Aug. 25, 1904 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



;65 



"While beekeeping appeals to the leisure-loving and can 

 be depended on as an easy way of making a living, yet to sur 

 eeed in making the very best oiil of this industry there nuist 

 be a thorough understanding of the insects, their ways i^i 

 working, habits, etc. .As an ontdoor industry for semi-in- 

 valids it offers great inducements; as the manual labor re- 

 (luired for montlis at a time is only to keep the grass and 

 weeds cleared from about the hives to prevent ants, lizards 

 and such enemies of the bee from finding a lurking place." 



Even in California, something more than keeping down 

 grass and lizards is required: work, and some of it hard 

 work, must be done. But what is there worth tlie having 

 that is not more worth while 1)ecause obtained through bard 

 work ? 



.\ wise word is spoken when she says : ".\ jierson under- 

 taking bee-culture should prepare himself by a careful sttuly 

 of some treatise on the subject." 



.\s to hiving swarms, we are told that the bee-keeper 

 "lightly shakes the mass of insects near the opening of the 

 new hive, where, finding a taste of fresh honey, they quietly 

 enter." If Mrs. r^IcKay would watch the hiving of a few 

 swarms she would probably find that all the taste of fresli 

 honey, or honey of any kind, that they get upon entering their 

 new abode, is what they carry with them from the old hive. 



Regarding the production of honey in the two different 

 forms, comb and extracted, we are told : 



"While many beekeepers make a business of extracting 

 their honey my neighbor tells me that in ithis section more 

 money is made by selling in the comb, as the cost of extractors 

 and the work required in extracting are all saved; but in the 

 case of large colonies in the South extracted honey forms the 

 most marketable product." 



"The cost of extractors and the work required in ex- 

 tracting are all saved," which sounds just a little as if the 

 cost and the labor were less in the production of comlj hrnuy. 

 If. "in the case of large colonies in the South extracted honey 

 forms the most marketable product," does that mean that the 

 market for comb honey is not so good as that for extracted ? 

 .\nd if extracted honey forms the most marketable product, 

 "in the case of large colonies," does that mean that comb 

 lioney is better in the case of small colonies? But perhaps 

 she means large apiaries instead of large colonies. 



But, as already said, the article is unusually free from 

 error to be written by one not herself avbee-keeper. 



A Complexion Lotion. 



Fur a complexioit lotion, to soften the skin, wash the face 

 two or three times a week with the following preparation : 

 Glycerin, 5 ounces ; lanolin, 5 ounces ; clarified honey. 5 

 ounces ; rosewater, i ounce : elderflower water, i ounce. 



Put the glycerin, lanolin and honey in a double boiler. 

 When they are well mixed add the rosewater and elderflower 

 water. Shake well and bottle. When applying to the face 

 use a linen pad or soft cloth. — From Chicago Record-Herald. 



Honey and Pecan Sandwiches. 



Sarah Windic Laiides gives the following recipe for 

 sandwiches, in The Delineator ; 



Four tablespoonfuls extracted honey, two tablespoonfuls 

 finely chopped pecans. ^lix the two ingredients. Split soda 

 biscuits, hot or cold, butter them and fill with the mixture. 

 The biscuit should be baked not over half an inch thick. 



See Our Queen Offer for sending one new subscriber to 

 the American Bee Journal. Page 589. 





Nasty's Afterthoughts 





' Old Reliable " seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. K. Hasty, Sta. B Rural. Toledo, Ohio. 



liOII.INr. FOfL-DKOOllV HONEY. 



Reading N. R. France's directions for boiling foul-ljruody 

 honey, I felt that a needed caution was left out. Liable to be 

 glutinous and thick, such honey is not like water, easy to get 

 it all boiling hot. Easy ito get 97 per cent of it boiling hot. 

 lint the other ,; per cent gets on the kettle above water-line, 

 and on the cover, and ^jiffs up into the form of foam, and 

 escapes a long manipulation without being at 212 deg. at all. 

 This won't do. Such honey must be all subjected to the kill- 

 ing heat, else never any of it used for feed. Suppose the seeds 

 of a new and specially bad weed were intrusted to you to kill. 

 and you chose to kill them by lioiling in water, and you let 

 3 per cent of them escape in protective scum, and on cool 

 metal plates, and eventually dumped the whole in the liarn- 

 yard to be scattered in the fields! Page 493. 



.\ CO.MFORT.VELE WOR K-T.M!LE. 



Instead of ^-inch stufif for a table have your table of 

 3-inch stufT — and not nearly so high as ordinary tables, well- 

 made, solid, heavy and low. That's just it. Mr. S. E. Miller. 

 Thanil<s. Ever so much easier to make things on such a 

 table than on an ordinary one— to say nothing about harvest- 

 spidering around on the ground. Page 494. 



II.VNV THIN(;S KEOL lUF.U IN .SUCCESS. 



Ves. one point left wrong can easily make the butter 

 poor, but never superior butter without a multitude of things 

 attended to. A similar law afltects a great many things and 

 vocations in the world, apiculture included. .And .still we 

 manage to think that everything is going to boom, once we 

 get that one m-ti' notion into efi'ect. Page 495. 



NO l'REP.\R.\TION FOR SVV -ARMING. 



I can't name hive and date, but I think my bees have 

 sometimes swarmed without the usual preparation when they 

 had not been manipulated for many days previous— only 

 crowded conditions, and very hot day, and took a notion from 

 the swarm spirit abroad in the air. This in reply to editorial 

 question aliout the matter on page 499. 



SWARMING .\NU .\FTERSVV.\RM ING. 



To the brother who wants it written down rulable for a 

 swarm to emerge one week from the day they have made a 

 failure of swarming and returned to the hive, I will tell how 

 it stands in my memory: In just about onc-lialf such cases 

 they will next make a trial a week or more afterward. In 

 something like one-half the cases the next trial will l)e the 

 nekt day. I suppose this mainly depends on whether the 

 queen is all right, and in the hive next day or not. If not. 

 they'll wait till a young one comes out, or gels sonw-.eliric 

 near ready to couw out. Afterswarms.,have nothing to wait 

 for that they should wait a week : and mostly they try again 

 next day. But for them to omit one day is not rare. .\ sec- 

 ond trial the same day is also common — and there may be 

 three trials the same da^. One of the rare— but not .so very 

 rare — happenings in a big apiary is for a swarm to emerge 

 and return one or more times each day for quite a number of 

 days in succession. I'm not at all sure about the rationale of 

 this, but off-hand I guess it to be somewhat as follows: .\ 

 colony i'n a high state of swarm excitement swarms and 



