512 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
Bee Notes for December. 
BY L. C. ROOT. 
Wintering. 
Bees should now be in their winter quarters. 
Those who practice out-of-door wintering; may 
reasonably expect success, if we have, as many 
anticipate, a mild winter. The readers of these 
“ Notes ” are aware that I am an earnest advocate 
of in-door wintering. I watch with interest, each 
season, the results of the different methods, and I 
am each year more confirmed in the belief that, in 
our northern climate, bee-keepers will ultimately 
adopt the plan of in-door wintering. As success 
in bee-keeping depends so largely upon properly 
wintering the bees, we cannot study the subject 
too carefully. 
Results of the Past Season. 
It is generally known that the losses in bees last 
winter and spriug were very heavy. 1 think that 
fully two-thirds of the bees kept in the country 
were lost. From this fact it was reasonably sup¬ 
posed that the supply of surplus honey would be 
limited. While this is true in many States, I find 
that in New York we have secured by far the largest 
yield per swarm that the State has ever produced. 
In fact, I believe that such an average per stock of 
surplus honey has never been known. I have 
recently spent two weeks in studying the New York 
City market, and the observations there made, lead 
to the above conclusion. I met many of the best 
bee-keepers of our State, and saw the products of 
many more apiaries. A point worthy of notice is 
the excellent quality of the general crop. I have 
never known honey to average so good. I was also 
impressed with the progress made in placing honey 
on the market in neat and attractive shape. I have 
visited the New York market regularly for many 
years, and have noted with pleasure the steady ad¬ 
vance in this direction, but in all my experience, 
the present season has not been equalled. Certain¬ 
ly, such results are very gratifying to those who 
have labored for so many years to produce them. 
Our own Report. 
We hesitate to give a report of our own yield, 
the past season, as we are unable to give the 
methods by which such results may he secured. 
Such information must of necessity be obtained 
by careful study of the best treatises on bee-keep¬ 
ing, combined with actual practice. We com¬ 
menced the season with 160 stocks. These were 
divided into four apiaries of 40 hives each, which 
were located several miles apart. This is a point 
worthy of consideration, as many would keep the 
entire number in one locality. We preferred, for 
several reasons, to produce only extracted honey. 
The yield from the entire number of stocks was 
32,809 lbs. of extracted honey. One apiary alone 
gave us 9,727 lbs., and, as has already been reported, 
one colony gave us the large quantity of 484 lbs. 
-- 
Burns and Scalds—Important Remedy. 
Four years since (Sept. ’77) the Ainerican Agri¬ 
culturist recommended the use of Bicarbonate of 
Soda, that is the common cooking soda, for most 
kinds of burns. Since then frequent experiments 
and observations, the opinions of physicians, and 
the best Medical Journals,have more than confirmed 
all we then said. As burns and scalds are always 
liable to occur, and as this remedy, though sim¬ 
ple, has proved to be extraordinarily useful, it 
should he fixed in the mind of every one. The 
soda, and the carbonic acid so readily set at liberty 
from it, have anesthetic, antiseptic, and disinfect¬ 
ing properties—all highly beneficial for burns. 
For slight burns cover all the injured parts with 
a layer of powdered soda. For deeper burns, but 
where the skin is not broken, dip linen rags in a 
solution made by dissolving about one-third of an 
ounce of the soda in a pint of water; lay the rags 
on and keep them moist with the solution. For 
very severe burns, followed by suppuration (forma¬ 
tion of pus), apply the rags in the same way, keep¬ 
ing them moist; but frequently exchange them when 
dry for fresh ones, and carefully wash off, with the 
soda solution, any matter that has accumulated 
underneath, so that it may not be absorbed into 
and poison the blood. Leading European medical 
journals give numerous instances in which, by the 
above treatment, extensive burns of very severe 
character have healed speedily, leaving little scar. 
Sundry Humbugs. 
We would like to 
clear up, at the close 
of the year, our whole 
file of inquiries con¬ 
cerning suspected 
jH persons and schemes, 
B but it is not practi¬ 
cable. Few of out- 
correspondents who 
send us an inquiry 
i! are aware of the labor required 
p before we can give even a brief 
If the inquiry relates 
g answer. 
Hj to matters iu the city, it often 
happens that one of our asso- 
_ ciates follows up one clue 
after another for days, and at the end may 
find nothing to report. We always keep in mind 
that there are two parties in such cases, the accuser 
and the accused, and that it is as much our duty 
to avoid making an unjust charge, as it is to bring 
the swindlers to light.We have more than once 
referred to the fact that 
Humbugs, I,ike Comets, Have Orbits, 
and that, like comets, they appear and disappear 
with regular irregularity. A few years ago cheap 
fire arms were prominently offered. Upon our 
exposure, followed by others, these suddenly disap¬ 
peared, leaving several landlords without their rent, 
and various correspondents without either guns or 
the money they had sent. Just now there is a re¬ 
vival of the cheap gun business. Showy adver¬ 
tisements offer a “Patent 5-Shot Breech-Loading 
Shot-Gun and Rifle for $7.50.” An examination of 
this much advertised weapon shows that the old 
dodge is being repeated. The basis of the gun is 
a revolver of some unsalable pattern, which is 
added to at both ends; a slightly made barrel re¬ 
places that of the revolver, while the other end 
is prolonged by means of a “jury stock,” as a 
sailor would say, to allow it to be held at the 
shoulder. The thing is as much “ breech-loading ” 
as an ordinary revolver, and no more.As if 
Yankee ingenuity were not equal to supplying the 
demand for low-priced arms, 
A Saxon Breech-Loader 
is imported, said to be worth $15, but in order to 
introduce it the price is put at $5.50. One cor¬ 
respondent is surprised that a certain agricultural 
paper should advertise the gun ; we are not. The 
advertisement of the Gun prominently states : “The 
sporting papers generally join in praising ” the gun. 
Whereupon the editor of “Forest and Stream,” 
which is “generally” regarded as something of a 
sporting paper, called to learn what papers of this 
kind indorsed the gun, and was given names of two 
or three European journals, though their dates 
could not be specified. The “ Forest aud Stream ” 
gives its opinion of the weapon thus : “It must be 
a very green chap who invests in the ‘Saxon.’ By 
the way, we should like to stand at a safe distance 
and see the agent of these arms shoot one of them 
off once ”—an opinion concurred in by out-associate 
who recently inspected the 1 Saxon.’.... 
That New Brunswick Lottery, 
called a “distribution of cash gifts,” continues to 
flood the mails with its circulars from over the bor¬ 
der. When the present Postmaster-General was Post¬ 
master of New York, he was very much in earnest in 
keeping such matter out of the mails, and we trust 
he may find some way to put a stop to this foreign 
invasion.After many years of opposition to the 
lottery in every form, and holding that no object, 
however worthy, can make a lottery or “ drawing ” 
any other than an evil, 
We are Treated to a Surprise 
by being asked to act as an agent for “ a Draw¬ 
ing.” The request comes from Dublin; “Sister 
Mary Y. D.” writes a neat and pathetic letter, 
asking us to aid an Orphan Asylum by selling the 
tickets sent for the purpose. Eveu the fact that “ a 
screen painted by the Countess of Denbigh; “a 
superb lace shawl, the gift of Donna Isabel Con- 
dessa, de Rio Maior,” or various other valuable 
gifts from Honorables, Marchionesses, Viscount¬ 
esses, and even Princesses, cannot make of this 
“Grand Drawing” anything but a lottery. We 
wish these kind ladies much success in caring for 
the orphans, but hope they may find other methods 
of raising money. We cannot sell the tickets they 
send, if for no other reason than their sale is 
Positively Forbidden by the Laws of the State. 
There are many shysters in Washington who try 
to make a living out of the United States Treasury, 
and will undertake to collect all sorts of claims 
against the Government. We have no doubt that 
these are sometimes in league with the clerks in 
the Departments, and get information from them. 
Many years ago we had a small claim upon the 
Government, the existence of which should have 
been known only to ourselves and the Department 
of the Interior, yet we were greatly annoyed by 
letters from outside parties, proposing to collect 
the claim for a share of the amount. We have be¬ 
fore us various circulars of parties 
Claiming to be Pension Agents. 
One of these begs for the names of all who were 
taken prisoner during the late war. Some propose 
to prosecute claims arising from the Mexican war, 
and even that of 1812 ! Scamps are informed that 
desertion or a dishonorable discharge will not de'- 
bar them from a pension. It may be that deserving 
persons, really entitled to a pension, may need some 
aid in getting it. We advise those having a just 
claim to be careful in whose hands they place it, 
else they will find that a large share will go for 
“expenses.” Such will do well to write to their 
Representative in Congress, who ought to be able 
and willing to give them proper advice. 
Victimizing tlic Publishers. 
Complaints are received from publishers of 
journals at a distance, especially in the South and 
West, that having published an advertisement of a 
certain Piano Co., according to an offer made by 
parties claiming to be advertising agents, the ad¬ 
vertisers fail to comply with their agreement. The 
agents send to the publishers of country journals 
an advertisement of pianos and organs, with the 
offer of a $35 organ in pay for its insertion. To 
put it more accurately, they offer the due-bill of 
the Piano Co., which agrees, “three months after 
date,” to send the organ, or to receive the note of 
$35 “ towards the purchase of any of our other 
styles of organs.” Complaints are made that when 
the due-bili becomes due and the organ is sent for, 
the reply is, that there is such a rush for organs of 
that kind that the order can not be filled for some 
months, and the holder of the due-bid is advised 
to add some money to it, and take another, and 
higher priced organ, which can he had at once. 
This appears to be a regular dodge, and it is doubt¬ 
ed if any $35 organs ever were in stock or sent out. 
It may not comfort our friends at a distance to 
know that the advertising agents think that “a 
man must be a fool to expect an organ for any such 
money.” As he continues to offer the organs, he 
is not a fool, but what ?—The character of this 
Piano and Organ Co. is sufficiently shown by the 
fact that it places upon its circulars as its own 
“ Manufactory and Warehouse,” an engraving of 
the factory of another and one of the most sub¬ 
stantial firms iu the trade. 
Some Georgia Laud Schemes 
have much the flavor of those located in Texas a 
few years ago. One circular before us promises 
the colonist almost everything ; one on reading it 
feels that he cannot afford to stay at home. Wish¬ 
ing to see the “ Commissioner,” we followed the 
given number which took us to a lodging house, 
were we learned that the party we were seeking 
had been gone for some months. We then tried 
another party prominently mentioned on the cir¬ 
cular—we found “his brother,” who wouldn’t talk 
Georgia. Some say that while the brothers are two 
