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ExtracteU Honey in Calilbrnia 



seems to be a non-paymg production. The 

 excessive freights when exporting it to 

 Australia and Europe talie away all the 

 profits, and the production of the past two 

 years has been at a loss. The San Bernar- 

 dino Times of a late date contains the fol- 

 lowing characteristic article on the subject, 

 to wliich we invite attention : 



The fact cannot be denied that the bee- 

 keepers of California have for several years 

 past been having a pretty hard time of it. 

 We have seen prices go down gradually, 

 year atter year, until now they are so low 

 that there is absolutely no profit in the 

 business, at least so far as the production of 

 the extracted article is concerned. And the 

 decline in price has seemed to have very 

 little reference to the amount produced. 

 Naturally, one would suppose that in sea- 

 sons of short crops prices would become 

 correspondingly stimulated. But such has 

 not been the case. The price has grad- 

 ually fallen until 2 or 3 cents a pound is 

 about the limit of the price received Dy the 

 producer, and one does not need to know 

 that at such absurdly low prices there is no 

 profit for the bee-keeper. 



There seems to be some insuperable ob- 

 jection among the majority of people against 

 the use of extracted honey. When that 

 article was first put upon the market it was 

 thought possible, and even probable, that its 

 use might become general, and that so pure 

 and healthful an article would quickly take 

 the place of the impure and adulterated 

 molasses, syrups and "drips" which are so 

 largely consumed. Especially was it 

 thought that this would be done when the 

 price for the pure honey was put at a lower 

 figure than those articles could be sold for. 

 But for some reason it has proven all but 

 hopeless to attempt to persuade people gen- 

 erally to become consumers of honey. As 

 a consequence the price has, as already 

 been stated, reached a very low point, both 

 here and in the East, though it was much 

 longer in getting down there than on the 

 Pacific Coast. 



Now, bee-keepers all over the country are 

 seeking some method by which to make 

 their business profitable. Many of the 

 most experienced bee-keepers of the East 

 have decided that there is nothing to be 

 done except to put a stop to the production 

 of extracted honey, and devote their entire 

 time to the comb. 



It is now claimed to have been a great 

 mistake to have put the extracted honey at 

 so low a price compared with the comb ; 

 but the damage has been done, and it was 

 based upon the idea that the bees could 

 make about 3 pounds of extracted honey to 

 1 pound of comb honey, and that therefore 

 the relative prices should be about in the 

 same proportion. But this does not work 

 very well in practice, for while extracted 

 honey at 3 cents a pound, no matter in how 

 great quantity it is produced, does not yield 

 a profit, comb honey at 8 to 10 cents pays 

 very well indeed. 



As a consequence the advice to stop the 

 production ot the extracted article seems 

 to be well founded. It is certainly far bet- 

 ter to produce two tons of comb honey that 

 will give a profit of 2 cents a pound, than to 

 produce six tons of the extracted that has to 

 be sold at a loss. 



The fact is that the honey-producers of 

 California pushed the sale of their liquid 

 product so extensively that the great mar- 

 kets of the Eastern States were crowded 

 with it, and that brought down the price, not 

 only of California honey but also of that 



produced in the Middle and Eastern States, 

 it also glutted the markets to such an ex- 

 tent that the demand for liquid honey was 

 more than met, and sales were exceedingly 

 slow. There was evidently an over-pro- 

 duction on the Pacific Coast, with only an 

 ordinary supply and demand in the older 

 States. 



Wisdom would seem to dictate that, in- 

 stead of discouraging the production of 

 extracted honey, bee-keepers should try to 

 find avenues for its consumption. These 

 have been greatly enlarged during the past 

 decade, and may be doubled within the 

 coming few years. Tons upon tons are 

 used every year in the following manner : 



It is used in the manufacture of confec- 

 tionery, cakes and pastry, soda-water, mead 

 and metheglin, jellies and jams, honey- 

 wines and liquors, liquorice, honey egg- 

 foam, and honey-vinegar, medicinal prep- 

 arations, sjTups, ointments and salves, pop- 

 corn balls and harvest drinks. 



It is also used in canning and preserving 

 fruit in its natural state, curing hams and 

 meat of various kinds. 



In making printers' rollers it forms a 

 principal ingredient, also in the manufac- 

 ture of beer, ale and tobacco, it holds a 

 prominent place. 



In making comb foundation it is used 

 considerably. 



In compounding medicines of all kinds, 

 it has for ages held an important place ; 

 while as an article of food it has been es- 

 teemed as one of the principal delicacies for 

 many centuries. 



It will be well for all honey-producers to 

 see if they cannot find out new avenues for 

 the use of honey. In this way we can pre- 

 vent a decline in prices when the future 

 honey crops will be large. 



The extracting of honey was not a mis- 

 take— but it might have been a mistake to 

 put the price at less than that in the comb. 



To-day honey out of the comb is retailing 

 in this city at 15 cents per pound, and the 

 demand is very fair. The great error was 

 made years ago by bee-keepers themselves, 

 by lively competition, to break down the 

 prices, and it is very difficult now to boom it, 

 even when the crop is short. 



The Inter-State law is just what has 

 killed the honey-production on the Pacific 

 Coast, by increasing the freight tariff so 

 much that it takes all the honey is worth to 

 bring it to the Eastern markets. 



But what is disaster to them is a blessing 

 to apiarists in the Middle and Eastern 

 States. By keeping Californian honey out 

 of the latter markets enhances both the 

 price and demand of the Eastern product. 

 This is another illustration of the old adage, 

 that " It is an ill wind that blows no one 

 any good." 



Carniolan Queens.— S. W.Morri.son, 

 M. D., ot Oxford, Pa., has sent us a de- 

 scription of them, their progeny, and good 

 qualities, with full directions for introduc- 

 ing them to alien colonies. It will be sent 

 free by him to all inquirers. 



Experiments. — Mr. C. H. Dibbem, of 



Milan, Ills., gives these graphic descriptions 

 in the Plowman of some of his experiments 

 in " the days of yore :" 



While I am writing of experiments, I will 

 say that my ideas have not always proved so 

 successful. Many years ago, when I used 

 surplus boxes holding 20 lbs., without bot- 

 toms, I was greatly puzzled as to how I 

 should take them off without getting stung. 

 1 did not then understand the best use to 

 make of smoke, and a good smoker was un- 

 known. Often I would pry off the box and 

 then try to blow smoke on the bees from a 

 roll of rags, but often just at the critical 

 time the fire would go out, and the bees 

 would make it so hot tor me that i was glad 

 to let them alone, honey and all. 



Finally an idea struck me, that if I would 

 take two sheets of tin I could slip it under 

 the box double, and then divide between 

 the sheets, and remove the box of honey by 

 holding on the tin bottotii to keep the bees 

 in and leave the other sheet on the hive to 

 keep those in the hive down. This worked 

 very well, till I tried to lift the box off, 

 when the tin warped, letting out a hoard of 

 infuriated bees, which immediately com- 

 menced a tour of conquest up my shirt 

 sleeves, causing me to beat an inglorious 

 retreat to the house. The bees in the main 

 hive were soon " on their ear," as well as 

 those in the box, and it was not till dark 

 that any of us dared to ventiu-e out of the 

 house. Even the chickens and dogs had to 

 " climb" when they came too near the hive. 



After dark I managed somehow to carry 

 the hive to the cellitr, allowing the bees to 

 fly out through an open window afterwards. 

 It was quite awhile, however, before I 

 could go anywhere near that colony without 

 them " going for rae." and they " bummed " 

 around the house tor a week. 



Another experiment I tried about the 

 same time was a " new method " of hiving 

 swarms that lit high up on a tall tree. I had 

 such a tree that was the pest of my life. 

 Everv time a swarm would issue they would 

 go right tor the top branches of that tree, 

 and perhaps before I could secure them 3 or 

 4 swarms would cluster in the same branch. 

 It took some time to climb the tree, saw off 

 limbs and let down the hees, and it was 

 usually hot and tiresome work. Finally the 

 idea struck me that by getting a light pole 

 some 20 feet long, and nailing on a hook and 

 a muslin bag, 1 could secure the most of 

 these swarms by giving the branch on which 

 they might hang, a sharp rap with the end 

 of the pole, and catching the bees in my 

 sack, then gently let them down, and shake 

 them into my hive. 



How strange I had not thought of that 

 before ! Now I fondly imagined that all 

 my trouble, on this point at least, was at an 

 end. A trial of my great invention, how- 

 ever, soon shattered my hopes, when 1 

 found that the first rap on the limb with my 

 swarm-catcher landed a half dozen bees in- 

 side of ray shirt collar, and oh ! how hot 

 they felt. 



The climax was reached, however, when 

 the weight of the bees brought down the 

 whole affair with a crash, and killing many 

 bees. This made them furious, and the way 

 they " went for me," compelled me to seek 

 shelter in a neighboring shed. Even there 

 they tried to get through knot holes to get at 

 me. It was a long time before I got that 

 colony settled in a hive. 



It is needless to say that I have ever since 

 regarded any pole arrangement with sus- 

 picion. At any rate a great coolness soon 

 settled over that invention, and I have 

 never since been seen going around the 

 apiary with a long pole with a bag at the 

 end. 



Crire a Coi>y of " Honey as Food and 

 Medicine " to every one who buys a package 

 of honej'. It will sell lots of it. 



