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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



all the lake regions I am sure it is impera- 

 tive." The "lake region," if I am correct, 

 includes nearly all Canada except Manitoba 

 and the Northwest, where, practically, there 

 are no bees, and a part of the United States. 

 I too am sure that it is imperative. 



I remember very well when D. A. Jones 

 was ' ' King ' ' in Canada. He practiced and 

 advised extracting before the combs were 

 capped, and ripening the honey in tanks 

 holding about 375 lbs. All the bee-keepers 

 with whom I was acquainted, and I think I 

 may say the majority in Canada, followed 

 this plan. The result was that the honey 

 market for years was such that it was more 

 difficult to sell the honey than to produce it. 

 Many went out of the business; and those 

 who remained, the writer among the num- 

 ber, decreased their stock. I will mention 

 just one case in point. 



A man, less than two miles from here, 

 about twenty years ago extracted over 200 

 lbs. per colony. Being short of ripening- 

 tanks he ran it into cans too soon; and the 

 consequence was that every pound ferment- 

 ed, bulged out the cans, and forced itself 

 out at the top. It was all sold within twelve 

 miles from here, and I need not enlarge on 

 the effect it had on the demand for honey 

 in this "locality." 



I will not say that good thick honey can 

 not be produced by artificial ripening provid- 

 ed there is plenty of ripening- tank capacity 

 and the weather is hot and dry; but take 

 any one of the last three summers, last 

 summer especially, when almost every sec- 

 ond day there was rain, a damp atmosphere, 

 cloudy and cool day and night— will any one 

 say that honey could be properly ripened in 

 such an atmosphere and at such a tempera- 

 ture? 



About twenty years ago the writer was 

 present at a convention in the City Hall, 

 Toronto. The Rev. L. L. Langstroth, Mr. 

 A. I. Root, Prof. Cook, Mr. D. A. Jones, 

 and many other prominent bee-keepers from 

 the United States and Canada were there. 

 In the course of a discussion Prof. Cook 

 arose and asserted, with all the dogmatism 

 of a fifteenth-century Calvinist, that honey 

 extracted before it is sealed and artificially 

 ripened is just as good as that fully ripened 

 in the hive. He had tested it— with some of 

 his students I think he said— and they could 

 not tell any difference. He further stated 

 that we could not afford the time to let the 

 honey ripen inside the hive. Mr. A. I. Root 

 took the opposite view, and maintained that 

 honey which is fully capped before extract- 

 ing is superior— a position which I believe is 

 endorsed by nine-tenths of the bee-keepers 

 throughout the United States and Canada 

 to-dav. 



Right here I may say that I do not consid- 

 er an extracted-honey producer fully pre- 

 pared for his business unless he has three 

 supers for each colony of drawn combs. 

 Thus equipped we can afford the time to al- 

 low our honey to become fully ripened in the 

 hive. 



I shall not presume to question the Alex- 



ander method of extracting honey in his lo- 

 cality, especially buckwheat honey. I rather 

 fancy that exposing ic in large tanks for a 

 week or so would improve it, as it might 

 dissipate some of the aroma (?). But I do 

 not want to see that system revived and re- 

 introduced through the medium of Glean- 

 ings. 

 Inglewood, Ont., Can. 



[As I have before stated, I will say again 

 with further emphasis, that for the average 

 beekeeper, in the average locality, the 

 combs should be fully capped before ex- 

 tracting. The extraordinary bee-keeper in 

 an extraordinary locality may extract before 

 capping. 



Prof. A. J. Cook is not now in this coun- 

 try or I would refer the paragraph in refer- 

 ence to extracting uncapped honey to him 

 direct; but I may say this much: Since the 

 time of the convention referred to, he has 

 given out a statement that seems to be 

 backed by facts and by scientific men gen- 

 erally, that the bees do something more 

 than merely evaporate the nectar. They 

 "invert" it, according to the chemists— or, 

 as Prof. Cook prefers to put it, "digest" 

 it, making a distinct chemical change be- 

 tween the nectar just as it comes from the 

 flower and the honey from a fully capped 

 comb. It is the opinion of the editor that 

 Prof. Cook would now be among the number 

 who would advise the average bee-keeper to 

 let his combs become fully capped before 

 extracting. — Ed. ] 



WAX-RENDERING METHODS. 



The Opinions of Some of the German Authorities. 



BY F. GREINER. 



Supplementary to my former article on 

 rendering wax and the different methods 

 employed by others I am to-day in a position 

 to give you the opinion of noted bee-keepers 

 in other lands, and their experience as well 

 as their methods in regard to rendering wax, 

 which may prove of interest to the readers 

 of your journal 



Alfonsus, editor of Bienenvater, Austria, 

 says: "After many unsuccessful trials to 

 obtain the best and most wax from old combs, 

 bee-keepers generally have returned to the 

 old and tried methods of the heath bee- 

 keepers and their wooden press. Hot- water 

 wax-rendering machines are somewhat used, 

 but not commonly accepted as the best. 

 Steam wax-presses have outlived them- 

 selves." 



Freudenstein, editor of the Neue Bienen- 

 zeitung, Germany, says: "According to my 

 extensive experience, the steam wax-ex- 

 tractor is no good. The best thing we have 

 is the Leipzig wax-press [a hot-water ma- 

 chine]. I am very well satisfied with it. 

 The steam wax-extractor has been relegated 

 to the lumber-room." 



Prof. Luigi Sartori, one of the most noted 

 bee-keepers in Italy, a man of wide experi- 



