THE AMERICAI^ BEE JOURNAL. 



23 



(JsrSi 





Explaiiatorj-.— The flg-ures befoke the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has l^ept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring", 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark O indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 6 north of the centre ; 9 south ; 0+ east ; 

 ♦Owest; and this 6 northeast; X) northwest; 

 o» southeast; and P southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



roT tne American Bee Journal. 



Standard of Excellence for Honey, 



KEV. O. CLXJTE. 



Absence from the State prevented 

 me from attending the regular meet- 

 ing of the Iowa State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association at Des Moines, in Sep- 

 tember last. In my absence I was 

 made a member of a committee to 

 prepare a standard of excellence to 

 guide judges in awarding premiums 

 on bees and honey at Fairs. 



I have not seen that any such 

 standards have been prepared and 

 adopted in other States, and it seems 

 to me a difficult task to prepare such 

 standards in such a way as to make 

 them really valuable and acceptable. 

 In the case of honey I suppose that 

 the points on which a decision should 

 turn are. first, flavor, second, color, 

 and third, condition in which it is put 

 up. Now as to flavor : It is an old 

 proverb that "there is no disputing 

 about tastes." Tastes diifer as muon 

 as complexions do. Some people like 

 white clover honey best, some bass- 

 wood, some heart's-ease, some other 

 brands. I have sent samples of white 

 clover and of heart's-ease honey at 

 the same time to the same commis- 

 sion dealer, not naming the honey 

 myself, but simply saying that I could 

 furnish either quality, and orders 

 have come back for the heart's-ease 

 in preference to the white clover, 

 showing that at least some experts 

 prefer the heart's-ease. I think it 

 will be a little difficult to decide 

 which flavor is " the best "— w'hich 

 shall be " the standard." 



Then as to color, probably many 

 will say that the crystal clearness ancl 

 light color of the best white clover 

 and basswood is to be desired. Well, 

 such honey iscertainly very beautiful. 

 But why is light color necessarily any 

 better than a tint V Light butter is 

 not looked upon with favor. In butter, 

 a rich yellow color is looked upon as 

 so desirable that even the most rep- 

 utable dairymen resort to artificial 

 coloring to produce it, and by aid of 

 this coloring they are able to make 

 June butter in January. I have seen 

 goldenrod honey whose rich, yellow, 

 amber color was a great deal more 

 beautiful in my eye than the best 

 basswood honey I ever saw. Probably 



a good many others would be of the 

 same opinion. There will, hence, be 

 some difficulty in fixing on a particu- 

 lar shade as t)eing the standard by 

 which all honey is to be judged. 



Probably the only satisfactory solu- 

 tion of this difliculty will be found in 

 classing lioney as " white clover," 

 " basswood," " buckwheat," "heart's- 

 ease," "goldenrod," etc., endeavor- 

 ing to make as many classes as there 

 are distinct kinds of honey; then 

 offer premiums on each class of 

 honey, and endeavor to establish a 

 standard color and a standard flavor 

 for each class. But even this will not 

 be an easy task. 



It would be a good plan for some of 

 our eminent bee-keepers to give in 

 the Bee Journal a statement of 

 their views on this subject. I may 

 have time soon to say a word on a 

 standard of excellence in bees. 



Iowa City.o Iowa. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Bee-KeeM in Culia, 



A. W. OSBURN. 



I received a letter from a reader of 

 the American Bee Journal, in 

 which he asked : " How do you man- 

 age your bees in Cuba, to obtain 

 such large results of extracted honey 

 per colony y " Now, so much depends 

 upon the circumstances that surround 

 us at the time, that nothing more 

 than a general idea can be conveyed 

 in a short article. 



As the reader is probably aware, 

 our main honey-flow comes in Decem- 

 ber and January, and to get bees in 

 condition to store honey in the winter, 

 requires differen t treatment from what 

 is necessary in the summer months. 

 We expect our flow from the bell- 

 flower to begin the last of November 

 or the first of December, so we must 

 begin preparations for this month in 

 advance— and here comes the rub ; 

 our dry season (or honey-dearth) has 

 onlvjust closed when the harvest of 

 bell-flower is at hand. This may 

 seem strange to some, but the bell- 

 flower, being one of the morning- 

 glory family, is a trailing vine and a 

 deep-rooted plant, and is not materi- 

 ally damaged by the short drouth ; 

 but the bees have not bred up strong 

 during dry weather, and to make 

 matters still worse, the nights through 

 November are usually cool, that hav- 

 ing a tendency to make the queens 

 desert the brood-chambers and go 

 above. So we have a double trouble, 

 i. e., bees not very strong, and breed- 

 ing in the top boxes. 



During the last of November the 

 colonies are 'all examined, what sur- 

 plus honey they have is extracted, of 

 those that are full of brood below and 

 are breeding above, the brood in the 

 top box is looked over and a sealed 

 sheet placed on the outside next to 

 either side-wall of the top box, and 

 the centre is tilled with freshly-ex- 

 tracted store-combs. The brood that 

 is placed at the outside will hatch, 

 and as soon as it does the bees will fill 

 the combs with honey. The queen 



will not go to the outside of the hive 

 to lay in these combs, and the center 

 ones being well drawn out store- 

 combs, she is as completely shut off 

 from laying aliove as though she was 

 really con lined below. 



We have now accomplished two 

 very important steps towards success, 

 viz., first, breeding in the upper story 

 is prevented, and second, by placing 

 the brood to hatch on the outside, the 

 bees will store there just as readily as 

 in the centre, which you know they 

 will not leave empty while the outside 

 ones are being filled. 



In every large apiary there will be 

 a few colonies that do not prosper as 

 well as their neighbors; all these on 

 the first of November are confined to 

 the brood-cliamber and their top 

 combs given to those that can use 

 them. Now that we have the weak 

 colonies on as few combs as they can 

 manage, we make the best use of 

 them we can ; all we can do with 

 them during November and Decem- 

 ber is to take what honey they store. 

 It is now of no use to try to make 

 them build up to strong colonies, for 

 they will not do it until February, 

 vi-hen they will breed all they need to ; 

 but during December and January we 

 keep the brood together, and do not 

 spread it, for the space would only be 

 filled with honey, and the force of 

 nurse-bees divided to the detriment of 

 all concerned. By extracting the 

 honey every week, and giving them 

 no more combs than they can manage, 

 very good results can be realized from 

 a colony that is not strong enough to 

 occupy 2 sets of combs. From our 

 strong colonies we extract the honey 

 every 5 or 6 days, thus keeping the 

 combs empty, and by this constant 

 changing, we get not only pretty 

 nearly double the amount of honey, 

 but the queen is left no chance to 

 breed in them. 



In conclusion I have only to say 

 that after having spent many years in 

 apiculture as a specialty, I have 

 learned that the apiarist must become 

 acquainted with his location, and 

 know what to do, and when and how 

 to do it. Many times he must use his 

 own judgment about what kind of 

 treatment the bees require, then go 

 about it and give them that, and do 

 not wait. ]5ee-men, like poets, " are 

 born, not made." No rule or course 

 of action can be laid down that can be 

 followed out in detail in all localities. 



Cuba, W. I. 



For tUe American Bee JoumaL 



Bee-Keepin£ in Nortlieastern Mo,, etc. 



OTIS N. BALDWIN. 



This is not a very good location for 

 bee-culture, as regards honey produc- 

 tion, and therefore I would not advise 

 any fortune-hunters to come here to 

 start an apiary. During the year 18S3 

 bees did well here, as was universally 

 the case. This was what I call a bad 

 streak of good luck, or vice versa; for 

 it gave everybody the bee-fever — the 

 old men, the boys, the cripples, the 

 old maids, and even the hired girls in 

 this section entered upon the uncer- 



