660 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



this super was raised up, and another empty one, 

 just like it, placed under it, upon the tiering -up 

 plan— thegrandest principle connected with the pro- 

 duction of comb or extracted honey. 



Experienced beekeepers will at once suspect the 

 fact that the lifting of this super, and introduction 

 of an empty one under it, considerably checked the 

 cappin^r of the honey it contained, while it did not 

 materially retard the evaporation or ripening pro- 

 cess. During the beginning of the clover and bass- 

 wood bloom, at that time when the nectar is thin- 

 nest, we frequently used three of these large supers 

 on a hive, for a short time, before we removed the 

 upper one and extracted it. When we came to ex- 

 tract we found our honey thoroughly ripened; yet 

 the combs containing it, capped over only where 

 they wei-e thickest, and you will remember that it is 

 very speedy and pleasant work to uncap combs 

 that arc capped over only where the cells are most 

 elongated, leaving you no hollow places to reach 

 into with the uncapping-knil'e. 



After our honey is extracted we leave it in large 

 tanks till it is thoroughly settled; i. c, all air-bub- 

 bles, bits of coml), etc., have risen to the top, when 

 we draw it off at the bottom into our 50 and 103 lb. 

 kegs; bung them up tightly and put them in a cool 

 place. This thoroughly ripened honey will not can- 

 dy or granulate nearly as quickly as that which is 

 unripe, or of less body, containing, as it does, more 

 water. We also store a considerable quantity in 

 50-lb. tin cans, and also about .530 one-gallon stone 

 crocks, which we keep till cool weather, when all 

 honey begins to granulate; and when our custom- 

 ers ask for "clear honey " we set these crocks and 

 cans in our large tank containing water, and placed 

 upon the stove, and slowly and carefully heat it till 

 it is again all liquefied, when we pour it into one of 

 the tanks, give it time to settle, and while yet warm 

 enough to flow readily, draw it into the kegs and 

 bung it tightly, when it is ready to ship. This heat- 

 ing process, properly done, rather than being an 

 injury to either color or flavor, is an additional help 

 to perfecting the quality of honey. 



It has recently been discovered, I see by Gle.\.n- 

 iNGS, that some j)eculiar varieties of honey that are 

 almost poisonous when unripe, are quite the i-e- 

 verse when thoroughly ripened. I feel quite sure 

 that all honey is much more wholesome when com- 

 pletely ripened; and it is only such honey that 

 creates an increasing demand. 



Father Langstroth tells us that basswood honey 

 contains most of the nutritious oils which make it 

 pre-eminently adapted to persons of weak lungs 

 or consumptive tendencies. He tells us how Mrs. L. 

 was saved from iirematurc death by consumption, 

 by way of a systematized basswood honey diet. He 

 .has just ordered a lOO-lb. keg from us. 



1 claim nothing original or new in the above, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, a trifle by way of detail and manipu- 

 lation. I gave it to more thoroughly impress upon 

 the minds of our beekeepers the importance of the 

 system which is so ably formulated in friend Da- 

 dant's little pamphlet on the subject. Inordinary 

 eases I should, like friend D., use shallower supers. 

 Last spring I had but 120 colonies left; but 1 had 

 faith. 1 paid out $730 for IrJt more colonies, in all 

 sorts of nearly worthless hives. By modern trans- 

 ferring they are now in our eight-frame L. hives, 

 numbering l.^O, and though the unprecedentedly 

 cold weather utterly destroyed our August crop, 

 we got at least leu tons from clover and basswood; 



and now the returning warmth is filling up our 

 brood-chambers with goldenrod and aster honey. 

 1 Thus our faith and pluck have been rewarded. 

 Dowagiac, Jlich. James Heddon. 



Friend II., I entirely agree with what you 

 say about ripe honey, although there are 

 some of the friends* and, if I mistake not. 

 Prof. Cook among the number, who claim 

 that l)asswood lioney is tit for the market if 

 extracted before being sealed up at all, with- 



: out the ripening process. Another advan- 

 tage of your plan of getting the honey thor- 



I oughly ripened is, that you' can secure pret- 

 ty nearly if not quite the entire crop before 



! you go at the extracting business at all. Of 

 course, you may have to do your extracting 

 at a time when "honey has ceased to be gath- 

 ered, and at such a time you will have to 

 take very great precautidiis against robbers; 

 Imt for all that, I think it is tiie l)ctter way. 

 'I'he nicest and best-ripened honey that I re- 

 member to have ever tasted was left on the 

 hives until so late in the fall Ave were 

 obliged to remove the combs from the hives 

 by moonlight, to avoid disturbance from 

 the robbers. We managed it easily, taking 

 combs out and putting them back almost 

 without a bee taking wing. The honey 

 would hardly be recognized as basswood 

 honey, the flavor was so ripe and complete, 

 if that is the proper word. 



A CAVE ron WINTERING BEES; HOW 

 TO MAKE ONE. 



IS IT ADVIS.\BLE TO THY TO CONSTRUCT C-WES 



WHEHE THEY AKE NOT TO BE FOUND 



NATURALLY? 



EVEKAL have recommended a cave to winter 

 bees in. Will not you or some one who has 

 built one tell us just how it is done, telling es- 

 pecially how the /oo/ is made? Our bees are 

 storing honey very fast now from fall flowers. 

 Muscatine, la., Sept. 21, 1885. J. T. Goduakd. 



I Friend G., I gave a very full description of 

 j how to build a cave, in the December No. of 

 (iLEANiNGS for lS7t— just eleven years ago, 

 you see. Since that time a good many have 

 used such caves, and some prefer them— 

 among them, if 1 am not mistaken, Mr. L. C. 

 ' Root, author of "Ciuinby's New liee - Keep- 

 ing."" These caves are mostly used, how- 

 ever, where long cold winters are the rule. 

 j In our variable climate we have mostly dis- 

 I carded them. A cave for wintering can bi' 

 built easiest in a side hill, foi- then there is 

 ; no trouble about drainage. The room for 

 i the bees shoidd be covered with a sufficient 

 quantity of dirt to preventfrost from getting 

 tiirough ; and over this dirt I would have a 

 shingle roof. If you don"t, luMvy storms will 

 be (luite apt to get ttirough and" make it wet 

 inside. A shingle roof will keep the dirt dry. 

 which makes it a l)ettei- non-conductor of 

 frost. You will have to have a pretty strong 

 framework to support this body of dirt ; and 

 another trouble comes in here, for when this 

 framework begins to decay there is danger 

 of your cave coming down' on the bees, and 

 ! possibly on yourself. Arching it over with 

 i brick or stone would do. but this would be 

 j much moreexpensivethan having a building 

 I overhead— or, in other words, using an ordi- 



