Read Ebook: The American Bee Journal. Vol. XVII. No. 14. April 6 1881 by Various Newman Thomas G Thomas Gabriel Editor

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The brood chamber is the mainspring to work upon for a good yield of honey. We allow no queen to live over 3 years, and if not a prolific queen she only lives one year. We allow no brood comb to remain over 3 years in the centre of the hive; by this plan we get fine developed bees, and of longer life.

Our plan of separating swarms of 2 or more, when they come out and cluster together, may be of benefit to some. It is as follows: Make a box 3 feet long , make one entrance to the box for the bees to pass in and out; make a tight cover to fit the box, with cleats on 2 sides, no end cleats; make 3 or 4 division boards; then the box is ready for hiving the bees.

Now take the box and hive the cluster of 2 or more swarms, and as soon as all the bees are in the box, put it in a shady place, and let it remain there until the next morning; then push the box cover lengthwise of the box and you will observe each queen with her colony clustered by themselves; now place the division board between each cluster, push the cover back again over the cluster and hive at pleasure.

The present season is fully 6 weeks ahead of last season; drones were in the air on the 28th of Feb. We keep our colonies in a condition so that the queen can breed up to her full capacity. The Italian queens we received from the BEE JOURNAL apiary last fall, wintered well, and we now have several nuclei started for queen-rearing, as we mean to Italianize all of our bees by the end of the present season. The prospects were never better than now for a booming good year.

At some future time we will give our experience in wintering bees in a cold climate on 4 lbs. 2 ounces of honey per colony, before chaff packing was invented.

If a Syrian queen cross with the black drone, would not this cross produce the Italian bee? Success to the BEE JOURNAL.

Warthan, Cal. March 15, 1881.

For the American Bee Journal.

Raspberry as a Honey Plant.

D. D. PALMER.

The raspberry can be grown in any land that will produce a crop of corn or potatoes. It furnishes a fine quality of honey, and a delicious fruit, coming immediately after strawberries. Sandy or light soils produce a better flavored fruit but not so much nor as large as clay soils.

The ground should be spaded or ploughed deep, and raked or harrowed thoroughly so as to pulverize it. If you get plants by mail, dip them in water as soon as received and bury the roots in moist shady ground until you are ready to set them out. Plants can be sent by mail with as much certainty of arriving in good condition as if carried personally or sent by express. Handle so as to expose the roots to the sun and wind as little as possible. For garden or field culture plant 2 1/2 or 3 feet apart in the row and the rows 6 feet apart. A convenient implement to use in setting any small plants is called a dibble, made similar to a mason's trowel, and cost me 25 cts. each. Make the holes deep enough to take in the long roots without doubling them up. Spread the roots out like a fan, fill with mellow soil and pack snugly among the roots, if the ground is dry pour in water before filling up, then fill up with dry or moist soil, leaving the surface loose and mellow. If dry weather prevails, remove the top soil and pour in plenty of water; after the water has settled replace the soil. They may be cultivated the same as corn, being careful not to cultivate too deep as some of the roots grow near the surface. Cabbage or other root plants may be planted and cultivated among them the first season. Fruit trees may be planted with them in the row.

There are several ways of training the bushes; some use stakes. This we consider an expensive practice, unless it be for garden planting, when very close planting is required and it is not wished to have a spreading bush. Our method consists in training them while they are growing. When 18 inches high pinch off with the fingers, or where a field is to be pruned we have found a pair of large scissors, with blades 5 inches long, to be an excellent thing to prune with; with them we can prune a row as fast as we can walk. You will need to prune the patch 2 or 3 times each season. In the spring, when the plants are one year old, prune or cut off all the laterals within 12 or 18 inches of the main stock before they start to grow; the second season out the dead wood and train the laterals so as to make the rows like a hedge; nip or cut off the new shoots when 3 feet high. In this way they bear larger and better fruit, are more convenient to pick, and are not blown down by the wind, as the bushes support each other.

The red varieties are increased by suckers or sprouts from the roots. They may be cultivated 2 seasons, and if needed for honey more than choice fruit, they may be allowed to occupy the ground. The black caps are increased from tips, i.e. by the ends of the vines taking root. The Doolittle, Mammoth Cluster and Home Sweet Home are especially adapted to cultivate in hedge rows, on account of their stock canes.

Farmers might load their tables with this delicious, health giving fruit the year round, by setting 25 plants of Doolittle for early, and 100 of Sweet Home for late use and canning.

New Boston, Ill.

For the American Bee Journal.

Apis Americana.

E. A. THOMAS.

Coleraine, Mass.

Fertilization a Crippled Queen.

DR. DZIERZON.

In looking over a nucleus the past season, I found a young Italian queen just hatched. She was very large and beautiful, but in trying to make her flight she fell to the ground, because of her left wing being considerably shorter, and she could not rise, although she made every effort. If I had possessed a surplus queen, or even a queen-cell, I should have disposed of her; but as I had not, I left her in the hive, hoping that she might gain strength enough to enable her to make her wedding trip. Two days after I looked again and found my queen there still, and my experiments with her proved that she was as unable to fly as before. It occurred to me to shorten her long wing to produce equilibrium. She could then fly some, but dropped to the ground again. After I had trimmed her long wing down to the size of the crippled one, she succeeded in keeping herself up in the air for quite a while, although it seemed very hard work for her, and she finally reached her hive. I let her run in, then fixed an alighting-board, that she might have a chance to run from the ground up to her hive, if compelled.

On one of the following days I was in the apiary again at noon, and on looking about I noticed great excitement in one of the neighboring hives near said nucleus. When I opened the hive I found the short-winged queen in there balled, but not yet injured. Undoubtedly she came out to meet a drone, and on returning entered the wrong hive, which, when we consider her clumsiness, could not be wondered at. I picked her out of the ball, and took her back to her own hive. A few days after I found her depositing eggs, and she proved to be fertile; but whether she was fertilized on that trip, or whether she made another, is not certain.

Read before the N. E. Convention.

Best Method of Marketing Honey.

GEO. W. HOUSE.

In writing upon this subject I fully realize the difficulties of the task before me, and also the differences of opinion that exist on this interesting subject, and one that is of such vast importance to the honey producer of to-day. We are yet in the infancy of this enterprise, and time will doubtless reveal many changes and improvements where now we think we have attained perfection. Of course practical bee-keepers will employ all their energies to keep up with the times, and give their patrons the benefit of new developments as soon as they are proved to be improvements. We should ascertain what the market demands and then diligently apply ourselves to the work, in order to reap the reward.

We talk of supply and demand; of overstocking the markets and overstocking the land. But in solving the problem of "marketing," man's inventive genius is called upon to provide the necessary elements, whereby the desired results may be attained without increased expense to the consumer or decreased profit to the producer. This is a practical age and requires practical inventions, to be used in the race for the "mighty dollar."

There need be no fear of overstocking the markets. Honey is being used by many manufacturers in the liquid form, and its demand is increasing throughout the land. Honey in the comb is finding its way to the tables of thousands of families throughout all Europe, where till recently it was never seen. Thus the question of overstocking the market is nearly settled. All honor to the Messrs. Thurber and their representative in Europe for their untiring energies in this grand undertaking. There are but few of us that realize the benefits of the exertions put forth by this great firm in finding a market for our products. Their undertaking has been crowned with success, and to them we owe our sincere thanks if nothing more. The markets of the world are open to our products, and it is now our duty to see that those markets are not ruined through any fault or neglect on the part of the American producer. We must also have united action looking toward the prevention of adulterations.

We must have co-operation in marketing honey, to produce the most satisfactory results. We have seen what wonderful results have been accomplished by associate action, and by a combination of interests. The great enterprises of to-day, that are so astonishing in their magnitude, are the results of associated effort, and this is destined to revolutionize the business operations of the world. We have seen what wonderful results have been accomplished by the associated system of dairymen. What unity and action has done for dairying and other branches of industry it may also accomplish for apiculture. Association and unity of action are the great mainsprings of power and progress in the world. I am pleased to know that the bee-keepers of this country are awakening to this principle in marketing their products.

While in New York city last October I devoted one whole day investigating the honey market, and I must say that I was completely disgusted with the workings thereof. Not being personally acquainted with more than two of the firms handling honey, I had a splendid opportunity to investigate the facilities and the workings of many houses, by withholding my name and pleading ignorance. The honey of some of our leading apiarists was found in several different commission houses, and one apiarist in particular, who has probably written and said more upon this subject of "marketing honey" than any other one person, consigned his honey to more than one commission house, and the honey was not put up in a very marketable condition at that; the edges of the boxes being covered with propolis, and evidently no attempt had been made to remove it. One commission house sold this man's white honey for 12 cents, while another house was holding this same man's honey at 18 cents.

One of the four honey houses in New York informed me that they received two-thirds of all the honey sent to that market. The proprietor of another house told me that he handled most of the honey sent on commission to that city. Of course I saw their stock of honey, and truthfully say that both houses combined do not sell one-fourth the amount of honey sold by either of the other two houses. These men misrepresented their business, and if they misrepresented to me why wouldn't they do the same to all other producers.

Then there are other commission men who receive now and then a small consignment of honey, and in almost every instance you will find that honey setting outside the door begging for a sale. After seeing all this and much more, I can say without fear of successful contradiction, that at present there are but two firms in New York that have the facilities of handling our products, H. K. & F. B. Thurber & Co., and D. W. Quinby. Undoubtedly there is not another firm in this country that can place our honey on the markets of Europe to so good an advantage as can the Messrs. Thurber, while Mr. Quinby, who has been in the business for many years and has many customers, can place honey to good advantage and satisfactory to the consignor. Both these firms are making a specialty of our products, and they are the only ones. Go to New York with your honey; see where it is destined; look over the field before you, and I will venture to say you will corroborate all I have said.

I will venture here to present another subject of great importance, and one that needs the co-operative effort of every apiarist. "Statistics of the aggregate production of both comb and extracted honey." With united action this can be accomplished. I would suggest that this association petition our national society, praying that the president thereof shall appoint reliable and willing vice-presidents in each and every State in the Union, whose duty it shall be to demand of each and every secretary of the different associations within his State to collect the correct statistics of the yield within his territory; to report to the vice-president, who in turn shall report to the secretary of the National society, and he be required to cause the same to be published in each of the bee-journals no later than the first of September.

Every bee-keeper in making up his report should be very careful not to over-estimate his yield. In the past this has worked injury to our markets, many bee-keepers making a fictitious and an exaggerated report for fear that some neighboring apiarist may lead them in the amount of honey produced. This is all wrong and I trust we shall soon see the end. Remember that honey buyers keep their eyes upon all reports regarding the amount of honey produced in the country. That from these reports they fix the price to be paid; and when we go to sell our honey we are compelled to face the reports. When we are able to furnish correct statistics, then we shall see the benefit.

Our larger markets are mostly supplied by the larger producers or specialists, while our local or smaller markets are left to the amateur or novice. To control these lesser lights will be hard work; but as long as they keep out of the larger markets they will do no great injury. They will be helping to increase the consumption. As soon as we get to a basis of buying and selling, speculators will control these small lots.

Our markets are also much injured by placing our products upon them in an unmarketable shape. Honey in the comb should be placed upon the market so as to call the attention, and tempt the consumer to purchase. To this end we should put up our comb honey in single comb sections, the combs being straight and evenly built and completely capped over. In regard to size of boxes, the demand seems to be settling down to about three sizes, viz: 4x4, 5x5 and 5x6 inches. In glazing, we should have the glass nicely cleaned and put on in good shape, being careful to first remove all propolis or wax adhering thereto. In grading and crating the apiarist should give his personal attention, that he may be positive as to details should any question arise involving this part of the work. In grading it is well to make two grades white and two grades dark honey, putting all straight and perfect combs in the first grade, while those that are stained, unevenly built combs and not quite capped over should be put in grade No. 2. In dark honey we frequently have combs that are from 3/4 up white, being finished with dark honey. This should be graded black, No. 1, and all remaining combs should be classed as buckwheat. In crating, use only neat white crates holding 12 boxes, or if the boxes are small use crates weighing from 20 to 25 lbs. net. The honey must not be veneered and the crates should weigh even pounds, i. e., no halves or quarter pounds. We cannot be too particular in having our boxes and crates neatly made and placed on the market free from all dirt or stain or leakage.

In shipping, great care must be exercised. The crates should be placed in the car with the combs running with the car, not over 6 crates high, setting close together at the side and end.

Extracted honey is now classed as a staple article, therefore it is best to ship in bulk or barrels. But if designed for the retail trade it should be put up in small packages, such as small tin pails, or pint or quart glass fruit jars, something that can be used after the honey is consumed.

THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL

THOMAS C. NEWMAN.

EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.

CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 6, 1881.

The Lessons of the Hour.

"Sweet are the uses of adversity," is a trite remark credited to Shakespeare, we believe. The winter of 1880-1 will long be known as one of the most severe in its nature and direful in its effects, not only in America but throughout the world.

Heavy sleet storms have destroyed the timber, the principal sufferers being peach, soft maple, hickory and elm trees.

Birds, sheep, cattle and hogs have perished by thousands, being deprived of food and shelter and cut off from succor by the waves of death from the north and west, and the oft-repeated blizzard. Even mankind is no exception--untold numbers have been sacrificed upon the altar of the storm-king. Snow, hail, wind, blinding storm and blizzard-blast have united with poisoned air and miasmatic vapor to sweep men, women and children into the tomb, and is it any wonder that our pets--the bees--should suffer in common with all other forms of life?

But how difficult it is to discover the "sweet uses" of all this adversity! True, it may point out the more hardy kinds of trees, insects, birds and stock, to withstand the rigors of such seasons--upon the principle of "the survival of the fittest"--and it may teach men a valuable lesson on the necessity of securing more perfect ventilation, drainage and pure water.

When the unprecedented season shall have passed, let us try to fathom these deep lessons in respect to our bees. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here which we could learn in no other way. Close observation and profound study will no doubt be amply rewarded. "Let patience have her perfect work."

? Dr. Ehrick Parmly, the genial Recording Secretary of the North American Bee-Keepers' Society, made us a very pleasant call last Thursday afternoon, on his return from a three weeks' tour through Colorado. We are glad to say the Doctor was looking and feeling remarkably well after his extended trip, and his jovial good nature done much to banish the gloom occasioned by the drizzling and monotonous snow which was then falling.

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