1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



801 



cite the bees to do their best to fill that empty 

 space: for the way they will pile the honey in 

 there is astonishing. In the meantime the full 

 combs in the npper story, being in the warmest 

 part of the hive, are thoroughly ripened and 

 capped over ready for extracting by the time 

 the second story is full enough to be lifted up. 

 I claim by this method to obtain more well- 

 ripened honey than would be possible with a 

 two-story hive. 



Equally good results could be obtained with 

 the ten-frame hive worked in the same manner, 

 but it is too heavy to handle: but I find I can 

 handle the eight-frame body, with seven frames 

 of honey, without any great muscular effort, 

 although I am any thing but a Hercules. 



Having three stories entails some extra han- 

 dling to lift the second story off, put the empty 

 one in place, and the full one on top again; but 

 to offset that, a little smoke puffed into a third 

 story of capped honey depopulates it of bees to 

 such an extent that the brushing-ofl is a small 

 matter compared to the same operation with a 

 two-story hive. Then there is less trouble 

 with swarming, less hanging out, and making 

 increase is as easy as falling off a log. I merely 

 lift off the third story, see that it has a frame 

 of brood in all stages; move the two lower 

 stories to a new location, leaving the single 

 story in the old. The bees already on the 

 combs, reinforced by the field-bees, give me a 

 strong colony that never fails to raise a good 

 lot of queen-cells. 



In extracting I run honey from the extractor 

 through cheese-cloth into a large tank holding 

 about 1()00 lbs., where it stays until I need more 

 room, whi^n I draw it off from the bottom into 

 barrels, for shipment. I have used the two- 

 frame Cowan the past season, and like it better 

 than any other extractor I ever used. 



Hawk's Park, Fla. 



[Immediately on receipt of this I forwarded 

 it to friend Brown, stating that I was sure he 

 did not intend to convey a wrong impression, 

 and thus do any one of his bee-keeping friends 

 an in.iustice: that I should be glad to have him 

 reply for print: adding that I was sure there 

 must be some mistake or slip of the pen. His 

 answer will fully exonerate him in the eyes of 

 his friends.— Ei).] 



THAT " SWEETENED -water" HONEY IN ITS 

 APPLICATION— A SLIP OF THE PEN. 



By A. F. Bnnvii. 



Friend Root;— Certainly a reply and explana- 

 tion is due fi-om me in correcting the wrong im- 

 pression and injustice my recent article seemed 

 to give as it reads therein. I assure you I was 

 quite surprised myself when my eyes reached 

 the two paragraphs in question, and I at once 

 wrote you, on the 2.3d of Oct., correcting the 

 two errors, and also replying, in a measure, to 

 your footnote. Evidently you have not re- 



ceived my letter, and I will again restate the er- 

 rors. They are, first, in fourth paragraph, sev- 

 enth line. It should read "two-story ten-frame 

 hive," and not " three-story," as given. Again, 

 in fifth paragraph, sixth line, it should read, 

 "With soyne of those," etc.. and not "ivith 

 those.''' The words " some of " apply quite a 

 different reading to the paragraph. 



I write very rapidly, and no doubt the error 

 and omission are errors of mine. I certainly 

 would not knowingly do an injustice to any 

 one: on the contrary, I try to give all full 

 measure and credit, and in the case of Mr. 

 Mitchell, who happens to be the man who pro- 

 duced the largest yield per colony, I can not do 

 less than to say that no man produces a better 

 grade of honey than he produces under his 

 management, as set forth in his article, and I 

 commend this method to every honey-producer 

 on the East Coast, and I am sure that neither 

 I nor any other man will have any occasiom 

 to refer to unripe, thin, and inferior honey, if all 

 would follow out the method of allowing the 

 bees to fully ripen the honey before removing 

 it from the hives. 



Mr. \V. S. Hart, the second heaviest yielder, 

 wrote me a personal letter, saying he thought I 

 had not done his honey justice. Very true, as 

 the article appeared: but as corrected 1 believe 

 justice is done to all. Mr. Hart runs his honey 

 through an "evaporator." and reduces it all to 

 a uniform thickness and quality,. and nothing 

 can be said against the quality. 



There is no need of my setting myself up as a 

 target in the way of repeating or making a list 

 of names, and going into details as to the spe- 

 cial qualities of the honey produced by a score 

 or more men. But any one who will attempt 

 to buy up honey from any and all, as I have, 

 will not be long in finding out that there is 

 much honfy far below the standard,- and 

 which could not be called much less than 

 sweetened water— honey that would not weigh 

 even 10 to lOKj lbs. per gallon. 

 San Mateo, Fla., Nov. 1. 



[The letter of the 33d referred to does not 

 seem to have come to hand, as a search through 

 our office fails to reveal it. A comparison of the 

 original manuscript of the article to which 

 friends Mitchell and Hart refer shows that it 

 was printed according to copy. But such slips 

 of the pen are easily made, and in this case cer- 

 tainly seem pardonable; but so far as I am 

 concerned I am glad in one sense that it was 

 made ; for it has been the means of calling 

 forth a couple of very valuable articles that we 

 probably should not have received otherwise. 

 " All is well that ends well." 



If a few have been extracting honey little 

 better than "sweetened water, a little caution 

 will do no harm. Mr. Brown did mention the 

 name of one bee-keepor whom he had especial- 

 ly in mind; but we have suppressed the name. 

 He alludes indirectly to some others, but they 

 do not appear to be among the progressive and 

 prominent b(e-keepers, and hence all reference 

 to the matter was omitted.— Ed]. 



