1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



899 



ony as long as she retains her fecundity; for 

 prolificness, not age, should be the test in this 

 matter. I never supersede a nice queen, no 

 matter how old, until she shows signs of failing 

 powers. We want queens for the eggs they 

 lay; and for that reason, power of production, 

 and not age, is the rule to follow. I would not 

 keep even a young queen, if she did not lay up 

 to a fair average, for there are a few queens 

 that are not prolific enough to keep four frames 

 supplied with brood as they ought to be; and 

 where 1 find such, I always give their colonies 

 something better to take their place. How- 

 ever, such queens as this last are the exception 

 and not the rule; for the bees do not often 

 allow such queens to remain in the hive long, 

 especially if they are of the Italian variety. 

 After experimenting in the direction of super- 

 seding queens for years, I now decidedly prefer 

 to leave it to the bees to decide when their 

 queens are worn out, unless, by outside obser- 

 vations, I believe they are holding on to some 

 unprolific young queen. As a general thing, 

 the bees will make fewer mistakes in directing 

 this delicate matter than the wisest apiarist is 

 likely to make. I have had queens that were 

 five years old do good duty till the commence- 

 ment of their sixth year, when the bees would 

 supersede them that autumn, the same as they 

 often do in the autumn, with queens commenc- 

 ing on their second, third, or fourth year. 



VP AXING KEGS AND BARRELS. 



Question. — What is the best method of wax- 

 ing kegs and barrels for holding extracted 

 honey? and should all barrels and kegs be 

 waxed when used for storing honey? 



^n.sM'er.— Before waxing any keg or barrel it 

 should be kept in some dry hot room for two or 

 three weeks till thoroughly dried out; in other 

 words, the barrel should be as dry as it is pos- 

 sible for it ever to become, at the time of wax- 

 ing. Having it thus dry and warm, the hoops 

 should be driven as tightly as- possible, and 

 short nails, that will not reach through into 

 the inside of the barrel, driven a foot or so from 

 each other at the rear of the last hoop, so that 

 the hoops will not get misplaced in handling. 

 Now pour in, at the bung-hole, from five to ten 

 pounds of very hot melted wax, or, what is 

 preferable, paraCtine, and quickly drive in the 

 bung. Now turn the barrel over and over, and 

 twirl it around on each end till you are sure all 

 the cracks are filled. Then take out the bung, 

 pour out the wax, and heat it over again for 

 the next. Be careful to see that the bung does 

 not strike you when taking it out, as it will 

 often fly with great force if the wax is as hot as 

 it should be. 



Having told how to wax kegs and barrels, 

 allow me to ask, in answering the latter part 

 of the query, why not use those made of soft 

 wood, which needs no waxing? Leaky kegs 

 and barrels can never be made entirely safe by 



waxing them. The shrinking and swelling of 

 the wood, as exposed to wet and dry, will break 

 the wax; and sometimes a heavy jar, when 

 moving the barrels, will crack the wax and 

 start them to leaking. Good workmen can 

 make tight vessels, and they cost no more than 

 leaky ones. A barrel or keg properly made of 

 the right kind of wood needs no waxing, and 

 the waxing is quite expensive at best. 



FLAVOR OF EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Question.— What is the best plan to preserve 

 the flavor of extracted honey ? 



.Inswer. — To give extracted honey a fine 

 flavor it must be thoroughly ripened. While 

 some have evaporators, both sun and other, 

 which they run extracted honey through or 

 over, that has been extracted in its thin or 

 green state, till it is of nice quality and consis- 

 tency, as well as having an excellent flavor, 

 yet, in my opinion, no honey has quite as nice 

 flavor as does that which has been left on the 

 hive till the end of the season, the bees having 

 been allowed to ripen it till it is so thick that it 

 will almost stand alone after being taken from 

 the comb. Of course, it is more work to extract 

 such honey; but by keeping it in a room whose 

 temperature is nearly or quite 100°, for four or 

 five hours, it can be extracted very nicely. 

 When extracted, honey should be stored in tin 

 or earthen vessels, and kept in a dry warm 

 atmosphere that is free from odors. Loosely 

 cover and let it stand in this warm dry store- 

 room till all the air-globules have disappeared, 

 the scum that arises being skimmed off, when 

 the honey can be put into glass or tin vessels, 

 ready for sale or family use, and it will retain 

 its fine flavor for years if kept in a proper place. 



THE PURITY OF CALIFORNIA HONEY, AGAIN. 



Editor Gleanings: — The assertion was made 

 by one of your correspondents, in the Oct. 1st 

 number, that half of the honey in California is 

 adulterated. I am sure it can not be true, and 

 does great injustice to California. I live in the 

 center of one of the largest honey sections in the 

 State, from which quite a number of cars have 

 been shipped, and where there is still in the 

 hands of the bee-men, at the present time, 130 

 tons, not 1 lb. but is pure honey, and they 

 are holding it at 4 cts.— a price at which, even 

 if they wanted to, it would not pay them to 

 adulterate it. We don't need to adulterate, as 

 our bees work seven months in the year, and 

 the honey rolls in in a steady stream, keeping 

 the beemen busy taking care of it. There 

 may be, and probably is, a little, that, after It 

 reaches the city, is adulterated; but when we 



