1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



549 



two-ounce cakes of nice, pure yellow beeswax, and they sold 

 well at 10 cents a cake. We filled our pockets with them, 

 and often sold 1(^> or more a day. This was 8U cents a pound, 

 which made a good profit. 



I was much amused by a letter written to my cousin by 

 his father, saying that " he would better come home, as I would 

 be out of honey soon." That reminds me of what a policeman 

 said to me. Said he: "Now you know very well that nearly 

 all the honey here is manufactured honey " (and tried to have 

 me admit it). " You know it is a fact that ttiere is not enough 

 honey in the whole United States to supply Chicago alone." 

 What answer can you make to such a man ? He was almost 

 ready to hit me between the eyes if I did not agree with him. 

 I said : " My supply of honey lasts pretty well, as I am only 

 selling to private families, and they only buy five or ten 

 pounds at a time. I never sell anything but pure honey to 

 my trade." The Book says: "Answer a fool according to 

 his folly," and you may find the best way often is to ignore 

 his remarks, and branch off into something interesting or in- 

 structive. 



Recurring to the question of sending to another State for 

 part of your honey, 1 had several experiences in Toledo that 

 were somewhat interesting. I happened to run up to Chicago, 

 and needing some honey I dropt Into the commission-house 

 and lookt at two barrels of fine, white honey. I spoke for 

 them to be shipt to me at Toledo. When they came they were 

 red. It must have been Southern honey, or possibly golden- 

 rod. They attacht the bill of lading to a draft, so 1 paid for 

 the honey before seeing it. Of course I protested, and they 

 stood a small reduction, but that did notchange my red honey 

 to clover or basswood. It is a mystery how I ever got rid of 

 that lot of honey ; but one thing helpt me — the fact that peo- 

 ple prefer a honey that has a deep, strong honey flavor ; they 

 think they are surely getting pure honey. 



Another lot of honey was sent to me by a prominent 

 Michigan bee-keeper. This was the strangest lot of honey I 

 ever saw. It was 200 pounds of comb honey in one-pound 

 sections. At first I thought it was extra nice and thick; it 

 was so thick that when broken the honey would not run out. 

 I took a cake of it home when I went to spend Sunday, and 

 our folks would not touch it; they threw it away. I sold sev- 

 eral cases to a grocery firm, and when they saw me (or I believe 

 they wrote me) they told me to take It away. I am uncertain 

 to this day what was the matter with that honey. It was 

 most beautiful in appearance, but entirely lacking In honey 

 smell or taste. My first thought was that it had boen kept in 

 a hot, dry place, and was more ripened than honey usually is. 

 Some of my friends said the man had fed glucose to his bees. 

 But I am told that bees will not store glucose. 



I only go Into these matters to emphasize the importance 

 of greatest care In getting the honey you offer your trade. 

 When you sell them something they don't like, they never for- 

 get or forgive. One of my customers kept telling me for three 

 or four years that I had sold him molasses. The honey I sold 

 him was, I believe, Utah or Colorado alfalfa, with perhaps 

 half cleome or some other weed honey. 



Very many people put the case thus: If you are a pro- 

 ducer of honey, and if you are honest, your honey must always 

 be good and always alike. 



One of the things we must expect to do is. to educate the 

 people. Tell them about the different kinds of clovers, nam- 

 ing in particular the varieties in their immediate vicinage. 

 Explain to them that even the different clovers ("cousins ' 

 I call them) give us honey with different colors, odors, flavors ; 

 that while there is a general similarity In different kinds of 

 honey, there is also a dissimilarity as between different varie- 

 ties of peaches, etc. 



Some writers advocate selling candied honey to the public. 

 I believe It will never succeed on a large scale. The easiest 

 way, and perhaps the best, is to sell people what they want, 

 and not what you think would be just as well for them, and 

 save you some work. 



The consumer judges our extracted honey by the comb 

 honey that suits him, naturally enough. And comb honey is 

 condemned by everybody when candied. Candying indicates 

 age at least, and a good deal of the clean-cut, strong honey- 

 flavor is gone when honey is In the crystallized form. 



When a man takes home his purchase of honey he expects 

 to enjoy a few meals of it with the zest of hunger for It. Now 

 it must be in perfect honey condition to perfectly please his 

 family these first meals from the new purchase. 



I think no one will claim, from the consumer's standpoint, 

 that honey is in perfect condition when candled. Many peo- 

 ple have remarkt to me that candied honey " had no taste," 

 " did not taste like honey." After having the honey for a 

 time, the consumer is prepared for some change or other. 

 Nearly every article of food is subject to some material 



change, usually souring or spoiling; and often when asking 

 a customer for another order he has said, " That honey spoilt 

 before I got it used up." Then I questioned him and brought 

 out the candied honey condition, and explanations followed. 



In melting candied honey care must be taken not to over- 

 heat It, and always strain it through two thicknesses of 

 cheese-cloth. If stored In barrels slivers are often found In 

 honey, and occasionally a bee or ant. Nothing of this kind 

 should be allowed to reach your customer, as the effect Is 

 much like "settlings" in milk. 



[To be continued.] 



"Golden" Method of Producing Comb Honey. 



BY .J. 8. HARTZELL. 



In answer to, and for the benefit of Mr. S. A. Deacon 

 (whose article appeared on page 483), or any others desiring 

 In like manner to know of the merits of the Golden plan of 

 producing comb honey, I will endeavor to set forth my find- 

 ings in regard to the plan. 



But before doing so, let me say that I had fully deter- 

 mined that I would not be entangled with the bees this sum- 

 mer on any plan, but my Intentions were thwarted, and I now 

 have 40 colonies on the Golden plan, and 21. colonies on the 

 ordinary or orthodox plan. Each method has been treated to 

 the best of my ability, and I have been able to hold all within 

 the bounds of increase. 



Mr. Deacon says that neither Golden nor Hartzell, as far as 

 he can see, makes any comparison between swarms treated on 

 the Golden plan and by any of the older or ordinary methods. 

 Please, Mr. Deacon, read my article again. Did I not give 

 the amount of surplus honey obtained from my apiary, with 

 the number of colonies in all, and of the six on the Golden 

 plan at that time — what did I say concerning the one that did 

 the best, and also of the one doing the least? Had all colo- 

 nies in the yard done equal to the poorest on the Golden plan, 

 the surplus would almost have trebbled In the amount ob- 

 tained. Is that not sufficient evidence, or enough in favor of 

 the Golden method ? 



This season will soon close, and I propose again to give 

 my experience for the season, and results as to surplus honey 

 from both the Golden and the older or orthodox plans, which 

 will be a final settlement with me on the plans as now In 

 vogue, and with only one eye open I can plainly see at present 

 where the most favorable results will come from. 



Mr. Deacon appears to think that a swarm hived on 

 starters with supers placed where their name indicates — viz.: 

 on top — would equal a returned swarm on the Golden plan. 

 This is a great error, misleads, and is calculated to determine 

 to hold fast to the old taught theories. Practically, a swarm 

 returned, remember, is not going to lessen In number, but In- 

 crease, whilst from being hived on starters before any gain in 

 numbers could be produced, there would be a loss in force, 

 and comb to build in the brood-chamber, necessitating a loss 

 In honey. Then, too, hives must be bought and got In readi- 

 ness, and if at the beginning of the season we have as many 

 colonies as desired, at the " winding up" we can safely count 

 on twice as many. 



This theory of hiving swarms on starters, and honey 

 going upstairs, is only partially true. Bees will have honey 

 and pollen In the brood-chamber, and If worker-comb cannot 

 be prepared fast enough for the queen to lay in, and for stor- 

 ing honey and pollen, the result Is drone-comb will be built 

 and used first for storing honey, then for rearing drones, and 

 I have my doubts whether drone-comb would be built to any 

 great extent when bees are merely securing a living from the 

 fields. 



Mr. Deacon seems to think the Golden method can be 

 used only with a swarming colony. He certainly misunder- 

 stands. But, lyrefcriibly, I Wdnt the colony to sivarin. 



In regard to pollen in sections, let me say more will ap- 

 pear In the sections where a single section or half-story supers 

 are used. Is my experience. 1 have used, this summer, several 

 double-tier or full-story supers, and found In one, at the time 

 of liberating the queen, a few cells of pollen In three sections, 

 and none In any others, and I attribute pollen in the sections 

 named to the queen being caged in the lower tier of sections, 

 therefore too far from the brood; but with a half-story or 

 single-tier supers no pollen In sections, owing, presumably, to 

 the cage being near the brood-nest, and the bees knowing by 

 instinct that there is where the pollen and the queen both 

 belong. 



To sum up : According to my views, as experienced by 

 using the Golden and old or orthodox^plans this season In my 



