THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



ic: 



pressure and on the instant the 

 other foot pushes the section ont 

 rubbing in the wax. It is superior 

 to anything I Ivuovv of. 



If these directions have been 

 properly followed, at the end of 

 the season of clover and basswood, 

 if there has been a good flow of 

 nectar, our hives will be found 

 loaded with a heavy crop of comb 

 honey, the choicest possible at that 

 time of the year ; but we are now 

 only in the position of the farmer 

 when he enters his meadows with 

 the mowing machine : our crop is 

 still to be cured, only we have this 

 advantage ; that we may, if we will, 

 cure our product with certainty 

 and under* cover. Our honey is 

 produced to sell, and to sell well it 

 inust be palatable. Hone}' not 

 cured or cured improperly is a 

 poor thing with which to tempt the 

 appetite. Purchasers cannot dis- 

 tinguish the good from the poor at 

 sight, so one purchase of the poor 

 prevents a dozen sales of the 

 good. Poor honey is the bane of 

 our markets. When all honey is 

 thorougldy cured it will all be 

 taken witii avidity. It would then 

 be a real luxury and would be irre- 

 sistible. Purchasers would not be 

 able to get enough. How should 

 honey be cured? IStack it up in the 

 cases as they come from the hive 

 in such a manner that the air' can 

 cfrculate through it freely, in a 

 well built, thoroughly dry, room 

 with a stove in it ; do not rel}' on 

 the heat of the sun to do the 

 work. A fire will be needed only 

 occasionally during the warm 

 weather ; but as cold weathei- ap- 

 proaches, keep the room dr^^ and 

 warm by more frequent fires and 

 in November you will have honey 

 that can be shipped anywhere with- 

 out breakage or leakage. It will 

 be hfird to tear it out of the sec- 

 tions and yet consumers will work 

 eagerly to get it out. 



I consider this matter at present 



the weak point in comb-honey bus- 

 iness. However it ma}' be in some 

 other things, in this we help our- 

 selves in helping others. Let there 

 be a move forward in this direc- 

 tion. 



Lapeer, Midi. 



[The above was not received in 

 time for tlie June number, so 

 space is made for it in this issue.] 



For the Amei-ican ApicuUurist. 



WORKING FOR EX- 

 TRACTED HONEY. 



WiUimnntlc. Conn., Jan. 2, 1887. 

 Editor A:\iekican Apicultuuist: 



In your last issue of the "Api" I saw a letter 

 fr(jm Mr. G. M. Doolittle who says "when 

 swaimiiii; time arrives J simplv exchange tlio 

 brood in the liive from whicli the swarm is- 

 sue.-i lor empty frames or frames of founda- 

 tion (generally the lormer; the plan is known 

 as the llutc.liiuson plan alUiongh it oi-iijinated 

 with me) wliile the swarm is m tlie a"ir and 

 hive tliem on tlie retuining plan." Wliat I 

 would ]\ke to know is, what does Mr. Doolittle 

 do with tlie parent stock; also what is done 

 MiUi the new swarm ? 



1 am not at all acquainted with what is 

 called the "Hutchinson plan." I have olteu 

 read of it. 



Yours truly, 



A. T. Trowbridge. 

 Reply ev G. m. Doolittle. 



Just at the present time there 

 seems to be a " craze" among bee- 

 keepers on the subject of comb- 

 honey production, many wlio have 

 heretofore worked almost exclu- 

 sively for extracted honej^ chang- 

 ing their tactics and are now ad- 

 vocating and talking comb honey 

 to the exclusion of that which 

 they formerly endorsed. I fear 

 this is not a wise policy, for it can 

 only result in soon lowering the 

 price of comb honey and advanc- 

 ing the price of extracted, this 

 causing an expensive changing of 

 fixtures the second time. It seems 

 to me that the well-balanced apia- 

 rist should produce both comb and 



