372 



GARDEISERS' CHRONICLE 



Profit in Bee-Keeping 



H. W. SANDERS 



i iJ J (JXEY in the Comb," is rightly considered as 

 I I one of Nature's delicacies and until the inven- 

 tion of the honey extractor was the usual form 

 in which honey was marketed. Sometimes it was 

 '"strained'' by crushing or mashing the combs and then 

 straining the honey out through a cloth, and even today 

 customers often ask for strained honey. Whether in the 

 comb, or extracted, however, hone\- can usually be mar- 

 keted without much difficulty because of its universal 

 popularity, but the manner in which it is put up and placed 

 on the market often makes a large difference in the price 

 received. 



There are not many large producers of comb honey 

 at the present time, and most of the honey sold in this 

 form is the product i.if the small apiary. The man with 

 just a few hives may not want to invest in the extractor 

 and the outfit necessary for uncapping and extracting 

 the combs, while it often happens that he is a gardener 

 or farmer with a certain amount of spare time in the 

 Winter that can be devoted to fixing up the supers and 

 sections ready for the next Summer's crop. Herein is 

 the first point to be considered from the marketing end 

 of the game, for unless the sections are well made and 

 carefully put together the bees will build their combs 

 unequally and bulged and untidy sections will result. So 

 the aim '.should always be to have the selling business 

 in mind from the start. Then wlien the actual honey 

 season is on, the supers should be removed from the 

 hives as soon as ever they are finished so that they will 

 have no chance to become stained or soiled. There is 

 nothing more beautiful than the white sections of honey 

 when thev have just been finished by the bees and yet 

 when thev are left on the hive too long they get spotted 

 so that it is im])0ssible to get a good price for them^ 

 Even partially filled sections will be readily bought if 

 the honey looks thoroughly clean and appetizing. 



Once off the hive the sections should be carefully 

 scraped with a sharp knife so that the wood looks white 

 and new, and then each section jjlaced in a cardboard 

 carton to keep it clean and to jjrotect the fragile honey 

 from getting damaged. .\ lc;iking section of honey is 

 a nuisance to all concerned. If the honey is to be shipped 

 away to a dealer the special shipping cases supplied by 

 the manufacturers are the best for they have_ glass on 

 each side that shows the honey and this is quite a help 

 to prevent damage in transit.' The sections should be 

 placed "end on" to the direction of travel in a railroad 

 car. Init "side on" when a wagon is used for the jolts 

 come from the side in the latter case. 



Some beekeepers have been working up a very profitable 

 trade in comb honey by cutting it into "individual por- 

 tions," draining them of surplus honey and then selling 

 them to restaurants and hotels in tiny cartons. We 

 have kown cases where as much as sixty cents a pound 

 was realized for honey in this form. If by chance any 

 comb honey has become granulated then there is nothing 

 else to do but to melt it up and treat as extracted honey. 

 Tn melting, the honey is cut from the wood, placed in a 

 crock which is then stood in hot water and the contents 

 melted as slowly as possible. When cold the wax will 

 be in a cake oii the top anil can he lifted off. then the 

 honey can be bottled. 



Where the honey is produced in the extracted form 

 it will have to be "handled and sold in a different way 



from comb honey. In the first place it is highly neces- 

 sary that the honey should be thoroughly ripened before 

 the extractor is used. When the nectar is gathered by 

 the bees from the fiowers it is as thin as water, and the 

 bees ripen it by driving currents of air through the hive 

 b\' fanning with their wirtgs. Until they have evaporated 

 it down to the right cansistency the honey contains a 

 large proportion of virater, and if it is extracted and 

 bottled in this condition it may fertnent and sour. We 

 have known of honey bursting the containers through 

 the effects of fermentation. If the bees are allowed to 

 finish the job, however, honey will keep indefinitely, and 

 the longer it is kejit the better it will get, provided only 

 that the place where it is stored is quite dry. Here, by 

 the way, a word of warning may not be amiss to avoid 

 placing honey in the icebox. It will absorb moisture and 

 spoil, whilst if kept in the kitchen cupboard or some other 

 warm place it will keep for years if need be. 



Having the honey well ripened before extracting, the 

 next thing is to run it into a tank from the extractor 

 and permit all the fragments of wax, etc., that accumulate 

 in the process, to float to the top. If the honey can be 

 bottled from a faucet at the bottom of the tank, then there 

 will be less mess and much quicker work. After a little 

 practice the bottling process can be carried on quickly 

 and without the si)illing- of a drop of honey. 



The containers should be clean and of an attractive 

 character. Glass should always be used for local trade, 

 although cans are best where the honey has to travel 

 by rail. h\.ir the small producer, the ordinary fruit 

 "sealers" in pints and quarts form a package that is 

 useful to a housewife after the honey has been used up, 

 and she will usually pay for sealer and honey both, with- 

 out hesitation. The fancy bottles of flint glass used by 

 the large bottlers are more attractive than the homely 

 .sealer, but the customer has to pay for them and then 

 throw them away when the honey is done, and in these 

 davs of high cost of living customers are taking a very 

 keen interest in finding out where their money goes to. 

 The label should be carefully drafted and printed, and 

 should contain the beekeeper's name in prominent type. 

 then a guarantee as to the purity of the honey, and 

 finally concise directions for liquifying the honey if it 

 gets too hard. There are still many people who do not 

 know that granulation is a sign of purity in honey, and 

 that onlv the honey "that the real bees made," will 

 granulate. To these folks the label will bring a better 

 understanding, and if they really prefer liquid honey 

 they can follow the directions. 



It pays to encourage customers to use granulated 

 honev. for if thev once get the taste they will not want 

 any other kind, and the chances are that the beekeeper 

 is the onlv one who sells it : for the large bottlers of 

 honev have to heat their honey before the average grocer 

 will buv it. and this heating prevents it granulating for 

 months. 



If extracted honey has to be shipped far it is best to 

 use five-gallon cans, which hold about sixty pounds of 

 honev and are crated two in a case. Most of the large 

 quantities of honey that go annually to the bottlers, to 

 bakers and candy makers, and to the manufacturers of 

 patent medicines is packed in this way. 



A local trade grows year by year if it is supplied with 

 good honev properly packed, and many beekeepers make 

 quite a substantial addition to their incomes in this way. 



