458 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Let us rally to the Union at once, 

 and let us remember that the $l.i5 is 

 the important part of our rally. 

 When we have our report, about Aug. 

 ], it will andean only include those 

 who have joined and paid. Let us 

 show the world a rousing defense for 

 the right. 



Dowagiac, P Mich. 



■ San Francisco Morning Call. 



The Production of Honey. 



STEARNS & SMITH. 



Marli the bee : 

 She. too, an artist is--a cunning artist— 

 who at the roof begins her golden worlt. 

 And builds without foundation. How she tolls. 

 And still from bed to bed, from flower to flower. 

 Travels the liTelong day ! 



Saxe thus refers to a little insect, 

 whose labors in the Commonwealth of 

 California result yearly in a product, 

 the sales of which, at home and in 

 foreign lands, aggregate hundreds of 

 thousands of dollars. In the work of 

 this "cunning artist" lie the means 

 of support of thousands of people who 

 are building up what may be termed 

 one of the great industries of the 

 State. 



The honey-bee gives us a sweet- 

 meat which all the iirt of the modern 

 confectioner cannot equal. Unlike 

 anything else of the nature of candy 

 —not even excepting sugar or syrup — 

 it is a food article in itself, the others 

 being merely necessary adjuncts to 

 some other article of diet. From time 

 immemorial, back into the remotest 

 ages of scripture, honey has held its 

 position as an article of food ; and 

 while, perhaps, in this country it 

 partakes mure of the nature of a des- 

 sert dish— a sort of dainty to be eaten 

 as one eats sauce or cake— still among 

 the older nations of Europe and Asia 

 it usurps, to a considerable extent, 

 the place held by butter on our tables, 

 and, it is safe to say, is more gen- 

 erally seen and used than butter, par- 

 ticularly on the continent among the 

 peasantry and the poorer classes. 



Honey is the saccharine juices of 

 plants which the bee finds in the 

 flowers. This is the base of lioney ; 

 for while in the honey-sac of the bee 

 it undoubtedly undergoes some modi- 

 fication, and its chemical character 

 changes considerably ; but still it, to 

 a very great extent, retains the flavor, 

 and to some extent the peculiar prop- 

 erties, of the plant from the flower of 

 which it was taken. That this is so 

 is proven, that by a microscopical ex- 

 amination different varieties of pollen 

 are found; and the lens thus determ- 

 ining the plant, it is easy to guess 

 pretty accurately from what vicinity 

 came" the honey. The color of the 

 flower, and its being coarse or deli- 

 cate, has much to do with the color 

 of the honey. If the flower is one of 

 delicate perfume, the honey will be of 

 a much finer flavor, while if the bee 

 sips from the flowers of the coarser 

 species of plants, the honey will be 

 noticeably poorer. 



It is the fashion aniong dealers, 

 when they receive a shipment of very 

 white honey of line flavor and delicate 

 aroma, to label it " Orange blossom 

 honey," and thus get a fancy price for 



for it. The amount of honey obtained 

 by the bees from the blossom of the 

 orange tree is, however, quite small, 

 the fact being that by far the princi- 

 pal portion of the choice honey which 

 enters this market is stored by the 

 bees from the juice of the white sage, 

 mingled, of course, though in much 

 smaller proportion, with those of 

 other plants ; while honey gathered in 

 districts in which the white sage, or 

 some equally delicate flower, does not 

 abound, is apt to be coarser in flavor, 

 and much darker in color. 



Comb honey is preferred by those 

 who are able to expend some money 

 upon their tables, because it seems 

 more like honey when the comb is 

 present than it does when it is not ; 

 but for the poorer classes, and for 

 purposes of export, extracted honey is 

 required. 



A close observer would naturally 

 inquire why comb honey is always 

 worth in the market from 4 to 6 cents 

 per pound more than the extracted. 

 There is little or no labor necessary 

 in preparing the former for market. 

 There it is in the hive, and all that is 

 necessary is to take it out, box it, and 

 send it away ; while with the latter 

 there must "be a large amount of labor 

 in separating the honey from the 

 comb. The answer is simple — it is 

 all owing to the extractor. When the 

 comb honey is removed from the hive, 

 there is nothing left for the bees to 

 work upon. In order to produce more 

 honey, they must prepare the comb 

 and cells to receive it, and this re- 

 quires a very considerable amount of 

 lime. Therefore, quite an interval 

 must elapse before there is enough 

 honey to warrant another shipment ; 

 and besides, the hives must not be 

 entirely stripped— a little must be 

 left for the tenants to feed upon. 

 The result of all this is to keep the 

 crop down, although there are fre- 

 quently seasons when comb honey is 

 a drug in the market, almost invaria- 

 bly during years when the bees have 

 had a long series of flowers, dis- 

 tributed through many weeks, upon 

 which to feed. 



Unquestionably, there is very much 

 more labor necessary in preparing the 

 extracted honey, but when the opera- 

 tion is explained, the reason for its 

 being cheaper will be manifest. A 

 comb is taken from the hive and a 

 keen, thin-bladed knife passes over 

 the surface and shaves off a slice of 

 the smallest conceivable thickness. 

 This opens every cell, however, and 

 the honey is extracted, after which 

 the other side is treated in the same 

 manner, and there you have the comb 

 with not so much as a cell destroyed, 

 and yet all of the honey removed 

 from them. 



This comb is returned to the hive 

 from which it is taken. The bees are 

 not obliged to devote any time to 

 making comb, for they have it before 

 them. Tliere is nothing for them to 

 do but to, perhaps, repair the mouths 

 of the cells a little, and then fly away 

 over field and through orchard and 

 garden after honey, or, rather, what 

 will be honey after the little artisans 

 and chemists finish with it. The 

 same comb can be thus treated, and 



the bees not being delayed as they are 

 when they are compelled to make 

 comb, the farmer, with an extractor, 

 can produce and ship to market 

 double the amount of extracted that 

 he can of comb honey, and conse- 

 quently he can afford to sell it much 

 cheaper. 



After the bees has filled a cell with 

 honey, it does not at once proceed to 

 close the cell tight. It blocks the 

 orifice so that none of the contents 

 can escape, but leaves a hole for the 

 purpose, it is supposed, of admitting 

 the air and permitting some necessary 

 chemical change to take place. When 

 this has occurred, the bee closes the .. 

 hole, and the contents are ready to 

 be removed ; and such honey can be 

 kept for an indefinite period without 

 its candying, while if it is extracted 

 before this final act on the part of the 

 manufacturer announces that it is 

 perfect, granulation is almost certain 

 to ensue. Solidified honey can be re- 

 stored to the liquid state by immers- 

 ing the can which contains it, in a 

 kettle of boiling water ; but after it is 

 so transformed, it is of a darker color 

 than before, and it will not be long 

 before it will again resolve itself into 

 the granulated form. 



Nearly all the candied honey is 

 bought in this market by exporters, 

 principally for shipment to France 

 and Germany, where it is generally 

 worth fully double what it is here. 

 The solid honey is preferred for ex- 

 port, for the reason that it can be 

 bought for from 2 to 3 or 4 cents per 

 pound less, and also that on the other 

 side of the Atlantic the consumer 

 seems to feel that because it is can- 

 died it is not adulterated, at the same 

 time looking with suspicion upon the 

 imported liquid honey, even though 

 it be of the finest the State can pro- 

 duce. Whether it is because Califor- 

 nia flowers have a sweeter perfume 

 than those which grow beyond its 

 borders, and yield juices which pro- 

 duce finer honey than is found else- 

 where, or whether it is owing to a 

 more thorough understanding of the 

 industrious little insect and its work, 

 and how to handle its product, is left 

 for wiser heads to discover ; but cer- 

 tain it is that our honey has already 

 established a reputation abroad which 

 is growing better annually, and on 

 account of which the demand for it is 

 steadily increasing every year. 

 San Francisco,+o Calif. 



tURLET 



Bees Destroying their Drones. — Wm. 



H. Graves, Duncan.© Ills., on July 

 1-5, 188.5, writes : 



From 41 colonies, spring count, I have 

 liad only 17 swaims— less than one-half; 

 and they are now busy destroying their 

 drones. Basswood is the fullest of bloom 

 that it ha."! becMi for years, and white 

 clciver lias been plenty. It has been pretty 

 dry fur the past three weeks, and the bees 

 have been aole to work only in the morn- 

 ing and evening. 



