40 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



honey still left in the combs, my 

 first round will give a darker honey 

 than what I shall get after they 

 have all been extracted once. I 

 know of parties within forty miles 

 of here that had taken up several 

 barrels three or four weeks ago, 

 but in this location I never take 

 any of the earl}' crop as the honey 

 drought in April may run the bees 

 short if I do. 



I shall continue to extract Mon- 

 day, and expect to keep it up with 

 short intervals between, until about 

 the tenth of August, when I hope 

 to have most of my forty new 

 forty-gallon cypress barrels filled, 

 marked and ready to ship. Some 

 one in this state asked in one of 

 the late bee journals, what he 

 should do for barrels. I can tell 

 him in a few words what it has cost 

 me hundreds of dollars to find out. 

 Do not use oak barrels. They will 

 keep shrinking in this climate, 

 after the honey is put into them, 

 until it is impossible to keep them 

 tight. 



Our own cypress which grows in 

 such abundance and to such im- 

 mense size in this state, is equalled 

 by few woods and surpassed by none 

 as material for honey barrels. Get 

 some good cooper to make j^our 

 barrels of well seasoned cypress, 

 with a capacity of forty gallons. 

 Have the staves and heads made 

 about half as thick again as for 

 syrup, hoop well with inch and a 

 half iron, plug up the " blow-off 

 hole " and bore an inch hole on 

 the opposite side of one of the 

 heads, wax well inside to prevent 

 leakage and absorption by the 

 hone}'^ or a tlavor from the wood, 

 fill at the inch hole, dip the inner 

 end of your plug in hot wax, lay 

 a cloth over the hole and drive 

 the plug tight, but not tight 

 enough to si)lit the head ; put a 

 piece of tin over the plug, tack it 

 firmly, set the barrel aside for ten 

 days or more or until ready to 



ship, .then drive up the hoops tight 

 and put several double pointed 

 tacks behind them to keep them 

 from slipping off, and your honey 

 will go safe wherever it is sent, 

 if properl}' handled. Some may 

 prefer to bore a bung hole and fill 

 the barrel at it, but I find that 

 from one cause or another the 

 honey often gets spilled* and if 

 filling at the bung, it runs down 

 the side making a bad mess on the 

 barrel and on the floor besides 

 wasting more or less, Avhile if spilled 

 on the head, it all stays there and 

 can be run into the barrel, or 

 taken up. 



Respectfull}' yours, 



Linda Flora. 

 Florida, May 19, 1883. 



Editor of Am. Apiculturist : 

 Dear Sir, 

 I HAVE read the article on "Sys- 

 tem" in 3'our May number by Mr. 

 Geo. AY. House with a great deal 

 of interest, and the same thought 

 regarding bee supplies and market 

 reports has often struck me. As 

 a beginner in beekeeping I will 

 confess here, heterodox though it 

 may be, that if you take from bee- 

 keeping its profits it loses for me 

 its greatest charm. I am going to 

 keep bees for the mone}^ there is in 

 the business and not for any senti- 

 ment in the matter at all. I there- 

 fore desire to see how the markets 

 go, and how best I can dispose of 

 my honey, and would suggest a page 

 or so devoted to this i)oint, and let 

 every honey market of any impor- 

 tance in the United States be re- 

 ported. Bee-men need to combine 

 to get good prices as well as other 

 people, and the best way to make 

 a market and at the same time keep 

 prices up should be discussed. The 

 second point as to why it is that so 

 many beekeepers go into the sup- 

 ply business has occurred to me. 

 Tlie many 1 have run across seem to 



