Skptkmbkr. 1010 



T- E A N T \ S T N BEE CULT U K E 



599 



c 



TALKS TO 



By lona 



LJ 



NOW that tlu' 

 lioiiey has 

 1) e n h a r - 

 vested, the bost 

 of care should 

 be given it until 

 disposed of. The 

 comb honey 

 should be care- 

 fully stored, 

 with no opening large enough for the ail- 

 mission of the wax moth, otherwise the hon- 

 ey may soon be in a disgraceful condition. 

 If any sections are cased and are to be sold 

 at stores, there may occasionally be a few 

 having beebread. If so, these should be 

 kejjt for home use or sold for immediate 

 consumption. Honeys from various sources 

 differ greatly in their tendency to granulate 

 or solidify, some granulating in a few weeks 

 and some remaining liquid for a year or 

 two. The temperature at which comb honey 

 should be stored, as stated last month, is 

 between 70 and 90 degrees, for if comb hon- 

 ey granulates it is unsuitable for market. 

 Care of Extracted Honey. 

 Well-ripened extracted honey may be kept 

 for years with no special care on the part 

 of the beekeeper. To be sure, it will granu- 

 late, but this will not injure its sale as in 

 the case of comb honey. In fact, extracted 

 honey ships all the better when candied, 

 since there is certain to be no loss from 

 leakage; and when one wishes to bottle the 

 honey, it may be easily liquefied without in- 

 juring its flavor by heating in a hot water 

 jacket to about 150 degrees and then bot- 

 tling while still hot, at about 140 degrees. 

 If extracted honey is stored for a time, it 

 should be left in 60-pound cans or in small 

 enough containers so there will be no dif- 

 ficulty in melting it after it becomes can- 

 died. If left in a large container, removing 

 it after it solidifies will involve considerable 

 work. 



Hurting the Market. 

 The step at which the beginner is most 

 likely to fall down is in the disposal of his 

 honey. Just why, we cannot say, but the 

 man or woman with a few colonies almost 

 invariably gives all the honey away or sells 

 far below the market price. Now if a bee- 

 keeper chooses to give his honey away, that 

 is his own business; but when he sells at so 

 ridiculously low a figure as he often does, 

 then it becomes the business of every other 

 beekeeper. In most localities there are one 

 or more beekeepers who cannot sell as their 

 fancy dictates, but are obliged to make their 

 living from their bees. Such beekeepers are 

 often compelled to hold their honey until the 

 smaller beekeepers are sold out, and even 

 then they are handicapped by the early low 

 prices. At the present time there is no rea- 

 son why any small producer should get less 

 than 30 cents a pound for his honey in small 

 packages, and many are getting even more. 

 Another way in which the beginner some- 

 times injures the market is by his careless 

 preparation of the honey. The sections 



BEGINNERS 



Fowls 



1 



W^^^^^^^^ 



IL 



should be nicely 

 cleaned and at- 

 tractive in ap- 

 pearance. The 

 unfinished and 

 off grades should 

 be used at home. 

 Extracted honey 

 should be in 

 clear glass with 

 neat labels, and no scum of particles of 

 wax and other material should be tolerated. 



Care of Combs. 



If the extracting combs after being 

 cleaned were piled carefully so that no moth 

 miller could find an opening large enough to 

 enter any of the supers, the combs will now 

 probably be all right; but as long as hot 

 weather lasts they should be examined every 

 two weeks or oftener, and if wax worms ap- 

 pear, the combs should be placed over strong 

 colonies to be cleaned. Combs are alto- 

 gether too valuable to be lost thru careless- 

 ness. 



Time of Fall Feeding. 



In some northern localities there is little 

 or no fall flow, and breeding practically 

 stops in September. Under such conditions, 

 if the bees have not enough stores for win- 

 ter, they may be fed in September. But in 

 case there is a good fall flow, feeding may 

 be delayed until October when there is less 

 brood and therefore more room for storing. 

 It is always an advantage to feed early so 

 that the stores will be well sealed. When 

 first placed in the cells the stores are too 

 thin for good wintering; but if there is 

 time before winter, the bees evaporate, or 

 "ripen" the stores until of the right con- 

 sistency, when they are sealed. Stores too 

 thin or in any way poor often cause dysen- 

 tery and death of the colony before spring. 

 I'or when bees use poor honey, it results in 

 more waste matter, and bees normally void 

 their faeces in flight. Therefore if unable 

 to fly for some time, this matter accumulates 

 and often causes the death of the bees. 



Requisite Stores. 



Those colonies wintered outdoors should 

 be left with from 30 to 35 pounds, depending 

 upon the size of the colony. It is probable 

 they will already have considerable honey 

 in the brood-chamber. Each full, standard- 

 sized Hoffman comb contains five or six 

 pounds of honey, so that by handling each 

 frame and noting the sealed honey it will 

 be easy to arrive at a general estimate of 

 the amount of honey in each hive, and there- 

 fore the amount that will need to be fed. 

 We "do not estimate the unsealed honey since 

 it is generally used up before winter. Each 

 hive should be marked with the amount to 

 be given. If one intends wintering in a 

 double-walled hive, the 30 to 35 pounds of 

 stores should be contained in seven or eight 

 frames so that, if desired, the brood-chamber 

 may be contracted as will be described next 

 month. 



There is considerable difference in the 



