November, 1909. 



American Hee Journal 



not "granulate," as we understand the 

 granulation of honey, in coarse soft 

 lumps. In such a case, there would 

 have been no loss, for the bees could 

 probably use it, but the change was in 

 the shape of a hard and brittle crystal- 

 lization, the syrup was changed to 

 "rock candy." Perhaps some confec- 

 tioner or candy manufacturer could 

 explain to us how this result is at- 

 tained, so that we might be sure to 

 avoid it, but I know that the use of the 

 acid or of honey secures this end. The 

 formation of candy out of syrup is a 

 sort of soft granulation, which is also 

 in a shape accessible to the bees, and 

 that is all we are seeking. 

 Hamilton, 111. 



The Two Cans of Honey 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND. 



The two cans were of the 5-gallon 

 style, with the popular l?.t'-inch screw- 

 cap — bright, shiny cans; the fact is, 

 there was no difference in them ; but 

 not so with their contents, although it 

 was all gathered from the same source, 

 by the same strain of bees. The fact 

 is, it was all clover honey, gathered 

 from the white variety ; both cans were 

 labeled, one can bore the name of 

 "Mr. Ripe," the other " Mr. Green;" 

 both were from the same location — 

 Hubbardston, Mich. 



The fact that this honey was gath- 

 ered from the clover, in tlie vicinity of 

 Hubbardston, was in itself sufficient 

 evidence that the nectar gathered by 

 the bees was the finest the world ever 

 produced ; for isn't it known that 

 Michigan produces the very finest 

 honey;* 



Then there was another mark on the 

 labels, other than the name of the pro- 

 ducer; it was dates, and I would have 

 the reader bear in mind these dates, for 

 they have more to do with the story 

 than any other one thing. One can 

 was dated " June 23d," the other " Aug. 

 1st." 



The casual observer will see no sig- 

 nificance in these dates, but the expe- 

 rienced extracted-honey prtxlucer will 

 know that great possibilities lie be- 

 tween those two dates ; for. be it known, 

 these were the dates of extracting those 

 two cans of honey — one June 23d, the 

 other Aug. 1st. 



It had been mentioned that there 

 was some alsike clover in this vicinity, 

 and some have gone so far as to hint 

 that quite a part of the honey gathered 

 in this location was from alsike clover. 

 Be this as it may be, the alsike did not 

 hurt the quality of the white clover 

 honey, neither did the white clover 

 honey hurt the quality of the alsike 

 honey, for those with large experience 

 could not tell the one from the other, 

 or the other from the one, but all were 

 agreed that this honey was as good as 

 was ever produced anywhere. 



Mr. Ripe and Mr. Green were neigh- 

 bors; they had been neighbors for 

 years, but it was not until they had 

 both acquired a few colonies of bees 

 that they became fast friends. 



Mr. Ripe told Mr. Green his plans, 

 and Mr. Green told Mr. Ripe his plans. 

 If Mr. Green bought a queen of some 

 famous strain as a breeder, Mr. Ripe 

 used her as if his own ; when text- 



books were bought, they each bought 

 differently, and they would exchange 

 back and forth until there would be 

 no telling which owned which, unless 

 perchance one happened to write his 

 name on the cover, or, maybe a refer- 

 ence would be written on the fly-leaf, or 

 something of that sort would be the 

 only indication as to who bought the 

 book, for what difference did it make 

 who owned the book, as they both read 

 it, and both bought about the same 

 number of books? 



It was the same with bee-papers — 

 they both subscribed for their share, so 

 when they had exchanged back and 

 forth, as they always did, they had the 

 benefit of all of the leading periodicals 

 pertaining to their pursuit. 



Thus it happened that one was about 

 as well posted on the modern methods 

 of the production of extracted honey 

 as the other; the fact was, there was 

 no difference between them in this re- 

 spect. They are both farmers, their 

 farms joined ; both began at the bot- 

 tom of the ladder. Both came to this 

 new location and "built up with the 

 country;" both owned the same num- 

 ber of acres of land, and had buildings 

 and improvements about the same. 

 The neighbors said they were both 

 " pretty well fixed," neither had much, 

 if anything, but what the other had, so 

 there were none of those petty jealousies 

 between them so likely to be when one 

 neighbor is a little more prosperous 

 than the other. 



They had both kept bees for about 

 10 years, and owned about 60 colonies 

 each. Like the most progressive bee- 

 keepers of the State, they bought 

 enough upper stories, and had them 

 filled out with combs to hold the whole 

 crop of honey; and as there was no 

 buckwheat produced in this particular 

 location, the honey was not extracted 

 until it was thoroughly cured by the 

 bees; many times having their farm 

 work to do, and knowing that the 

 honey was growing better and better 

 each day that it was left on the hive. 

 Often it would be late in .August before 

 they would do their extracting. For 

 be it known they owned but one ex- 

 tractor between them, and always ex- 

 changed work in extracting, as they 

 did in many other parts of the bee- 

 work. 



They did not brag of large crops, 

 those two bee-keepers, but when it 

 came to good goods and ready sales 

 they were always present. Why not? 

 Wasn't their honey a little better than 

 the ordinary? Some of their custo- 

 mers said there was no comparison, 

 and went so far as to hint that there 

 was as much difference between theirs 

 and the ordinary honey on the market 

 as there was between fresh and rotten 

 eggs. This as it may be, the writer 

 only repeats it "as it was told." 



At any rate, they had no trouble in 

 disposing of all the honey they could 

 produce in the little towns of Hub- 

 bardston and Carson City, and at a 

 good price. In this way many a gro- 

 cery bill was paid that would have 

 been hard to have met were it not for 

 the bees, especially those two " bad 

 seasons" when the honey was nearly 

 all that they had to sell when fall came, 

 it taking all the farm produce to keep 

 their families over winter, to say noth- 



ing about paying previously contracted 

 debts. 



Things went on this way until 1906. 

 And now comes the sad part of my 

 story. It was at this time it would 

 have been better had some things never 

 been published, especially in Mr. 

 Green's case, for didn't he read that it 

 was much easier to produce honey by 

 extracting it about as fast as the bees 

 brought it in? and that it was just as 

 good cured artificially, and you could 

 save uncapping and many stings : and, 

 not least, you could get tzcice as much 

 honey, and such twaddle? 



To be sure there was a mild protest 

 from the editor, but not nearly enough 

 to offset the amount of talk the enemy 

 put up. I cannot get a word that quite 

 fits the place as "enemy" does, for 

 what is such talk but an enemy to the 

 fraternity at large? 



Messrs. Ripe and Green, like the rest 

 of us, had more time to inform them- 

 selves on bee-matters during the long 

 winter evenings than during the busy 

 work season of summer, and it was 

 during the latter part of the winter of 

 190(3 that Mr. Green had been looking 

 over the leading bee-papers of the pre- 

 vious year, when it was said a discus- 

 sion something like the following took 

 place between Mr. Ripe and Mr. Green: 



Green — Charlie (this being Mr. Ripe's 

 given name, they being so well ac- 

 quainted each never thought of calling 

 the other by his surname, so when Mr. 

 Green spoke to Mr. Ripe, it was always 

 " Charlie," and when Mr. Ripe spoke to 

 Mr. Green, it was always " Dan," Daniel 

 being the given name of Mr. Green), 

 have you been reading all this talk 

 about producing twice as much ex- 

 tracted honey by using only one upper 

 story to the colony, and extracting be- 

 fore the honey is capped, thus doing 

 away with all the work of uncapping? 

 Then it goes on to say that one does 

 not get stung so badly handling bees 

 and extracting during the honey-flow, 

 and you need only one upper story to 

 the colony. This last would just strike 

 me right the coming season, for you 

 know I made some increase last sum- 

 mer, and by counting the upper stories 

 and the number of bees I ought to have 

 for next season's work, there would be 

 one for each colony and a few to spare. 

 You know if I practice the same method 

 we always have, I'll have to buy several 

 upper stories, comb foundation, etc. 

 This new way will save all this ex- 

 pense, and that item of producing twice 

 as much honey per colony is in itself 

 sufficient for one to work this new (?) 

 plan. You see, all you have to do is to 

 leave the honey in an open tank for a 

 week or so and nature does the rest, 

 or, in other words, you evaporate the 

 honey artificially. 



Ripe — Yes, Dan, I have been reading 

 the back numbers of the bee-papers 

 these long evenings. I was too busy 

 last season, so I find lots in the papers 

 that I had not read on this account, 

 and I have read about this very thing 

 vou are talking about. In the first 

 place, Dan, you know that a specialist, 

 or one in the business quite exten- 

 sively, can afford to fix up things much 

 more conveniently than either you or 

 I can with our few bees, and a multiple 

 of other work to do during the busy 

 season. Don't you know, Dan, that 



