1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUIvTURE. 



339 



BEES IN A FRUIT-ORCHARD. 



How to Improve the Flavor of an Off Grade of Ex- 

 tracted Honey. 



BY R. G. HAWN. 



The bee-yard shown in the picture is located 

 in the apple-orchard. There is a good wind- 

 break on the north. The part of a building 

 shown is my bee-house, 16x20. It is well 

 built; is mouse and bee proof. It has a large 

 cook-stove and all necessary fixings. 



I have tried many sizes of hives, but on the 

 whole I prefer the eight-frame Langstroth. 

 I aim to run from 40 to 50 colonies, and get a 

 surplus of from 40 to GO lbs. per colony, ac- 

 cording to season. I am now running almost 

 entirely for extracted honey, for the follow- 

 ing reasons: 1. I can control swarming best 

 that way. 2. It is not so much expense. 3. 

 I get more pounds of honey of first quality. 

 4 It sells more readily, and at better prices; 

 and, altogether, is more satisfactory to my 

 customers. 



Our sources of honey are early spring wil- 

 low, then fruit-bloom, then dandelion, then 

 whit-e clover, and then a second crop of red 

 clover, with a few wild flowers. 



Mine is a home market, supplied by a ped- 

 dling-wagon. It took hard work to get a 

 start; but honest dealing and perseverance 

 triumphed. I use quart Mason fruit-jars, sev- 



en and fourteen pound lard-pails, and some 

 fifty-pound tin cans. 



This county is or rather has been flooded 

 with adulterated honey. The discussion of 

 the subject in the papers scared the people, 

 and generally they quit buying extracted 

 honey. I soon succeeded in convincing them 

 that my honey was pure, and then they bought 

 freely. Really the adulteration worked to my 

 advantage. 



The first extracted honey from fruit and 

 dandelion is somewhat strong and bitter, and 

 in that condition is unsalable. I let it candy 

 hard, which it does in a short time. Then I 

 melt it, and again let it candy. This last 

 takes from four to six weeks ; then I melt it 

 again, set it away in fifty-pound open cans, 

 cover with some loose stuff, so as to keep out 

 the flies, and I soon have a first-class article, 

 very thick, and of excellent flavor. 



Thorpe, Wash., Feb. 28. 



BEE KEEPING FOR WOMEN. 



How 500 Colonies in the Rockies are Operated by 



Women Only, and Women who can Vote; 



a Big Record in Honey Production. 



BY LYDIA CRAWFORD HARRIS. 



I send you a picture of one of my apiaries, 

 containing 1(37 colonies, located two miles 

 south of Delta, Colorado, about two rods from 

 the banks of the Uncompahgre River, in one 



APIARY OF R. G. HAWN, THORPE, WASH. AN OBJECT-LESSON IN BEES AND FRUIT. 



