No. 4.] BEE KEEPING. 381 



rear brood, it is best to take the bees from the cellar for good. Accord- 

 ing to the location, this will be in March or early April. 



If you have difficulty in maintaining the proper heat, it is customary 

 to reduce the temperature by putting in the cellar for a few hours a 

 cake of ice or some snow. If you need to raise the temperature, you 

 can do so by burning an oil lamp. 



It will pay all those who have any number of colonies, or neighbors, 

 to combine to build a bee cellar. The labor of doing this is slight, as 

 is the trouble of putting the bees in the cellar and taking them out; 

 and the security is great. With a little experience and reason, any 

 one will be able to winter his bees this way. 



Caring for the Crop and marketing it. 



We have so far considered factors which may facilitate getting more 

 honey and doing a better bee business. But the thought of what to do 

 with the crop after we have it, how to care for it and how best to market 

 it, seldom enters our consideration. All we look for is the honey; we 

 are not particular to keep it sweet, clean and unharmed by the moths. 



One of the most difficult things in apiculture is to properly keep and 

 to prepare the honey crop for market. The extracted crop is most 

 easily handled, for it can be run into cans, of the producers' choice, 

 sealed and set away for market. To put up an attractive package of 

 extracted honey is an art, and requires no little thought and skill. 



In this connection, we hope that every bee keeper will take pains to 

 send 5 cents to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Print- 

 ing Office, Washington, D. C, for an admirable paper by Dr. E. F. 

 Phillips and Dr. C. A. Browne, on the " Production and Care of Ex- 

 tracted Honey, with Methods of Honey Testing for the Bee Keepers." 

 This paper, just issued by the Department of Agriculture, should be in 

 the hands of every bee keeper. 



Unfortunately, it is difficult to obtain in any convenient, family 

 size package, good extracted honey in our Massachusetts market. 

 It is all in either small glass packages, which are mere samples and 

 are expensive, or it is in cases of two 60-pound cans, which are difficult 

 for the private customer to obtain except through the wholesaler. 



In preparing the comb honey crop we can do no better than to follow 

 the procedure of a gentleman who ships the finest comb clover honey 

 which we have ever seen. We have often heard what care Mr. R. H. 

 Holmes of Shoreham, Vt., takes with his crop, and we well know the 

 high rank it commands in the market. 



In the first place, Mr. Holmes stores his sections, as fast as they come 

 from the super, in an attic where it is dry and hot (not hot enough to 

 melt the wax). This allows the honey to ripen, and prevents a chem- 

 ical change in its constitution, which frequently happens if stored in a 

 damp atmosphere. 



In the fall, when it is shipping time, each section is carefully 



