14 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



the sugar of to-day ; and the health 

 of the race improved in proportion. 

 Larrabee's Point, Vt. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



PRODUCTION OF HONEY 



G. W. Demaree. 



For about ten years I have pro- 

 duced lioney on a large scale, 

 though not in so great a quantity 

 as some of our specialists in the 

 business. 



In all these years I have advo- 

 cated the plan of taking honey both 

 in and out of the comb. 1 presume 

 that 1 have been influenced in this 

 matter altogether by tlie results of 

 good management. I have followed 

 this course because it has paid me 

 well to do so. It might not pay 

 every honey producer to follow our 

 plan, but in my opinion it would 

 pay him if he would use the proper 

 means to build up a home trade for 

 his honey. All that is necessary 

 to start a trade in honey out of the 

 comb is to introduce the article to 

 the tables of the people. This is 

 best done by leaving samples at 

 their houses. Many mistakes are 

 made by extracting the honey be- 

 fore the bees liave fully evaporated 

 it, and sealed the combs. If yon 

 once sell a few pounds of honey 

 that sours on the hands of your 

 customers, your trade will be crip- 

 pled seriously. If I have succeeded 

 in building up a profitable honey 

 trade, more from one cause than 

 another, it is because I will not lill 

 an order with anything but the 

 very best article of honey that good 

 management and good conditions 

 will finnish. In the rainy year of 

 18<S2, nearly all of my honey crop 

 was inferior in color and flavor, 

 and was not as thick as it usually 

 is. I sold none of that honey with- 

 out explaining to my customers its 



inferior quality, and advising them 

 to take but little of it, as I did not 

 believe that it was suflficiently evap- 

 orated, owing to the wet season, 

 to insure its saving qualities. By 

 this straightforward course my 

 trade was not injured in the least. 

 " Honesty is the best policy," 

 though it is a shame to be actua- 

 ted by the lowest of motives. I 

 knew a case where a large honey 

 producer lost his reputation, in- 

 jtned himself i\m\ his brother bee- 

 keepers by selling a fifty pound 

 keg of honey that was so thin that 

 it soured. It was sold to a gro- 

 cery man who retailed it out, and 

 it did its evil work ettectually. 



If all beginners in bee culture 

 would follow the advice of Messrs. 

 Dadant and Son, and others who 

 have insisted on leaving the honey 

 with the bees till it is thoroughly 

 evaporated and the combs sealecl, 

 instead of following the " short 

 cuts" advised by a number of wri- 

 ters on this subject, they would at 

 least avoid being "• sfumbling 

 blocks " to the bee business. There 

 are a few experts who can gener- 

 ally evaporate their thin-taken 

 honey, by artificial means, and 

 make a ",syrup" of it, but I hold 

 that to preserve all the virgin purity 

 and flavor of honey, taken from the 

 comb, it should only be subjected 

 to the open air just long enough to 

 sufler the air babbles to esca|)e 

 from it, when it should be closed 

 up as tightly as possil)le. 



Now I believe that the necessity 

 that some people see for taking 

 their honey as soon as the combs 

 are filled, is brought about by a 

 defect in their hive system. The 

 deep hives, though suitable for 

 brood-rearing, are not suitable for 

 tiering u[), and to wait for the bees 

 to seal up the combs in a hive su- 

 per or case that is too deep to be 

 tiered to good advantage is a serious 

 loss of time. Hence, the honey 

 must be taken before it is properly 



