152 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



cast two natural swarms each, and tlie 

 first swarm tu cast one, making my in- 

 crease from one to four. As soon as tlie 

 honey flow begins to slacken in March or 

 April, 1 would feed lightly every evening 

 after sundown. This light feeding keeps 

 the queens laying and the colonies in fine 

 contfition to take hold of the summer 

 hoiiey-tlow. As soon as honey begins to 

 come in freely in May, I would put on the 

 top sections, and in each hive I would put 

 one frame of uncapped brood, and the rest 

 of the frame filled with empty combs or 

 foundation, watch them for a day or two 

 and see that they commence storing there. 



As soon as the comos were one-third 

 capped, I should go around with my comb 

 bo.xes and take up nearly all and put 

 empty combs where full ones had been 

 removed. This I should continue to do 

 so long as the flow lasted, making the 

 rounds as often as I could do so and find 

 the honey from one-third to one-half cap- 

 ped. By the middle of July I would be- 

 gin to look for efforts to swarm again and 

 take measures to prevent it. I should be 

 particular not to extract so as to leave 

 less than 30 pounds of honey in the hives 

 at the close of this flow. If it continued 

 longer than I expected, and there was 

 more honey in the hive when the close of 

 the flow came, I would take up the sur- 

 plus, working under a bee-tent the while 

 to prevent robbing. If, during the fall 

 and early winter honey-flow, the hives 

 were filled, I would take out a part to give 

 room for more, but only enough for tliat. 



If I now had nearly as many bees as I 

 wanted, I would leave all the top sections 

 on for the next season. 



As I said before, I would take up my 

 honey and extract it as soon as it is from 

 one-third to one-half cajiped, and 1 would 

 then cure it by placing it in tanks in the 

 sun, or by running it through an evapora- 

 tor under glass, on bright, sunny days, 

 and then barrel and bung it up tight. For 

 home trade 1 consider small packages, 

 such as honey-bottles or tbe tfn pails now 

 so much used, the best ; but for sending 

 long distances there is nothing better 

 than a good, 40gallon cypress barrel well 

 waxed inside. 



Mr. Wallace (Out.) asked what Mr. 

 Hart used for waxing Iionev-barrels. 



Mr. Hart replied that he" used par- 

 affine because of its cheapness. He 

 extracts the honey before it is capped, 

 and then cures it by evaporation. 



Mr. Muth cures his honey by evapo- 

 ration, lets it stand and granulate sol- 

 idly ; then it is good, and keeps well. 



Mr. Flournoy did not like hard- 

 wood barrels. Cypress kegs are best 

 and need no waxing. 



Mr. Viallon extracts the honey when 

 it is about i;j capped, lets it settle for 

 12 hours and then draws it oft from 

 the bottom, leaving about a barrel in 

 his tank. He found Cypress barrels 

 better than hard-wood ones ; they do 

 not leak and need no waxing. 



Ur. Grinsell (Mo.) used oak barrels 

 and had no loss of honey ; they were 

 alcohol barrels, and were iron bound. 



^Ir. Viallon said that the cypress 

 barrels should be made up a year be- 

 fore needed, and then re-coopered. 

 Honey will go through barrels that 

 would bold molasses. 



Thos. (i. Newman was then called 

 upon for a speech upon 



THK TRANSPORTATION OF HONEY. 



Mr. President Ladies and Gentlemen : 



Before discussing the theme as- 

 signed to me, allow me to remark that 

 the present occasion presents much 



food for thought. The magnitude and 

 splendor of the World's Exposition 

 (the existence of which has brought 

 this congress together) deserves more 

 than a passing remark; still, in our 

 thirst for apicultural knowledge and 

 the exchange of views on that ever- 

 advancing pursuit, we can digress but 

 a moment to remark that its wonder- 

 ful " exhibition " of the progress and 

 improvement of the present inventive 

 age is astounding. 



Among the industries of this great 

 continent, that of honey-production is 

 by no means the least. From the 

 Ijnited States, Canada, Cuba, Mexico 

 and Brazil, enough " concentrated 

 sweetness '' is annually gathered to 

 make an industry of very respectable 

 proportions. 



The honey crop of America for the 

 present year is estimated to be worth 

 about sixty millions of dollars, (Jj of 

 it being iu the comb and fi extracted). 

 The wax product amounts to over one 

 million of dollars. 



These figures give a grand idea of 

 the dignity of our mission, the mag- 

 nitude of the work before us, and the 

 exalted possibilities that inspire us to 

 fresh zeal and grander achievement. 

 Behold ! how invention and art and 

 science have followed our pursuit in 

 all its progressive steps ! 



This grand amount of comb honey 

 must be produced in such a manner 

 that it may be placed upon the markets 

 of the world in the most attractive 

 form ; stored in strong combs, safely 

 guarded by neat but attractive bands 

 of wood, and these again should be 

 placed in glassed crates which will 

 show the honey, to attract the atten- 

 tion of the lovers of the beautiful and 

 captivate the eye of those who relish 

 the deliciousness of the Clod-given 

 sweetness. 



The apiarist should give his personal 

 attention to its crating, grading and 

 shipping, so that he may be positive 

 as to the details, should any question, 

 involving these, be raised by the con- 

 signee. The inexperienced and care- 

 less ones are always a detriment and 

 sometimes ruin the market, for their 

 more careful and experienced neigh- 

 bors. They take an inferior grade of 

 honey, put up in irregular and soiled 

 packages, to market early, just to get 

 a little money, and sell for any price 

 offered ; and this often settles the 

 price for that locality and season, and 

 the attractive honey is either sacrificed 

 to their carelessness, or shipped to 

 another market. If shipped away to 

 market it must not be packed in straw 

 or chaff ; but put in small crates con- 

 taining a single tier and placed with 

 the top-bar downward, which is the 

 strongest way, and will prevent much 

 breaking down. Ship by freight for 

 the expiessage will be so high that it 

 will take off all the profits, and is, in 

 nearly all cases, liable to as much 

 damage as when sent by freight. See 

 to its packing in the car, wagon or 

 vehicle, and place the combs length- 

 wise to the engine but crosswise to 

 the horses, and give direction not to 

 have it unloaded on trucks, but inva- 

 riably to be unloaded by hand. 



Honey when it is extracted from 

 the combs, should be thoroughly 



ripened and placed in receptacles to 

 suit the market for which it is in- 

 tended. Some confectioners, and 

 others who use honey extensively, 

 may be satisfied with large casks (clean 

 and sweet), but the majority who buy 

 it at wholesale prefer it put up in kegs 

 holding from 50 to 200 pounds. The 

 retailer will need it put up in pails, 

 jars, cans or tumblers of various sizes 

 and shapes to suit the fancy of con- 

 sumers. When thus put up, it is good 

 for years. 



To transport honey from the apiary 

 to the " centres of commerce " with 

 perfect safety, and at the same time 

 inexpensively, should be the aim of all 

 honey-producers, but there are many 

 difficulties in the way. Railroad com- 

 panies have heretofore erred greatly 

 in the classification of "bees" and 

 '■ honey." They have classed hives of 

 bees at double first-class rates, which 

 is very unjust — making the charges 

 equal to those for sending by express. 

 Then, by the mistaken use of the 

 word " hive " for colony — empty hives, 

 by many railroads, have heretofore 

 been classed the same as those con- 

 taining bees, greatly to the detriment 

 of those who buy hives from manu- 

 facturers. They should go as " empty 

 boxes," at about one-eighth of the cost 

 now demanded for freight by some 

 railroads. 



In one tariff to which our attention 

 has just been called, " bees in hives " 

 are 4th class ; but while bee-hives in 

 car-load lots are 6th class, single 

 " bee-hives " are double first-class, 

 and prepayment of charges demanded! 

 The utter foolishness of such can 

 only be explained by the fact that the 

 one who arranged it, knew nothing 

 about bee-keeping ! Bee-hives {i. e. 

 empty boxes) are charged double first 

 class (say $2.00), while " bees in 

 hives" go for 60 cents! from New 

 York to Chicago. Let me request 

 this Congress to take the matter in 

 hand, appoint a committee to wait 

 upon the next meeting of the Trans- 

 portation Agents, and endeavor to 

 have these " ratine " revised— thor- 

 oughly and rationally- 



In the matter of shipping honey to 

 market— the classification is so high 

 that it amounts to almost a robbery- 

 and to seek relief, some bee-keepers 

 ship extracted honey as " syrup," at 

 less than half the rates demanded for 

 honey. Tariffs ought to be revised, 

 and liquid honey should be rated the 

 same as syrup. 



Those bee-keepers who have a desire 

 to be exactly right, and feel delicate 

 about the matter of shipping honey as 

 syrup, are, therefore, compelled to pay 

 double the amount which their less 

 scrupulous neighbors have to pay for 

 freight to the large martsof the world. 

 Some grades of syrup sell as high as 

 honey, and there is no reason why 

 both should not be graded alike, when 

 one is as easily and cheaply handled 

 as the other. 



Having taken the initiative, to have 

 this matter remedied, we have felt it 

 to be our duty to follow the matter up 

 by using our mtluenceon the railroads 

 to have the matter satisfactorily ad- 

 justed, and as a result, we now have 

 new classifications on the through 



