1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



153 



assure you that, as friend El wood this fall 

 talked over those conventions with me, and 

 we recalled to memory the valuable advice 

 Capt. Hetherington then gave us so freely, 

 it was with a sense of loss and sorrow that 

 we realized he could never be with us again. 

 No, my friends, those of you who never had 

 the honor of meeting him can hardly realize 

 as I can that, of all the noted bee-keepers of 

 America, we have had but one Capt. Heth- 

 erington. Hundreds— yes, even thousands — 

 of dollars he spent in testing and perfecting 

 many things that we to-day are reaping 

 much benefit from. Then let us follow the 

 fxample these kind-hearted men have set, 

 and encourage the unfortunate with a cheer- 

 ing word until they have a bright and happy 

 future. 

 Delanson, N. Y. 



[Yes. it is true that I observed that Mr. 

 Alexander was extrac'ing without using an 

 uncapping-knife; but I also ^aw that he al- 

 lowed the combs to stay on the hives until 

 the bees began capping. The honey, when 

 thrown out, seem.ed to be very thick and 

 rich. 1 sampled it as it came from the ex- 



tractor and also in the tanks he refers to. 

 While I am not a connoisseur on buckwheat 

 honey I should say that, so far as ripeness 

 was concei*ned, it was excellent. But I do 

 not believe that the average bee-keeper had 

 better extract from uncapped combs; for I 

 suspect that the conditions in Mr. Alexan- 

 der's locality are such that he can do so, while 

 the rest of us ordinarily could not do it with- 

 out making a lot of dissatisfied customers. 

 I may in this connection say that a few bee- 

 keepers, notably J. F. Mclntyre, of Cali- 

 fornia, who, by the way, has 500 colonies in 

 one apiary, does a part of his ripening, or did 

 do so, in open tanks, although when I was 

 present at his yard he was doing considerable 

 uncapping. He once sent us samples of his 

 bee-and-tank-ripened and bee-ripened hon- 

 ey, and asked us to tell which was which. So 

 far as we could tell they were equal in quality 

 and body, but, taking every thing into con- 

 sideration, I think it is a safe rule to ad- 

 vise that the average bee-keeper in the aver- 

 age locality let his extracting combs become 

 fully capped before extracting. In all the 

 lake regions I am sure it is imperative. — 

 Ed.] 



E. W. ALEXANDER AND P. H. ELWOOD LOOKING OVER THE ALEXANDER BEES. 



