The honey "naturally assumed some of the 

 flavor of those ingredients, while it lost 

 some of its own flavor and changed to a 

 darker shade of color by being exposed to 

 the heat. 



Ill the beginning of 1871 my attention was 

 drawn to the honey extractor, a machine 

 advertised in the Eastern papers, and just 

 then coming into use. I obtained one, and 

 was probably the first one in Southern Cali- 

 fornia to take the honey in this way. — 

 Since then, all the principal bee-keepers 

 here have adopted the honey extractor. — 

 The honey comb, being built in frames 

 like those in the main hive, after having 

 been removed from the upper ])art of the 

 hive, is carried to the honey house, where it 

 is uncapped, or the covering removed with 

 a knife from the mouth of the cells. The 

 comb is tiien placed in the extractor, a very 

 simple machine, which, by centrifugal 

 force, throws the honey out of the cells. — 

 Tlie honey is then removed to the tank, 

 which generally is supplied with a strainer 

 to exclude bees and flies, and after standing 

 a short time, the scum and such diminutive 

 particles of the comb as are broken ott' in 

 extracting, rise to the surface to be skimmed 

 off, while the pure, clean honey is drawn ott' 

 from the bottom of the tank. This honey 

 is virtually pure virgin honey, so much 

 prized in ancient times, being removed 

 from the comb in a cold state, but by a 

 quicker method than of old, and being 

 unpointed by the bee bread, dead bees and 

 brood. 



It is this dift'erence between strained and 

 extracted honey, to which I desire to draw 

 the attention of the public, and I now mark 

 all my extracted honey as such. The honey 

 comb, after being emptied in the extractor, 

 is returned to the hive, to be refilled by the 

 bees. The sun strainer is now only used 

 for converting the cappings of the honey 

 comb into beeswax, and what little honey 

 adliering to the cappings, is obtained in this 

 way, should either be retained at the apiary, 

 to be fed to weak colonies in the spring, or 

 if sold at all, should be so with the clear 

 understanding that it is really strained 

 honey, and an inferior article after all. 



I would earnestly advise bee-keepers not 

 to extract their honey until it is fully or 

 nearly all capped over, as it is only proper 

 at this stage. It is much easier to throw 

 the honey out of the comb before it is 

 capped over than after, not only because it 

 saves the laborious work of uncapping, but 

 also because the honey is thin and watery, 

 and not until it has been evaporated by the 

 bees to the proper consistency, the sign of 

 which is that it is capped over, it is good, 

 ripe honey, pleasant and safe to eat under 

 all circumstances. It is a fact well known 

 among bee-keepers in the Eastern States 

 that uncapped honey will produce disease 

 among the bees that are confined to such 

 food during the long winter, just as unripe 

 fruit or half-baked bread would among 

 human beings ; and also, that honey which 

 is extracted before being ripe is very apt to 

 sour, thus bringing its own penalty for 

 throwing on tlie market an inferior article, 

 easily obtained, instead of a good article, 

 for which the producer can vouch and which 

 will give satisfaction to the consumer. 



There is a prevailing idea that candied 

 or granulated honey is inferior to liquid 

 honey. This is a serious mistake, the facts 

 of which ought to be more generally 

 known. Nearly all pure honey will granu- 

 late in course of time,— that from cei-tain 

 flowers having a tendency to granulate 

 quicker than that from others. Exposure 

 to a cold temperature is another cause of 

 this change, it is one test that the honey 

 is pure. Manufactured or adulterated 

 honey cannot be brought to granulate. In 

 France, honey cannot be sold except in this 

 state, as the public are coversant with the 

 fact, and know that as such they are buying 

 pure honey and not an adulterated article. — 

 If honey granulates, it is very simple to 

 return to its liquid state. Place the vessel 

 containing the honey in a kettle or boiler of 

 water ; bring this to a boiling point, and 

 before long the honey will become liquid as 

 when first taken from the hive, without 

 losing any of its original flavor or taste.— 

 The honey vessel should have a small 

 opening, sutflcient to let the air out, to pre- 

 vent the expansion of the air and honey 

 from bursting it. By liquifying a little at a 

 time, the different members of a family may 

 take their honey in which ever way they 

 please, many persons preferring the candied 

 to the liquid honey." 



Soutltjent %oUs. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Improvement of Bees. 



The question, with propriety, may be 

 asked: "Is the honey-bee susceptible of 

 improvement?" We answer, most emphati- 

 cally, it is. The improvement of the honey 

 bee has been greatly neglected. Importa- 

 tions have been made year after year, and 

 still we see no marked dift'erence in quality 

 from the first importations made years ago; 

 in fact the Italian bees imported of late 

 years, as a general thing, are not of as large 

 and fine color as those imported by Parsons 

 and others at an earlier date. Why is this? 

 Have they retrograded? or, have our later 

 importations been obtained from different 

 portions of the country, thus making the 

 difference in size, color and quality? This 

 difference has not been brought about by 

 breeding in this country, although no special 

 care lias been given them to obtain their 

 higliest perfection. Not one breeder in five 

 liundred or one thousand has ever made 

 a specialty of breeding for improvement in 

 any other way than to introduce, now and 

 then, fresh blood from imported stock. 

 When this is done they seem to think no 

 further improvement is necessary. Here is 

 where they fail to accomplish the highest 

 standard of' purity and excellence combined. 

 The breeders of our imported stock of cattle, 

 sheep, hogs, &c., make great improvements 

 upon their stock by selecting every time 

 from the very best until they have arrived 

 at the perfection of all the characteristics of 

 a fine, noble animal. They, in their wisdom 

 of improvement, have in many instances by 



