52 



TEE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



3farc 



shares, each to have half of the in- 

 crease and half of the surplus honey. 

 This surplus was mostly obtained by 

 killing the weaker and poorer of the 

 colonies in the fall, with the fumes of 

 burning sulphur and then taking what- 

 ever honey they had laid up for the 

 winter. Thus, when fall came, the 

 neighbor and father would look over 

 the bees, and decide how many and 

 which colonies should be killed, after 

 which the honey obtained was divided 

 equally between them. If more was 

 obtained than was necessary for fami- 

 ly use, a portion was taken to our 

 nearest village, this being always the 

 best part, and exchanged for groceries, 

 boots, dry goods, etc. I can almost see 

 the pails of beautiful snow-white comb 

 honey father would take to town, as I 

 write, though forty-five years have 

 passed since then; this white honey 

 being taken mostly from after swarms 

 which were considered too light in 

 stores to winter. The darker combs, 

 and those partly filled with bee bread, 

 were left at home for our consump- 

 tion, to be used in the shape of 

 strained honey. The straining was 

 done by cutting up the combs till every 

 cell was broken and then putting the 

 whole into a bag made of thin cotton 

 cloth. The bag was then hung up near 

 the fire so it might be kept as warm 

 as possible, this making the honey 

 more thin so it would drain out better 

 into a vessel placed underneath. The 

 quality of this honey was very fair, 

 and if no dark or fall honey was in the 

 combs it would approximate nearly to 

 our white extracted honey of today. 

 After all had drained out, which would 

 do so by hanging by the fire, several 

 small sticks were placed across the top 

 of a large pan, kept for the purpose, 

 the bag placed on the sticks, and the 

 whole set in the oven. The oven wa? 

 kept as warm as possible and not melt 

 the wax very much, and in this way 

 quite a quantity of inferior honey was 

 obtained. 



Right here I wish to digress a little. 



During the late past we have ofte' 

 been told, where strained honey wa 

 being compared with extracted, tha 

 the latter was the clear nectar of th 

 flowers, free from all impurities, etc 

 while the former was of suspicion 

 character, obtained by mashing up th 

 combs of brood, pollen and honey, to 

 gether with whatever dead bees migh 

 adhere thereto, and squeezing th 

 whole through a cloth by wringin 

 with the hands. From all knowledge 

 have, I would as soon risk the cleanli 

 ness of strained honey as that of ex 

 tracted; for at our house, nothin; 

 looking like dead bees, brood, or filtt 

 was ever allowed in the sack fror 

 which the honey was strained, while 

 have seen disgusting-looking larva b; 

 the score, together with the food givei 

 them, floating on a vessel of hone; 

 where extracting was being done fron 

 the brood chamber of the hive, as i 

 very frequently practiced even at thi 

 time, although not nearly so much si 

 as at an earlier date in the existence o 

 the extractor. The killing of the bee; 

 to secure the honey, the destroying o 

 the combs, the mixing of the light anc 

 dark honey, and the slight taste o 

 pollen, was all that I could ever se< 

 that was objectionable to strainec 

 honey. 



But to return. After a few years, th( 

 bees from the first colony above re 

 ferred to, had so increased that a divis 

 ion was made, and the neighbor tool 

 away what belonged to him. Bj 

 this time I had become larg^ 

 enough so I could watch tht 

 bees, and during the month 

 Df June and July, whenever I was noi 

 at school, I was stationed near th( 

 apiary from 9 o'clock in the mornini 

 till 3 in the afternoon, to look foi 

 swarms. This soon became very tire 

 some, and I often begged to be allowed §"• 

 to go off with the other boys, but as 

 father thought that all should bear an 

 equal share of the burden of support 

 ing the family, according to thei; 

 strength and ability, I was kept at my 



