130 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



fellow-men than too well of them. Why. 

 it fairly makes me shudder when I think of 

 the different times in my life when I have 

 almost decided to stay at home and not go 

 out in public. May God forgive me, and 

 may my fellow-men forgive me, for the 

 maiiy years in which I held aloof from con- 

 ventions and institutes. Now, a man can 

 choose for himself to go or stay at home ; 

 and it is certainly his place to exert him- 

 self to get his patient, hard-working partner 

 to accompany him. By all means tell your 

 wife, when you invite her, that you would 

 not enjoy going without her. as you put it; 

 and when you say it, tell the truth. You 

 ougiit to lieashamed of yourself, if it is not 

 true. Who is there among us who has not, 

 away back in the days of courtship, said in 

 his heart, if not out loud, "Dear Mary. I 

 could not be hired to go unless you go too?'' 

 At the Chicago Convention I was greatly 

 pleased to see the smiling face of Prof. 

 Cook's good wife, and Katie and Bertie too, 

 close by. Their happy faces were a rebuke 

 to me when I thought of my wife at home. 

 I thank God from the bottom of my heart 

 that she is now ready to go to any conven- 

 tion that comes along ; and I think she will 

 go, too, without any coaxing or urging, un- 

 less she backslides. 



EXTRACTED HONEY, AND BEST METH- 

 ODS OF MARKETING. 



AN ESSAY READ BY DR. A. B. MASON AT THE OHIO 



STATE CONVENTION. 



XT has been said, that the tendency of the times is 

 ^[ toward each one becoming a specialist; and as 

 ^l the struggle for success becomes greater, each 

 **■ one feels that every force must be husbanded 

 and every effort made to accomplish the desir- 

 ed result; but, is it true that the greatest compara- 

 tive success in bee cultiu-e will be attained by the 

 specialist? 



Some of you know that I do not get as large a sur- 

 plus of honey as many others; but that is noevl- 

 dence that I don't know how to get all that my field 

 furnishes. My locality is not favorable to large 

 yields of honey, for, as I said at the Detroit Conven- 

 tion two years ago, there is a large city on one side 

 and a wilderness on the other; at any rate, the soil 

 is not favorable to the production of white clover; i 

 and lindeu, except a few trees, is not within the 

 reach of my bees; but there are large areas of 

 boneset, goldenrod, and asters, near by, and the 

 three combined have never furnished my bees suf- 

 ficient honey for winter stores. 



If I am not mistaken, extracted honey has been i 

 in use over twenty years, and its desirableness for 

 table and other uses, when compared with comb 

 honey, has been fully established; and I believe an 

 Ohio man, none other than our friend A. I. Root, 

 was among the first, if not the first, to produce it ' 

 in America. 



Many people know the excellence and beauty of 

 first-class comb honey, which needs no praise; but 

 a first-class article of extracted honey Is something 

 with which most peop e are not familiar, they never 

 having seen its crystal beauty, nor caught its deli- 

 cate aroma, and never tasted its delicious flavor as 

 gathered from the flowers of forest and field. Wheq 



served upon the table it makes a fine appearance, 

 and, to many, " nothing is better for breakfast than 

 hot cakes and honey." It can be poured upon 

 them till they " fairly swim in luscious sweetness." 

 If our table is ever set for a meal, and the pitcher 

 of extracted honey is left off, some one of the 

 family is sure to say, " Please pass the honey." We 

 have no use for honey in the comb, except when we 

 want to show off for company, and even they fre- 

 quently prefer the fine, richly flavored extracted ar- 

 ticle. 



The aim should be to produce honey for the 

 masses, for those who can not afford to pay for lux- 

 uries. 

 I " A land flowing with milk and honey," both be- 

 ing very nutritious and strengthening, was promis- 

 ed to and was desired by the Jews as the " ne plus 

 ultra " of good things. When properly ripened, 

 white clover, linden, alsike, alfalfa, and some other 

 honeys, have a sparkling clearness, and the flavor 

 is e.xi^uisite, and, like other kinds, when candied are 

 free from any liquid portions; and T have no doubt 

 that such honey is generally really nicer than much 

 of the well-capped white comb honey placed upon 

 the market; and if all the extracted honey offered 

 for sale were as thoroughly ripened as is comb hon- 

 ey, the latter would be almost driven from the mar- 

 ket. 



Is it not a fact, that extracted honey is depreciat- 

 ed in price mainly because its quality is inferior to 

 comb honey, and is inferior because it is not proper- 

 ly ripened, or different kinds have been mixed, thus 

 destroying their distinctive flavor? Each kind 

 should be kept by itself, and so retain its distinctive 

 aroma and flavor. Well do I remember how deli- 

 cious the honey was that we used to get from bee- 

 trees on the home farm in the east, in my boyhood 

 days. We didn't know what kind it was, but now I 

 know it was linden. To secure plenty of well- 

 ripened honey it will be necessary to have strong 

 colonies to gather and ripen it, and it should be ex- 

 tracted when it can be done to the best advantage 

 of the apiarist and the bees. In the production of 

 such honey it is often necessary to leave it in the 

 hive with a populous colony for some time. When 

 this is not convenient it should be as thoroughly 

 ripened artificially. Many bee-keepers think honey 

 must be sealed to be ripe. This may be true some 

 seasons, and in some localities, but I am sure that 

 it may be sealed before it is ripe, and it may be ripe 

 before it is sealed. 



You are all aware that there has been a great 

 deal of discussion as to the proper time for extract- 

 ing, some claiming that it saves honey and time 

 to extract it before it is sealed, and that it is just as 

 good when artificially ripened as when ripened by 

 the bees: while others as earnestly contend that it 

 should be well scaled before being extracted. It 

 seems to me, although 1 have claimed the opposite 

 to be true, that honey ripened in the hive, whether 

 sealed or not, has a richer flavor, and possesses a fin- 

 er aroma, than that ripened.artiflcially. 



To have plenty of bees, good queens are a neces- 

 sity; and to give her room to " spread herself " and 

 deposit eggs according to her abilitj', large hives 

 are needed. For several years I took my surplus 

 from the brood-nest of eight-frame Langstroth 

 hives; but owing to their small size I had to extract 

 often, and sometimes the honey was not properly 

 ripened; and I am thoroughly convinced that an 

 eight-frame Langstroth hive is not large enough 



