1899 



GLKANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



801 



Ofttimes it is better not to wait until these un- 

 sealed cells next the wood of the sections are 

 all sealed over, as to wait for them to be so is 

 often a great waste of time, especially for 

 those near the outside of the surplus arrange- 

 ment. When the honey is taken from the 

 hive, that in the unsealed cells is so thin that, 

 if the sections are held so the mouths of the 

 cells are down, it will leak or run out badly; 

 but by leaving it in a warm room as above for 

 three weeks or a month it can be handled as 

 you please, tipping it over, etc., and not a 

 drop of honey can be shaken out ; and if, aft- 

 er it gets to market, it is stored in a damp cool 

 place, it will be some time before it will take 

 on moisture enough to affect it to any great 

 extent. Perhaps all will not agree with me ; 

 but I think that all comb hon y should be 

 stored in such a room at least a month before 

 crating or sending to market, to ripen, or 

 " sweat out," as it is most usually termed. I 

 know that it is a saving of time and labor to 

 crate it at once ; but I think it pays for all of 

 this extra time and labor, in the better quality 

 and appearance of our product. 



Having the honey placed in a warm room, 

 the next thing that will need our attention 

 will likely be the larvse of the wax-moth, as 

 spoken of by our questioner. After the hon- 

 ey has been away from the bees for about ten 

 days, where placed in a warm room as is here 

 given, if we inspect the cappings of the hon- 

 ey closely we can detect little places of white 

 dust, resembling flour, upon the surface of 

 the comb, and usually most abundant near 

 the bottom of the section. Although this 

 place resembling flour may not be larger 

 around than a fine needle, still it tells us for 

 certain that a tiny worm of the wax-moth is 

 there, and that, unless its death comes about 

 in some way, while in this tiny state, it will 

 destroy more or less of the nice white comb 

 which encases the honey. While in one of 

 our cities a number of years ago I saw sections 

 of honey which had worms on them from *{ 

 to \% inches long, and nearly as large around 

 as a slate pencil, which had nearly denuded 

 the honey of its nice white cappings, thus 

 making it an object of loathing rather than 

 of attraction, the same caused by the producer 

 not knowing how to detect the first appear- 

 ance of the worms, or being too shiftless to kill 

 them after he had found them ; or, perhaps, 

 being in too big a hurry to rush his honey to 

 market, instead of ripening it as advised 

 above. 



If, after several examinations, you fail to 

 find such little white flour-like places you may 

 well be glad, for it is no small task to keep 

 the worms from honey during the latter part 

 of the summer and fall, where they are as 

 plentiful as they were in this locality twenty 

 to thirty years ago. 



If you should find these flour-like places, 

 the next thing is to sulphur the honey. To 

 do this best, the honey should be stored on a 

 platform raised a foot or more from the floor, 

 and built of narrow scantling so placed as to 

 form a sort of open net-work, this allowing 

 the fumes from the sulphur to freely circulate 

 all through the honey piled on the same. Hav- 



ing all in readiness, put some ashes in an old 

 kettle, so that there will be no danger from 

 fire resulting from the heat from the coals 

 which are to be placed therein. Take the ket- 

 tle of coals to the room, and pour sulphur 

 (which has been previously weighed) on the 

 coals, to the amount of % lb. to every 75 cu- 

 bic feet contained in the room, when the ket- 

 tle is pushed under the pile of honey, and the 

 room closed. Leave it thus closed for from 

 twelve to fifteen minutes, when it should be 

 opened to let the smoke out; for if allowed to 

 settle on the combs, it will give them a green- 

 ish tint. 



Just how the eggs get into the surplus apart- 

 ment of the hives is not known; but it is sup- 

 posed they are carried there on the feet of the 

 bees. All combs having pollen in them are 

 more subject to the moth than are those hav- 

 ing no pollen in them; therefore those sections 

 having any pollen in them should be kept sep- 

 arate from the main crop of honey. If more 

 honey is put into the room later on, each lot 

 so put in should be sulphured in about a week 

 or ten days after putting in. 



Only as we put our honey upon the market 

 in the best possible shape can we expect to se- 

 cure the highest prices for it, or expect that 

 the price will be kept at paying figures ; and 

 the person who knows how to put his honey 

 on the market in the most marketable shape 

 will not be the one to bring down the market 

 price by underselling his neighbor, either, as 

 do those who pay no attention to this matter. 



'SfflSasm 



SQUARE CANS, KEGS, AND WOOD-FIBER PACK- 

 AGES FOR HOLDING EXTRCTED HONEY. 



I can not help making a reply to your foot- 

 note, page 643, in which you inform me that 

 square tin cans have honey-gates. Why, I am 

 not as ignorant as I seem. I think I have read 

 Gleanings over 20 years, besides other bee- 

 papers, and catalogs. I know there are hon- 

 ey-gates, and I have used them. I also know 

 that you have a bunghole strainer you send 

 out with your extractors. If one is dealing 

 in sweetened water, either may do ; but for 

 honey I would class your honey-gates on a 

 level with your cheese cloth strainer. A man 

 would have to have a lease on 'life for about 

 999 years in order to draw or strain a few gal- 

 lons of honey. Then the honey-gate does not 

 protect the tin can from leaking while in tran- 

 sit. Another objection to the use of tin for 

 honey, which I failed to mention in my arti- 

 cle, is that, unless the can be thoroughly 

 cleaned and dried as soon as empty, the little 

 honey left in it will turn black and leave a 

 peculiar scent in the can that I never could 

 get rid of afterward. If you wOuld put a 

 vent-plug on the opposite corner of the honey- 

 gate on the cans it would expedite the draw- 

 ing of honey from the cans, but would, of 



