GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



comb lioiiey the tins can easily Ije removed 

 without disturbini»' the bees. 



A pretty good feeder can be made by 

 inverting a friction top pail over a pie-tin. 

 Fill the pail, and cover it with a piece of 

 cheese-cloth and the tin before inverting, 



IMPORTANCE OF HEATING AND STRAINING 

 HONEY. 



Too many beemen practice drawing hon- 

 ey directly from the extractor into cans to 

 be sold to the consumer, wiLhcut heating 

 or passing through a settling-tank. A little 

 foam or a dead bee now and then will 

 frighten away many a good customer. 



I had an oven made somewhat similar to 

 that described by Mr. Pouder in Gleanings 

 about two years ago, for liquefying honej' 

 in 60-lb. cans. Two oven gas-burners were 

 installed; but I find one to be .-nfficient, and 

 it must be turned very low. I find, also, 

 that if the cans are inverted the honey runs 

 out while still partly granulated, and must 

 be subjected to furtlier heating if it is to be 

 strained or passed thi'ough the settling- 

 tank. If the cans are not inverted, the 

 honey at the top of the can becomes too 

 hot, while at the bottom it remains unmelt- 

 ed for a long time. 



Twelve hours or more are required to 

 liquefy six 60-lb. cans of candied honey in 

 this way when the thermometei' at the top 

 registers 160 degrees. 



I figure that it is worth about three cents 

 per pound to furnish pails, shipping-cases, 

 and labor in liquefying and putting up 



honey in five and ten pound j ails. If I 

 am right, then when candied honey is sell- 

 ing for nine cents per pound in five-gallon 

 cans, liquid honey should be worth about 

 twelve cents when in pails ready for the 

 consumer. 



It seems that around Chicago, at least, 

 there are quite a number of canvassers who 

 have discovered tl.at there is a profit in 

 buying extracted honey at whv>iesale prices 

 or less, and selling at twenty cents or more 

 ])er pound to the consumer. In a way 

 these people are doing good by creating a 

 market and in bringing a wholesome food 

 to people, many of whom never before 

 tasted honey; and yet it does not seem quite 

 the proper thing for them to receive more 

 for selling than the beekeeper gets for 

 producing. 



The next stejj for the producer will be 

 to induce retail grocers to handle honey in 

 pails. Their margin of profits should be 

 considerably less. I have tri'.'d selling in 

 this way in two or three towns, and thus 

 far it has jjroved successful. 



MOISTURE PASSING THROUGH THE HIVE WALL. 



It is capillary action that causes the 

 passage of moisture through the sides of 

 an unpainted hive. Of course, no appre- 

 ciable amount of impure air will pass out 

 that way. But how much mr^isture under 

 ordinary conditions? Will some one deter- 

 mine this? 



Valparaiso, Ind. 



NOTES FROM HOOSIERDOI 



BY S. H. BURTON 



Three supers full of papev- white honey 

 in 27 days from bluevine, and the bees 

 loafing for want of space, is the record for 

 one colony in the AVhite River bottom. 



We find that introducing queens by the 

 smoke method is successful if plenty of 

 smoke is used. Three attempts at introduc- 

 ing cjueens by running them iii at the en- 

 trance with a " few puffs of smoke " re- 

 sulted in a failure in each instance. The 

 bees promptly balled the queen. We res- 

 cued the queens, fired up the smoker, and 

 gave it to them from above Strong enough 

 to send them scurrying out at the entrance, 

 and boiling over the tops of the frames. 

 The queens were again released, cover re- 

 placed, and some more smoke driven in at 

 the entrance. An examination 24 hours 

 later proved that " all was quiet along the 

 Potomac." 



(^ool nights and cloudy days have pre- 



vailed during the last fortniglit, and bees 

 are not finishing up all sections in top su- 

 per. We shall discontinue tiering up all 

 but the strongest colonies. 



The fall flow from goldenrod and white 

 aster opened up with a rush Sept. 15. Bees 

 are crowding in the supers, and we expect 

 to take off some golden honey that will 

 taste fine on hot biscuits. In mowing weeds 

 along the fence and in the pastures I al- 

 ways instruct my men to spare the golden- 

 rod. By practicing this metliod for several 

 years I have a border of goldei rod around 

 my farm which not only looks attractive 

 but furnishes good bee pasture. This morn- 

 ing I counted nine bees on a single clump 

 gathering in the nectar. 



A good local demand prevails for new 

 honey, and we are selling vaorc to private 

 consumers than e\er before. The high price 

 of sugar has stimulated the demand for 



