StHTIiMBKK. 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



5G9 



ed au iiillatod domaiul for all kinds ol' 

 sweets I was able to take full advantage of 

 the increased orders. 



Necessary Change in Management. 

 In making this form of comb honey a 

 staple crop instead of just a bj'-product 

 some change in the management of the colo- 

 nies was necessary. As appearance is of 

 the utmost importance I run the colonies 

 for the light-colored honeys only, aiming 

 for the fruit bloom, clover, and clethra 

 flows. The honey must also be mild in 

 flavor, as it is eaten "straight." A mouth- 



A small oil stove with a deep kettle of boiling water 

 in which several long sharp knives are kept in readi- 

 ness when cutting the squares of honey. 



ful of some of these honeys would almost 

 choke the victim if eaten without bread or 

 some neutral substance. As soon as the 

 clethra begins to flag, preparations for the 

 next season 's campaign are begun. The 

 hives are requeened, increase is made if 

 wanted, the combs are examined, and ex- 

 cess drone comb is removed. I always count 

 on a heavy goldenrod flow and use this to 

 make bees for next season and to give the 

 colonies a tremendous surplus for winter 

 and sj^ring so they may be at full-gathering 

 capacity when the fruit flow sets in. The 

 brood-nest is always a two-story eight- 

 frame one, over which are the excluder and 

 three or four shallow extracting supers with 

 unwired frames and full sheets of extra- 

 thin super foundation. As soon as the su- 

 pers are filled they are removed in order to 

 avoid travel stains, but empties are put on 

 immediately. With this management the 

 yield should average nearly 20 per cent more 

 than with section supers, and the swarming 

 fever is kept in check by the large storing- 

 space. "We cannot get the great increase in 

 jdeld possible when the colonies are run for 

 extracted honey, as the comb must of course 

 be made fresh each time. 



Black bees make the most attractive hon- 

 ey for this purpose, as the air space which 

 they leave between the stored honey and 

 the capping gives the comb a dazzling white- 

 ness which is mgst attractive to the eye. 

 This should not prevent anyone from Italian- 

 izing, as the many vices of the blacks offset 

 this one advantage. 



Actual Process. 



When sutlicient filled supers have accumu- 

 lated they are removed to a large work 



table. A small oil stove, with a deep ket- 

 tle of boiling water in which are several 

 long sharp knives, should be in readiness. 

 Tlie knives should always be hot and clean. 

 1 have designed and tried out several forms 

 of tin implements to cut the whole frame 

 at one stroke, but none of them have been 

 so successful as the ordinary thin knife. 

 The frames are laid Hat on racks of %-inch 

 wire screening and the whole combs cut out. 

 These are then cut thi-ec times lengthwise, 

 making four long strips of comb. Each of 

 these strips is cut into 15 pieces making 

 sixty squares per frame. Thus we get from 

 a full eight-frame super filled and capped 

 I^erfectly 480 squares, which when packed 

 12 to a box gives 40 boxes as against the 24 

 wooden section boxes when the hive is run 

 for comb honey in the regular form and 

 when each section in the super is a perfect- 

 ly marketable one. This increased produc- 

 tion more than makes up for the greater 

 cost of container and the advertising neces- 

 sary to float a novelty. 



The work of cutting and dripping should 

 be done on a warm, dry day. The squares 

 drip over night and the next day are wrap- 

 ped in waxed tissue paper. The drip from 

 the squares is strained and added to the 

 regular extracted honey. The one point in 

 preparing this form of honey which must 

 be emphasized over and over and impressed 

 upon one's helpers is that of absolute clean- 

 liness and daintiness of preparation, for the 

 honey must be handled and only the strict- 

 est surgical cleanliness should be tolerated. 



The boxes are ordered from a local box- 

 maker. They are slightly shallower than 



Such fancy packages bring novelty prices. The 

 boxes are made to order and are slightly shallower 

 than the one-pound candy box, being made to ac- 

 commodate exactly the depth of the/ honey comb and 

 its wrapping. 



the one-pound candy boxes, being made to 

 accommodate exactly the depth of the honey- 

 comb and its wrapj^ing. Each holds ten 

 ounces net. The name of the apiary and the 

 weight are printed in green in one corner, 

 and a clover leaf together with the blos- 

 som is painted beside the lettering. The 

 wrapping and the packing are done the day 

 after cutting and this is the most expen- 

 sive part of the work in point of time. By 

 standardizing and planning and not under- 



