1897. 



THE AMEBIC AN BEE KEEPER. 



105 



too much time wherein to get that 

 stock into prime condition by the first 

 week in June. With a strong stock 

 of bees situate in a fruit growing dis- 

 trict, no stimulating is necessary, and 

 our efforts may be devoted to the pre- 

 vention of swarming before the har- 

 vest time. I reckon it takes from 

 seven to nine weeks to get a moderate 

 stock of bees, with a good queen, into 

 full working order for taking every 

 advantage of the honey flow when it 

 comes. One other point must not be 

 forgotten , and that is, there may be a 

 period when outside supplies will fall 

 short during the early weeks of prep- 

 aration, and the watchful bee-man 

 must be ready to keep his bees steadi- 

 ly "going" by feeding. There should 

 be no check then, or immature brood 

 Avill be cast out and time lost that will 

 not be recovered, for at the period 

 just preceding the ingather, when 

 "time is money," any untoward cir- 

 cumstance interfering with the pros- 

 perity of a colony during the critical 

 period may mean the loss of a whole 

 season's profit. 

 Upper Norwood. 



(From Pacific Bee Journal). 



GREATER PROFITS IN PRODUCING 

 EXTRACTED HONEY. 



BY JNO. G. COREY. 



The principal reason why greater 

 profits arise by producing extracted 

 honey is that our bee keepers are not 

 prepared to make any other product. 

 As a rule our apiaries are located in 

 districts quite a distance from our 

 shipping points, and our roads are not 

 the best. Our improvements are of 

 the simplest and cheapest character, 

 our houses are not as a rule suitable 

 for the production, storage and care of 

 large quantities of comb honey. The 



many off years have a tendency to 

 make bee keepers shy of making im- 

 provements on their locations suitable 

 for producing any crop requiring bet- 

 ter room for storage and protection 

 from dust, ants and the hot weather 

 we are liable to have during the pro- 

 ducing season and the time required 

 afterwards in preparing and packing 

 for shipment. A car load of comb 

 honey is bulky and quite a large room 

 is required for its storage, ^.nd the 

 section supers are of such a character 

 that good quarters should be provided 

 for their care and protection during 

 the mouths they are not in active use. 



Many of us have a desire for better 

 improvement but patiently await the 

 incoming of our imaginary ship we 

 so often refer to, expecting to prepare 

 ourselves to produce any crop we may 

 wish and not be compelled to make a 

 virtue out of a necessity, and we go on 

 from year to year producing the poor 

 man's crop — extracted honey. 



With a very small and inexpensive 

 house and extractor, tank and sun ex- 

 tractor, a pair of knives and a recep- 

 tacle for the wax removed from the 

 comb, the whole outfit made by the 

 ingenious bee keeper often not of the 

 total value of $50, a car load of honey 

 has been produced without help. The 

 honey can remain in the sun if no 

 better place can be had, but as a rule 

 the careful man generally provides 

 tei.;porary shade for his honey after 

 being cased up, to prevent the cases 

 from being drawn out of shape and 

 sunburnt and unsightly. Most ex- 

 tracted honey is now put into new, 

 bright and clean cans, and cased in a 

 good strong box with a partition in 

 the center to strengthen the case. 



Extracted honey is a staple article. 



