April, 1909. 



American l^ee Journal 



mm 



Confributedl 



Producing Extracted Honey 



BY F. GREIXER. 



From what I have written in different 

 papers on the subject of honey produc- 

 tion, it may appear that I produce only 

 comb honey. Some have asked me why 

 T saj' so little about producing ex- 

 tracted honey, and the answer is, the 

 production of the article in liquid form 

 has always been a side-issue with me. 

 although of late years I am having an 

 increasing call for it, to be used on the 

 table and to be a strictly fancy article. 

 To meet this demand I am obliged to 

 run my most distant out-yard for this 

 product, on account of my nearer yards 

 not furnishing an article to suit my cus- 

 tomers. The lighter-colored the honey 

 the better it is liked, although I also 

 produce a limited quantity of buckwheat 

 extracted honey for some special custo- 

 mers, and so I often move a load or 

 two of bees into the hills where buck- 

 wheat is grown. Usually, I am success- 

 ful in this, but 1908 was a season which 

 put all previous years into the shade. 

 From 35 colonies I harvested only about 

 100 pounds. 



The locality where I produce white 

 extracted honey sometimes furnishes a 

 little inferior honey at the beginning of 

 the honey season, early in June, so I 

 have to be on my guard ; but after the 

 clover commences the honey will be fine 

 to the end. As soon as the colonies 

 become reasonably strong, each is given 

 a set of extracting-corhbs (5 inches deep, 

 in the clear) over an excluding honey- 

 board. The brood-chambers contain 8 

 combs, equivalent to 10 Langstroth 

 frames, the extracting supers contain- 

 ing only 7 combs. 



From time to time, as needed, I add 

 more supers, always placing the empty 

 combs next to the brood. I find that of 

 the colonies run in this way nearly 50 

 percent contract the swarming fever, and 

 it is necessary to make examinations 

 every 6th day, the same as with the 

 colonies run for comb honey, in or^lcr 

 to head off all swarming. I feel sure 

 that more breeding room would pre- 

 vent the swarming, or reduce it to a 

 very small percent; but not wishing to 

 adopt a larger hive, a hive containing 

 more than 8 combs, I continue my prac- 

 tice as outlined, and I make my brushed 

 swarms the same as with the comb- 

 honey colonies. 



In a good honey season the hives soon 

 become so tall that it is not practical 

 any more to tip them up for an exam- 

 ination from the bottom. In this case, 

 some of the topmost supers need to be 

 removed, either to be taken home or 

 placed on other hives which are not 

 doing very much work; in this case I 

 let the bees go with the honey. My aim 



is to have all lioney on the hives as 

 long as possible, and not do any ex- 

 tracting till I can make a business of it, 

 and move full loads to the home-yard 

 where the e.xtracting is done. 



I realize that a loss occurs by not ex- 

 tracting the combs as soon as taken 

 from the hives, and while still warm, 

 but I cannot yet see my way clear how 

 I could do so. 



When the time comes to take the hon- 

 ey, I aim to do so, when there is a 

 prospect of a warm night ; then the su- 

 pers are snatched off as rapidly as pos- 

 sible, freed from the bees, and loaded 

 on the wagon. I can usually take off 

 a wagon-load in an afternoon, load and 

 move it home (a four-hours' drive), 

 and reach the place of destination by 

 9 or 10 o'clock p. m. Sometimes I 

 have not started till dark, on account of 

 the difficulty to get the load away from 

 tlie bees. However, it is possible so to 

 handle the full supers, and by so keep- 

 ing everything covered with escape- 

 boards, or perhaps otherwise, that the 

 bees will not become stirred up and 

 demoralized. 



For convenience sake in loading, I 

 make use of special racks having tight 

 bottoms, and holding either 10 or 20 

 supers each ; and when the uppermost 

 supers in them are covered up by es- 

 cape-boards, the honey is not only per- 

 fectly safe against robbery on the bees' 

 part, but what few bees are still re- 

 maining in the supers, may work their 

 way out. Thus T have been enabled to 

 move my honey even in daytime, when 

 no honey was being gatlicred. with but 

 little danger to man or beast. 



When arriving home, the honey is 

 taken to the warm and tightly closed 

 honey-house, and the extracting is be- 

 gun at the earliest opportunity to pre- 

 vent its becoming colder tlian there is 

 any need. It is the best 1 can do un- 

 der the circumstances. Occasionally I 

 have started the extractor at once, and 

 worked all night. 



In all my operations with Ijces I em- 

 ploy no help, doing all of the work my- 

 self. This migjit not be considered 

 l)usiness-like by some of the fraternity. 

 but money is not all we arc after. We 

 do not wish to take a foreign clement 

 into our family. While it may be true 

 that bee-keepers generally are' a better, 

 cleaner set of men than the average 

 laboring class, yet we feel that we can 

 enjoy our family life better by not 

 having strangers with us at all times. 

 We certainly thus avoid the risk of 

 taking into our family an undesirable 

 element, men who will pollute our 

 homes with tobacco, whisky, etc. We 

 are satisfied. 



As to the manner of extracting the 

 lioney : I do not yet riln my extractor 



by power, although I had contemplated 

 malcmg the proper arrangements for 



hand'^'Th"- ^ ''""•*"" '"y Cowan by 

 liand The uncappmg is done with a 

 Bmgham honey-knife; cold no hot 

 water; I f5„d it unnecessa v'; a lar^e 

 ong box w>th an inserted screen bot 

 om holds the cnppings and allows" them 

 10 Oram. Aly combs are not all fullv 

 sealed, although tl,e majority are Bv 



fT!Jt"1 °' -^Pty com'b the be^e^ 

 are apt to leave tiie combs along the 

 edges unsealed, particularlv so when he 

 eason suddenly and prematureTy comes 

 to an end, as it did the past year In 

 com.V^"; '^' ^"P"^ a'^o do^ot be 

 bu'Vh'at we' '° '1^'' "P°" 'he hives 

 bees Sf f^ '!," '/^'"^ =>" with the 

 Dees till the end of the season- and 



combs"."-''''*" "'^' ^"'^h portions of the 

 farrlv welf ' "°' ,''"'^'^ '^°"f^''" honey 

 I do nof I "P'"","^: ^'*'^°"gh I confess 

 fact ""' *° ^^ ^" ■-''^^ol"te 



On an average, my combs are more 

 than three-fourths sealed; comb Xr 

 comb h,-,s every cell sealed, and the re- 

 sul.mg honey is usually of good body, 

 it IS left m he tanks or open barrels 

 covered up with chcese-clotli till all tie 

 little particles of comb, bee-bread etc 



days" '°Aft'eV°Pi,"'r'^ ■^^•■" ''^^'^ f^w 

 ou^ i^"5.r all foreign matter is 



t:^?,"^^^' '^^ ^°'''y '^ '■^ady to go 

 into the 60-pound cans 



Honey to be put up in glass will soon 



become cloudy, and later granulae. To 



I find i/'"'' "' ,^'f" '' ^°' ^ period" 

 i hnd It a good practice to heat the 

 honey to about 140° Fahr., before fill! 

 "ig the cans or bottles. Even at iS° 

 t m';;'J'°t,"*'T ''"''°"'" perfectly clear, but 

 a ronglr'timl"^ '' ^'"' '-P--^-e for 

 tl,r^°'f"'" i"""" *'°'' e-^tracted honey 

 io/^orJ5 "'" r'''°':' ■■'^^' =^o>"etimes'^ 

 fed W 7u°,' *'"'"' '""'f' '""St be 

 fed. Where fall honey may be had the 

 bees may be allowed to store it in he 

 brood-combs. This provides sufficient 

 stores to carry the bees through the 

 winter and spring liere in my locality 

 and 1 do not find it necessary to feed 

 sugar. - "^^" 



I usually select the bees from this dis- 

 tant out-yard to move into the buck- 

 wheat .section, because there is seldom 

 any fall honey-flow. So as soon as th" 

 white honey season is done, and before 

 buckwheat commences to vield honey 

 not far from August i, I do the mov- 



Naples, N. Y. 



Quantity Not Quality of 

 Food Decides Royalty 



BY W. W. MCNF.AI.. 



Careful research has failed to dis- 

 close any evidence to verify the teach- 

 ings of orthodoxy relating to the food 

 of a _ queen-larva. The term " royal 

 jelly has a fanciful, high-sounding 

 note but It leads one away from the 

 truth. Nature is not partial to royalty 

 in that manner. It would not be in 

 order of economy for the nurse-bees 

 to prepare several kinds of food for the 

 larva?. The sooner we disabuse our 

 minds of the belief that there is some 

 occult power in the food, tlie sooner 



