482 



GLEANINGiS IN BEE CULTURE 



Aug. 1 



HOW TO PRODUCE A TRULY FANCY GRADE 

 OF EXTRACTED HONEY. 



BY LEON C. WHEELER. 



It has been said that the first requisite 

 for fine extracted honey is new combs; but 

 while this might do for some, I go a step 

 furtlier and use nothing but foundation. 

 There is not a comb in my yard over three 

 or four years old, and yet there is a very 

 noticeable difTerence both in color anil fla- 

 vor between the honey taken from these 

 combs and that taken from combs just 

 built. I believe honey is often rushed into 

 drawn combs so fast that it is capped over 

 before it has time to evaporate thoroughly, 

 as it should. 



Some may wonder whether it is not pret- 

 ty expensive to use so much foundation. 

 I figure in this way. Full sheets of thin 

 brood foundation for a ten-frame hive will 

 cost about 55 ets. About Bo lbs. of honey 

 can be extracted from such a hive when 

 full, which, if handled right, will bring from 

 three to five cents per pound more than the 

 average grades of honey. Sujjpose this dif- 

 ference to be three cents, we have §1.05 to 

 overbalance the 55 cts. for the foundation. 

 Then we still have the combs left, which 

 may be used for two or three years for the 

 standard grade of honey. In putting these 

 frames of foundation in the hive I alternate 

 them with drawn combs, arid I find that 

 the bees lose very little time in drawing 

 them out and illling them. 



When I extract I separate these newly 

 drawn combs from the others, and extract 

 them by themselves. Then I again sort all 

 of the combs left, taking out any which, by 

 any possible chance, might have a trace of 

 darker honev in them, and also even some 

 of the darker combs which contain nothing 

 but light honev, but which may have col- 

 ored the honey slightly. This process in- 

 sures verv fine honey for the next best 

 grade, and tlie combs left are now extracted 

 and the honey sold around home to those 

 who wish a fair grade of honey without 

 paying so much for it. 



There is one more advantage in this way 

 of handling honey. Every time any of the 

 extra-line honey is sold it immediately be- 

 gins doing free advertising. 



Barryton, Mich. 



[There is probably no question that the 

 very finest honey is secured from virgin 

 combs; but it seems to us that there is 

 some room for argument as to how far it 

 pays to carry out this plan. Perhaps not 

 all bee-keepers would be able to get three 

 cents a pound more for honey producetl in 

 this way than that produced in good aver- 

 age drawn combs. Then, further, some 

 honey would be consumed in the j)rocess of 

 drawing out the foundation. Virgin combs, 

 moreover, are diflicult to extract without 

 breaking. When visiting a bee-keeper re- 

 cently we saw beautiful clover honey, light 

 in color and exquisite in flavor, that was 



being extracted from old brood-combs that 

 were nearly black. 



We are not bringing up these arguments 

 to dispute the points made by our corres- 

 pondent, but simply to show that there 

 may be a difference of opinion. AVe should 

 be glad to hear from others on this jioint. — 

 Ed.] 



A BEGINNER'S FIRST SEASON. 



BY C. C. PABKHURST. 



After becoming interested in bee-keeping 

 I subscribed for Gleanings, then secured 

 the A B C of Bee Culture. I first bought 

 two Danzenbaker hives complete in the flat, 

 with smoker, veil, gloves, etc. I had ar- 

 ranged with a farjuer to let me have the first 

 swarm that came off, so one of my new hives 

 was left with this farmer, in which the swarm 

 could be placed when it issued. About the 

 close of the white honey-flow I received 

 word that the bees were ready for me. This 

 one colony I succeeded in getting in good 

 condition for winter by stimulative feeding, 

 as the season of 1907 was a poor one, there 

 being only a very light fall flow. I will not 

 go into details to tell how many times I had 

 this hive open with the frames leaned up 

 against it at dilTerent angles, or how 1 came 

 very near losing some of the combs by ex- 

 posing them to the hot sun too long. 



I packed the colony for winter by taking 

 out part of the frames and ])lacing cushions 

 at the sides, made of forest leaves. Then I 

 put an empty super above the brood-cham- 

 ber, which 1 filled with leaves. The entrance 

 was contracted to a si)ace ^sXB inches, with 

 a board leaning against it. As the winter 

 w^as mild the bees had numerous cleansing 

 flights, and came through the winter dry, 

 clean, and ready for business. They were 

 carrying in some pollen on the •27th of March, 

 and, during fruit-bloom, cast a swarm. This 

 was the spring of 1908. 



Having been successful so far I wanted 

 more bees, so I bought five colonies in old 

 Langstroth hives of a farmer who had more 

 than he wanted to keej). I brought these 

 home one evening about the 20th of April 

 and jilaced them on their new stands. About 

 this time I ordered ten divisible-brood-cham- 

 ber hives with the idea of transferring the 

 bees from the old hives. AVhen these came 

 I nailed thena up and ))ut in full sheets of 

 foundation, both in the brood-frames and in 

 the sections, using a full-top starter, and al- 

 so a narrow bottoni starter in the sections, 

 according to Dr. Miller's j)lan. 



Before fruit-bloom, which was late on ac- 

 count of the backward .spring, I hunted up 

 the queens in all the colonies and clijiped 

 their wings; and it was no small undertak- 

 ing on account of the old crooked combs, 

 some being built across from one frame to 

 another. At this time I did a very foolish 

 thing. I took a frame of brood from each 

 old hiveand cut out a piece to fit in the new 

 frames, putting just one frame of brood in 



