rHE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



199 



eXTRT^^OTED. 



A Capital Method of selling Honey Direc^, 

 Without Solicitinpr or Peddling. 



What Mr. K, Mc. Kuight of Oweu Sound, 

 Canada says is always to tlie point, and of 

 some practical value. Here is somethintj 

 that he contributed to May Gleanings, that 

 is right in line, in practicability, with his 

 other contributions. 



" Some years ago, when 1 began to pro- 

 duce honey by the ton, I relinquished the 

 home market, leaving it to small producers, 

 although I have still a considerable local de- 

 maud. I have not offered a pound of honey 

 to any one in this town of 8rt)0 inhabitants 

 for over ten years, and I have never since 

 been able to meet the demand without pur- 

 chasing from others. How have I found 

 my customers ? you may ask. This is how: 

 I took up ' Bradstreet's Report, ' and turn- 

 ed to Manitoba and the Canadian North- 

 west. In every city, town, and village 1 se- 

 lected and listed the names of grocers, drug- 

 gists and fruit dealers, taking great care to 

 enter the names of none but those who were 

 rated as ' good. ' To each of these I mail- 

 ed a price list ( one of which I inclose, which 

 you will notice is dnted seven years ago, 

 a'>d is the last I needed to send out ). From 

 that day to the present I have not had to seek 

 a customer. " 



of our bees is all but universal, and, since I 

 have ventured, more than once, to stand 

 alone in condemning it, I must give my 

 reasons for so doing. Apis ilorsata has been 

 hunted up, although it is known to be a use- 

 less savage, simply because it is big, and 

 that by the very persons who claim that the 

 smaller hive bees are the best, in that they 

 give their vote generally to the yellow va- 

 rieties. Fortunately, it is in the very nature 

 of things ian>racticable to ' hybridize' our 

 hive bees with dorsald, over which we may 

 inscribe, ' l\'e({uit'sc(it in pace.'' 



But it is still necessary to point out that, 

 the smaller the creature, the greater relative- 

 ly, are its powers, both for a mechanical 

 and a physiological reason. First, other 

 things being equal, as an animal is enlarged, 

 its weight increases as the cube, and its 

 strength as the square only, of the ratio of 

 the lineal increase. 



The botanical reason for desiring no alter- 

 ation was expounded in Vol. 1. Flowers 

 and bees have been constantly interlacing. 

 The build of every horet is adapted to that 

 of its fertilizer, and, could we suddenly in- 

 crease the dimensions of our hive bees, we 

 should throw them out of harmony with the 

 floral world around them, decrease their 

 utility, by reducing the number of plants 

 they could fertilize, and diminish equally 

 their value as honey gatherers. Mechanics, 

 physiology, economics, and botany alike, 

 show any craving after mere size to be an 

 ill-considered and utiscientiflc fancy, for 

 which it would be difficult to find even an 

 excuse. " 



Larger Bees not Wanted. 



In all this talk about Apis Dorsata, and 

 in trying to increase the size of our own 

 bees, I have often thought of the views ex- 

 pressed on this subject by Cheshire, and I 

 think that I have before referred to the sub- 

 ject, possibly given a quotation, but, at the 

 present time, it may not be out of place to 

 give the quotation entire. I may say that 

 my attention was called particularly to the 

 matter just now by an article in Gleanings, 

 by Dr. Miller, in which he shows that there 

 is a difference in the size of bees, and that 

 something might be done to increase their 

 size. He admits, however, that he can see 

 no gain except that they could gather honey 

 from red clover. But, Dr., red clover is 

 passing away — it is succumbing to insect 

 foes, and other clovers are taking its place. 

 Following the Doctor's article is the edito- 

 rial foot note, and in it appears this extract 

 from Cheshire. 



" The last point ( size ) is one upon which 

 great misapprehension abounds. The idea 

 that it is desirable to increase the dimensions 



How Crimson Clover Succeeds in Michigan. 



Crimson clover is attracting much atten- 

 tion as a honey plant, and all are interested 

 to know how far North it will succeed. 

 Our Michigan Agricultural College has just 

 issued a bulletin on the subject, and I copy 

 from it the following: — 



"Returns from seventeen counties in the 

 Lower Peninsula indicate that Crimson 

 Clover passed the winter of 18!).'). 6 much bet- 

 ter than the preceeding winter. The steady 

 cold during March this year was favorable, 

 but the variable weather of the last few days 

 of that month and the first week in April 

 destroyed some pieces that were in good 

 condition up to that time. On sandy lands, 

 particularly in the western part of the state. 

 Crimson Clover which had a good start last 

 fall has in many cases passed the winter 

 and spring with little or no injury. On 

 heavy soils in exposed situations it has usual- 

 ly killed out. On the College farm several 

 seedings of .July and August on sandy soil, 

 some of it low, passed the winter safely and 

 are now looking fairly well, while another 

 piece sown later on heavy soil in a young 

 peach orchard is fully three fourths killed, 

 the injury being mainly done during the 

 first week in April. 



The reports indicate that many still prac- 

 tice seeding in the spring, notwithstanding 



