THE AMERICAJN BEE JOURNAL. 



535 



it is to-day. To produce it in perfec- 

 tion is a high art, to attain which 

 many bee-keepers will always strive. 



A very large part of the honey crop 

 is now taken in the form of extracted 

 honey. Comb honey is good and 

 beautiful, but it has the disadvantage 

 of the wax, which is indigestible, and 

 which nobody cares to eat. In the 

 extracted honey we have no wax, it is 

 honey in its purest form. Many peo- 

 ple associate extracted honey with 

 strained honey ; they suppose that all 

 honey out of the comb is strained 

 honey, but this is great injustice to 

 extracted honey. In getting strained 

 honey, all the combs from a hive, 

 combs containing capped brood, and 

 growing larvse and pollen, and honey, 

 are mixed up together, and then the 

 liquid squeezed out. In this way 

 there is obtained some honey, but 

 there is also obtained the juice of the 

 growing larvfe of the young bees and 

 of the pollen, so that the honey has a 

 rank flavor, a dark color, and associa- 

 tions by no means appetizing. But 

 "extracted" honey is as different 

 from this strained honey as it is pos- 

 sible to be. In getting extracted 

 honey we get no pollen, no juices of 

 bees or larvfe. We get simply the 

 pure honey, without any admixture 

 whatever. He, who on a cold winter 

 moming,has never had pure, candied, 

 white clover honey to spread on his 

 hot cakes, has lived in vain ! Life 

 has lacked for him one of its chiefest 

 charms ! 



Money. — He who can market his 

 honey most successfully will have a 

 great advantage over the one who 

 rails in this. Comb honey, if put up 

 in attractive packages, always com- 

 mands a market, tnough the prices 

 may not come up to the producer's 

 ideas. It is wise to develop and sup- 

 ply the home market. Go to all the 

 grocers in all the towns, villages and 

 cities near you, and arrange with 

 them to keep your honey on sale. In 

 this way a large amount cau be dis- 

 posed of at fair rates. If your honey 

 is very superior, and is carefully 

 packed in good crates, it can be sent 

 long distances on the railroads, and 

 so reach the markets in the large 

 cities. 



By attending to the matter, a large 

 home demand can be created for ex- 

 tracted honey. Talk it up in all 

 places, public meetings and elsewhere; 

 write about it in your local papers ; 

 let all know just how good and cheap 

 it is. Have it nicely put up in glass 

 jars or tin pails and offered for sale 

 everywhere. Tin pails holding from 

 one pound to twenty-five pounds are 

 very excellent for retailing extracted 

 honey, and are now coming rapidly 

 into use. It is wise to have printed 

 labels pasted on every package, tell- 

 ing that the contents are pure honey, 

 stating briefly how it is taken, its 

 quality, that in cold weather it will 

 candy or crystallize, and that by 

 standing the vessel containing it on 

 the stove in another vessel contain- 

 ing water, and heating to about 18CP, 

 it can again be reduced to a liquid 

 without injuring it. 



The kegs and barrels in which the 

 extracted honey was stored are the 



best package in which to ship it to 

 the large markets at home and 

 abroad. They are convenient to 

 handle, and can be shipped across the 

 continent or across the seas with no 

 trouble. In this shape it has already 

 become a staple in the great commer- 

 cial centres, and the commercial bul- 

 letins in all the large cities now quote 

 honey as regularly as they quote 

 meats and wool. The foreign de- 

 mand for American extracted honey 

 is large and increasing. As the honey 

 product increases with the rapid de- 

 velopment to which this industry is 

 destined, the foreign market will ab- 

 sorb no inconsiderable part of our 

 annual crop. 



Let nobody suppose that bee-keep- 

 ing on a large scale is a pleasant pas- 

 time, which lazy and incompetent 

 people can take up and pursue with 

 success. For the lazy and the incom- 

 petent there is no place anywhere. It 

 were as well for them to die at once. 

 But any man or woman, who will 

 learn the business, who will begin 

 wisely, who will choose a good loca- 

 tion, who will stick to it even if now 

 and then there comes a year of dis- 

 aster, can find in beekeeping a 

 healthful and independent pursuit 

 that will give a good living. 



Iowa City,o* Iowa. 



are apt to try and make themselves 

 believe that the bees are the cause of 

 their poor crops. If, instead of at- 

 tempting to conduct a farm of 200 

 acres, they would put the same 

 amount of work on 50 acres, and keep 

 50 colonies of bees, sowing Alsike 

 clover, buckwheat, etc., their invest- 

 ment would be much less, and I think 

 the results more satisfactory. 



The present feeling with so many, 

 that the interests of the farmer and 

 bee-keepers are antagonistic, is very 

 much to be regretted, for the facts, 

 when investigated, will prove decid- 

 edly the reverse. From very close 

 observation, I feel warranted in say- 

 ing that the honey-bee is as truly a 

 necessity in the propagation of field 

 and garden crops, as are the rain, 

 sunshine and soil. These facts will 

 surely be proven by the harmony 

 which will be produced in the desir- 

 able practice of uniting the branches 

 of business referred to, and conduct- 

 ing them in such a manner as to bring 

 about the harmony which the God of 

 nature has established. 



Stamford, ? Conn. 



Apiculturist. 



Bee-Keeping as an ExclnsiYe Business, 



L. C. ROOT. 



Every bee-keeper of experience will 

 answer this question for himself, but 

 there are those who contemplate en- 

 tering into bee-keeping who will hesi- 

 tate. I have followed bee-keeping as 

 an exclusive business for 15 years,and 

 I have had an opportunity to observe 

 very closely its many phases. 



In earlier days, when the sources 

 from which our honey came were 

 more certain, when prices for honey 

 ranged higher, and, above all, when 

 comparatively few were engaged in 

 the business, and there was a demand 

 for even more honey than was pro- 

 duced, one was more fully warranted 

 in making bee-keeping an exclusive 

 business. 



I have watched the changes in our 

 pursuit with more than an ordinary 

 degree of interest, as the results of 

 the changes were to determine my 

 own action in my plans for the future. 

 The results of my experience lead me 

 to the conclusion that it is far more 

 safe to unite bee-keeping with some 

 other business. There are many 

 kinds of business which may be con- 

 ducted in connection with bee-keep- 

 ing with pleasure and profit. Among 

 these are poultry-raising, stock-grow- 

 ing, small-fruit "gardening, etc. 



If farming were conducted in a 

 better way than it usually is, and a 

 few colonies of bees kept in connec- 

 tion with it, the two pursuits would 

 be found to harmonize. As a rule, 

 farmers attempt to work far too much 

 land, and the consequence is a low 

 grade of farming. Their crops, both 

 of grain and fruit are inferior, and if 

 there is a bee-keeper near them, they 



For tne Ajnerlcazi Bee Joamai. 



Bee-Territory for Bee-Keeners. 



OLIVER FOSTER. 



Were it not for one point of practi- 

 cal importance, I should consider this 

 question unworthy of further discus- 

 sion. It seems also that Mr. Clarke 

 has failed to " catch on " to the main 

 idea of my article on page 406, which 

 he answers on page 485. 



He says that I killed my little 

 " scheme," as he calls it, " dead at the 

 start and at the finish," by doubting 

 that it was practicable. He then pro- 

 ceeds to fight it as though it were 

 something alive and dangerous; 

 whereas 1 meant it notas a " scheme" 

 or plan to be worked out, but rather 

 as an illustration, though faulty as I 

 admit, showing that a bee-keeper may 

 desire a just control of the honey re- 

 sources of his locality upon other and 

 more important grounds than that he 

 was the prior occupant ; but it seems 

 "impracticable" for Mr. Clarke to 

 allow this point. 



Near the close of his article he says: 

 " There is an element of justice and 

 of right in a prior occupant having a 

 pre-emptive claim conceded to him 



Overcrowding is doubtless an 



evil, but I see no practicable legal 

 check to it. There are two potent 

 checks always in operation— respect 

 for the rights of others, and self- 

 interest, etc." 



From what I have quoted, I find 

 that we agree, viz: 1. That some 

 kind of protection to avoid "over- 

 crowding" would Be just and desir- 

 able. 2. That such protection by law 

 is probably impracticable. 3. That 

 " respect for the rights of others and 

 self-interest " are the best checks to 

 the difficulty now available. 4. That 

 these checks sometimes fail to op- 

 erate. They may fail to operate be- 

 cause of a mistaken notion of self- 

 interest, because the respect for the 



