1805 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



181 



give one of them to each new swarna when hiv- 

 ed. In this way the swarm is spared the pains 

 of searching for pollen, and can devote all its 

 energies to gathering honey; and in a few days 

 you will find your pollen all turned into brocd, 

 if you open the hive and look. But should you 

 not desire to use either of these plans, then I 

 would either soak the combs in tepid water for 

 a week till the pollen in the cells became soft 

 so it could be thrown out with the extractor, or 

 I would cut the combs out of the frames, melt 

 them up, and (ill the frames with comb founda- 

 tion. Should you do this last you will have to 

 render the wax from these pollenized combs by 

 the hot-water process, or you will not get 

 enough wax to pay you for your trouble, as the 

 pollen in the combs will absorb all the wax, or 

 nearly so, if they are melted in the solar wax- 

 extractor. 



MOLDY BROOD-COMBS. 



Question. — I fear, by the appearances of 

 things, that I shall have some moldy combs in 

 the spring, as my cellar is very damp, and I 

 can smell the moldy combs already. What will 

 be best to do with them in the spring, should 

 any be very moldy? 



Answer. — We will hope for the best, thinking 

 that your fears may prove unfounded. But 

 should the combs come out moldy, probably 

 not more than one out of four or five will be 

 very bad. Those which have but little mold 

 on them can be left on the hives, where they 

 will soon dry out, and the bees care for them 

 so they will do no harm. If any are from one- 

 third to covered all over with mold, it is well 

 to take them from the hive and hang them in 

 some dry airy room till they are thoroughly 

 dried out and needed by the bees. Don't at- 

 tempt giving them to the bees while they are 

 all wet and slimy, for nothing seems to so dis- 

 courage a colony of bees as nasty, wet, moldy 

 combs. When they get all dry, and your bees 

 are needing more combs, take them down, and, 

 with a rather stiff brush-broom, made from 

 broom corn, brush them off thoroughly, but 

 not hard enough to break the cells, when you 

 can put them into the colonies one at a time, and 

 the bees will clean them up so nice that, should 

 you look for them two days after, you could 

 not tell which they were unless you marked 

 the place where you put them. It is best not 

 to give any colony more than one at once, un- 

 less the colony is a very strong one. In two or 

 three days give another, and so on till you 

 have them all in the hive. I never yet saw a 

 comb so badly moldy but that the bees would 

 make it as good as ever, if the above plan was 

 followed. Some say, melt up such moldy 

 combs; but so far as I have tried they give 

 very little wax when melted by any process, 

 and none at all when melted in the solar wax- 

 extractor, as the fiber of the mold absorbs what 

 little wax remains. 



^^ctdM'^gffMi 



FISH-KEGS THE BEST PACKAGE FOR EXTRACT- 

 ED HONEY, AND WHY. 



In your last issue of Gleanings, page 129, I 

 noticed a controversy concerning the best and 

 most practical package to put extracted honey 

 in. If the parties had to transfer a hundred 

 barrels into 150-pound kegs to fill orders that 

 could not use barrels, or if they did, at a much 

 reduced price. I think they would agree with 

 us that the best all-around package to sell ex- 

 tracted honey in, in quantity, is the 150-pound 

 pine fish-keg, costing only about .30 cents, mak- 

 ing it the cheapest package; and, holding only 

 about 150 to 1<')0 lbs., it is within the reach and 

 requirements of the small retail dealer who has 

 not the money, facilities, nor room for handling 

 the large barrels; and a great portion, especially 

 of the dark and buckwheat honey, is sold to 

 the small retail Polish Jew dealers who dis- 

 pense it in small portions to their customers, 

 who use it largely to make an intoxicating 

 drink. 



The coldest day of last week we received an 

 order for fifty 150-lb. kegs of extracted honey, 

 and we had to transfer it from molasses-bar- 

 rels into these kegs, or lose the order. It was 

 no easy job, as, of course, we had to do it with- 

 out heating it in any way, which we have a 

 way of doing quite rapidly, but it necessitates 

 extra cost of kegs, some waste, and requires a 

 lot of patience. H. R. Wright. 



Albany, N. Y., Feb. 18. 



[I knew your market preferred the kegs; but 

 in other localities the barrels seem to be none 

 too large. I sincerely hope that the demand 

 for honey to be converted into mead or hy- 

 dromel will not increase. — Ed.] 



the sweet-clover plant; important to 

 tanners. 

 It may surprise many to learn that the sweet- 

 clover plant is of immense value to tanners of 

 leather. A practical tanner, an expert in his 

 profession, assures me that the fraternity can 

 richly afford to pay 10 cts. per lb., or $300 per 

 ton, for the sweet-clover plant when properly 

 prepared for their use. A number of years ago 

 this tanner offered me about 5 cts. per pound 

 for the plant if I would supply him with it, 

 and prepare it as per his instructions; but at 

 that time I did not care to bother with the 

 matter. There may be some practical tanners 

 or some who may know more or less about 

 tanning the skins of animals, among your 

 readers. If so, and if they should wish to know 

 how to use the sweet-clover plant, as indicated, 

 perhaps I can supply the information. The 

 leather thus made is said to be of superior 

 quality — in fact, when made with japonica 

 and sweet clover, it is equal to that which is 



