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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



THE HONEY HARVEST 



H. W. SANDERS 



THE Fall of the year is the great harvest time for 

 everything that depends upon the progress of the 

 season for its maturing, and the beekeeper as well 

 as the farmer, the gardener, and the' fruit-grower, looks 

 forward to the pleasant task of garnering the fruits of 

 his labors. Perhaps one ought to say, "the labors of his 

 bees," for the little insects have worked throughout the 

 Summer with their wonted and untiring energy in storing 

 the honey that we propose to take from them, but in the 

 last analysis, it is the skill and knowledge of man that 

 has produced the crop, for without the modern hives and 

 appliances that man has invented, the energies of the 

 bees would have been consumed in multiplying their 

 numbers by way of the swarm, and the honey stored 

 would have been but barely enough to feed them till the 

 next season. 



In taking off the harvest, the beekeeper is urged to be 

 generous to his little servants in the matter of their 

 Winter supplies. Great numbers of colonies of bees are 

 lost every Winter and Spring, simply through starvation, 

 and this' is a double loss, since both bees and feed are 

 gone. It is far better to leave them an abundance of 

 feed, or else take all that they have for sale or use, and 

 join them to the neighboring colony, leaving the united 

 colony thus formed with an abundance. Generally it is 

 concluded that from twenty-five to thirty pounds of 

 honey is needed for wintering a colony of bees, but the 

 amount varies, and the safest way is to leave them as 

 much as their hive will contain.' We go through the 

 hives early in September and see that every comb not 

 actually occupied with brood, shall be well filled with 

 honey. If not it is exchanged for such an one. Then 

 there will be a certain amount in the top corners of the 

 brood combs, and between the two sources we feel that 

 they have plenty. When thus provisioned, a hive should 

 be about as much as a man can comfortably lift, and 

 when this is the case, the stores may be considered to be 

 ample. 



Having provided the bees with their Winter food, we 

 may now proceed to take our crop of honey. The amount 

 of it will vary between the limits of extreme scarcity 

 and great plenty, according to the season, the beekeeper, 

 the strain or breed of bees, and the management. We 

 have known of as much as 400 pounds having been yield- 

 ed by a single hive, and yields of from 100 to 150 pounds 

 are not uncommon. Perhaps about sixty pounds might 

 be considered an average taking one season with another, 

 but there exist the most striking divergences between 

 the seasons, and the colonies. 



This honey is stored in the "supers" that we have 

 given to the bees from time to time, as they have occu- 

 pied the ones previously given, and it is according to 

 the kind of supers given that they have stored the crop 

 in the form of "comb honey" or of "extracted honey." 

 If we have provided the small sections holding about a 

 pound of comb honey, then our harvesting will consist 

 merely of getting the bees off the combs and the honey 

 is immediately ready for use. To accomplish this the 

 bee-escape is used. This is a small device in which there 

 are two slender springs so adjusted that bees can pass 

 through them one way only, and the escape being fasten- 

 ed in a board, the super can be thus cut ofif from the 

 rest of the hive. If the boards are gently slid between 

 hive and super at night, by morning the honey is often 

 free of bees. Sometimes it takes 24 hours, but the de- 

 vice usually works all right and then the supers can be 



taken into the house and the honey removed, scraped 

 and sold, or stored for subsequent use. It should be 

 stored always in a warm, dry, place. 



If the supers given were filled with the same large 

 combs that are used below in the brood-nest, then these 

 must be extracted in the machine designed for that pur- 

 pose. This form of honey production is so much simpler 

 that it has become well-nigh universal, the production oi 

 comb-honey being now confined to the hands of the spe- 

 cialist. The combs can be taken out of the hive on any 

 sunny day, using a little smoke to quiet the bees, and 

 being careful to prevent robber-bees from getting access 

 to the honey. The bees are now brushed off the combs 

 with a small brush or a bunch of grass in front of the 

 hive and the combs, as they are freed of bees, are taken 

 to the honey-house. Here they are uncapped with the 

 knife designed for that purpose, the cappings dropping 

 into a tank where they can drain off their honey. After- 

 wards they will be melted up for beeswax. The combs 

 thus uncapped are placed in the baskets of the extractor 

 and revolved rapidly. This has the effect of throwing 

 the honey out of them by centrifugal force against the 

 sides of the can, and there is no more pleasant sound than 

 this, that resembles the beating of rain against a tin roof, 

 and tells the beekeeper of an abundant yield. The honey 

 collects in the bottom of the extractor and can be drawn 

 off through a faucet into cans or bottles and sold. It is 

 well to let it settle in the extractor or another tank for a 

 day or so, so that any bits of wax that may have got in 

 will float to the top and not get mixed with the honey. 



The combs when extracted are piled up where the 

 bees cannot get at them, and allowed to remain till night. 

 Then they are taken and replaced on the hives, and soon 

 the bees will have cleaned and repaired them, and they 

 can be stored away till next season. This is one of the 

 advantages of extracted honey, that the combs can be 

 used season after season, while the comb-honey producer 

 has to provide his bees with new supers and foundation 

 in each successive season. 



"IT COULDN'T BE DONE" 



Somebody said it could'nt be done, 



But he with a chuckle replied 

 riiat maybe it couldn't, but he would be one 



Who wouldn't say so till he tried. 

 So he buckled right ni, with a trace of a grin 

 On his face. If he worried, he hid it. 

 He started to sing as he tackled the thing 

 That couldn't be done, and he did it. 



Somebody scofifed "Oh, you'll never do that ; 

 \t least no one has ever done it." 

 But he took off his coat and he took off his 

 hat. 



And the first thing we knew, he'd begun it; 

 With a lift of his chin, and a bit of a grin. 



Without any doubting or quit it. 

 He started to sing as he tackled the thing 



That couldn't be done, and he did it. 



There are thousands to tell you it cannot be 

 done ;, 

 There are thousands to prophesy failure; 

 Tliere are thousands to point out to you, one 

 by one. 

 The dangers that wait to assail you; 

 But just buckle in with a bit of a grin. 



Then take off your coat and go to it ; 

 Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing 

 That cannot be done, and you'll do it. 

 Edgar A. Guest. 



