THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



65 



iu a bee-space under it. We believe that* 

 both Mr. Dibbern aud Mr. E. C. Porter, of' 

 Lewistown, 111., were orijjiual in so arrang- 

 ing the Reese-Dibbern escape that the cones 

 (so-called) are attached to a piece of tin 

 slightly larger than the outer cone, so that 

 by cutting a hole in the escape-board, the es- 

 cape may be dropped into it and be support- 

 ed by the projecting edge of tin. All of the 

 flat, or horizontal, bee-escapes are difficult 

 to illustrate — the satisfactory manner is to 

 show each part separately and then put to- 

 gether — and our advice to those interested 

 would be to send to some of these gentlemen 

 for samples. Some of the samples sent us 

 are very simple, cheap, and easily con- 

 structed without the u se of special tools. 



^ excluders, it is quite likely that our choice 

 would be narrow top bars and honey boards. 

 This point touches not the exclusive, comb 

 honey producer. 



THE NEXT MEETING OF THE INTEENATIONAL. 



This will be held west of the Mississippi, 

 at Keokuk, Iowa — farther west than ever be- 

 fore. It will be in the henrt of a great bee- 

 keeping country, and, while many cannot be 

 expected from the far East, we feel certain 

 that the attendance will l)e good. If the 

 leaders in the West will begin noiv, and icork 

 for it. there can be a gathering, the remem- 

 brance of which will ever remain as a green 

 spot in the memory of those so fortunate as 

 to be present. As Secretary of the North- 

 western, we would suggest that that society 

 hold its next meeting in conjunction with 

 the International. Only one successful 

 meeting of a national, apicultural charac- 

 ter can be held in the same part of the 

 country at nearly the same time. 



COMBS NOT so EASILY UNCAPPED WHEN THE 

 TOP BABS ABE WIDE. 



So much has been written upon the subject 

 of wide top bars that it would seem every 

 point had been covered, but Mr. Wm. L. 

 Drew, of Newton, Iowa, brings forward an 

 objection to their use that we bdieve has 

 been overlooked. He says that the projec- 

 tion of the top bar beyond the comb surface 

 would greatly increase the labor of uncap- 

 ping when raising extracted honey. Partic- 

 ularly would this be true with shallow frames. 

 Were we to engage extensively in the pro- 

 duction of extracted honey, we should use 

 shallow combs, and should either use honey 

 boards or else have wide top bars for the 

 brood frames and narrow ones for use in the 

 supers. As we should probably use queen 



HOW TO EAISE GOOD EXTBACTED HONEY. 



We believe it is generally admitted that 

 more extracted honey is secured because the 

 bees have no combs to build. No honey is 

 consumed expressly to produce wax, the 

 comb builders are released for other labors, 

 and, above all, when the honey flow is abun- 

 dant, there is plenty of store-room. It has 

 been said that the production of comb honey 

 requires geater skill than does the raising of 

 extracted honey. Be this as it may, we be- 

 lieve that the securing of a good article of 

 extracted honey calls for knowledge of no 

 low degree — that the subject is of sufficient 

 importance to merit all the discussion that 

 can be crowded into one number of the 

 Review. 



First, 1 ot us ask what it is that gives to 

 honey its chief value ? It is not simply its 

 sweetness, which is of low power, but it is its 

 fine flavor, its rich aroma, its boquette. 

 These are the qualities that make honey 

 what it is — a luxury — ; and, if we wish its 

 use, as a sweet sauce, continued, we must 

 learn to raise and care for it in such a man- 

 ner that its ambrosial, palate tickling quali- 

 ties will be preserved. Freshly gathered 

 nectar is usually one of the most "silly" 

 tasting and sickening of sweets. To be 

 sure, it has the flavor of the flowers from 

 which it was gathered ; but that smooth, 

 rich, oily, honey taste, that lingers in the 

 mouth, must be furnished by the bees. 

 Honey extracted when "green," and evapo- 

 rated in the open air, is not only lacking in 

 the element that comes from the secretions 

 of the bees, but its blossom-flavor is half 

 lost by evaporation. To be sure, evapora- 

 tion must take place even if left in the hive , 

 but evaporation in the open air, and evapo- 

 ration in the aroma-laden atmosphere of the 

 hive, produce different results. One reason 

 why comb honey is, in so many instances, 

 found to be more delicious than the extract- 

 ed, is because the former is more thoroughly 

 ripened. Seldom do we find extracted hon- 

 ey equal to that dripping from and sur- 

 rounding the section of comb honey that is 

 being "carved" upon a plate. Suppose we 

 go over the ground and tell, as concisely as 

 possible, how to raise, in the cheapest man- 



