370 



November, 1909. 



American Hee Journal 



there is not one in a hundred bee- 

 keepers who has a suitable place to 

 evaporate and artificially cure extracted 

 honev even if they know how? Then 

 about those shiftless fellows. My! 

 what a mess they would make of it! 

 Don't you know there is altogether too 

 much raw honey on the market at the 

 present time, to say nothing about 

 what such writings are sure to bring 

 forth. I'll admit that it is more pleas- 

 ant to work with the bees during a 

 honey-flow than during a dearth of 

 honey, but we are not producing honey 

 for the pleasure of extracting it at some 

 specially favorable time, but for the 

 money there is in it. This being the 

 case, It behooves us, as good bee-keep- 

 ers, to produce a good article, even if 

 some part of the work comes at a time 

 when robber-bee's are bad and the bees 

 cross. You mention that there is a 

 claim that by extracting the honey be- 

 fore it is capped, then cure it arti- 

 ficially, there will be a gain of 100 per- 

 cent in the quantity of honey produced. 

 It seems to me that this is the most 

 ridiculous claim ever palmed off on the 

 American bee-keeper — that twice as 

 much good, thick honey can be pro- 

 duced by extracting before it is sealed 

 as can be had if allowed to be sealed 

 bv the bees before extracting. Do you 

 think, Dan, that we have been keeping 

 bees all these years and do not know 

 better than that? Of course, I will 

 have to admit that a good, well-ripened, 

 all-sealed honey costs more to produce 

 than an unsealed, inferior lot, but it's 

 worth more, and brings more on the 

 market; it's the kind that is a " trade 

 builder," not a "trade killer." I never 

 thought there was more than 10 percent 

 difference in the amount stored be- 

 tween colonies extracted once a week 

 and those where the honey was left on 

 the hive until after the white honey- 

 flow was past, then all extracted at 

 once; and this 10 percent is offset by 

 the better price secured and a ready 

 sale. 



This ground has all been gone over; 

 the fact is, that when the extractor was 

 introduced much of the honey was 

 thrown out before it was capped and 

 thoroughly cured, so do not think this 

 idea of extracting before it is capped is 

 anything new; the fact is, this used to 

 be the orthodox way, and it is only 

 during the last few years that the most 

 progressive bee-keepers woke up and 

 are now producing a much better arti- 

 cle by leaving the surplus honey on the 

 hive until it is all capped over, and 

 longer, too, for many are leaving it on 

 the hive as long as possible after the 

 flow is past, thinking by so doing the 

 honey is improved. Let me read to 

 you, Dan, from the 1908 edition of the 

 " A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture," 

 page 161 : 



"We once were so busy that we could 

 not attend to extracting, and so we raised 

 the filled stories up. and put those filled with 

 empty combs just under tliem over the 

 brood. This occupied little time, and the 

 bees were not hindered in their work a sin- 

 gle moment. I have never seen bees amass 

 stores faster. Some colonies filled four 

 stories to repletion, and the whole was left 

 on the hive until the latter part of the sum- 

 mer. In fact, I left them on the hives to be 

 safe from the depredations of the moth, in- 

 tending to cutout the honey and sell it in 

 the comb or to extract it. whichever form 

 should prove most marketable. This honey 

 was cut out of the frames and sold the fol- 

 lowing winter, and it was the nicest and 



richest honey I ever saw or tasted. To my 

 astonishment, the liauid portions that run 

 out when the combs were cut, would not 

 candy at all. even when exposed to zero 

 freeze. The honey was so thick that a 

 saucer full could be turned over without 

 spilling." 



In the above quotation there are no 

 regrets or excuses made for neglecting 

 to extract this honey before, and there 

 is nothing said about the possibilities 

 of having gotten twice as much honey 

 if they could have gotten to it and ex- 

 tracted this honey every week, or just 

 before it was capped ; but, on the con- 

 trary, he says, "/ hai'c nez'cr seen bees 

 amass stores faster. Soine colonies 

 filled four stories to repletion," etc. 



You will notice, Dan. that I'm taking 



up quite a long time on this subject, as 

 I consider it very important, for much 

 depends upon the quality of the honey 

 produced, as to how our market will be 

 in the future. You know our honey, 

 being of the white variety, will all go 

 for table use, and it behooves us as 

 bee-keepers to keep the standard of our 

 honey well up, for if once the customer 

 gets it into his head that honey is no 

 better than the cheap sweets on the 

 market, he will buy them and let the 

 honey go by, for don't you see his 

 honey will go farther that way? The 

 housewife soon learns what is relished 

 on the table and buys accordingly. 



(Continued next month.) 





Rcfleciioiiif 



or £1 



California Bee-Kccper 



By W.A. PRYAL, Alden Station, Oakland, Calif. 



Bees Not In It 



Through the courtesy of the Univer- 

 sity of California, I am in receipt of 

 Circular No. 4.j, which announces the 

 " Farmers' Short Courses for 1909," at 

 the University Farm at Davisville, this 

 State. I have searched the pamphlet 

 in vain to learn what the College of 

 .'Vgriculture is doing for the bee-keeper, 

 but nary a word do I find to show that 

 the honey-bee enters into the studies 

 in the "Short Courses." lam sure it 

 would be an easy matter to have one 

 or two lectures on the care and man- 

 agement of bees incorporated in tliese 

 courses, especially since the college 

 has competent instructors to handle 

 the subjects. Why not have Mr. Ben- 

 ton move most, if not all, of the Uni- 

 versity apiary to the big farm at Davis- 

 ville, and in connection with it give 

 some practical lectures and demon- 

 strations on bees and bee-keeping? I 

 hope to notice another year that api- 

 culture is given a place in the " Farm- 

 ers' Short Courses." 



California Bee-Keepers' Mecca 



I don't know if I mentioned it before, 

 but if I didn't I should have done so. 

 Perhaps no other occupation has 

 drawn so many of its leading lights to 

 this State as has the bee-keeping in- 

 dustry. I might e.xcept horticulture, 

 which has no doubt brought a greater 

 number of pomologists here than have 

 the apicultural interests brought bee- 

 keepers ; but even then it cannot lay 

 claim proportionately to so large a per- 

 centage of its leading lights, including 

 authors, as has the bee-industry. The 

 horticultural industry may be said 

 to be co-e.xtensive with the State, 

 yet it has comparatively few members 

 who have essayed to get out works re- 

 lating to the fruits of the State, or even 

 general treatises on the subject of 



fruits. Luthur Burbank has, with the 

 aid of others, I believe, written on 

 fruits and plants, and he may be said 

 to be the only cultivator of the soil 

 who has done so. Yet the best book 

 on the fruits of California has been 

 prepared by Prof. Wickson, Dean of 

 the Agricultural College of the State 

 University, and Horticultural editor of 

 the Pacific Rural Press. 



Now, on the other hand, the Califor- 

 nia bee claimed an author at the very 

 beginning of the sixties — at a time 

 when the industry was in its swaddling 

 clothes. J. S. Harbinson, with the aid 

 of a certain ministerial friend, pub- 

 lished the " Bee-Keepers' Directory," 

 in 1861, and a very creditable work it 

 was, and it might be said to be the only 

 book on the subject that was entirely 

 written on our soil. But we have had 

 many authors of bee-books since resi- 

 dent of the State. To-day we have 

 Prof. A. J. Cook, the author of the 

 " Bee-Keepers' Guide," one of the very 

 best works on apiculture ever pub- 

 lished, living and doing good work in 

 our clime; so, also. Prof. A. J. King, 

 for many years owner and editor of 

 the " Bee-Keepers' Magazine " and co- 

 writer of the " Bee-Keepers' Text- 

 Book." And we have Prof. Ralph Ben- 

 ton, of our State University, who 

 brought out an interesting work on 

 bees and bee-keeping before he came 

 to this State, and that at a time when 

 he was quite young, and who, since 

 coming here, has written a book for 

 California bee-keepers, and hopes to 

 have it issued soon from the press. 

 Thomas G. Newman, a former editor 

 of the " American Bee Journal," and 

 who resided for many years in San 

 Francisco, where he died a few years 

 ago, was the author of " Bees and 

 Honey." Thomas Wm. Cowan, the 

 English scientist, and for many years 

 active editor of the " British Bee Jour- 

 nal," resided here some 5 years. His 



