THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



135 



of eggs in the body of the hive, and brood 

 will be raised in some of the boxes, injuring 

 the surplus honey. If the breeding apart- 

 ment is as high as the boxes, the boxes on 

 the sides, may be enttn-ed by a part of the 

 swarm, at the same time with tlie commence- 

 ment in the breeding apartment without 

 danger of brood in the boxes. If the 

 swarm is a large one, from 50 to 100 lbs of 

 surplus honey may be expected the tirst 

 season. 



The side and top boxes both may be 

 placed on as soon as the weather becomes 

 warm enough, that no delay may be caused 

 to the breeding. 



" Which are best for surplus f 



This question sometimes receives an an- 

 swer according to tlie interest or prejudices 

 of the writer. If a man uses top boxes 

 only, in his operations ; he probably thinks 

 and pronounces them best. If one has used 

 only side boxes, he probably is decidedly 

 in favor of side boxes. 



I have thoroughly tried both. I have 

 had 24 side boxes upon a hive and no top 

 boxes. I have had 18 side boxes and 9 top 

 boxes upon a hive at the same time. I 

 have been unable to discover any important 

 advantage of one over the other, as to time 

 of commencement or success in using them. 

 Those upon the top have some advantage 

 from the warmth arising from the body of 

 the hive. The side boxes may have the ad- 

 vantage of ease of access and proximity to 

 the entrance to the hive. 



I have made it a rule to place guide comb 

 in my boxes to encourage early commence- 

 ment in them. In the top boxes, the en- 

 trance is through the bottom, and the guide 

 comb is attached to the top. My side boxes 

 have glass on the outer and inner end of the 

 box. Inside glass is from one-half to one 

 inch narrower than the height of the box, 

 leaving an entrance of one-half to one inch 

 wide between the glass and the top of the 

 box. I attach guide comb to the top of the 

 box so as to come even with the glass, of 

 about one inch square. I remove the mov- 

 able partition having the sheet of comb in 

 the breeding apartment entirely uncovered. 

 I then set the nine side boxes on each side; 

 three on the bottom of the hive with the 

 inner end of the box, one-half inch from 

 the comb in the breeding apartment ; bring- 

 ing the guide comb so near that the bees 

 can pass to it as readily as from one sheet 

 of comb to the other in the hive. I then 

 place the nine top boxes upon the top of the 

 hive and the side boxes. With boxes thus 

 prepared and arranged ; the nine boxes were 

 as readily entered and occupied and fitted as 

 those on the top. I think the important 

 points are; have your boxes on early; place 

 them in intimate connection with the hive, 

 with small pieces of guide comb to encour- 

 age early commencement in storing suiplus. 



To attach the guide comb, when construct- 

 ing the boxes, I prepare 10 or 13 more or 

 less ready to receive the top, I lay the top 

 bottom upwards, cut as many pieces of 

 guide comb as are required; I take a lighted 

 candle in my left hand with pieces of guide 

 comb in reach, heat the edge of the pieces 

 in the candle and then press tiiem to the top 

 board; and when cool nail the top board ia 

 its place. It is some gratification after- 

 wards to see the bees engaged in filling them 

 all up. J,\srER Hazen. 



Woodstock, Vt. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Machine-Extracted Honey. 



Since the introduction of the honey 

 pump, bee-keeping has become quite a 

 source of income to the intelligent bee- 

 keeper, and machine-extracted honey bids 

 fair to end the demand for comb honey. 

 The public are very easily convinced of the 

 superiority of the machine-extracted honey, 

 however persistently the people in general 

 stick to old customs. The most these 

 Thomases need in order to be convinced, is 

 to be shown the mode of extracting. 



The production of machine-extracted 

 honey is of so much more profit to the 

 bee-keeper than the production of comb 

 honey, that it is w^orth while to take the 

 trouble to convince the ignorant that the 

 former is the best and purest honey of the 

 two. Every respectable bee-keeper soon 

 gets a good patronage among his neighbors, 

 but the quantities of honey we produce are 

 so large that it requires a little extra exer- 

 tion to dispose of them. Our best honey 

 should be put in glass jars, in small quanti- 

 ties, and every store in the neighborhood 

 should be supplied with "pure machine 

 extracted honey." It should be put up 

 about like canned fruit, in boxes and jars — 

 properly marked with the name of the 

 producer. I adopted some years ago, the 

 square jars holding 1 and 2 lbs. honey, and 

 find them to work admirably. I put a 

 dozen jars in a box, and find a ready sale 

 at the following prices : 

 1 gross (12 boxes) Itb jars honey @ 

 1 " 2ft " 



1 doz. (1 box) Itt. " 



Ifti 



jar 



$42.00 



82.00 



4.1)0 



7.50 



.40 



.75 



1.00 



a good 



lib honey 



2ft " 

 1 " 3ft " 



For 1 ft jars, especially, I found 

 wholesale trade, wliile the retail trade in 

 my store was about alike in 1, 2, and 3 ft 

 jars. I wish to add that 9!) out of every 

 100 of my customers buy my machine- 

 extracted honey in preference to the 

 choicest comb honey. I have bottled and 

 sold, since last season, more than 10,000 lbs 

 of honey, I sold it, not with the aid of an 



