298 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May 15 



don't. It matters little how close to black 

 combs the sections may be before the seal- 

 ing begins. Years ago, when I used wide 

 frames, I practiced putting a brood-frame 

 in the super between the frames of sections, 

 as a bait to start work in the sections. It 

 was effective, only if I didn't remove the 

 brood-comb before sealing began on the sec- 

 tions, the sections would be black enough. 

 I do not remember that there was any trou- 

 ble with the cell-walls, and am inclined to 

 think that it is only after the work of seal- 

 ing begins that the bees add scraps from 

 the other combs. 



So the matter of distance cuts an impor- 

 tant figure; and if I should leave a super of 

 sections next the brood to be sealed I should 

 expect the sealing to be darkened. But a 

 super is practically never left so close as 

 that. The bees must travel at least 5|i( 

 inches to get from the brood-comb to the 

 comb in the section. Oftener the distance 

 is 10 to 15 inches, and it may be 2 feet or 

 more. 



Perhaps I ought to explain that, when 

 the first super is half filled, it is raised up 

 and an empty one put under it; and as 

 each super is added, the others are raised; 

 so that in a few cases seven supers will be 

 on at a time before the upper ones are ready 

 to take off. In a rapid flow the lower super 

 may be raised before it is half filled, possi- 

 bly even when only a fair start has been 

 made; and in a poor flow it may be more 

 than half filled. But even if the bees 

 should begin sealing before the super is 

 raised, that beginning will not be at the 

 bottom of the section, but at the top, at 

 least three or four inches above the black 

 comb. 



If, now, your practice is the same as to 

 raising supers, then I don't know what the 

 trouble is. 



Marengo, 111. 



EXTRACTED HONEY. 



The Reason why Consumers Know Nothing 

 About it. 



BY E. G. HAND. 



If you have not already closed the lid on 

 the discussion which was opened in Glean- 

 ings a few weeks ago, page 3, .Jan. 1, regard- 

 ing a name for extracted honey, I should 

 like to offer an observation and a suggestion 

 — not a suggestion of a name, but some- 

 thing more to the point. 



In your last article on the subject, p. 85, 

 Feb. 15, you remark, with just a suspicion 

 of resignation which may be read between 

 the lines, that the public have learned to 

 call honey removed from the comb " strain- 

 ed " honey, and that there seems to be no 

 way of getting them to call it any thing 

 else. My observation is that the reason the 

 great consuming public call it strained hon- 

 ey is because they have been doing so right- 

 ly for — how many thousand years is it? 



And they have been doing so wrongly for 

 only about fifty years, and have not discov- 

 ered their mistake yet, simply because they 

 have never been told, or have never been 

 shown the difference. In other words, the 

 advent of the honey-extractor has not been 

 properly advertised. 



Instead of so many bee-handling stunts 

 at the fairs and elsewhere — demonstrations 

 which are, after all, more spectacular than 

 educative — my suggestion is that exhibi- 

 tions be given of the handling, extracting, 

 and canning or bottling of honey. A few 

 years of this procedure, coupled with a cer- 

 tain amount of newspaper and magazine 

 advertising, would soon teach the public to 

 be up-to-date in the names they call honey. 

 If we just sit quietly back and wait, it will , 

 take as long for people to unlearn the 

 "strained " idea as it did for them to learn 

 it. If we want them to know, we must tell 

 them. I go to the big fairs, and see men 

 making various kinds of biscuits and puffed 

 cereals, and other kinds of food products. 

 I watch them make boots and shoes, car- 

 pets, and even heavy machinery. In the j 

 "honey-building" I observe an abandoned I 

 extractor, and a few people outside the rail- i 

 ing looking at it and wondering what it is 

 for, while its owner is trying to sell a five- 

 cent bottle of honey to another crowd at the 

 other end of the railing. 



We have it all in our own hands. What 

 are we going to do about it? 



Cobalt, Ont. 



GRANULATION OF BULK COMB HONEY. 



No Trouble from this Source in the South. 



BY W. C. MOLLETT. 



On p. 163, March 15, Mr. J. E. Crane says 

 it would be impossible for him to handle 

 bulk comb honey on account of granulation. 

 I have also noticed that some bee-keepers 

 in the North object to it on the score of 

 cleanliness. While these may be valid rea- 

 sons against it in the North, they are not 

 applicable to this locality, nor, so far as I 

 know, to other parts of the South. 



As to granulation here, there is really lit- 

 tle if any difference; for almost all the hon- 

 ey secured will keep about a year before 

 granulating. In local markets here, granu- 

 lated honey sells as well as any. 



As to cleanliness, I can see no objection, 

 as I can handle bulk comb honey as easily 

 as sections. This depends almost altogeth- 

 er upon the person who handles it. I once 

 bought a can of extracted honey from a 

 Northern bee-keeper. It contained dead 

 bees, insects, and other sediment, and was 

 not fit to use. Of course, this was an excep- 

 tion ; but I never will buy again of that 

 man. , 



As to price, I have no trouble in selling 

 all the honey I can secure, at from Vlyi to 

 15 cents per pound in bulk; and I am of the 

 opinion that the bees will store a third more 



