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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June 18 



and horse dung, with the addition, some- 

 times, of ashes, which are still fairly com- 

 mon in Egypt, Palestine, and other Eastern 

 countries. In Gleanings for May, 1890, 

 Mr. Baldensperger describes two apiaries 

 near Alexandria, both of which had hives of 

 this description. In one of these were 600 

 in six rows laid horizontally above each oth- 

 er. The keeper of this apiary held strictly, 

 as he boasted, to the customs of his fore- 

 fathers, and in his younger days used to 

 pack his hives in boats and take them down 

 a canal to the Nile, where he moved them 

 gradually to fresh pasture grounds. This is 

 known to have been an ancient Egyptian 

 custom. It was practiced also in Italy and 

 France. We may reasonably assume that 

 the ancient Egyptian hive was of the kind 

 just described. 



I see no reason for supposing that Egyp- 

 tian methods were any thing more than 

 primitive. We only know that honey and 

 wax were used in considerable quantities 

 and for various purposes; that a vessel sup- 

 posed to be a honey- vase occurs in Egyptian 

 inscriptions, and that a commonly depicted 

 emblem of sovereignty was the image of 

 an insect which most bee-keepers will be 

 ready to accept as the conventional repre- 

 sentation of a queen-bee, known to the an- 

 cients merely as the ruler of the hive. Sir 

 Gardner Wilkinson held that it was a hor- 

 net or wasp, and I found on inquiry that 

 Mr. Wallis Budge, keeper of Egyptian and 

 Assyrian antiquities at the British Museum, 

 takes the same view, although, in my opin- 

 ion, on quite insuflficient grounds. In any 

 case the recognition of a special kind of bee 

 as being usually present in a hive does not 

 take us very far. 



There remains the old fable of the genera- 

 tion of bees from the decaying corpse of a 

 bullock, credited to the Nile delta by the 

 poet Virgil, which only tends to show how 

 little was really known in those days of this 

 land of mystery. That bees were domesti- 

 cated in Egypt from very ancient times may 

 be readily granted. If any evidence, pic- 

 torial or of other kind, exists to show that 

 the bee-keepers" craft had advanced beyond 

 the quite primitive stage I shall be glad to 

 hear of it. 



Leeford, Budleigh-Salterton, Eng., Mar. 2. 



CARTONS FOR HOLDING CANDIED HONEY. 



Honey About to Granulate Poured into Paper 

 Cartons Lined with Honey-proof Parchment. 



BY THOS. SUTHERLAND. 



The illustration shows a small packet of 

 white-clover honey put up in cardboard, 

 which has a lining of vegetable parchment. 

 This I have patented and i)uton the market 

 in this country, and it is ])opularizing and 

 increasing the sale of honey in the most sur- 

 prising manner. 



This package is intended to hold liquid 

 honey in the first place, although on account 

 of the fact that the honey should be run in- 



to the cartons just before it is ready to can- 

 dy it does not remain in the liquid state very 

 long. If these cartons are closely packed in 

 boxes holding two dozen, the honey solidi- 

 fies perfectly, and the cartons require only 

 sealing and repacking in other boxes to be 

 ready for market. It has always ai)peared 

 to me that candied honey cut up into pieces 

 and slipped into cartons, or wrapped in 

 I)archment, however carefully, will never 

 have the taking appearance of these cartons 

 that I have mentioned when filled with liq- 

 uid honey which is allowed to solidify. 



Blocks are used for the forming of the car- 

 tons, which work should be done, together 



CARTON FOR CANDIED HONEV. 

 The honey is poured in just before it solidifies: and 

 when solid the carton is sealed ready for market. 



with the labeling, before the Ijlocks are with- 

 drawn, and then two dozen each may be 

 packed inthestock boxesand heldawaiting 

 the honev harvest. 



One might think that the filling of the 

 parchment-lined cartons under a honey-tap 

 rather risky and uncertain, due to the i)rob- 

 ability of lioney getting down between the 

 lining and cardboard, and also on account 

 of the difficulty of lifting and movinga frail 

 but heavy open-ended carton; but I use a 

 small, strong, funnel-shaped arrangement 

 which drops inside of the carton to a depth 

 of 1>^ inches and pushes the lining to either 

 side out of the way- I also have two hing- 

 ed wings which clasp the outside of the car- 

 ton, making the lifting with the fingers and 

 thumb a very safe matter: in fact, I find the 

 filled carton just as easy to handle as a bot- 

 tle or can, and occupies far less si)ace for 

 storage or in transit. Lastly, my experience 

 is that they sell like hotcakes. 



Rangiora, N. Z. 



