COMB HONEY. 



118 



COMB HONEY. 



wise as shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tion, in a dry room that can be kejU as w-arm 

 as possible. If the room is kept tiglit, and 

 the sun shines through the window, th'S will 

 have a tendency to keep the honey dry, and 

 to continue the process of ripening it. If al- 

 lowed to stand this way for a month or two 

 before shipping, the chances of its safe arriv- 

 al at destination will be much improved. 



Comblioncy or honey in extracting-frames 

 sliould not be piled up in a honey room from 

 wliicli the bees can be excluded, one super 

 squarely on top of another. No matter what 

 tlie temperature of tlie room, honey shut np 

 in this way from the air is in danger of snui'. 

 ing. It' it does not do so outright it will 



AlhTHOU OF TILING sUPEK.S. 



have an acid taste— enousrh so that it will 

 ruin its chances of bringing a good price. 



We once had an experience of this kind 

 with several thousand pounds of honey 

 piled up sidid, and a super cover placed on 

 top. A good portion of the honey soured, 

 and the tlavorof.therest of it was very much 

 imi)aired by reason of the acid taste. 



If tlie honey be piled with the supers criss- 

 cross, as showwi in the illustration, and the 

 temperature of the room be kept as nearly 

 as possible to that of the living-room, there 

 will be but very little danger of candying or 

 souring, and, what is more, tlie quality of 

 the honey itself will be richer and riper. 



SHALL WE USE SEPARATORS y 



A few years ago there was considerable 

 discussion among prominent bee-keepers as 

 to whether separators could or could not be 

 dispensed with profitably in the production 

 of comb honey. Some stoutly maintained 

 that they could, and others just as strenuous- 

 ly asserted that they could not. The former 

 class urged that they could secure more hon- 

 ey without separators, and hence that they 

 preferred to put up with the inconvenience 

 of some few sections bulged out beyond the 

 sides. While the latter class were ready to ad- 

 mit that perhaps a little more honey could be 

 secured l)y the non-use of separators, they 

 asserted that they obtained so much uncrata- 

 ble honey, and were put to so much incon- 

 venience in trying to arrange the sections so 

 as to have them built out evenly, that they 

 never wanted to dispense with separators. 

 It should be remarked right here, that, with 

 the narrow beew^ay sections. If, H, or If, tlie 

 separators are not so necessary as with the 

 wide ones, such as H or li|. Full sheets of 

 foundation in either case greatly lessen the 

 need of their use. How to dispense with 

 separators entirely will be fully explained a 

 little further on. But plain sections should 

 (dways be used with fences or separators. 

 At the present time, however, by far the 

 greater majority of the producers of comb 

 honey advocate and use fences, separators, 

 or something of that sort ; and as our expe- 

 rience in former years was so unsatisfactory 

 without separators, we are compelled to agree 

 with the majority. 



WOOD OR TIN SEPARATORS. 



Objection has been made to the tin separa- 

 tors, because of their metallic coldness. It 

 is urged that the smooth sides of the tin are 

 not congenial to the bees, and that, further- 

 more, the expense of separators made of tin 

 is greater than most bee-keepers can alTord, 

 in consideration of the low price of their 

 product. Partly for these reasons, and part- 

 ly for others, wood separators costing an al- 

 most insignificant siun have been made. 

 They are sometimes cut out on a slicing- 

 machine, and are really thin veneer wood, 

 cut to the size of the separator. Those cut 

 with a saw are much better because the grain 

 is not broken in shaving. The thickness 

 varies from 28 to the inch up to about lO. 

 The preference seems to be in favor of the 

 thicker ones. 



WHEN SEPARATORS MAY BE OMITTED. 



It has been shown very conclusively that 

 bees dislike a super divided off into a num- 



