500 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Directions for Preparing Comb 

 Honey for Market. 



BY F. WILCOX. 



The best months to ship comb honey 

 are October and November, and the 

 markets are usually active in those 

 months. 



All comb honey should be in small 

 sections. The old-style 10 or 20 pound 

 boxes will not sell in any market. 



Honey should be taken from the hives 

 as soon as possible after the harvest is 

 over, and sometimes before ; generally 

 as soon as well finished. If not promptly 

 removed, the cappingswill become soiled 

 and look brown. We call it " travel 

 stained." This lessens the value of it in 

 the market, but it does not injure its 

 eating or keeping quality. 



The sections must be scraped to re- 

 move the propolis which always adheres 

 to them as they are removed from the 

 hive. 



It is a good plan to pile them on a 

 bench in a warm, well-ventilated room 

 for two or three weeks before crating 

 for market. I prepare a bench for the 

 purpose, by taking boards about 14 

 inches wide, lay them on empty hives or 

 something like that to get them up from 

 the floor. Lay on them common lath 4% 

 inches apart from centers, and place the 

 scraped sections on these so the corners 

 rest on the lath. Those sections that 

 are seen to be fractured or leaky should 

 be piled by themselves. Some will be 

 fractured sa slightly that you will not 

 discover it in handling them, but if put 

 at once in shipping-crates would leak 

 and soil others. If piled in this way in 

 the store-room, the leakage drops down 

 between the lath and nothing is daubed. 



Another advantage of thus piling 

 them is, if there are any eggs of the bee- 

 moth in them they will all hatch within 

 two or three weeks, and can be seen or 

 known by the fine, white dust on the 

 surface of the combs. 



Shipping-crates should always have a 

 strip of glass in one side to show the 

 honey, otherwise it will be broken in 

 "handling. If to be sent to commission 

 men, crates should hold from 12 to 24 

 pounds each ; if directly to merchants 

 who retail it, 48-pound crates are as 

 good as any. 



Honey should be placed in crates the 

 opposite side up from what it was when 

 on the hives, because combs are always 

 well fastened at the top, while they are 

 not always at the bottom. Combs should 

 stand on edge, not hang suspended. If 



the combs are not well fastened to the 

 wood on three sides they will not ship 

 safely, and should be kept for the home 

 market, as should also the fractured and 

 leaky ones. 



To prevent damage from jerking of 

 trains, tell your freightman to see them 

 loaded in the cars so the combs will run 

 lengthwise of the cars; this will always 

 bring the glass toward the sides of the 

 cars, not toward the ends. 



The honey crop is rather short this 

 season, and it should bring fair prices. 

 — Wisconsin Farmer, Mauston, Wis. 



Fall Work in the Apiary, and 

 Other Subjects. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY MKS. L. HARRISON. 



" The harvest is past, the summer is 

 ended" — and yet there is much import- 

 ant work to be performed in the apiary, 

 if the goal of success is ever attained. 

 Eternal vigilance, and the faithful per- 

 formance of every little item, is also 

 necessary. 



REMOVING SURPLUS HONEY. 



The idea of comb honey suggests the 

 most delicate fabric, requiring gentle 

 handling, in order to preserve it in its 

 beauty. What workmanship of man 

 can be compared to the delicate cells of 

 white clover honey, built during a gen- 

 erous flow of nectar from white clover? 

 Touch it with a slight pressure, and it 

 gives way ; yet it is strong enough to 

 hold within its walls the precious nectar 

 for all time. Therefore, in all the ma- 

 nipulations of comb honey, " care " is the 

 watchward. 



When about to remove comb honey 

 from the hives, in whatever condition it 

 may be in, have all things ready before 

 disturbing the colony. Scrape and clean 

 out the smoker ; don't guess it is all 

 right, but know that it is, and have fuel 

 that emits plenty of smoke. See that 

 the mask or veil is not full of holes, and 

 the tools to be used are not stuck up 

 with propolis. 



When all things are ready, uncover 

 the hive with so little jar that the bees 

 are not aware of your presence, and 

 puff in a little smoke to put them on 

 their good behavior. Where a break- 

 joint honey-board is used, under a case 

 of sections, they are not glued down, 

 and can be easily loosened ; but when a 

 box or case of sections is placed over 

 the combs with no intervening board, it 



