AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



501 



requires work, patience aud skill to pry 

 them loose. 



Where a case of sections has a break- 

 joint honey-board, and are not glued 

 down, the bees can be driven below with 

 a little smoke, the case can be lifted off 

 and set down for a moment, while the 

 hive is being covered up, when the few 

 bees remaining can be driven out, with 

 puffing smoke between the sections, when 

 the case can be carried into the honey- 

 house, and any bees remaining will leave 

 and gather upon the windows. Where 

 the case is glued down tightly, it is well 

 to pry it up the evening before, taking it 

 off in the morning. 



There are many persons throughout 

 the country who keep a few colonies of 

 bees to provide their own families with 

 honey (using old-style boxes), and make 

 the enquiry how to get the bees out. If 

 these boxes are removed towards even- 

 ing, and smoke puffed into them, and 

 placed near to the entrance, the bees 

 will take up a line of march for it and 

 usually by morning they will be out. If 

 few bees leave it, it shows the presence 

 of a queen, and I know no better way 

 than to return it to the hive for a day or 

 so, when it can be removed again, aud 

 then she may have gone below. These 

 boxes can be placed in the bottom of a 

 barrel, and covered up, leaving only a 

 small hole ; the bees will be attracted to 

 the light and pass out. The hole must 

 be small, or robbers will find their way in. 



BEE-ESCAPES OR SUPER-CLEANERS. 



British bee-keepers call them "super- 

 cleaners." They are a new invention, 

 but have come to stay. The idea is a 

 small cone that a bee can pass through, 

 but none can return by the same route. 

 These escapes are fitted into a board, 

 and the case of sections lifted up, and 

 the board placed under them. If this is 

 done in the evening, the case can be re- 

 moved in the morning, when it will be 

 free from bees. Gilt-edged honey is best 

 removed in this way ; there would be no 

 discoloration or color from smoke, and 

 the bees would not be frenzied and tear 

 open the cappings of the cells. 



Any invention that can assist bee-keep- 

 ers to put honey upon the market in a 

 first-class condition, should be warmly 

 welcomed. 



EXTRACTED HONEY. 



There would soon be a large demand 

 for this product, if the populace could 

 be assured that it was unadulterated, 

 and it was neatly put upon the market 

 in an attractive shape. I once bought a 



tin can of honey, in order to see how 

 other's sent it to market. When I pried 

 up the lid, the first thing that I saw was 

 the leg. and wing of a bee. 



A groceryman once said to the writer, 

 "I wish that fellow that left that honey 

 here would come and take it away, for I 

 would as soon have soap-grease in my 

 store." Neatness first, Tast, and all the 

 time, is a desideratum in its production. 



Bee-escapes are good assistance in the 

 production of extracted honey. In an 

 evening, the upper story — the story con- 

 taining the combs to be extracted — can be 

 lifted up and an escape put under, and 

 by next morning the bees have gone be- 

 low, and the combs can be removed, with- 

 out having to brush off the bees from 

 each one, which greatly irritates them. 



Where honey is extracted by the ton, 

 and run into large tanks, the impurities 

 will rise to the top, while the honey can 

 be drawn from a gate at the bottom ; 

 but those who produce honey in a small 

 way (and they are probably the largest 

 number), had better run it into vessels 

 through cheese-cloth. As I produce 

 honey only in a small way, I run the 

 honey from the extractor into large jars 

 or tin cans with cheese-cloth tied over 

 the top, and when a vessel is full, re- 

 move this cloth, and tie another one of 

 the same material over it. In this way 

 all impurities are kept out, which is bet- 

 ter than skimming them off the surface 

 of the honey after they have risen to the 

 top. 



KEEP DIFFERENT KINDS OF HONEY APART. 



Mr. Muth, of Cincinnati, has done 

 much to instruct the public to know 

 what pure honey is, and to induce pro- 

 ducers to keep honeys unmixed, so that 

 white clover would have its own flavor, 

 basswoods, etc. This is not possible at 

 all times, but only when a large flow is 

 from one source. 



ARE BEES A NUISANCE? 



Yes, they can be made such, but not 

 necessarily. If the surplus honey is re- 

 moved, when no honey is to be had in 

 the fields, great care should be exercised, 

 lest the bees become irritated and re- 

 vengeful. When surplus honey is being 

 removed, if the hive is jarred, the bees 

 will rush out pell-mell to defend it; 

 when the operator reaches for his 

 smoke he has none — it is out. His hair 

 is soon full of angry bees, for they have 

 found holes in his mask or veil, and in 

 desperation he drops the case of sections, 

 and, leaving the hive uncovered, beats 

 a retreat. The cat will run up a tree, 



