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fifties, but, alas, they never reach the 

 desired goal. Winter after winter 

 they lose most of their bees, until they 

 at last give up in disgust. 



The saving of expense is a matter to 

 be looked after in wintering. Bees 

 should be placed in the cellar early in 

 November, and left in until nearly 

 April 10, of course varying slightly with 

 the season. During this time they will 

 only consume from 5 to 10 pounds of 

 honey per colony, coming out with 

 plenty of young bees hatched, and 

 from 3 to 7 frames of nice brood ; 

 while bees out-of-doors will consume 

 in a corresponding length of time from 

 20 to 30 pounds of stores, and be just 

 fairly started to breed. Compute the 

 difference of honey used, at the small 

 sum of 10 cents per pound, and you 

 have at least $2.00 per colony — an 

 item on an apiary of 100 colonies, of 

 the sum of |200. Is this not worth 

 looking after ? 



Another expense is that of hives. 

 For wintering out-of-doors with any 

 degree of success, a chaff hive must be 

 used, costing from $2.50 to $3.00 more 

 than a good single-walled Langstroth 

 hive, requiring on 100 colonies an in- 

 vestment of from 1250 to $300, which 

 is no trifling item. Does some one 

 say, " a cellar costs something also ?" 

 True, an under-ground cellar large 

 enough to accommodate 100 colonies 

 would cost nearly $100 — which still 

 leaves a nice balance. 

 Bluffton, Ohio. 



RIPENING AND STORING HONEY. 



PRIZE ESSAY. 



Extracted Honey — Its Oreat 

 Yaliie as an Article of Food. 



Written tor the American Bee Journal 

 Br A. N. CLARK. 



The knottiest problem with which 

 the producer of extracted honey has to 

 contend, is to establish and maintain 

 a reliable honey market. The only 

 possible way to .solve this problem is 

 for all bee-masters to handle none but 

 a fine article. Confidence once thor- 

 oughly established, the custom of con- 

 suming Nature's sweet will be almost 

 sure to follow. 



To obtain the best quality, extract 

 from clean combs, from the supers, 

 and not from the brood-chamber. If 

 possible, avoid extracting from combs 

 containing pollen in the bottom of the 

 cells, as such pollen-charged honej' has 

 a disagreeable flavor. Keep the combs 

 clean at all times of the year. See 

 that the extractor and all other metal 

 receptacles are free from soluble rust. 

 In short, the utmost cleanliness is re- 

 quired from the time the combs are 

 removed from the hives, until the 

 honey is in the hands of the consumei'. 



As regards ripening, basswood honey 

 may be extracted before the cells are 

 completely capped, if immediately 

 placed in a hot, airy room. By this 

 method of evaporation, it loses some 

 of its strong, and, to many, disagree- 

 able flavor. But white clover, which 

 is deficient in flavoring-matter at its 

 best, should not be removed from the 

 hive until thoroughly ripened ; and 

 unless the apiarist has the best of 

 facilities for evaporating honey, he had 

 better leave all honey, even basswood, 

 to be ripened in the hive. 



Annually, the quality of hundreds of 

 tons of honey is ruined by improper 

 storage. If a dry, warm room cannot 

 be obtained, it should, on the day it is 

 extracted, be placed in barrels or cans 

 and sealed air-tight. 



In using barrels, avoid whisky bar- 

 rels, as they are usually charred inside, 

 and the crj'Stallized honey cannot be 

 removed without disturbing particles 

 of charcoal. Pine barrels or pails are 

 objectionable unless waxed, as they 

 impart a piney flavor. New oak-staves 

 are subject to a similar objection ; but 

 when these barrels have once contained 

 alcohol, they no longer impart a woody 

 flavor to honey. Alcohol being a 

 powerful solvent, it has dissolved out 

 of tlie staves the free tannic acid, 

 leaving the barrel in the best possible 

 condition for a honey-receptacle. 



In most localities, the best recepta- 

 cles for home trade, are those of tin, 

 well labeled, holding from one to 

 twelve pounds. When put in glass, 

 the honey should be heated and sealed 

 while hot, thus preserving the liquid 

 form longer than when put up cold. 

 With glass vessels, miall labels should 

 be used, as cleai% bright, liquid honey 

 is more attractive than any printed 

 label. 



that there are more philosophers than 

 angels.) 



Producers of extracted honey should 

 in various ways call attention to the 

 many uses of honey, its wholesome- 

 ness and cleanliness as compared with 

 sugars, molasses, and syrups, and its 

 economy as compared with comb 

 honey. 



It is a fact beyond dispute, that 

 owing to the nastiness and greediness 

 of those who handle the products of 

 sugar-cane and glucose, that molasses, 

 syrups and dark sugars are almost 

 unfit for human food. 



As the mineral poisons, chloride and 

 muriate of tin, are sometimes found in 

 white sugars ; and as commercial glu- 

 cose or grape sugar nearly always 

 contains free sulphuric acid and lime, 

 the only remaining wholesome sweets 

 are honey and sorghum. Of course, 

 the sugars contained in fruits are 

 wholesome, but are not produced on a 

 commercial scale. 



While cane-sugar has greater sweet- 

 ening power than honey, the latter has 

 the advantage of being more easily 

 assimilated by the digestive organs. 

 In fact, honey is so natural a food for 

 man, that good physiologists tell us 

 that it is already digested for us, and 

 all we have to do is to eat and assimi- 

 late. Cane sugar, on the contrary, 

 must be converted to grape-sugar be- 

 fore assimilation takes place. 



To substantiate what I have said re- 

 garding the comparative value of 

 honey as a pure, clean sweet, I would 

 that Dr. Kedzie — our able and 



THE USE OF CRYSTALLIZED HONEY. 



The apiarist should encourage the 

 use of crystallized honey for two rea- 

 sons : First, it is more convenient to 

 handle ; second, it proves its freedom 

 from commercial glucose — the only 

 adulterant that could possibly be used 

 at present prices. 



Yet, in spite of the fact that honey 

 sells for less than sugar, if an apiarist 

 uses sugar for winter stores, it will 

 hurt his home market, no m.atter who 

 he is, or who his customers are. Not 

 only must the apiarist be honest in 

 everything, but in many cases he 

 must be more than honest. 



With the wintering, swarming and 

 crop failure problems to contend, to 

 produce large crops, the apiarist needs 

 to be a philosopher ; but to readily dis- 

 pose of large crops he needs to be an 

 angel. (The present indications are 



say 



honorable State Chemist^at a meeting 

 of the Michigan State Board of Health 

 on Jan. 14, 1879, said that, as a gen- 

 eral thing, sugars in Michigan were 

 adulterated ; that poisonous materials 

 were used to color sugars, and that 

 cofl'ee sugars almost always contained 



Dr. T. D. Williams, of Chicago, 

 stated that he has found sugar products 

 almost invariably contaminated with 

 lead. 



As regards the use of sulphuric acid, 

 the State Assayer of Massachusetts, 

 says that he found as high as thirty 

 gi-ains of sulphuric acid to the pound 

 of sugar. 



Dr. Kedzie found in one sample of 

 syrup, 141 grains of sulphuric acid, 

 and 724 gr.ains of lime to the gallon ; 

 and in another, which had caused 

 serious sickness in a whole family, 72 

 grains of sulphuric acid, 28 gi-ains of 

 copperas, and 363 grains of lime to 

 the gallon. If any one doubts the 

 poisonous qualities of the above chemi- 

 cals, let him administer a dose to a 

 rat or worthless dog, and watch the 

 effect. 



Sugar manufacturers do not use 

 poisonous chemicals because they wish 



