1878. 



GLEANINGS i:^ BEE CULTURE. 



303 



Pertaining to Bee Cnltxu'e. 



[We respectfully solicit the aid of our friends in 

 conducting this department, and would consider it a 

 favor to have them send us all circulars that hare a 

 deceptive appearance. The greatest care will be at 

 all times maintained to prevent injustice being done 

 any one.] 



fHAVE made and sold some bee hives having 

 the Adair frame, with a nail driven in each end 

 _ of the top bar. by which they hang on a strip of 

 tin, on each side of the hive. Now, has Gillispie or 

 Gooles' Common Sense Hive a patent on this way of 

 hanging a frame? The hive is put together like the 

 Simplicity, with portable bottom and top. I am 

 threatened with the penitentiary and the United 

 States Marshal. Please tell me by return mail, if 

 possible, whether T am infringing on any person or 

 not. Inclosed find 2.5c for trouble. A. A. Potter. 



Columbus, Mo. 



Mr. Editor; will you be kind enough to state, in 

 next No. of Gleanings, if the hive called the New 

 Langstroth Hive is covered by a patent, at the pres- 

 ent time, and oblige H. J. T. 



Ravenna, Mich., Aug. 22nd, 1878. 



I want you to send me Julj' No. of Glkanings, for 

 we have lots of Mitchell's agents here, as they claim 

 themselves to be; they don't show any authority to 

 prove that they have got a patent bee hive, but 

 threaten to prosecute any one who may use any 

 thing, in shape, like their hive. Wm. H. Murphy. 



Painters^^lle, O., Aug. 20th, '78. 



Letters like the above are not as plenty as 

 tliey were a few months ago, but still there 

 are "localities, where these men are frighten- 

 ing people, by threats, into lianding over the 

 money. The whole matter is utterly ridicu- 

 lous ; they have never prosecuted any body, 

 and have no thought of so doing. There "is 

 no sucli thing as a "Xew Langstroth Hive," 

 and tlie party who thus uses Mr. Lang- 

 stroth's name is a swindle and a fraud. At 

 the time Mr. L. gave his invention to tlie 

 public, lie very clearly stated his views of 

 patents on bee hives. If the copy of Mitch- 

 ell's patent that is contained in the .July Xo. 

 will enable your friends to save their money, 

 we will send it Avith pleasure. It matters 

 not wliat hive you use. these fellows will 

 claim that it infringes in some respect, and 

 get the money, if they can. Several com- 

 plaints have been made that they are trying 

 to '•run" the Cottage Hive in the same way. 

 Successful bee-keepers have no sort of use 

 for patent hives of any kind. No 2oc, or any 

 thing else, need ever be sent to pay for the 

 trouble of answering questions; "it is our 

 business. 



MAEKETING HONEY, 



Vf^Tfr'OW are we to put our honev on the market, in 



rtpui order to realize a fair price for it? This is a 

 fe?^^ question of vital importance to every bee- 

 keeper. I fully agree with Gleanings, in advising 

 all to dispose of their honey as near home as possi- 

 ble. If you send to a commission hou^ in a distant 

 citv, nine times out of ten, you will l»e dissatisfied 

 with the small return made "for your lot of honey. 

 If you send extracted honey, it will probably candy 

 before being sold, and then both the commission 

 merchant and the purchaser conclude that it is 

 made from sugar, and strike a bargain at 8 or 10 cts; 

 the buyer feels that he is paying all it is worth, and 

 the seller feels pleased that he is rid of such a fraud. 

 If sent in the comb, it will be more or less broken, 

 and within two or three days will be spreading over 

 the floor, to the great annoyance of the merchant: 

 and lie. knowing ihat he will get a commission en it 



whether it is sold for much or little, disposes of it. 

 for the first offer he gets. Then, in either case, 

 when the freight, drayage, shortage, and commis- 

 sion are deducted, there is little left for the poor 

 bee-keeper. 



Go to your grocer, tell him that you will put up 

 your honey in an attractive and convenient shape 

 for putting on his shelf, and that you will allow him 

 ten per cent for selling it, and he will not hesitate to 

 try it. If your honey is in sections, furnish him 

 with a neat, cheap case, with glass front, to keep it 

 in. If your honey is all extracted put it in quart 

 jars, plain, tin tops, sealed by running a little fruit 

 wax or beeswax around the tops when filled; the 

 jars need not cost more than 6 cts each. Sell jar 

 and honey for 70c, commission 7c, giving 19c per 

 pound for the honey. If you have comb and ex- 

 tracted, the nicest way is to get a common tin top 

 jelly glass holding 10 oz. honey; cut a strip of comb 

 as deep as the glass and almost as wide; then fill up 

 with extracted. A glass filled in this way needs no 

 label, and will retail readily at 30 cents. 



3?i lbs. of comb® 27c SI 01 



3M lbs. of ext.@18c 67 



Commission 24c, glasses 48c 73 



Total, per dozen $2 40 



Offer for sale none but new comb, and in extracted 

 honey, none but good, well ripened honey, and you 

 will find that your honey will sell. By giving to a 

 grocer near home, you can furnish it in small quan- 

 tities, as he needs it, and there will be little danger 

 of candying on his hands. M. H. Tweed. 



Mansfield Valley, Pa., Aug. 29th, 1878. 



I EXPECT letters like the following should he 

 sprinkled along with the rest, but It is hard work to 

 do it. 



The last fdn. I got, I thought too thin, as it broke 

 off near the top, in several franes. Your 75 cent 

 smoker, I think after trial, a poor affair. 



Irving, Kans., Aug. 14th, 1878. John D. Wells. 



Our friend, J. E. Moore, of Byron, V. Y., has in- 

 vented a very pretty pasteboard cap for glassed 

 section boxes, that not only holds the glass in place, 

 but makes an excellent protection for it, and also 

 makes the label show to good advantage. The caps, 

 if I am correct, cost about 2c, the glass, 3 or 4 more, 

 and somebody has got to pay the cost of these, for 

 each section; will consumers do it? The best way to 

 tell is to try some in your market. 



The following, in regar-^ to the British Bee-Keep- 

 ers Association, we clip from the Gardeners Clironi- 

 de (London). 



The present year has, in many localities, been a 

 most indifferent one for honey gathering, the cold 

 weather of early June having thrown the stocks 

 very backward; "hence the number of exhibits does 

 not equal some of the previous years, and heavy 

 supers of .50 lb. and upward were entirely absent; 

 but this may be partly ascribed to another reason, 

 for experience has proved that large masses of hon- 

 eycomb in one receptacle are practically unsaleable, 

 and the example of America, and the teaching of 

 experts in bee-culture, have taught bee-keepers to 

 send their honey to market in small parcels, if they 

 would find a ready sale. We noticed among the ex- 

 hibits many small boxes of honey weighing about 

 1 lb. each, which soon found purchasers. These 

 boxes were described in our columns, and intro- 

 duced from America, by Mr. John Hunter; and for 

 a sample shown on this occasion the judges award- 

 ed him a Bronze Medal. ****** 



Mr. James Lee was again to the front with his 

 well-known first-class workmanship, and Koot's 

 small sections (exhibited by Mr. John Hunter) took 

 the 2d prize. ****** 



The Bronze Medal for the 2d prize was nwarded to 

 Mr. R. Iliffe, for an apparatus for making comb 

 foundation, which was in every way interior to 

 Root's (American) machine standing by ts side, ex- 

 hibited (not for competition) by Mr. Hooker. In the 

 face of this indisputable fact we are at loss to see 

 why the medal should have been awarded. 



