Vol. XII 



Published Monthly by The W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co. 



JULY 1902 



No. 7 



Leaving Honey in the Hive Till 



Fully Sealed — Honey Candy= 



ing in the Comb, Etc, 



(G. M. Doolittle.) 



QUESTION:— Would you leave 

 honey on the hive till all or 

 nearly all the cells containing 

 honey in the sections are sealed overV 

 Or would it do to take the sections off 

 while there are quite a few unsealed 

 cells having honey in them? Please an- 

 swer through the American Bee-Keep- 

 er. 



Answer:- — I would always advise leav- 

 ing honey on the hive till it is sealed, 

 with the exception of times when other 

 honey of different color or inferior na- 

 ture is likely to be mixed or stored 

 with it. Other things being equal, tlie 

 fewer unsealed cells there are in any 

 section of honey, the better price it will 

 bring in the market, and all should 

 strive to put their honey before the oeo- 

 ple in the most marketable shape. But 

 where there comes a time, or season 

 where dark or inferior honey is likely 

 to be mixed with the white or best, the 

 "other things" would not then be 

 equal; hence I think it better to take 

 off all sections, whose combs in which 

 are three-fourths seale3, when this dark 

 honey is about to be mixed with it, and 

 try to ripen them so that they will be 

 fairly good for market, for such sec- 

 tions of honey if properly attended to 

 will bring very much more than they 

 would after they were left on the hive 

 for completion. The "properly attend- 



ed to'' consists, in my opinion, of stor- 

 ing said honey, as soon as taken from 

 the hive, in a dry airy room, which can 

 be kept at a temperature of about nine- 

 ty degrees, for. in such a place the 

 lioney will be growing better all the 

 time, whether sealed or unsealed- In 

 this way honey soon becomes so thick 

 that the honey in these unsealed ceHs 

 will not run out in crating or market- 

 ing, and if tipped over so that the cells 

 ■itand on end. as it were, not a drop will 

 t)e found to daub other sections or the 

 case or counter where it is stored. If 

 the reader has been a close observer he 

 has noted, that it is the "dauby, sticky 

 mess," that is always used as the rea- 

 son why honey that is unsealed should 

 not be taken from the hives. Why hon- 

 ey in unsealed cells seems to swell, and 

 gets thin and sour, and runs all over 

 things, is because the honey is kept in 

 an improper place, such as a cellar or 

 other cool damp room, where the best 

 of honey will deteriorate in time. and be- 

 come unfit for food. But at this day 

 and age of bee-keeping, all should know 

 that such are not proper places in which 

 to store honey, and the more that is said 

 in our bee papers against so storing, 

 the sooner will all bee-keepers know 

 better than to do so. With the right 

 kind of a place to store comb honey. I 

 think it is always best to take all sec- 

 tions which are from two-thirds to 

 three-fourths sealed over off the hive 

 just before the flow of inferior honey 

 commences, store them for a time as 

 above advised, and then crate them by 

 themselves, so as to make a grade of 

 such honey by itself. When so treated, 

 I find that it sells at from two to three 



