334 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



should be properly supplied with both 

 brood foundation and thin white 

 foundation for starters in sections. 

 lie will also need a box of apiarian 

 tools containing hatchet, hammer, 

 chisel, cutting nippers, pliers, two or 

 three sizes of awls, small saw, strong 

 pocket knife, some eight- penny (inish- 

 ing nails, small wire nails of three or 

 four sizes, the largest, say tliree-quar- 

 ters of an inch ; some twine, and such 

 other things as, in the course of prac- 

 tice, will be gathered together. 



Thus equipped, with everything in 

 its place, he will be prepared for any 

 emergency. The first experience will 

 teach him, if watchful, how, where 

 and from what, honey is gathered. 

 He will soon learn to distinguish, both 

 by appearance and taste, that which 

 is gathered from early fruit blossoms, 

 white clover, linden, later flowers or 

 buckwheat. With this knowledge, 

 the second season will show the value 

 of an extractor, by which honey can 

 be taken as it is gathered, and each 

 kind and quality can be kept separ- 

 ately. He will gradually learn that 

 bee-keeping is not play, uor, upon a 

 moderate scale, is it labor. It can be 

 pleasure or profitable recreation, but 

 it requires readiness, system and vigi- 

 lance — excellent qualities even for 

 persons who are not bee-keepers. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Preparing for Winter. 



L. B. JACKSON. 



Successful wintering of bees, in the 

 North, is one of the most important 

 subjects with bee-keepers. This, I 

 think, is any easy thing to do, if we 

 commence in time to prepare for the 

 coming winter. I have always com- 

 menced in June to prepare for winter, 

 and have always been successful in 

 my 8 years experience, having never 

 been troubled with " spring dwind- 

 ling " but one year, and that was when 

 I fed the bees with rye Hour early in 

 the spring. 



Honey contains sugar in two forms : 

 Cane sugar and grape sugar. Clover 

 honey contains more cane sugar than 

 fall honey, and is more easily and 

 more thoroughly digested than "grape 

 sugar, or fall honey, and should be 

 used for winter stores. 



Our bees now have honey enough to 

 winter them, with all the increase we 

 shall have, and, as soon as it is well 

 ripened, we will put away 2,000 pounds 

 for winter. Then we can take honey 

 with no fear of our bees starving next 

 winter. 



I have never known as good a pros- 

 pect for a large crop of honey as we 

 have this year, or known bees in a 

 better condition for gathering it than 

 they are now. Nearly all our bees 

 are working on 20 Langstroth frames, 

 and are crowding the queen, in spite 

 of all we can do, unless we extract 

 the honey before it is ripe, which it 

 will not pay to do. 



We have rain about three days in 

 the week, yet it does not seem to stop 

 the flow of lioney as it usually does. 

 I had prepared to run the bees for in- 



crease until I saw what the harvest 

 was going to be, when I changed ray 

 plans, and it has crowded me with 

 work, so that I have had to hire extra 

 help, and work from 4 a. ra. until 8 p. 

 m. to keep up with the bees. 



I have given a few hints for winter- 

 ing, whic'li can be understood by any 

 who wish to profit by them, and in 

 September I will give my plans for- 

 packing. 



Urmeyville, Ind., June 11, 1883. 



[By an accident, after the type of 

 last week's paper was " on the press," 

 a part of the above article was 

 "smashed," and could not be read; 

 we therefore give it another insertion, 

 so that those, in whose papers it could 

 not be read last week, now have it 

 with that "smash up" restored. — Ed.] 



Planter's Journal. 



Extracted vs. Comb Honey. 



O. M. BLANTON. 



In almost every bee-keepers' asso- 

 ciation the question arises : " Which 

 is the most profitable, extracted or 

 comb honey V" Beyond a doubt, in 

 my mind, extracted honey, especially 

 in the South where the honey in the 

 latter part of the season is dark and 

 of a strong flavor. 



1. The yield is from two to three 

 times as much, and the same comb 

 can be used again and again for the 

 bees to fill, thereby enabling them to 

 gather honey and lose but little time 

 in the secretion of wax to build comb, 

 as only a little is required tor repair- 

 ing and capping it. 



2. Swarming is more easily con- 

 trolled, as you can extract the honey 

 from all the combs if necessary, 

 which conduces more to keep the bees 

 to their work than anything else. 



3. The frames and apparatus re- 

 quired for extracted honey are more 

 simple, and admit of more ease and 

 rapidity of manipulation, thereby en- 

 abling the bee-keeper to handle and 

 manage almost twice as many colonies. 



4. The apparatus is far less expen- 

 sive, as you are able to dispense with 

 honey-boards, glassed section boxes 

 and frames ; the latter you lose in 

 shipping. 



5. The loss of comb foundation and 

 comb, which is invaluable, especially 

 when you are aware that the combs 

 can be filled often, as much as fifty 

 times before they are too old for the 

 bees to use. 



6. You can make more early ship- 

 ments of extracted honey. In fact, 

 I of ten begin to extract by the 1st of 

 April, and have never taken off comb 

 honey before the month of June, and 

 but little until July. 



7. Packages for extracted honey 

 cost far less, as you can put it in bar- 

 rels of 45 to 50 gallons, that do not 

 cost more than $2; where comb honey 

 requires cases nicely finished with 

 glass, and demand great care in pack- 

 ing and handling in transit to market. 

 In addition the freight charges are so 

 much less for barrels. 



Bees are loth to work in small sec- 

 tion frames, and often when they 

 have partly finished capping the 

 combs in the section boxes, the large 

 frames in the brood-chamber are 

 filled so much with honey that the 

 queen has no place to lay, and the 

 bees must swarm. If you extract 

 from the brood-chamber, the chances 

 are tliat the bees will (ill the cells with 

 honey before they commence work 

 again in the sections. 



There is this objection raised to 

 extracting, that there is too much 

 pollen left in the cells to become old 

 and unfit for food. Such is neces- 

 sarily the result of working for honey 

 instead of great increase of swarms. 

 Any thouglitful apiculturist will al- 

 ways reserve a certain number of 

 colonies for increase. 



As to the objection that colonies are 

 robbed so close in extracting, tliat the 

 bees are left without honey to winter 

 on is too ridiculous, as none but he 

 who is careless will fail to provide 

 sufficient honey for the winter, and 

 see that it is placed in the brood- 

 chamber. No bee-keeper should fail 

 to handle and closely inspect the 

 combs in the brood-chamber. 



Those who advocate comb honey 

 for profit, in the South, have a poor 

 conception of progressive and profit- 

 able bee-keeping. Comb honey is a 

 fancy article that fluctuates greatly 

 in price (from 10 to 25 cents), whilst 

 the extracted is a staple article of 

 commerce, and brings promptly in 

 the market from 7 to 10 cents per 

 pound. 



For profit, extracted honey far sur- 

 passes that in the comb, and a bee- 

 keeper who understands his business, 

 and extracts as rapidly as it is gath- 

 ered by the industrious insects, is on 

 a fair road to fortune, especially if he 

 uses the 20 frame one-story Langstroth 

 hive. 



Greenville, Miss. 



For tne American Bee Joomal. 



Florida for Honey Production. 



W. S. HART. 



Within the past two years there has 

 developed a great interest among 

 Northern bee-keepers in regard to 

 Florida as a honey-producing State. 

 Having had considerable to do with 

 exciting that interest, by writing up 

 our apiarian resources for Nortliern 

 papers, a large portion of those who 

 visit the State either write to me or 

 call upon me, and I find that the im- 

 pression seems to prevail that my 

 immediate neighborhood is the best 

 and almost the only honey-producing 

 section of this State. The conse- 

 quence is, that bee-keepers are crowd- 

 ing in here to such an extent, that I 

 honestly believe that unless there is 

 a check put to it, the pasturage will 

 be over-stocked within twelve months 

 so as to greatly reduce the profits of 

 the business. "So far as my interests 

 go, I am glad to see the country fill 

 up with bee-keepers, or any other 

 good citizens, and I have labored for 

 years to accomplish that object, but, 

 to the man whose only income is from 



