Chapter C: P. Mckinnon

Bangor, Iowa, Nov. 30, 1893.

A Beginner 65 Years Old.

I am 65 years old, though a young bee-keeper, and have never happened to be where many bees were kept. I have had a great deal of bad luck the last two or three years. I had my safe blown open, and robbed of nearly $2,000 of the town’s money, which used me up financially. But I believe my little busy bees are going to help me out soon.

I traded my watch, last winter, for 3 colonies of bees, and I think they have done well this season. After cleaning the sections and sorting the partly-filled ones, I had 330 sections of honey, 7 new colonies of bees, making me 10 to put into winter quarters on Nov. 25th, with plenty of honey to winter, with the exception of one small colony that I fed for a week; it had not very many bees, but it may come out all right in the spring.

I think the above is doing pretty well for a greenhorn; and I also think I should have made a grand failure of bee-keeping if I had not subscribed for the AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. I traded for the bees last winter--about a year ago--and subscribed for the BEE JOURNAL, and became a little posted by spring. It paid me ten times the amount of the subscription price. I wish we had another Mrs. Jennie Atchley here in the northwest.

DANIEL SMETHURST.

Seneca, Wis., Dec. 4, 1893.

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Honey & Beeswax Market Quotations.

Rules for Grading.

The following rules for grading honey were adopted by the North American Bee-Keepers’ Association, in Washington, and, so far as possible, quotations are made according to these rules:

FANCY.--All sections to be well filled; combs straight, of even thickness, and firmly attached to all four sides; both wood and comb unsoiled by travel-stain, or otherwise; all the cells sealed except the row of cells next the wood.

NO. 1.--All sections well filled, but combs uneven or crooked, detached at the bottom, or with but few cells unsealed; both wood and comb unsoiled by travel-stain or otherwise.

In addition to this the honey is to be classified according to color, using the terms white, amber and dark. That is, there will be “fancy white,” “No. 1 dark,” etc.

CHICAGO, ILL., Dec. 4, 1893.--There were but few shipments of honey to this market last week. The cold weather started business up, and honey moved some better than heretofore. Fancy and No. 1 is getting scarce, and prices are on the upward tendency. Fancy, 16c.; No. 1 white, 15c.; fair, 14c. Extracted is moving slowly with plenty to satisfy demand. Beeswax, 20@22c.

J. A. L.

ALBANY, N. Y., Dec. 22.--Honey market is very quiet and dull. All prices are nominal and demand very light. We look for a better demand after the Holidays, but the past month has been the slowest honey trade we ever saw in this market.

H. R. W.

CINCINNATI, O., Dec. 19.--There is a good demand for honey in the small way, while demand from manufacturers is still slow. Extracted honey brings 5@8c. Comb honey, 12@16c. in a jobbing way for fair to best white.

Beeswax is in fair demand at 20@23c. for good to choice yellow.