152 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



combs on top to extract from; and, although 

 this way of extracting is a perfect success 

 with us, I can not recommend it to the in- 

 experienced bee-keeper with none of the 

 necessary appliances to ripen his honey ar- 

 tificially. But T do say that the man who 

 has had experience, and has the necessary 

 storage- tanks, can ripen his honey after 

 the bees commence to cap it so that it will 

 be just as good in every respect as if left 

 with the bees all summer. In this way we 

 not only get twice the amount, but we save 

 our bees much labor and waste of honey in 

 capping it over, and ourselves at least half 

 the work in extracting. 



Before a few of you commence to criti- 

 cise this point I want you to understand 

 that I never advised any man to extract and 

 barrel up unripe honey, for, as sure as you 

 do, you not only injure your own reputation 

 but you do much harm to the whole bee- 

 keeping fraternity; so, unless you have the 

 proper place, and storage-tanks where it 

 can be ripened as well as it should be, you 

 had better leave it with the bees until fall. 



I know I am one of a small minority on 

 this particular way of producing extracted 

 honey; but I would rather stand alone, and 

 feel that I was in the right, than to be one 

 of ten thousand and in the wrong. Please 

 do not forget that we leave it with the bees 

 until they commence to cap a few cells 

 along the top of the combs. If the harvest 

 is poor we sometimes leave it over two 

 weeks before we extract, and run it into the 

 tanks, where it always remains until it is 

 good thick honey weighing fully 12 lbs. to 

 the gallon. If I am not mistaken I think 

 Editor Root sampled our honey in four dif- 

 ferent tanks last summer when he was here; 

 also some that was in barrels ready for 

 shipping, so I will leave him to tell you as to 

 its quality. 



When honey will granulate within three or 

 four weeks after extracting, so it will not 

 run through a large faucet, but has to be 

 dug out of the tanks with a stout shovel in 

 chunks like cheese, I don't see any need of 

 letting it remain more than six or seven 



days with the bees.l !r!!r! '^''^^ 



Here is one question I should like to ask 

 those who advocate letting their honey re- 

 main with the bees until it is nicely capped 

 over. It is this: Will you please tell me 

 where the profit comes in when you extract 

 nice comb honey that is well capped, and 

 can be sold for 10 to 12 cents per lb., then 

 uncap it and run it through the extractor 

 and sell the same honey for 6 or 7 cents per 

 lb.? 



If we could just reverse the prices of our 

 honey I might see a profit in extracting nice 

 comb honey; but as it is. and ever will be, 

 to me it is the most foolish of all foolish- 

 ness, and I doubt if any man in the United 

 States can show and prove how he can en- 

 hance the prife of extracted honey in the 

 New York market, which handles more hon- 

 ey than all our other markets put tcgether, 

 a fourth of a cent a pound more than those 

 large dealers can buy it for from other parts 



of t le wurld. It is all right for you to make 

 all the handle you can over this point to your 

 customers ^ho take only a few pounds in a 

 retail way; but when your product goes into 

 the markets of the world in carload lots, 

 then you will find that all this nonsense 

 about leaving your honey with your bees 

 until it is nicely capped over amounts to 

 naught. The dealers want honey of good 

 flavor, thick and heavy, that, as soon as the 

 weather gets cool, granulates solid, so if the 

 head of a barrel should be knocked out it 

 could be laid down and rolled across their 

 storehouse the same as a box of cheese with 

 the cover off. Sell them honey of that kind 

 and they will not care whether it was ex- 

 tracted every day or left with the bees un- 

 til Christmas. 



Now I hope you understand how we pro- 

 duce our extracted honey. In regard to sell- 

 ing it we usually have an advertisement in- 

 serted in some of the bee journals during 

 September, stating the amount we have for 

 sale, and its price. In this way we frequent- 

 ly obtain from J to 1 cent per lb. more for 

 our honey than we could if we did not let 

 the public know what we had and its price. 

 It may seem a small thing to some of you, 

 I or J cent per lb. on a crop of honey; but 

 when you figure J cent on 30 tons it comes 

 to $300. That pays quite well for an adver- 

 tisement that costs less than five dollars. 



One party early in October anxiously took 

 the remnant of our crop, and paid us cash 

 down $1144.89. Since then we have received 

 several letters from old customers wanting 

 from one keg to a carload of cur extracted 

 honey, so I don't think it would be any det- 

 riment to some boe-keepers if they followed 

 in a few of the tracks we make in producing 

 and selling large quantities of extracted 

 honey. The only honey we have ever had 

 any trouble in selling was our clover honey. 

 This was caused by our bees getting a little 

 from buckwheat, which comes up with the 

 oats where buckwheat was raised the year 

 before. This blossoms in June, and the bees 

 get just enough to give our light honey a 

 dark shade. This was one of the reasons 

 why father Quinby moved from this buck- 

 wheat section many years ago. He pre- 

 ferred to keep bees where his clover honey 

 would be of the finest quality. 



How time does fly! I can hardly realize 

 that it is now over thirty years since I 

 looked into his smiling eyes and took 

 that friendly hand that was ever extended 

 to encourage and help the inexperienced 

 and unfortunate. His name, with that of 

 that prince of bee-keepers, Capt. Hether- 

 ington, will be cherished and honored as 

 long as honey-bees are kept by man. When 

 we used to meet in convention, something 

 over thirty years ago, with Prof. Cook or 

 father Quinby in the chair, and could look 

 around Ihe hall and see Capt. Hetherington, 

 L. C. Root, A. I. Root, P. H Elwood, Chas. 

 Van Deusen and his father; Doolittle, Bing- 

 ham. Huffman, and my father, with a score 

 or more of us lesser lights, we had good 

 reason to feel proud of our meetings, and I 



