July 12, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



435 



less colonies, but there is not room for a description of it 

 here. To make the blocks, cut a piece of lath an inrli 

 loug-er than the entrance. Cut this in two in the middle, 

 then cut the corners back a little so as to form a V next lo 

 the hive when placed in position. Now cut another picci' 

 one inch shorter than the first. Ne.\t, nail this on top of 

 one of the first pieces. Have the outer ends even when 

 nailing-. Now place all in position, and the top piece will 

 cover the V space next to the hive. Close the entrance, 

 and draw a mark across the loose piece at the end of the 

 piece above it, by means of which you can tell just how far 

 you can open the entrance when standing behind the hive. 

 As a rule, bees should have an entrance big enough to 

 satisfy them. A generous entrance encourages them to de- 

 fend their honey. With it they are more comfortable, and 

 drier and warmer than with one that is too small. How can 

 bees warm and dry themselves in a hive filled with a pol- 

 luted atmosphere that can not escape? You might as well 

 expect a Jersey to yield lots of good milk from poor hay and 

 sawdust. — Gleanings in Bee-Culture. 



Honey — From the Hive to the Table. 



( WnlUn fur Ifw 1 VLscunsin C'o?tvfution held at J/adisou Feb. 7 and S, lodit. ) 

 BY GKORGK W. YORK. 



TO produce a large crop of nice honey reijuires skill and 

 labor on the part of the bee-keeper. To get that same 

 crop of honey properly on the tables of the consumers 

 who ought to have it, requires skill and labor of an entirely 

 different sort from that used in its production, if satisfac- 

 tory financial returns are to result. 



Perhaps it will be well if the two kinds of honey — comb 

 and extracted — are treated separately, as each must have 

 its own special manner of preparation for marketing. Sup- 

 pose we take comb honey first, as that is the form in which 

 all honey is first taken from the hive. 



THU HANDLING OF COMB HONSY. 



Of course, I assume that it is in one-pound sections, be 

 they tall or square, plain or scallopt. In most markets I 

 believe that the form or style has not the slightest to do 

 with its selling. People do not purchase honey because it 

 is surrounded with wood made in a certain form — they buy 

 honey because of its own tempting appearance and delicious 

 flavor, the latter being suggested by the very name — 

 /loney. 



The most popular shipping-cases are the single-tier, no- 

 drip 12 and 2-1 pound, which, for safe railroad delivery, 

 should be put up say 20 or 10, respectively, in a straw-bot- 

 tomed crate, with handles so that it must be carried between 

 two men. Then by placing the cases of honey in the crate 

 so that it can be easily seen thru the glass, there is scarcely 

 any dinger that a single comb in any of the cases will 

 break down in transit. 



After the honey reaches the city dealer (for I am treat- 

 ing the subject on the supposition that the honey goes from 

 the hive to the city table), he will re-sell it to the grocery 

 trade mostly in single-case lots, as the majority of retailers 

 do not purchase honey in large quantities, knowing that 

 they can be supplied on short notice should theiT supply 

 run out. 



I have found that in many instances it pays to furnish 

 the retailer with paper cartons in which to deliver the honey 

 to the consumer. The carton makes a neat and strong 

 package, is very convenient, and, if properly used, it will 

 serve as a good advertising medium for the dealer or pro- 

 ducer. But the producer should never put more than his 

 name on shipping-cases or cartons unless he sells direct to 

 consumers, when he should also put on his full post-office 

 address. 



At the present time [Feb. 1, 1900] a carton of honey 

 weighing about one pound should be furnisht to the retailer 

 at say $2.00 per dozen, and sold out singly at from 20 to 25 

 cents. 



Perhaps I have said enough on comb honey, so I will 

 now turn to extracted — a more difficult problem, I think you 

 will all agree. 



THE HANDLING OF EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Having a thick, well-ripened article, of excellent flavor, 

 how shall it be transferred from the hive — or perhaps I 

 would better say, from the extractor — to the table of the 

 hungry consumer ? Shall it be liquid or granulated? At 

 present the liquid form seems to be most common. Later 

 on granulated honey may become popular, but likely only 



in certain localities where that form has been pusht almost 

 exclusively. 



To begin at the extractor, or settling-tank, I would say 

 (if I were not among Wisconsin bee-keepers) put it into .^- 

 g-allon //// cans, one or two in a wooden box. My experi- 

 ence with barrels as a honey receptacle for shipping has 

 not been very encouraging, .so I trust you will permit me to 

 advise tin cans for holding and shipping even Wisconsin's 

 fine honey. 



The tin can has advantages over the barrel. It is easier 

 to manage in relitpiefying, as it can be set upon a radiator, 

 acoil of steam-pipes, or may more easily be put into a tank 

 of hot water. The can, when emptied with proper care, 

 may be used again. Of course, it is a lighter package to 

 handle, as it holds less than a barrel. It is easier to sample 

 — simply unscrew the cap, and there you are 1 



But no matter whether it is shipt in tin cans or wooden 

 barrels, it must be reliejuelied, and run into small retail 

 packages when it reaches the city, if it is ever to get to the 

 tables of the consuming public. 



Now there comes an important question : Shall the 

 retail packages be — not wood or tin, but g-lass or tin ? At 

 present glass seems to be the leader, not only in the far 

 East, but in the central West. Mr. Selser, who annually 

 puts up about 40.000 pounds of extracted honey for retailers, 

 uses glass entirely for quantities under five or six pounds. 

 People are attracted by the clear, sweet liquid, and when 

 they see it in glass they g^enerally want it. Of course, the 

 use of tin avoids breakage, but I believe that the tin pack- 

 age for retailing extracted honey will never be very popu- 

 lar among grocers, unless the time comes when extracted 

 honey is sold in the granulated form. 



Supposing, then, that glass is decided upon, what about 

 the size of packages ? I would suggest that there be only 

 two — one holding a half pound or trifle over, and the other 

 a pound or trifle less. A glass package larger than the 

 latter I do not think advisable, nor one smaller than the 

 former. 



Of course, a neat label will be placed on every retail 

 package of honey, and the contents be absolutely pure and 

 of the finest quality. 



These glass packages of honey should then be sold to 

 grocers or retailers by the dozen, and at the price of glass 

 and extracted honey today [Feb. 1, 1900| the half-pounds 

 should bring about $1.40 to $1.50 per dozen, and the pound 

 size $1.70 to $1.90 ; the former ordinarily retailing at 15 or 

 16 cents each, and the latter at 18 to 20 cents. 



After all, I must confess that I am not an authority on- 

 this subject. Who is ? But perhaps I have said something 

 that may at least serve to introduce the question. If a 

 good discussion follows, I shall feel repaid for making 

 the effort to " set the ball rolling." Cook Co., 111. 



Queen-Excluders from Foul-Broody Colonies. 



BY WM. M'EVOY. 



MR. EDITOR : — It will greatly oblige me if you will pub- 

 lish at once the following question and my answer to 

 it which appeared in the Canadian Bee Journal for 

 May, 1900 : 



Question.— Some time ajro I boii^rht a number of queeu-excluders 

 that had been ou bees that had foul brood. Will it in any way affect 

 them for future use ';' What precaution should I adopt, or should they be 

 discarded altogether'/ W. E. "i'., Tilsouburg. 



Answer.— Queen-excluders that have been used on foul-broody colo- 

 nies are perfectly safe to use on any hive of bees without disinfectinfr. 

 The larva; to become diseased MUST be fed in a cokkui't cell or with 

 DISEASE!* honey, and as (lueeu-excluders have notliing- on them for the 

 bees to feed to the brood, they can not disease any colony of bees. 



■Wm. McEvoy. 



The above question was sent to Mr. Craig, and he sent 

 it to me to answer thru his journal, which I did. Dr. Miller 

 — a level-headed man, and one of the best bee-keepers in 

 Uncle Sam's domain — agreed with the answer I gave. And 

 now, to my great surprise, I have just read in the American 

 Bee Journal for June 28, 1900, a very strong protest entered 

 there by Mr. Hasty, against the opinions held by Dr. Miller 

 and myself. 



In the Province of Ontario I have succeeded in getting 

 thousands of diseased colonies cured of foul brood, and in 

 every case the same old queen-excluders were used on the 

 cured colonies, without being disinfected in any way, and 

 no disease ever appeared after they were again used. 



If Mr. Hasty, and the other readers of the American 

 Bee Journal, will read page 12, of Dr. Howard's book on 

 foul brood, they will find that his test cases prove that my 



