IfMl 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



145 



nicely as if left on the hive; and no room 

 is fio to store honey in for any length of 

 time which cannot command such a 

 temperature; for with a cooler tempera- 

 ture, especially if the room is damp, the 

 combs will soon have a watery look to 

 them, this being caused by the dampness 

 causing the honey to swell or expand 

 until it touches the capping to the cell!>; 

 and, if long continued, will cause the 

 cells to " weep" and the honey to sour. 

 If the temperature mentioned above 

 cannot be maintained, or very nearly so, 

 in the room in which we store our honey, 

 an oil stove or heater will be found an 

 excellent thing, as the wicks can be 

 turned up or down so as to give the de- 

 sired temperature at all times. Having 

 It in such a warm room, it will be neces- 

 sary to look at it often, for this high 

 temperature will cause the eggs of the 

 wax moth to hatch, should there be such 

 on the combs. If little flour-like lines 

 are seen on many of the combs, *hus 

 showing that the little larvfe have com- 

 menced their work, it will be necessary 

 to destroy them in some way, or they 

 will soon spoil the nice looks of the cap- 

 ping and cause the honey to run out of 

 the cells. 



When such flour-like places have been 

 found, it has been my custom to sulphur 

 the honey, which is done by setting an 

 old iron kettle having ashes and live 

 coals in it in the room, when one-fourth 

 pound of sulphur is poured on for every 

 two hundred cubic feet contained in the 

 room. Care must be used, for it is quite 

 a nice point to get enough sulphur to 

 kill the moth larvte, and at the same 

 time not to burn so much as to color the 

 combs; for if too much is burned, the 

 combs will take on a greenish hue, 

 which will injure its sale in the market. 



Having the honey thoroughly ripened, 

 — and sulphured if necessary — the next 

 thing is to crate it. The propolis should 

 be carefully scraped from each section, 

 so that none of the slovenly look shall 

 be upon it which we sometimes see in 

 honey where no attention has been paid 



to this propolis matter. Before com- 

 mencing to scrape the propolis off, three 

 sections should be selected which will 

 fairly represent the pile of honey, when, 

 as each section is finished, it is to be 

 held up near these so as to tell into 

 which grade it shall go. It may be nec- 

 essary to make, more than three grades 

 in some parts of the country ; but with 

 me three grades are sufflcicnt for each 

 source of honey. And it is best never 

 to mix honey from different sources 

 together; so we will put the clover, 

 basswood and buckwheat honey, each 

 into three grades. I use x's to distin- 

 guish these grades, xxx being <he very 

 best, XX good and x the poorest. Then 

 I have three crates setting within easy 

 reach of me, and as soon as a compari- 

 son with the sampled three tells) me 

 where the section last scraped should go, 

 it is set in the proper crate, and so on. 

 till the crate is full. If you wish to have 

 the honey take the name of " gilt edge '" 

 put on the cover to the crate with bright, 

 round-headed screws. This gives the 

 crate a nice appearance, does not tend 

 to break the honey by driving nails 

 when the honey is in the crate ; keeps 

 the bottom of another crate from com- 

 ing in contact with the nice, white cover 

 to tlie first, where two or more are piled 

 on top of each other, and the cost is but 

 a trifle above the nails. Noav sandpaper 

 off the sharp corners or any rough or 

 dirty-looking places, and you, yourself, 

 will have to admit that this little extra 

 work has made an attractiveness to 

 your package which will more than com- 

 pensate you for all of your trouble. And 

 what looks attractive to you will be the 

 thing that will catch the eye of the cus- 

 tomer. Having all thus crated, pack 

 nicely away for shipment, when a sale 

 is made, or to show to purchasers or any 

 company who may chance to call in. 



Bear in mind, comb honey sells from 

 its looks very largely, and the nicer the 

 appearance the better price it will bring. 



Borodino, N.Y. 



