204 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



A PROJECT is proposed to establish at Paris 

 an apicultural syndicate, not to divert tiie 

 honey-market to Paris, but to secure that for 

 which there is no market, manufacture it into 

 eauxde- vie and stamp it with the label of the 

 society, to secure its ready sale on account of 

 its purity. 



"Mr. Freeborn's name was first brought 

 prominently forward before the bee-keeping 

 world through the Bee-keepers' Union." P. 183. 

 Wasn't it the other way? I never heard of the 

 Union till after Mr. Freeborn's troubles, and 

 thereupon arose the Union. [I guess you are 

 right.— Ed.] 



It's refkeshing to see on page 183 that 

 we're not going to be less enterprising than the 

 Germans in the matter of adulteration. So 

 much adulteration there is one of the reasons 

 that thousands of the Rietsche press are in use, 

 so bee-keepers can make up their own wax and 

 know that it is pure. 



Did you know you can tell the time by a 

 stem-winder in the dark? Wind up your watch, 

 and an hour later wind it again, counting the 

 clicks. If it clicks ten times, that means G min- 

 utes to a click. Then if you wind in the dark, 

 and count 45 clicks, you'll know it's 4>^ hours 

 since it was wound last. 



" Florists have so highly developed the rose 

 that it has scarcely any pollen, and I am not 

 sure but some kinds are so double they are en- 

 tirely destitute," says Somnambulist. That's 

 putting it very mild. Very few of the better 

 sorts have a single grain of pollen, the stamens 

 being all changed into petals. 



"I do not believe," says S.E.Miller, in 

 Progressive, " there is one cellar in fifty that is 

 a fit place to keep either comb or extracted 

 honey." No; and in the fiftieth cellar it would 

 spoil in this part of the country. In Colorado, 

 where I'm told bread dries in the cellar, it may 

 be all right, and in other dry climates. 



Honey soap, so called, says Deutsche Imkcr, 

 contains no honey whatever. If you want the 

 genuine article, something that will keep your 

 skin soft and free from chaps, make it yourself. 

 Take one pound common hard soap, add rain- 

 water, place the earthen dish with the soap in 

 a water-bath, or on a stove-mat, and boil till 

 dissolved. Then add an ounce of honey, and 

 continue boiling till the water evaporates. 



That article on p. 124 is very interesting; 

 but that part of the heading which says, " Small 

 hives more profitable," hardly fits. Boardman's 

 9 frames, l2%-x.\2% inside measure, are equiva- 

 lent to 10)^ dovetail frames. [The heading to 

 which you refer was based on the cubic capaci- 

 ty of the Boardman hive. Nowadays the 8- 

 frame Langstroth may be considered a small 

 hive. This contains the same cubic capacity 

 as thfe Boardman, and hence I classed it among 

 the small hives. But when we compare Board- 



man's nine frames to the Dovetailed hive's 

 eight, the case is a little different. One would 

 not think there was so much difference in the 

 capacity of the two frames; but I shall have to 

 acknowledge that I can't find any thing wrong 

 with your figures. But, say; Boardman doesn't 

 use 9 frames or the larger capacity because it 

 gives more room, but because he thereby less- 

 ens the burr-combs.— Ed.] 



PACKAGES FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



BARIJELS FOR COLORADO NOT SUITABLE; WHY 

 SQUARE CANS ARE BETTER ; CANDYING OP 

 HONEY A SERIOUS DRAWBACK ; REACHING 

 CONSUMERS direct; a VALUABLE ARTICLE. 



Bij R. C. Aikin. 



I have read with interest Mr. E. France's 

 article on this subject, in Feb. 15th Gleanings, 

 page 129. I have a little criticism to make, 

 but mainly wish to add to what he has said. 



My criticism is in the use of barrels. Keep- 

 ing the barrels in a dry place, and well coopered 

 before using, is all right. It is a fact, that a 

 barrel kept in a cellar or damp place, when 

 filled with honey, will season and let the hoops 

 fall off just as if it were empty. In the fall of 

 1887 I filled two 25-gallon white-oak barrels, 

 they having been kept dry for months before, 

 having eight hoops hard driven just before 

 filling. These I brought with me to Colorado. 

 In a few weeks after arriving here I found the 

 honey— candied too — leaking out, and I could 

 pull the hoops oft' with my fingers. Had the 

 honey been liquid I might have lost the most 

 of it. That the barrels can be made tight 

 enough to hold the honey, by his method, there 

 is no question; but a barrel shipped from Wis- 

 consin here would not remain tight. A few 

 days ago I received a 50-gallon barrel of sor- 

 ghum shipped for Eastern Kansas. It may not 

 have been thoroughly tlg}it when shii)\)ed; but 

 right in zero weather, and exposed to the cold, 

 it began to leak so that I have had to drive the 

 hoops on it. 



I have, the past winter, liquefied and market- 

 ed between six and seven tons of honey. It 

 was in 6()lb. cans. I sold it to consumers very 

 largely, it going here and there all over the 

 country, in lots of from one to four or five cans. 

 Few of the purchasers knew how to liquefy, or 

 were fixed to do it. Now, had I stored this 

 honey in barrels, then opened the barrels and 

 spad4;d out the honey to liquefy in other ves- 

 sels, then returned to the barrels to ship, I cer- 

 tainly should have decided never again to pro- 

 duce extracted honey. But should I put it into 

 cans to ship, then I must have two sets of ves- 

 sels — an additional expense. If I had a trade 



