American Boc Journal 



Bee-Keeping ^ For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Emma M. Wilson. Marengo. 111. 



Honey-Values in the Home 



It is a great pleasure to a bee-keeper 

 to find a good word for honey in the 

 household, no matter where that word 

 may be found, but it is especially agree- 

 able to find it in one of our popular 

 secular magazines. It is worth while 

 to make an extract from an article in 

 Suburban Life, written by Eva Ryman- 

 Gaillard, because in Suburban Life it 

 will do ten times as much good as if 

 printed in all the bee-papers — perhaps 

 a hundred times as much. It is not 

 merely that Suburban Life has such a 

 large circulation, but because of the 

 class of its readers. The bee-papers 

 are read chiefly by those who have 

 honey to sell, while other magazines 

 are read by prospective purchasers of 

 honey. For every one of these last 

 who read bee-papers, probably a thou- 

 sand read Suburban Life. Here is the 

 extract: 



Most suburbanites would keep a few hives 

 of bees if honey-values were better under- 

 stood. Even when the honey must be pur- 

 chased, its real value is so out of proportion 

 to its cost that it should be included among 

 the every-day necessities. 



Comparatively few housewives use honey 

 as a substitute for sugar in baking, but 

 managers of large bakeries, always on 

 the alert to find the best and most economi- 

 cal ingredients to use in their productions, 

 value it at its worth, and use it in making 

 their choicest products, because it provides 

 a variety in flavor. It produces lighter and 

 finer cakes, and those in which it is used 

 have superior keeping Qualities. 



Honey has both food and medicinal value 

 worth considering. Among foods, it is of 

 the fat-heat and energy-producing class. As 

 a medicine, it is wonderfully soothing and 

 healing in any throat and lung affections, 

 many physicians claiming that it is equal to 

 cod-liver oil as a healing and tissue-building 

 agent. It is claimed, too. that its stimulat- 

 ing power is nearly equal to that of good 

 wine, with none of the wine's bad effects. 



Honey for Freckles 



From the beauty column of a Chi- 

 cago daily comes the following : 



Honey and almond paste to bespread upon 

 the hands at night, and the hands covered 

 with large gloves; Four ounces of almond 

 meal. 8 ounces of oil of sweet almonds, ex- 

 tracted honey. 8 ounces; yolk of egg, ii 

 ounce. Melt the honey separately, pour the 

 almond meal into it. and knead together 

 with the beaten yolk of egg. Add the oil and 

 knead again until a soft paste is formed. 



Here is another from the British Bee 

 Journal: 



A good freckle cure is the following: Eight 

 ounces of extracted honey. 2 ounces of glyc- 

 ■erine. 2 ounces of alcohol. 6 drams of citric 

 acid, and 15 drops of the essence of amber- 

 gris. 



An Experience of Two Women Bee- 

 Keepers 



MayThirlwall thus gives in the Ca- 

 nadian Bee Journal the experience of 

 two women : 



In 1002. mother and I were left with about 

 .75 colonies on our hands. When they were 

 to be sold we thought that as we had pro- 



duced our own honey for so many years we 

 would try and keep a few colonies. Mother 

 had helped father in every way for over 10 

 years, so she had the know'ledge. and I was 

 determined I would overcome my fear of 

 them and help her. All my previous expe- 

 rience amounted to was knowing and telling 

 when they swarmed; smoking them some- 

 times, and if one stung me drop the smoker 

 and run. 



We kept 5 colonies and an ample supply of 

 surplus hives. We had a good honey-house, 

 extractor, and everything to work with, and 

 as Mr. Alpaugh said. " An ideal bee-yard." 



By giving the bees plenty of surplus room; 

 watching queen-cells, and clipping queens' 

 wings, we have been troubled very little 

 with swarming. We use a solar wax-extrac- 

 tor, so have little yellow wax. We also 

 make honey-vinegar. 



The first year (tgo2) we cleared S45 from the 

 5 colonies, and wintered 7. Only one colony 

 died during 7 years, and ourprofits averaged 

 between S40 and S70. 



We traded 2 or .1 hives for more supplies, 

 and doubled some up in the fall. In the au- 

 tumn. 1908. we had 14 strong colonies. Two 

 of these were dead, however, in the sp'ring 

 of IQOQ. but we made Sioo clear, and put 13 

 colonies away in October. 



We have no trouble in selling our honey, 

 as we always try to produce an Ai quality- 

 Customers come to the house for it. and 

 many orders reach us after it is all sold. We 

 extract the dandelion before the clover be- 

 gins, and do not mix the last in the fall with 

 the basswood. but sell it at a much lower 

 price. 



Keeping bees is not all pleasure or profit. 

 It means a lot of hard work, but I do not see 

 why it is not a suitable occupation for 

 women. I think twocan manage better than 

 one. as the hives are often heavy to lift. We 

 have had all the honey we wanted for our- 

 selves, and made a little pin money. 



A Make-Believe Bee 



Lady Henry Somerset tells how her 

 attention was first called to the work 

 of relieving the sufferings of poor city 

 children : 



" It was this way," she said. "I was 

 moved in that direction by the rare 

 patience and imagination of one little 

 boy. His example convinced me that 

 patience was one of the qualities I 

 needed most, and in seeking it I grew 

 into that work. I was in a hospital on 

 visiting day, while the doctors were 

 changing a plaster cast which held a 

 crippled boy's limb. The operation was 

 exceedingly painful, I was told. To 

 my surprise, the little sufferer neither 

 stirred nor winced, but made a curious 

 buzzing sound with his mouth. After 

 the doctors left I said to him : How 

 could you possibly stand it?" 'That's 

 nothin',' he answered; 'why, I just 

 made believe that a bee was stingin' 

 me. Bees don't hurt very much, you 

 know. And I kept buzzin' because I 

 was afraid I'd forget about it's being a 

 bee if I didn't' " — Selected. 



Bees ll/laking "Calico" Combs 



As I had no wood cover for the super on 

 the hive. I covered the sections in the super 

 with a piece of clean black calico. Imagine 

 my astonishment when in a few weeks I e.\- 

 amined that hive to find that the bees had 

 literally eaten up that black cloth and made 

 it into combs for sections, and was rapidly 

 filling the combs with honey. I am sure 



they mixed it with the wax in some way, for 

 the honey-comb was a beautiful black, and 

 the cloth eaten up. Ohio Bee-Woman. 



Something of the same kind has oc- 

 curred here. Black oilcloth was over 

 the sections, and the black was worked 

 into the cappings, but into the cap- 

 pings only. It seems that the bees 

 work into the cappings bits of pollen 

 or anything easily within reach. That 

 is the reason it will not do to have sec- 

 tions too near the brood-combs, for, if 

 too near, the surface of the sections 

 will be darkened by particles of the 

 brood-combs mixed with the cappings. 



Summer and Bees 



Have you seen the meadows glowing with 



the clover all a-bloom ? 

 Have you smelled its fragrance blowing 



thro' the balmy month of June ? 

 Have you heard the bees a-humming thro' 



the long and sunny days ? 

 Have you seen their wings a-tiashing in a 



busy, busy maze ? 



Have you watched them coming in, like a 



cloud from out the field, 

 Laden with the choicest sweetness that the 



blossoms ever yield? 

 Have you listened in the moonlight to their 



deep, persistent hum ? 

 Have you felt your pulses quicken with the 



harvest that's to come ? 



Have you peeped into the hive when the 



combs are growing white ? 

 Have you seen the rich drops glisten as you 



hold them to the light ? 

 Have you weighted up a super when it almost 



broke your back ? 

 And placed an "empty" underneath for 



those busy bees to pack ? 



Have you heard the mad vibration of a 



myriad wings in air. 

 Which tells you very truly that a swarm is 



surely there. 

 In a high old orchard tree seen them cluster, 



rich and brown ? 

 Have you climbed a wobbly ladder and 



brought it safely down ? 



Have you seen the basswood laden with its 



sweetly scented flowers. 

 Which the bees have come to rifle thro' all 



the daylight hours ? 

 For there's nothing in this world tempts the 



bees so far a-field. 

 As those clustering pearly blossoms with 



their precious sweets unsealed. 



Have you carried in the heavy combs all 



ready to extract. 

 And seen the white wax crinkle up at the 



uncapping-knife's impact? 

 Have you filled up with the honey the pails 



so bright and clean. 

 And sent it to the markets— a food fit for a 



Queen ? 



If you have, you've learned a secret from the 

 golden summer days. 



Which takes you close to Nature's heart 

 and teaches of her ways; 



For the heart of all the summer is the hum- 

 ming of the bees 



In the fragrant clover blossoms and the 

 whisp.ering basswood trees. 



The foregoing poem was written by 

 Miss Ethel Robson, the able conductor 

 of the " Woman's Department " in the 

 Canadian Bee Journal. To her various 

 interrogations, we of this region must 

 sadly answer, "Well, no; not this 

 year." 



Two Honey-Cake Recipes 



Honey Layer Cake. — One cupful of 

 honey, ,V of a cupful of butter, 3 eggs, 

 yi a cupful of milk, 2 cupfuls of flour, 

 and IK teaspoonfulsof baking powder. 

 Cream the butter and honey together, 

 add the eggs well beaten, and the milk, 

 flour and baking powder. Mix well 

 and bake in two jelly-tins. When the 



