", 



224 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



December 



er tongued bees are to be desired more 

 than short-tubed clover, for the reason 

 that though the short-tubed clover 

 may be had, advantage over the one 

 single plant is all we have; while by- 

 lengthening the bees' tongues till they 

 can work on red clover, hundreds o\ 

 plants equally as valuable as red clover 

 would be brought within reach of the 

 bees at a single step. 



In studying your locality, first learn 

 from whence the m^in flows come, and 

 then study to fill up the vacancies be- 

 tween these by planting some paying 

 crop which will make a quantity of 

 some marketable produce as well as 

 nectar. 



'Bear in mind, however, that every 

 locality has its natural honey flow, and 

 that to plant anything which comes on 

 during this would be simply worse 

 than useless. Also there must be a lim- 

 it to these proceedings, or, perchance, 

 the bee-keeper may become entirely 

 absorbed in that remarkable occupation 

 called "farming," and suddenly discov- 

 er that he has become "the man with 

 the hoe," and is raising nectar for 

 some other fellow's bees. It is a fact 

 that more nectar is going to waste now 

 than is being saved by the bees: the 

 trouble being that it all comes on at 

 once. It may be possible to some day 

 get the flower question down so fine 

 that we bee-keepers may have a "main" 

 flow lasting a whole season. Then^ 

 with this flora and bees "yellow from 

 head to toe," and having tongues that 

 will fit all the flowers; what may we not 

 expect? 



Hurricane, Ark. 



When any great designs thou dost intend, 

 Think on the means, the manner and the end. 



— Denham. 



When responding to any advertise- 

 ment found in our columns, kindly con- 

 fer a three-fold favor, by mentioning 

 the fact that you saw the advertisement 

 in the American Bee-Keeper. 



Flavor of Extracted Honey. 



Superseding Queens. 



(By G. M. Doolittle.) 



A COUPLE of qestions have been 

 sent in to me with the request 

 that I answer them in the Am- 

 erican Bee-Keeper, which I will do 

 with the editor's permission. The first 

 one is, "What is the best plan to pre- 

 serve the flavor of extracted honey?" 



To give extracted honey a fine fla- 

 vor it must be thoroughly ripened. 

 While some have evaporators, both sun 

 and other, which they pass extracted 

 honey through or over, that has been 

 extracted in its thin or green state, till 

 they tell us it is of nice quality and 

 consistency, as well as having an excel- 

 lent flavor, yet, in my opinion, no hon- 

 ey has quite as nice flavor as does that 

 which has been left on the hive till the 

 end of the season, the bees having been 

 allowed to ripen it till it is so thick that 

 it will almost stand alone, after being 

 taken from the comb. Of course, it 

 is more work to extract such honey, 

 but by keeping it in a room the tem- 

 perature of which is nearly or quite 

 loq degrees, for four or five hours, it 

 can be extracted very nicely. When ex- 

 tracted, honey should be stored in tin 

 or earthen vessels, and kept in a dry 

 warm atmosphere that is free from 

 odors. Loosely cover and let it stand 

 in this dry warm store room until all 

 the air-globules have disappeared; the 

 scum that arises being skimmed off, 

 when the honey can be put into glass 

 or tin vessels, ready for sale or family 

 use; and it will retain its fine flavor for 

 years, if kept in a proper place. 



SUPERSEDING QUEENS. 



The second question is this, "Is it 

 advisable to let a queen become more 

 than from a year to a year and a half 

 old, before superseding her with a 

 young queen?" 



Some believe it advisable to super- 



