210 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Some fifteen years ago I had a honey 

 house that was built fire-proof from the 

 outside, covered with sheet iron, roof and 

 all, with a cement floor. The room was 

 shelved for honey on the north and west 

 sides, with one window to the south and 

 one to the east. These windows were 

 kept open during the day, allowing the 

 heat to pass out. They were five feet 

 from the floor, so that the current of air 

 was above and to one side of the honey. 

 There were some ten thousand sections 

 stacked one-half inch apart, and every 

 section in that room absorbed enough 

 moisture to force the honey through its 

 cappings, and some of it was "weeping" 

 good and hard, when discovered. I 

 closed the windows and by the use of a 

 stove kept the temperature at 110 de- 

 grees for three days, then dropping it to 

 90 degrees; and this temperature was 

 kept for several weeks. Some of the 

 sections that showed "runs" on the 

 surface of the cappings had to be put 

 back on the hives to be cleaned up. 

 Comb honey needs a high temperature, 

 with no ventilation, to cure it properly; 

 the least it is exposed to the atmosphere 

 the better, unless it could be in a direct 

 current of air. 



CORRECT GRADING OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. 



The grading of comb honey is of much 

 importance, not only to the producer, 

 but to the middleman and retailer. 

 A purchaser goes into a wholesale 

 house and is shown samples and given 



quotations on different grades of honey. 

 He leaves his order, the honey is sent; 

 and, in the course of time, he opens a 

 case, and perhaps the first two or three 

 boxes are all right, then he gets one that 

 is so different that he at once makes a 

 complaint to the house that he hasn't 

 got what he bought; "come and get this 

 and bring me something that is right." 

 Perhaps there is not more than two or 

 three sections that are off-grade, but 

 what will the wholesaler do with it? 

 One of two things; re-grade the lot, or 

 sell it at a lower price. If the honey is 

 in a commission house, it will be sold at a 

 lower grade, in price, and the producer 

 must stand it; and, not only has the 

 producer lost, but every producer of 

 comb honey loses by the influence it has 

 on the market. I have bought crops of 

 honey that had to be re-graded, and 

 have found three grades in the same 

 case. I know from experience that close, 

 uniform grading of honey, year after 

 year, has advanced the price and caused 

 a demand for our honey, and it is 

 usually contracted for before taken from 

 the bees. If we bee keepers could unite 

 upon a uniform package, grades and 

 price per grade, we would take one long 

 stride in advancing apiculture. The 

 Ontario bee keeper's association of 

 Canada has demonstrated what can be 

 done along this line, and its members are 

 reaping the benefits thereof. 



Camillus, N. Y., June 16, 1910. 



Freeing Supers of Bees, Extracting and Outwitting 

 Robbers Without Using Bee Escapes. 



R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



IN the discussion of this [subject 

 there is no doubt in my mind that 

 neither Mr. Hutchinson nor my- 

 self have an axe to grind; neither is it a 

 faultin either that we should earnestly con- 



tend for that which we see. Progress in 

 anything is made by the men and women 

 who earnestly contend. True, they are 

 the ones upon whom the blows often 

 fall, but, what of that, the man or woman 



