446 



THE? SMEmiCfilf MMM JQ-WmMMLe. 



*-^^^*-^' 



the hives it would have absorbed ele- 

 ments that banish doubts of genuine- 

 ness from the minds of the most in- 

 credulous. It may require an expert 

 to tell whether a poor article of honey 

 was put up by the bees, but any kind 

 of a judge can readily distinguish it 

 when it has remained in the hives a 

 few months. 



There is needed, enough combs to 

 carrv the whole crop until the time of 

 sale" before extracting it from the 

 combs. This is considerable expense, 

 but it should be remembered that a 

 good article cannot be secured so 

 cheaply as a poorer one. This plan 

 seems to be the only alternative. Ex- 

 tracted honey that has been sealed up 

 in the combs six months, is not more 

 expensive to the apiarist at 8 cents per 

 pound, than comb honey at 14 cents. 

 Neither is honey in the comb more 

 agreeable to the taste than it is out of 

 the comb, except that so much depends 

 upon the time when it is extracted, or, 

 more accurately, the place where it is 

 ripened. 



Apiculture has the reputation of 

 being an embarkation that requires 

 not very much capital, and especially 

 so in the production of extracted 

 honey. As the combs are the apiarist's 

 capital, and as liquid honey is more 

 cheaply stored in barrels than in 

 combs, it is an incentive for the use of 

 the extractor too earlj- and too often, 

 getting along with not more than one- 

 fourth the number of combs. 



The honey of the old-fogy and 

 "gum" bee-keepers was allowed to 

 remain in the " gum " until late in the 

 fall, and hundreds there are using 

 honey, harvested by modern methods, 

 who say that it does not taste so de- 

 licious as it used to. 



Extracted honey should be classed 

 as first, second and third quality — not 

 basswood, clover and buckweat ; and 

 the tirst grade should be marketed in 

 the fanciest shape possible, and de- 

 serves the highest price, as a luxury. 

 A good article has qualities that com- 

 mend it to any use, but. considering 

 the price, it is not as salable for vine- 

 gar-making as a poorer grade. Nor 

 will it give better satisfaction. To put 

 anything but the best quality of honey 

 in small, showy packages educates 

 suspicion, and often takes but one dose 

 to a customer. 



Those who buy honey in small 

 quantities want the best, with but 

 little regard as to what it costs. What- 

 ever the quality or kind the honey 

 may be, it has a highly respectable use, 

 and should be sold for some special 

 purpose. It has more uses than one, 

 and must be varied in price to enable 

 it to hold its own in competition with 

 other substances. The strongest point 

 in its favor, is the fact that tliere are 



so many grades, and all so nicely 

 adapted to special use. 



A custom of selling all extracted 

 honey in small packages is belittling 

 to the business, and casts the idea that 

 a little of it is all that is of any use, 

 and thereby the small package trade is 

 doing a great deal that prevents ex- 

 tracted honey becoming an article for 

 general and wholesale consumption. 

 The best package for it is a farmer's 

 milk-can, holding from 40 to 60 pounds, 

 and with them I have disposed of the 

 largest quantity and made the easiest 

 sales. 



It is preferable to shovel granulated 

 honey from the barrels into the re- 

 ceptacles brought by customers, as it 

 is likely to make a broad, every-day 

 impression, and is in accordance with 

 their ideas of handling a staple article. 

 It is the common folks who use the 

 most honey, who eat heartily, pur- 

 chase in considerable quantities, and 

 want it at all seasons. 



It should be supplied at all times of 

 the year, by the bee-keepers in local 

 markets, so that when a market is once 

 created, it will not be allowed a long 

 space of time in which to die out. 

 Those who have put a dependence 

 upon it will change it for something 

 else, if it is not supplied the year 

 round. 



When honey is a luxury, it is mostly 

 eaten in the fall — perhaps on Thanks- 

 giving or Christmas, and is soon gone, 

 not to return until another year. To 

 treat a staple article in like manner, 

 i.s comparable to using up the winter's 

 supply of fuel in one week, and sitting 

 by a frosty stove the rest of the time. 



There is great need of bee-keepers 

 adopting some co-operative methods in 

 the matter of production, marketing 

 and general reports that people may 

 have customs that are reasonably staid 

 to accustom themselves to, and to 

 assist the whole people in the eflbrts to 

 put in practice the oft-repeated argu- 

 ment of patronizing home industries, 

 which is applicable to the honej'-indus- 

 try as a substitute for sugar and 

 syrup. 



" My favorite method of selling 

 quickly, is to load a wagon with 100- 

 pound, 50-pound and 25-pound kegs, 

 and drive over a certain route once or 

 twice a mouth. Upon the wagon-box 

 is printed in large, plain letters the 

 word "HONEY." It is best to take 

 more than one grade and kind, and, in 

 selling, full explanations should be 

 furnished for the use to which it may 

 be put. 



That granulation is a characteristic 

 of pure honey, is now so well under- 

 stood, that is an instance of excep- 

 tional ignorance on the part of one 

 unacquainted therewith. One or more 

 kegs should be furuishcd with honej-- 



gates, and so arranged that a pair of 

 scales bearing the customer's jar may 

 be placed upon it imder the gate, and 

 small amounts of honey be weighed 

 out. 



Although I have frequently been 

 told that there was adulterated liquid 

 honej- in existence, in all my travels I 

 have never succeeded in finding a 

 pound of it, and consequently I may 

 be deficient on that phase of the 

 subject. 



Bradford, Iowa. 



LATE SWARMS. 



How to jUake liiem Profitable 

 to the Apiarist. 



Written for the Amcricmi Rxiral Home 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



It is the custom of many bee-keepers 

 to hive new swarms on a new stand at 

 all times of the year, and while this is 

 profitable in the early part of the sea- 

 son, it is often ruinous so far as a crop 

 of surplus honey is concerned, where 

 practiced the latter part of the honey 

 harvest. 



As the season advances, a different 

 plan is needed from that used during 

 June, and after considerable stndy 

 along this line I hit upon the following 

 plan which has worked to my complete 

 satisfaction. As soon as a swarm is 

 seen issuing, I take six frames of comb 

 and two wide frames of sections, put- 

 ting the same into a box or hive which 

 is convenient to carry, and when I 

 arrive at the hive from which the 

 swarm is coming out, I take the frames 

 from the box and place them down by 

 the hive. The hive is now opened, 

 and all the frames of brood and honey, 

 with the adhering bees, taken out and 

 placed in the box, after which the two 

 wide frames are placed one at each 

 side of the hive, and the six frames of 

 comb put between them. The hive is 

 now re-ari-anged and closed. 



If the weather is warm, and there 

 are many bees on the frames of brood 

 in the box, about one-third of them 

 are shaken off in front of the hive, 

 when the box is placed in the shade a 

 rod or two away, so that none of the 

 bees from the swarm will find it while 

 thev are being hived, which is the next 

 thing to do ; hiving them in the re- 

 arranged hive on the old stanil. If 

 the weather is cool, or but few bees 

 are on the combs of brood, omit the 

 shaking off, for it will want all of them 

 to keep the brood in good condition. 



Now take the box and place the 

 combs in an empty hive, placing the 

 hive where you wish it to stand, and 

 and after all is nicely fixed, leave 

 them until the next morning. At any 

 time during the forenoon give them a 



