534 



packing tliese sections, the risk ot breakage 

 and loss by leakage during the transporta- 

 tion ; the risk of motlis on the combs ; the 

 soiling of the sections and of the floor by a 

 few broken cells, etc., we are compelled to 

 admit that tliese drawbacks are far from be- 

 ing compensated by the price, which is about 

 half as much more than extracted, and con- 

 sequently quite inadequate to counterbal- 

 ance the loss, the work, and the difficulties. 



One of the main objections which pre- 

 vents many bee-keepers from working their 

 bees for extracted honey, is the difficulty of 

 getting the people accustomed to buy their 

 article. Tiiis objection is serious. 



About 12 years a«o we had 300 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey to sell. I sent my son to town 

 with a sample of clover honey. It was in 

 July. The honey was clear as crystal, and 

 as light in color as the finest amber. Well, 

 my son entered a drug store, The man took 

 the vial in his hand, raised it between his 

 eye and the window — " Is that honey ?" said 

 he, with an inquiring eje; " 1 don't buy 

 such stuff !" Ot course, our honey was too 

 pure for a man accustomed to buy strained 

 honey, always mixed with pollen and 

 crushed laivse. 



To get rid of our honey we had then to 

 put it in the hands of a grocer, to be sold on 

 commission, and more than one time our 

 honey was in part returned in April. But, 

 by our persistency, our article has become 

 known around us, and we can sell 15,000 lbs. 

 ot it more easily than 1,500 lbs. 12 years ago. 



The next difficulty to overcome was the 

 granulating of honey. The adulterators, 

 unable to make candied honey, took great 

 care to accuse our honey of being adultera- 

 ted, because it was candied. By our labels 

 we have overcome this difficulty, and now 

 we can readily dispose of our entire crop at 

 paying figures. 



Perhaps our means of procuring this honey 

 will not he out of place here. For years we 

 have been accustomed to take out of our 

 hives, in the spring, all the drone combs. 

 These combs are not melted, but are fixed 

 in frames, and put in the upper half-story. 

 As some of our customers want comb honey, 

 we replace about J^ the frames with sections 

 filled with light comb foundation, made ex- 

 pressly for that purpose, from the finest and 

 lightest beeswax, to avoid "fish-bones." 

 The bees use, in the lengthening of the cells, 

 the wax produced by the young bees when 

 they are too well fed, and the cost of our 

 combs is thus greatly reduced. 



As soon as our first story is about half 

 full, we put a second story, similarly pre- 

 pared, under it, and sometimes a third story 

 on our best colonies. We have on hand sev- 

 eral thousands of drone combs, thus pre- 

 served for years ; in fact, we have enough 

 of them to give room to our bees till the 

 honey crop is at an end, and do not extract 

 before. By this means our honey is thor- 

 oughly ripened, and hardens completely in 

 winter. 



Remember that ripe honey can be kept 

 for years without fermenting to a damaging 

 extent. Our customers are now so much 

 accustomed to candied honey, that the sale 

 of liquid honey would be to us as difficult 

 now as the sale of granulated was in by- 

 gone years. 



Of course we consider as bad the advice 

 given sometime ago, by the editor of Glean- 

 ings, to bee-keepers, to boil their honey to 

 preveiitgranulation, before putting it on the 

 market. Besides being difficult and expen- 

 sive, this boiling process changes the true 

 characteristic ot pure honey, and lowers it 

 to the level of the adulterated article. 



Let us be honest in our dealings, offer to 

 the people a good, ripe and well-presented 

 article, and we will soon and forever over- 

 come all the difficulties. Chas. Dadakt. 



Hamilton, 111. 



D. A. Jones, Ontario, has always sold 

 his crop in neatly labeled tin cans, hold- 

 ing 2%, 5 and 10 lbs. each. 



C. F. Muth, Ohio, knows from long 

 experience, it is not necessary to wait 

 for bees to cap their honey before ex- 

 tracting it. As soon as the cells are all 

 rilled, it is ripe enough to extract. When 

 there is a doubt, let the honey stand in 

 any open vessel, exposed to the air, and 

 it will soon ripen. 



Mr. Newman said they use a sun evap- 

 orator in California. I do not care how 

 it is ripened, but must insist upon it be- 

 ing done. 



Foul Brood. 



C. F. Muth, Cincinnati, gave the fol- 

 lowing elaborate method or eradicating 

 foul brood : It is gratifying to observe 

 the growing attention paid by bee- 

 keepers in this country to the dangers 

 of the spread of foul brood. Utah has 

 a bee inspector in every county, a State 

 officer, drawing pay from the State. It 

 would be a move in the right direction 

 if other States would imitate our Mor- 

 mon brethren in this especial particu- 

 lar, since bee-keeping has become so 

 important a factor in the common 

 wealth of the country. 



It is very essential for every bee-keep- 

 er to know his position in regard to foul 

 brood, should it make its appearance in 

 his apiary, as the pleasures and profits 

 would be destroyed if this pest is per- 

 mitted to become predominant in his 

 neighborhood. A country like ours, 

 where an abundance of forest trees af- 

 ford homes for absconding swarms, is 

 very favorable for the spreading of the 

 disease. There would be no end to foul 

 brood in a neighborhood altera number 

 of bee-trees become infested, as every 

 bee running over those devastated 

 combs for years afterward, is liable to 

 take home to its own hive the germs of 

 the disease. Let us, therefore, be on 

 our guard. 



Foul brood is a disease. imported. and 

 spreads by contagious spores. It is of 

 vegetable growth— a fungus. Little 

 specks of it, hardly discernible with the 

 naked eye, are carried along on the legs 

 of the bees running over infected combs. 

 Wherever one of these spores drops into 



