1917 



AMERICAN Bl'I- JOURNAL 



275 



compare favorably with that of any 

 section of tlie Norlhcrii slates. 

 Fort Sliaw, Montana. 



Producing Saleable Honey 



By Artluir C. Miller. 



IT is easy enough to "keep bees," 

 but to make them pay is a differ- 

 ent matter. About the first bit of 

 instruction given to the novice is to 

 get his colonies strong as early as 

 possible, and as most of the instruc- 

 tions have been written by beekeepers 

 in the regions where clover affords the 

 main yield, the instructions have all 

 centered on securing that crop. But 

 there are vast regions where clover 

 is not the main crop and other re- 

 gions where it does not grow, and 

 where to work to get the colonies 

 strong, early, is labor wasted. To 

 meet with the greatest success the 

 colonies should be strongest when 

 the most desirable flow comes, be it 

 early or late. Langstroth used to 

 say: "Keep your colonies strong," 

 and taken intelligently his advice is 

 right. 



There are many ways of doing it, 

 so many that they are confusing to 

 the average beekeeper. The prime 

 requisite is a young and vigorous 

 queen of a good strain, and the sec- 

 ondary is good combs. Given these 

 and not too much manipulation the 

 colonies will be ready when the 

 flowers are. 



Different sections produce different 

 honeys, some fine, some good and 

 some indifferent or poor, so the first 

 thing for the would-be successful 

 honey producer to do is to find out at 

 what season the good honeys are se- 

 cured. This is easily done by sam- 

 pling the new honey whenever the 

 bees are storing a surplus and tracing 

 the bees to the flowers whence they 

 get it. It is often quite as important 

 to learn when the poor honey is 

 gathered in order that the good may 

 be secured separately from it. 



When it comes to determining what 

 lioney is "good" many beekeepers 

 will find themselves decidedly puz- 

 zled. They think one good while 

 other persons do not like it. One 

 palate is pleased with a strong fla- 

 vored honey, another wants some- 

 thing almost flavorless, just merely 

 sweet. 



In most regions good honey is se- 

 cured from several sources, some, 

 perhaps, coming early in the season, 

 others late and not infrequently poor 

 honey coming in between. Perhaps 

 the beekeeper does not secure enough 

 of any one kind to supply his cus- 

 tomers on one sort, and later gives 

 them of the later crop only to have 

 fault found because the honey tastes 

 differently. The remedy is to hold all 

 of the honey until the end of the sea- 

 son and then "blend" it. 



No fi.xed rules can be given for 

 blending. The proper proportions 

 will have to be determined by experi- 

 nient. Keep trying until it seems 

 right, then "try it on the dog," which 

 is to say, pass samples of the blend 

 around among people and get their 



opinion. Eventually a combination 

 will be secured which fits the palate 

 of the community. 



It sometimes happens that all tlie 

 honeys of a region are too strong in 

 flavor to be pleasing for steady con- 

 sumption and then it is necessary to 

 buy a mild lunicy from some other 

 region and soften the flavor by blend- 

 ing the strong with it. 



The above advice will be under- 

 stood to refer to extracted honey. 

 This form of honey is steadily crowd- 

 ing out comb honey, and for several 

 reasons. First, successful production 

 of comb honey calls for more skillful 

 beekeeping; secondly it calls for a 

 location where the honey flow is 

 rapid and profuse, and, thirdly, it 

 calls for more pains and care in 

 preparation for market and in deliv- 

 ery than the average beekeeper seems 

 able to give it. Also many consum- 

 ers do not like the wax and want the 

 honey so it can be used as syrups are 

 used. 



But even in locations where the 

 honey flows are not conducive to 

 successful production of comb honey 

 on an extensive scale it is often pos- 

 sible to secure some choice comb 

 honey which commands fancy prices. 

 The writer has proved the value of 

 the advice above given. He has de- 

 veloped a blend of honeys which 

 seems .perfectly adapted to the local 

 market. It is liked; repeat orders 

 and new customers are the order of 

 the day and the honey sells for 20 

 per cent more than any other honey, 

 on the market. And yet the region 

 where it is produced is not consid- 

 ered a good honey section. As a 

 whole it is not, but some parts of it 

 at some seasons of the year give 

 honey of exceptionally fine flavor, 

 some of them a trifle too pronounced 

 for steady eating, but ideal when 

 used in the right proportion in a 

 blend. 



And in a few sections he secures 

 a modest yield of comb honey from 

 each hive, but this honey is a natural 

 blend, the bees getting it from three 

 or four sources at the same time, and 

 the quality is so fine that it com- 

 mands a very high price and is all en- 

 gaged a year in advance. It pays to 

 go to a lot of trouble to secure it 



and even the modest per-colony 

 yield returns in cash much more 

 than the large per-colony yields of 

 some other sections. 



Study the honeys of your iieigii- 

 borhood and work your colonies to 

 secure all they can of the best. 



Providence, R. I. 



Handling Bees at Night 



By E. U. Cole. 



ON page 235 of "Beekeeping,' by E. 

 F. Phillips, is the following 

 statement: "Bees should never 

 be handled at night." 1 wonder if Dr. 

 Phillips ever tried handling bees at 

 night. During some mild weather last 

 October I examined, and where needed 

 fed, some fifty colonies by lantern 

 light with more comfort to myself 

 and seemingly less disturbance to the 

 bees than ever resulted from a day- 

 time handling. 



I kept the light back of the hives, 

 opened them carefully and used but 

 little smoke. A few bees crawled 

 out at the entrance, but practically 

 none from the top of the hive. The 

 bees gradually drew down below the 

 top bars, probably to better protect 

 the brood from the chill air. 



To be reasonably sure each had a 

 queen, the brood-nest was opened 

 enough to find brood. 



One hundred solid combs of white 

 clover honey had been saved and 

 wherever needed were inserted next 

 to the brood-nest. 



I had never before saved combs of 

 honey for fall or spring feeding, 

 and what a pleasure such feeding is 

 to both bees and beekeeper! 



This spring we had some mild 

 weather about the twentieth of 

 March. Fifty colonies were again ex- 

 amined by lantern light, and without 

 the least trouble. A veil was not 

 necessary, and with some colonies 

 not even smoke. They just settled 

 down on the brood and stayed there. 



I have never tried handling bees at 

 night in hot weather; they might 

 then have more tendency to crawl 

 out at the top of the hive. 



Audubon, Iowa. 



Bee-Keeping M Fdh Women 



Conducted by Miss Emma M. Wilson. MarenEO. 111. 



COLOR OF PURE BLOOD ITALIAN 

 DRONES 



What should three-band Italian 

 drones look like? Are they uniform 

 in appearance? Should they run 

 darker than the queens? I am trying 

 to Italianize, and find it difficult. 

 Mrs. M. C. Long. 



Italian drones vary greatly in color, 

 with little reference to the color ot 

 the queen, and indeed there is not 

 entire uniformity in the appearance 

 of the queen. Some Italian queens 



are as dark as black queens, while 

 others are light; yet one may be as 

 pure as the other. So in trying to de- 

 cide as to the purity of blood the ap- 

 pearance of both queen and drones 

 is pretty much a negligible quantity. 

 The test is in the appearance of the 

 workers. If they have three yellow 

 bands, that is all that is required. It 

 should be added that one of the three 

 bands, the one toward the head, is 

 rather indistinct, and if the bee is 

 quite empty of honey this third band 



