THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



G5 



and what not to do during this 

 ci-itical period. A wholesale "■sling- 

 ing out" is worse than letting the 

 bees have their own way. The 

 combs, which contain brood, even 

 if the cells not containing brood 

 are full of hone^^, should not be dis- 

 turbed at this early i^eriod, and 

 only tlie combs whicli are next to 

 those which contain brood should 

 be kept emptied by the extractor. 

 If this is done the young bees will 

 see that the queen has room, as 

 they will move the honey from the 

 cells adjoining the brood and store 

 it in the empt3^ combs. Of course 

 it will not do to wait for the honey 

 to evaporate in the hives in this 

 case, but it is not best to empty 

 any of the combs more than once. 

 Tliis can be avoided by extracting 

 the honej' from the combs Avhich 

 contain the thickest honey and 

 shifting the empty combs next to 

 the brood. 



By following this method the bees 

 are not discouraged in the least, 

 and the brood apartments are left 

 in the proper condition for the bees 

 to enter the surplus apartments 

 when the white clover begins to 

 yield its precious stores. 



This thin honey should be put in- 

 to open vessels (I prefer tin buck- 

 ets as tliey are quite handy to 

 move about) and if a thin cloth is 

 drawn tightly over the openings it 

 will keep out all insects and dust, 

 and will not be in the way of rapid 

 evaporation. Setting the vessels 

 right in the sun will hasten the pro- 

 cess of evaporation. 



Of course these remarks apply 

 only to localities where the locust 

 a1)ounds ; and I wish to say here, 

 as to whatever doubts may exist 

 as to whether it will pay to plant 

 honey-producingplants and trees, 

 it will pay to plant the locust, both 

 for the timl)er and for the honey it 

 furnishes the bees. The locust 

 with us yields honej'' as profusely 

 as does the linden, and in m}' opin- 



ion of much better quality. The 

 difBculty to overcome is tlie brief 

 period of the locust run. It comes 

 like an avalanche lasting not longer 

 than seven or eight days. 



To reap the benefits of its copi- 

 ous but brief visitation the extrac- 

 tor must be employed as the bees 

 have no time to build combs or 

 even to draw out foundation in 

 which to store the nectar. 



As soon as the locust harvest is 

 thoroughl}^ gleaned, if the white 

 clover is nearly ready I commence 

 to adjust the surplus furniture. 

 Having made up my mind before- 

 hand as to the shape in which I 

 shall produce my hone}^, and having 

 everything ready, the work goes 

 steadily forward without any loss of 

 time. To supply my home market 

 with all the comb honey it will take, 

 I adopt the plan which experience 

 has taught me will give the greatest 

 quantity of good comb honey, and 

 in such shape as best suits that part 

 of my trade. In arriving at a con- 

 clusion concerning this matter, I 

 take nothing into consideration ex- 

 cept the wants of my customers, 

 and the pecuniary interest of my 

 apiary. I used to produce nearly 

 all my comb in "fancy" shape for 

 my home trade, as well as for the 

 trade in the towns and city, but I 

 found that the laboring people who 

 purchase honey at my apiary store 

 had no appetite for "fancy ;" they 

 wanted lioney, and to meet their 

 wants I commenced to experiment 

 with four and six pound packages 

 and when I got them in proper 

 shape I found that I could produce 

 more honey — decidedly more — in 

 the large packages than in one 

 pound sections, and with a great 

 deal less labor and expense. 



When applied to box space for 

 comb honey I have found it requires 

 about thirty-four square inches to 

 the pound of comb honey ; this in- 

 cludes bee space for passways, etc. 

 A six pound box, then, should be 



