530 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 26, 



otherwise, an oil-stove will be found an excellent thing to do 

 it with, as the flame can be so regulated by a proper manipu- 

 lation of the wicks, that the desired temperature can be main- 

 tained at all times. 



Many of our Eastern bee-keepers store their honey in an 

 upper room, or attic to the house ; and where this can be 

 done without too much lugging and lifting, there is no better 

 place to store honey. The hot noon-day sun heats this upper 

 room and thoroughlj' dries every part of it, thus causing the 

 pile of honey to become very warm before the sun sinks be- 

 hind the western hills, while the heated pile of honey keeps 

 the temperature of the room up till well toward morning, thus 

 keeping au even temperature of a high degree, which will 

 cause even the honey in the unsealed cells next the sides of 

 the sections, to become ripened to a degree sufficient to keep 

 it from running out, which otherwise would be the case. All 

 know how annoying it is to pick up a section of honey and 

 have the honey from these few unsealed cells drip about the 

 floor, and on the hands and clothing, as it always will do if 

 the section Is left a few days in a damp place. 



Having the honey stored in so high a temperature as is 

 necessary for its thorough ripening, causes the eggs of the 

 wax-moth to hatch on the combs, should there happen to be 

 any such eggs on them ; therefore, it is best to look at the 

 honey often so as to detect these worms as soon as possible 

 after they hatch from the egg. If little, flour-like lines are 

 seen on many of the combs, this shows that the larva has 

 commenced its work, and the honey should be sulphured, as I 

 directed in a former number of the American Bee Journal. 



In two or three weeks' time the honey will be thoroughly 

 ripened, when we are ready to go about preparing it for mar- 

 ket. All propolis or bee-glue should be carefully removed 

 from each section. This is best done with an old table or 

 other knife which has its blade broken or cut off within one 

 or two inches of the handle, when by filing or grinding the 

 portion left, at right angles, we have square corners on all 

 sides, which seem to be just right far taking off the bee-glue 

 without cutting into the wood. Have your crate by your side, 

 and as fast as a section is cleaned, pack it nicely away in the 

 crate, keeping on till it is full. 



In crating honey it is always proper to put the most per- 

 fect side of the sections out where they will be seen, the same 

 as in doing up wool, putting fruit on a fruit-stand, etc. I 

 once knew a man to tie up his wool with the dark or outside 

 ends out, and he could hardly sell it at any price. Why ? 

 Not because the wool was not just as good, but because it did 

 not look as well. Just so with a crate of honey. Market 

 men, or any customer, want the best side out ; but don't make 

 the mistake some do, and fill up the center of the crate with 

 dark or inferior honey. 



Grade the honey, making three or more grades of it, and 

 then put the best side of each grade out, where it will be in 

 sight. In No. 1, put nothing but strictly white honey, or 

 what is termed by some, " fancy " honey. In No. 2, put such 

 white honey as may have combs slightly colored, or those hav- 

 ing an uneven surface, or a few unsealed cells. In No. 3, 

 that which is still more inferior. Then have a grade for dark 

 honey, etc.; but keep an eye out that none of an inferior 

 grade finds place in any crate bearing a more perfect number. 



When the crate is full, if you wish to have it " gilt edged," 

 put on the cover with bright, round-headed screws. This 

 gives the crate a nice appearance, does not tend to break the 

 honey by driving nails, and the cost is but a trifle more. To 

 make still more attractive, sandpaper off the sharp corners 

 and top of the crate, when it is ready to pack nicely away for 

 shipment, when a sale is made, or to show to purchasers, or 

 any company who may chance to call in. 



Bear in mind, comb honey sells from looks more than any- 

 thing else, and the nicer the appearance the better price it 

 will bring. 



"INTELLIGENCE IN BEES." 



I see on page 419, that Mr. I. W. Beckwith takes excep- 

 tions to what I wrote In the Progressive Bee-Keeper, regard- 

 ing the unchangeabless in the nature of bees, and attempts 

 to prove that I was wrong in saying what I did. 



When IJod created the animals of the earth after their 

 kind, and pronounced them good, I am willing to accept the 

 statement, and believe that they were tjniid. If the honey- 

 bee was ijiioil at that time, have we any reasons for believing 

 that it is any more good now than then ? 



Will Mr. Beckwith attempt to prove that, because bees 

 can find their hive when moved five feet from where it stood 

 an hour before, in the year 18'.i7, that they could not find 

 their hive when moved one foot away six thousand years ago? 

 This he must do if he would attempt to sustain his position. 

 Or will he say, because, after a few hours of smelling around 

 his bee-es:ape a bee happened to go in at the end of It, and 



afterward remembered where to go in, that no bee in its 

 primeval state could ever have accomplisht such a feat? This 

 he must do if he could prove that bees learn to do that which 

 they formerly could not. Then will he say that any bee from 

 the same colony, the next season, would find that hole one 

 whit more readily than did his bee of the year before ? This 

 must be so if there is permanent evolution and progression. 



The burden of proof lies with Mr. Beckwith and his com- 

 peers. We hope he will give us something tangible. I care 

 not to attempt to stand in God's "shoes," but am willing that 

 He should be " AU and in Ally 



Onondaga, Co., N. Y., Aug. 3. 



% 

 Some Foul Brood Ouestlous Answered 



BT WM. M'EVOY. 



The following questions have been forwarded to me for 

 reply in the American Bee Journal : 



Questions. — 1. When a colony is increasing in bees and 

 gathering honey and storing surplus, do you think they are 

 diseased enough to injure the surplus honey for food ? 



2. (a.) Do you know of any one's health being injured by 

 eating honey affected by foul brood ? (b.) If so, what would 

 be the symptoms? 



4r. Don't you think that there is much honey sold every 

 year stored by colonies affected with foul brood, the owners 

 not aware of it ? 



5. What is the best course to pursue when foul brood is 

 in a locality, and the owners of bees (small bee-keepers) don't 

 know anything about it, and won't do anything to eradicate it ? 



6. Is there any way to tell, by the use of a mag.nifying 

 glass, when honey contains foul-broodv germs or spores ? 



J. H. 



Answers. — 1. In a case like that, everything would de- 

 pend upon the system of management, and whether the bees 

 moved any of the honey from the brood-chamber (that was 

 stored in the diseased cells) to the supers above — a thing they 

 often do. Very many that keep bees don't use any queen- 

 excluders, and in all such cases the brood in the top stories 

 soon becomes diseased through the larvaj being fed honey that 

 has been stored in diseased cells : and when the combs are 



/^-^ 



SB»K 



]Vm. McKvoy, Foul Brood Inspector of Ontario, Canada. 



being extracted, some of the foul matter will be thrown out in 

 the honey. Such honey is 7iotfitfor use. 



2. (a.) No, I do not; but you and I will draw the line 

 against such food. {!> ) I don't know. We will leave this 

 question to the medical men to answer. I have been pretty 

 badly sickened from the horrid stench of foul-broody, colonies 

 while examining them. 



■l. Yes, and I know of some big losses in the Province'of 

 Ontario, through beekeepers buying and feeding their colo- 

 nies honey that was extracted from foul-broody colonies. 

 These parties would not have fed such honey if they had 

 known it was diseased. 



