189'< 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



871 



of increase. Now, what has been the result ? We read of 

 the Dadaiit bees seldom casting a swarm, while our Dr. 

 Miller's swarm right along with the same environment and 

 circumstances. The large, roomy hive is one factor in reduc- 

 ing the swarming mania, but it is not the chief one. 



I usually make my increase from colonies that are run for 

 extracted honey, by placing bee-zinc on top of the lower story, 

 and confining the queen below anil placing most of the brood 

 and young larva; in the upper stories. The bees, finding no 

 queen in these upper stories where the chief amount of brood 

 and stores are, will usually build a few queen-cells and rear 

 the very best of queens in this way. It is best to destroy all 

 the queen-cells but one or two of the largest. A few days 

 after the best queen-cell is capt, I lift off the upper story, 

 bees and all, and place this story on a new bottom stand for 

 the beginning of a new colony. I5y having on hand plenty of 

 empty brood-combs at the beginning of the season, I can take 

 one good, strong colony and increase to eight or ten good colo- 

 nies in a single season. 



With colonies that I wish to run for comb honey I practice 

 the following method : My S-frame hives are 12 inches wide. 

 Inside measure, and this allows for Wi inch spacing of frames 

 during most of the year, but just at the dawn of the honey 

 harvest I take out the combs and trim down the upper bulges, 

 placing the combs that are fullest of brood and eggs on the 

 outside, and those with honey and little brood, with one addi- 

 tional empty comb, on the inside of the chamber. During the 

 honey-flow, you see, there are nine frames in the brood-cham- 

 ber, making close spacing of brood-frames, so that the bees 

 will have but little bulging room to store honey in the brood- 

 chamber, and will have to go into the upper story among the 

 sections to find the bulging room. 



The next thing I do, I raise the brood-chamber about Jj 

 of an Inch from the bottom-board, so as to let the cool air 

 circulate through under the brood-chamber. A little piece of 

 common lath placed under each corner of the hive will answer 

 this purpose. 



Some 12 years ago I had a very strong colony of bees. 

 They were working grudgingly in the sections above, and 

 were hanging out so as to cover the front and part of the sides 

 of the hive. I had made this colony extra-strong by giving 

 early additional brood. I wanted it to cast one good swarm 

 30 as to get some extra queen-cells. They had a nice lot of 

 queen-cells started, and while they were getting ready to 

 swarm I thought they might be induced to go up into the sec- 

 tions by raising the brood-chamber from the bottom-board. I 

 put a little block under each corner of the hive, raising it 

 about a half inch from the bottom-board; and what was my 

 surprise to see these outside bees go into the upper story and 

 crowd the sections. I supposed that the colony would swarm 

 all the same in a few days, but it did not. I waited about a 

 week and no swarm came off. Then 1 made an examination 

 and found that the bees had destroyed every queen-larva? and 

 most of the queen-cells. Since then, when I have not wanted 

 any swarming (and I now do not) I always raise the brood- 

 chamber from the bottom-board so as to let the cool air circu- 

 late freely through the brood-chamber. This alone will pre- 

 vent nine colonies out of every ten from swarming. It has 

 prevented a hundred per cent, with me from swarming. 



About once a year, for a number of years, I have called 

 the attention of the readers of the Bee Journal to this point, 

 and all that have tried raising the brood-chamber from the 

 bottom-boarfl have spoken of it as having done much to pre- 

 vent swarming, and also has hurried the bees into the sec- 

 tions. 



1 am now satisfied that the natural cause of swarming is 

 wererou'diJig soine apartment of Uie queen's chamber with bees. 

 brood, eijijs, and heat. This can be demonstrated by using the 

 5-banded bees. I have sent north, south, east and west for 

 these yellow beauties, for the last ten years, and I have the 

 first queen yet to receive of the 5-banded variety that can 

 produce eggs enough to give a colony of bees the swarming 

 mania. The reason is that there are always empty cells, and 

 no part of the brood-chamber is ever crowded. 



Franklin Co., Iowa. 



Selling Extracted Honey — Valuable Secrets. 



Br CHALON FOWLS. 



When I first began producing extracted honey, 1.5 or 16 

 years ago, I could not sell 100 pounds a year in ray homo 

 market: now it takes from Ihi to 2 tons of honey a year to 

 supply my home market, and my trade is constantly increas- 

 ing. My success in building up a home market Is due, I think, 

 to my methods, which are as follows : 



First, the keynote of success in selling honey is to have a 



first-class article to sell. As nearly all the honey produced In 

 my locality is gathered from basswood and clover, it follows 

 that I shall have the finest flavored and whitest honey in the 

 market, if only the most cleanly methods are employed from 

 the time the nectar is gathered until it reaches the market, 

 just as a like result is obtained by the cleanest and most Ira- 

 proved methods in the gathering and handling of maple sap. 

 An examination of the bee under a microscope shows that it 

 is one of the most cleanly as well as the most beautiful of in- 

 sects, which insures cleanliness in the gathering process (I'm 

 afraid the maple-sap gatherers would hardly bear comparison 

 here). When the bee gets home with its load it must deposit 

 it in a clean receptacle ; old combs will not do, neither must 

 the queen be allowed access to the surplus combs, as» eggs, 

 larvM. and pollen result in dirty combs ; therefore, the queen 

 is confined in the brood-chamber by means of perforated zinc. 



The honey is not taken from the hive and extracted until 

 it is sealed up just like section honey. It is then extracted, 

 and stored in nice tin cans holding about 75 pounds. It will 

 all candy solid, and is liquefied only as wanted for market. 

 When I want to put up some for market, I put one of the cans 

 in a larger can, supported by a suitable frame, so as to leave 

 room under and all around, to be tilled with water. The 

 whole thing is kept hot several hours on the stove (a gasoline- 

 stove is th3 best because slowerl ; but I do not want the water 

 to boil at any time in the outside can. After it is perfectly 

 liquefied, it is put into my filling can, which is provided with 

 a gate. Then I am ready to fill small packages for market. 



I use only flint-glass pint Mason jars and third-pint jelly- 

 tumblers for the grocery trade. I never use the green glass 

 when I can get the flint, as the honey does not show up nearly 

 as well. Grocers are requested to place the honey in frost 

 somewhere, or on the counters, where the light will strike 

 through it. When a customer sees it shimmering in the sun, 

 as clear as crystal, he is attracted by its beauty, and will buy. 

 I want no showy-colored labels on my honey. I leave that for 

 the glucose-mixers. They want something to plaster over 

 their vile stuff to hide it, while I want to show my honey, as it 

 looks finer to a honey-lover than the finest work of art on a 

 label. Lithographs are so common nowadays that people take 

 little notice of them ; but any choice article of food, put up in 

 clean and attractive packages, always commands attention ; 

 therefore, I use only a small white label, 1x2 inches, giving 

 my name and address, and the words, "Pure Honey." We 

 might get a pointer here from the druggists, who are apt to 

 display clear and sparkling liquids in the window. 



I make a tour of the principal towns in my county every 

 two months, or oftener, according to the demands of the trade ; 

 and if any of the stock left is beginning to candy, orhas be- 

 come unsightly in any way, it is replaced with fresh goods free 

 of charge. However, this very seldom happens — almost never 

 — except in the case of some little stock that is carried over 

 the summer. 



I consider it to my interest that the grocer who handles 

 my honey shall make a good profit — 20 to 80 per cent, is none 

 too much on small packages. They should be clast as " fancy 

 groceries," and should bring a better profit than honey in 

 bulk, or sugar and flour. In this way I secure the hearty co- 

 operation of the grocer, which would not be the case if his 

 profits were small. 



I sell pint Mason jars at .S2.75 per dozen, .S30 per gross ; 

 third-pints, .SI. 10 per dozen; per gross, .^12. Pints rtin 

 about 19 pounds to the dozen ; third-pints, about 6. Pints 

 retail for 30 cents each; third-pints from 12 to 15 cents 

 each, according to circumstances. But it will be argued these 

 prices are too high, and honey will not be used largely if these 

 prices prevail. I answer that this is for a fancy article in small 

 packages. Do not choice red raspberries in pint boxes sell 

 high? and yet good fruit can be bought cheap in larger quan- 

 tities, and larger quantities are used, too. Almost any grocer 

 will sell on smaller margin in bulk by the crockful or pailful, 

 as the large packages need no display, and the profit on the 

 large package is as much as on the little one. 



I believe bee-keepers ought to push the local trade more. 

 Much might be done by advertising in one way or another. 



I sell the most of the honey sold in bulk in my own town, 

 and I find but comparatively few will buy in bulk, altho the 

 price is much cheaper. By far the larger number want only 

 a pint or less at a time. Of course, I do not undersell the 

 grocers on the same size of packages they handle. In solicit- 

 ing orders from boarding-house keepers and families I prefer 

 to take along my samples in flint-glass Mason jars, and I carry 

 them in a sample case, which allows the light to strike 

 through, just as in the grocery. Even amber honey from fall 

 flowers looks fine if I can get the jars between my customers 

 and the sun ; and once people begin to admire its beauty, it's 

 not difficult to get them to taste, which sometimes goes a long 



