152 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



Except when the brood -nest is greatly con- 

 tracted, six half-story frames may be quite 

 enough. The frames may be removed as fast 

 as the foundation is sufficiently drawn out, and 

 replaced by others. Should any honey have 

 been deposited in the combs, this could easily 

 be removed either with the extractor, or, better, 

 by a careful exposure in the bee-yard. One 

 colony worked in this fashion might easily fur- 

 nish enough comb to fill a dozen section supers 

 or more, depending altogether on the honey- 

 flow; and, further, we might continue the pro- 

 cedure by feeding, or, where no buckwheat is 

 grown, feeding might be substituted. 



A bee-keeping friend, located within a few 

 miles of me, follows a similar plan to obtain 

 comb. He sets apart his best comb-building 

 colonies for the purpose, and during the time 

 just previous to his expected honey-flow he 

 feeds and thus gets his foundation drawn in 

 half-depth frames. When drawn, the comb is 

 cut out and fitted into the sections in such a 

 manner as to leave a small passage-hole in 

 each of the four corners of each section, etc. 



I hope some of the readers of Gleanings 

 will test these plans the coming season, and re- 

 port their success. 



Of course, when the perfect comb becomes 

 a fact, comb made by machinery, so light that 

 it can not be detected in the honey afterward, 

 and also sold reasonably cheap, then we need 

 not trouble ourselves any more to obtain it by 

 feeding or otherwise. All will depend on what 

 will be the cheapest way to attain the same or 

 the best result. 



Naples, N. Y., Feb. 6. 



[I had not thought of it before, but I do be- 

 lieve that American consumers, so far from 

 disliking the so-called fishbone, as a resultant 

 from the use of foundation in sections, actually 

 do like it. It gives them something to chew. 

 The fact of the matter is, I suppose, the aver- 

 age consumer does not know how honey in 

 natural combs does taste. If he ate the honey 

 of his fathers, he has forgotten how it chewed; 

 and as practically all comb honey of to day on 

 the market is built from foundation, the con- 

 sumers do not know that there is any difference 

 between comb honey from foundation and that 

 which was made without. But this is true: 

 The fishbone is just so much waste, and some- 

 body has to pay for it. We have made founda- 

 tion with no side walls whatever— just the mere 

 rectangular bases united together, and we have 

 al<o made foundation with very little side wall. 

 While it is perfectly practical to make both of 

 these articles, they have given dissatisfaction 

 to bee keepers, owing to the fact that they 

 would sag or stretch in the hive; we are, there- 

 fore, aiming in the new product— that is, the 

 new deep-cell-wall foundation — to make an 

 article that will not sag — the ability to resist 

 stretching being due to the deep cells rather 

 than to heavy side walls or thick bases.— Ed.] 



If you wouVd like to have any of your friends 

 see a specimen copy of Olennings.make known 

 the request on a postal, with the address or ad- 

 dresses, and we will, with pleasure, send them. 



HOW I KAISE AND SELL EXTKACTED HONEY. 



VALUABLE TRADE SECRETS FROM A VETERAN 

 AT THE BUSINESS. 



By Clialon Fowls. 



When I first began raising extracted honey, 

 fifteen or sixteen years ago, I could not sell a 

 hundred pounds a year in my home market; 

 now it takes from one and a half to two tons of 

 honey a year to supply my home market, and 

 my trade is constantly increasing. 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 raised 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 gath- 

 ered until it reaches the market, just as a like 

 result is obtained by the cleanest and most im- 

 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 insects, 

 which insures cleanliness in the gathering pro- 

 cess (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, larviB, 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 7.5 lbs. It will all candy 

 solid, and Is liquefied only as wanted for mar- 

 ket. 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 filled with water. The 

 whole thing is kept hot several hours on the 

 stove (a gasoline-stove is th'e best because slow- 

 er) ; 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 front somewhere, or on the counter, where 

 the light will strike through it. When a cus- 

 tomer 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 



