1888 



GLEANli^GS IN BI:E CULttJRE. 



295 



lessly in many cases; but let us see if the man who 

 ships the honey may not in some cases be to blame 

 in the matter. Have you ever thought how much 

 more securely the bee fastens the center of the 

 comb, when you leave the building: of it all to him- 

 self, than the average bee-keeper sticks in his sheet 

 or starter? Now, a bee-man who packs in the cen- 

 ter of each case thi-ee or four combs not filled out 

 and fastened only at the top, and that a piece of 

 foundation merely stuck in, and then expects the 

 express company to carry it without breakage, is a 

 very unreasonable man. Another evil is, frames 

 poorly put together. These two causes are doing 

 much toward making the one-pound comb unpopu- 

 lar. 



CANDIED HONEY. 



In last GiiEANiNGS I notice a wide diversity of 

 opinion about the candying of honey. Last year at 

 this time I could go to a commission house and find 

 plenty of honey not candied. I can not do that to- 

 day, unless I may find a little blue thistle from Vir- 

 ginia. The i-eason of that is, that the clover in this 

 section being a failure last season there is scarcely 

 anything in the market but linden, and you can 

 not find a pound of that not candied to some extent 

 at this season of the year. Then, again, I have a 

 lot of white sage from California which was ship- 

 ped to Boston, and from there here, which has been 

 exposed to the cold on the way and while here, and 

 it shows no sign of candying. Some years ago I got 

 from a party in the Shenandoah Valley some blue- 

 thistle honey which was not candied the next May; 

 also some gathered from late fall flowers taken out 

 of the same hives a month later than the other, 

 which was candied solid in the comb before Janu- 

 ary 1st. Then in extracted honey I have seen it 

 two years old and not candied, and I have seen lin- 

 den honey candied solid within three months from 

 the time it was extracted. I think there is no ques- 

 tion about one kind of honey, either in comb or ex- 

 tracted candying much more readily than others. 

 It may be, that an even temperature of 70 or 80° 

 would prevent it; but how many of our bee-men 

 keep their honey in that way? M. H. Tweed. 



Allegheny, Pa., March 8, 1888. 



Friend T., I agree with you about marking 

 comb honey " Warranted Pure.'' I have 

 seen it, too, and it always pains me. I do 

 not believe 1 would put even the word " hon- 

 ey ''on it at all. If there is anybody who 

 does not know what comb honey is when he 

 sees it, it is certainly somebody who can 

 neither read nor write. Simply say, " From 

 the apiary of John Brown, Medina, Medina 

 Co., O.," and let the contents of the case tell 

 the rest of the story.— You are right in re- 

 gard to traveling salesmen. This class of 

 individuals do a great deal toward spreading 

 information of all kinds; but, unfortunately, 

 they are fearfully given to startling stories, 

 to make people stare and wonder, without 

 any regard as to whether the stories are true 

 or not. You can easily make them back 

 down, especially when they find you are at 

 home on the subject. — I am glad to hear you 

 take up a little on the side of the express 

 companies. This matter of making secure 

 packages is a very important one. Perhaps 

 reversing will pay on this account alone, if 

 no other, for it makes an absolutely sure 

 thing of it, if the reversing is done at the 

 right time. You remember what I said on 



page 843 about a crop of beautiful honey at- 

 tached only to the top-bars of the sections. 

 — I have been for years aware of the fact that 

 some honey candies, and some does not ; and 

 I think that the same kind of honey may be- 

 have differently at different seasons, to 

 some extent. 



THE GIVEN PRESS. 



DR. MASON SPEAKS SOME GOOD WORDS KOR IT. 



T HAVE been using a Given press for several 

 mP years, and my experience with it leads me to 

 ^t think more and more of it each year. I would 

 not begin to exchange it for the best roller mill. 

 I don't remember when I began to use wired 

 frames, and I have used none but wired ones since 

 I first began to use them, and I should be sorry to 

 be obliged to do without them. When I began their 

 use I put on the foundation by hand; and although 

 it could be done very rapidly, oue thing was ex- 

 ceedingly annoying; for I love to see straight combs. 

 In pressing the wires into the foundation it was 

 stretched a little by the pressure at each wire, and 

 made the foundation wavy. I took a good deal of 

 time straightening it, as the bees worked it out, but 

 I have no such trouble with that made on the press. 



I think it is not possible to make as nice lookirm 

 foundation on the press as can be made on a mill; 

 but the septum can be made just as thin as on rol- 

 lers. With rollers, only a certain amount of wax 

 can pass through, making the side walls always of 

 the same depth, but their depth on the press de- 

 pends on the thickness of the sheet of wax; and as 

 it is sometimes difficult to get the sheet of the same 

 thickness throughout, the side walls are very apt 

 to vary slightly; but as looks are not what we are 

 after in foundation for the brood-chamber, that 

 does not matter. 



I do not make foundation for sale; but some of 

 my neighbors prefer the Given, and come to mo for 

 it— some with and some without wired frames— not 

 because it is more convenient, for there is a supply- 

 dealer here who makes thousands of pounds of 

 foundation each season. 



I can make the foundation right In the wired 

 frames almost as rapidly as it can be made on the 

 rollers, and then it is ready for the hives; so, taking 

 into account the fastening in the roller foundation, 

 the press is more rapid, and since I began to use 

 the " washing fluid" on the die, of which 1 wrote 

 in a previous number of Gleanings, it is " just but 

 fun " to make foundation on the press. 



BEE-STING REMEDIES. 



In addition to what I said in Gleanings, p. 618, 1 

 should like to say that we have found oil of cloves a 

 very good remedy. Mrs. Mason was stung a short 

 time ago; and, not having any oil of cinnamon at 

 hand, I applied oil of cloves, and it prevented savoII- 

 ing entirely, and no soreness followed, as it ustmlly 

 does on her; and yesterday our baby got stung on 

 the fleshy part of the arm, and an immediate ap- 

 plication of the oil prevented any swelling; but the 

 arm was sore for some time after. To be of value, 

 it seems that the application must be made almost 

 immediately after the sting. It is not for ourselves 

 —that is, bee-keepers— that we care for such reme- 

 dies, but we don't like to see the members of our 

 families, and our friends and visitors to the apiary, 

 with cheeks and nose enlarged, or eyes swollen 



