1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



855 



for such comb can be cut out and melted up, 

 for every one knows that wax sells at a 

 good price; and some there are who believe 

 that wax and comb honey can be produced 

 simultaneously, with profit and to advan- 

 tage. 



Yes, it has even been urged in times past 

 that, in a heavy honey- flow, bees will se- 

 crete wax ini'o/un/ari/y: that if wax scales 

 are not used in comb-building they will be 

 wasted. The inference is, that the brush- 

 ed swarm with foundation starters can and 

 does utilize this surplus wax. If this be 

 true, the foundation bill can be cut down 

 seventy-five per cent, and, in addition, save 

 wax scales. 



4. Another incidental result — that pointed 

 out by Mr. Howe in this issue — is that foul 

 brood can be kept under control; for the 

 brushed-swarm plan has some of the prin- 

 cipal features of the McEvoy treatment of 

 curing this disease. I believe there may 

 be something in this; for years ago in our 

 own yards we cured something like fifty or 

 sixty colonies of foul brood by merely shak- 

 ing the bees on frames of foundation. Then 

 the plan of brushing the swarms, or shak- 

 ing them, will hold either foul brood or 

 black brood in check, and perhaps cure it 

 altogether in localities where the disease is 

 raging. 



But there is one question that still re- 

 mains; viz., "Does the brushing or shak- 

 ing of bees into new quarters put them in 

 that mood or condition where they think or 

 feci that they have actually gone out into 

 the wide world, and found a new home, the 

 same as a natural swarm?" From the evi- 

 dence in hand it would seem that the new 

 method oi forcing swarms has the same ef- 

 fect on the bees, to all intents and purposes, 

 as the old method of letting the swarms 

 come out ad libitum on Sunday, or wash- 

 days, at inconvenient times, when the mas- 

 ter of the house or the boss of the bees 

 "has gone to town. " //"—understand, I do 

 not make the claim myself — swarming can 

 be brought about at convenient seasons, 

 when the bee-master himself can perform 

 all the work ; and if such swarms go to 

 work contentedly and behave in all respects 

 like a natural swarm, then we are utilizing 

 one of the most important discoveries that 

 have been brought before the bee-keeping 

 world for many years. I call it a discovery. 

 I do not mean by that that it is something 

 that has recently been brought to light bj' 

 us, for, if I am correct, Gravenhorst, years 

 ago, began to talk through his own period- 

 ical in Germany about the possibilities that 

 could and did accrue from the treatment. 



In all the foregoing I have suggested 

 some wonderful possibilities. Now, please 

 understand me that / do not individuall}' 

 claim that the swarming problem is solved 

 — that more comb honey can be produced, 

 nor am I sponsor for some of the other 

 claims. I am only setting forth briefly 

 some of the points suggested by our corres- 

 pondents; and I am hopeful enough myself 

 to believe that some of these good things 



(almost too good to be true) are true. When 

 such conservative men as Stachelhausen, 

 Boardman, Gill, the late Gravenhorst, iind 

 a score of others, speak highly in its praise 

 — men who are very careful not to indorse a 

 new thing unless it has real merit— then we 

 younger chaps may well sit at the feet of 

 these modern Gamaliels and learn some- 

 thing — possibly to our profit. 



BOTTLING HONF.Y — HOW THE WORK IS DONE 



IN A SMALL WAY AT THE A. I. ROOT 



COMPANY'S PLANT. 



This is the season for bottling hone3'; and 

 although we have published several articles 

 on the subject we have not shown by illus- 

 tration just how we do the work here. 



I do not claim that our method is the best, 

 or one calculated to give the largest results 

 with a minimum of labor. We use the plan 

 because our bottling trade is small, and 

 because we can put up the hone}' in clear 

 limpid form in small lots just as fast as our 

 trade calls for it, and no faster. It is not 

 necessary for us to bring to a liquid state 

 three or four hundred pounds of honey in 

 one lot. We can put up a dozen bottles or 

 we can put up several gross at a time, de- 

 pending on the circumstances ; and while 

 the subjoined illustration shows six or 

 seven people at work at once, we rarely 

 have, in fact, in our own bottling-room more 

 than two people. But as the work pro- 

 gresses these two change position as indi- 

 cated by A and B, by C and D, etc. But 

 before we begin our bottling work we must 

 have the honey. 



We aim, in the first place, to make a 

 blend of honey which we can duplicate 

 from year to year. It is not practical, in 

 our locality, to get a strictly pure clover or 

 strictly pure basswood some seasons. As 

 a rule, much of our honey is a mixed clover 

 and basswood ; but sometimes both are 

 scarce, and we can "piece out" a crop hy 

 mixing a fine grade of alfalfa or sage. F'or 

 our own trade we make a blend of several 

 of the best grades of honey, and always 

 send out that formula. The result is, the 

 trade gets educated to it, is satisfied with 

 it, and the taste remains practically the 

 same from year to year. But if one were to 

 put out one year a practically pure clover 

 and another year a basswood, and still 

 another, when neither was to be obtained, 

 a sage or alfalfa, he would get complaints 

 at once that his honey was adulterated, be- 

 cause "the last lot did not taste like the 

 first." 



Having determined on the blend, pour the 

 proper quantity of each honey to be bottled 

 into a large tin can, and mix. This receiv- 

 ing-tank should hold not less than 200 lbs., 

 and, better, 500 lbs., and should have a 

 quick-closing honey-gate. In the absence 

 of any thing better, an extractor-can with 

 the baskets and the cross - arm removed 

 serves a very excellent purpose. Directly 

 under the gate there should be a tray or pan 

 on a lower shelf. Here the bottles are filled, 



