, 

 and the very same flat taste struck my 

 palate for the second time, when I 

 sampled this California honey. There 

 was undoubtedly some honey in it, and 

 it truiy have come from California, but I 

 say that there is no name too bad for 

 men that would thus injure the whole 

 bee-keepiug fraternity, and more es- 

 pecially our brothers and their beautiful 

 country in the West, which produces ex- 

 cellent honey. Come, brother bee-keep- 

 ers, lend a hand, we want live men in 

 every large city, and in every town and 

 village in North America, to help protect 

 our industry. I would like to see the 

 contents of one of these jars analyzed. 



Manistee, Mich. 



Bee-Sheii for Winter Eenository. 



J. H. M. EDWARDS. 



I am a novice in the bee-business, and 

 have chosen the Langstroth 8-frame 

 hive, using supers to hold the sections. 

 I use the 1-piece section, 4:>^x43^, and 

 with T to the foot. I use the queen- 

 excluding honey-board (break-joint with 

 zinc strips, perforated, and inserted in 

 the spaces), and wired brood-frames 

 with full foundation, so that they will 

 be strong and bear handling. 



Considerable is said about bees starv- 

 ing in Winter, because they cannot pass 

 readily from one frame to another. 

 Some say, cut holes in the comb in the 

 fall ; others say, place bent sticks over 

 the frames to hold up the cloth. I did 

 not do either. I simply left the honey- 

 board on and spread the cloth over that, 

 then, putting on a super, I filled a mus- 

 lin sack (of the size to fit the super) with 



