228 



Tmm MMEKICMSf UWM JQ-UKHML. 



gives it a yellow, shiny look, and causes 

 it to be rejected as second class by most 

 people. But for my own part I think 

 It is greatly improved by being left in 

 the hive late in the fall, even though it 

 is done at the expense of whiteness, 

 which is only a matter of looks any- 

 way. 



Jifow we are at the end of our story 

 for the present, yet I have only touched 

 briefly the wonders of the bee and its 

 work. We can but exclaim, in view of 

 all that we have learned, in the lan- 

 guage of Scripture, "Great and mar- 

 velous are thy works. Lord, God Al- 

 mighty ; in wisdom hast thou made 

 them all. " 



St. Joseph, Mo. 



EXCLUSIVE. 



Should Bee-Keeping be made 

 an Exclusive Pursuit i 



Written for the Ohio State Convention 

 BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



Taking the question in a general 

 sense, if a man should ask me, "Is it 

 best for me to give up all other busi- 

 ness and produce honey ? " I should an- 

 swer, " That depends. If your taste 

 is mainly for money-making, the prob- 

 ability is, that, the way matters stand 

 at present, you can gratify that taste 

 more fully in some other pursuit. Still, 

 it is possible that, in a favorable loca- 

 tion, if you are fully posted in the busi- 

 ness, and have no particular adapta- 

 tion for money-making in any other 

 line, bee-keeping may be the best thing 

 for you to follow as an exclusive busi- 

 ness. " 



But why EXCLUSIVE in any case? 

 Simply this : The man who devotes his 

 entire energies in one direction is more 

 likely to be successful in that direction. 

 Then, too, there are certain advanta- 

 ges in having a large number of colo- 

 nies, such as making the cost of fix- 

 tures and other expenses less per colo- 

 ny, or, if you please, per pound of 

 honey produced. In short, the reasons 

 that, in general, during the past fifty 

 years have tended to such a great sub- 

 division of labor in all departments, 

 apply with equal force to bee-keeping V 



But suppose you have a liking for 

 bee-keeping, and at the same time have 

 ability in another line that is far more 

 remunerative to you, say practicing 

 law. By no means send the law adrift 

 unless you have a strong dislike to it, 

 but keep a few colonies as a recreation. 

 The man who devotes his entire ener- 

 gies to the law as a vocation is likely 

 to be a good lawyer, for one vocation is 

 better than two ; but, if, as an avoca- 

 tion, he keeps a few bees, he may be 

 the better lawyer for it. 



Going still further down in the scale, 

 or, rather, up, we come to the man who 

 cares for money only for the enjoyment 

 to be gotten out of it, and the good to 

 be done with it. His business is, per- 

 haps, that of a traveling salesman ; and 

 with a yearly salary of $2,500 and all 

 expenses paid, he may be considered 

 hardly sane by his friends to adopt bee- 

 keeping as his sole business, with no 

 prospect of half the annual income. 



But he replies something like this; 

 " So long as I am a commercial traveler, 

 no matter how much money I make, I 

 am only getting ready to live. Life for 

 me is where my wife and children are, 

 and at my present business I can sel- 

 dom be with them. Ten years from now 

 I may expect to have laid by enough 

 to withdraw from this distasteful life, 

 and settle down at home to really live. 

 Now, why should I throw away this 

 ten years of my life that I might have, 

 if I settle down to bee-keeping and 

 make a bare living for the rest of my 

 earthly sojourn? No, thank you, I 

 would rather commence to live now 

 than to wait for the ten years that may 

 never come." 



Against entirely depending on the 

 bees for a living, is the fact that sea- 

 sons of partial or total failure may 

 come ; but this applies to all agricul- 

 tural pursuits. 



I have considered the matter only in 

 its relation to the producer ; and as the 

 matter looks to me now, I should say 

 that circumstances and tastes must de- 

 cide for each one whether he should 

 keep one colony or a thousand. 



When it comes to the discussion of 

 consumers' interests, whatever will 

 furnish the best supply of good honey 

 at lowest price is the thing to be de- 

 sired. The tendency in all departments 

 is toward subdivision of labor; and 

 however nice it may be to talk about 

 having all the stockings knit in the 

 home, the shoes and coats made (as in- 

 deed they were not a century ago), still 

 the shoe-factories and the stocking-fac- 

 tories have become almost a necessity. 

 I do not see that honey obeys any differ- 

 ent laws, hence it is probably best for 

 the public that honey production be- 

 come a regularly established business, 

 followed by men who expect to devote 

 their lives to it. 



Marengo, 111. 



LIQUID HONEY. 



Extracted Honey — its Produc- 

 tion and Marketing. 



Written for the Ohio State Convention 

 BY DR. A. B. MASON. 



It has been said, that the tendency of 

 the times is toward each one becoming 

 a specialist; and as the struggle for 

 success becomes greater, each one feels 

 that every force must be husbanded 

 and every effort made to accomplish 

 the desired result : but, is it true that 

 the greatest comparative success in 

 bee-culture will be attained by the spe- 

 cialist ? 



Some know that I do not get as large 

 a surplus of honey as many others ; but 

 that is no evidence that I do not know 

 how to get all that my field furnishes. 

 My locality is not favorable to large 

 yields of honey, for, as I said at the 

 Detroit Convention, there is a large 

 city on one side and a wilderness on 

 the other; at any rate, the. soil is not 

 favorable to the production of white 

 clover; and linden, except a few trees, 

 is not within tlie reach of my bees; but 

 there are large areas of boneset. gold- 

 en-rod, and asters, near by, and the 



three combined have never furnished 

 my bees with sufficient honey for win- 

 ter stores. 



If I am not mistaken, extracted hon- 

 ey has been in use over twenty years, 

 and its desirableness for table and 

 other uses, when compared with comb 

 honey, has been fully established ; and 

 I believe an Ohio man, none other than 

 our friend A. I. Root, was among the 

 first, if not the first, to produce it in 

 America. 



Many people know the excellence and 

 beauty of first-class comb honey, which 

 needs no praise ; but a first-class article 

 of extracted honey is something with 

 which most people are not familiar, 

 they never having seen its crystal beau- 

 ty, nor caught its delicate aroma, and 

 never tasted its delicious flavor as gath- 

 ered from forest and field. When 

 served upon the table it makes a fine 

 appearance, and, to many, "nothing is 

 better for breakfast than hot cakes and 

 honey." It can be poured upon them 

 till they "fairly swim in luscious sweet- 

 ness." If our table is ever set for a 

 meal, and the pitcher of extracted 

 honey is left off, some one of the family 

 is sure to say, " Please pass the honey." 

 We have no use for honey in the comb, 

 except when we want to show off for 

 company, and even they frequently 

 prefer the fine, richly flavored extracted 

 article. 



The aim should be to produce honey 

 for the masses, for those who cannot 

 afford to pay for luxuries. 



" A land flowing with milk and hon- 

 ey," both being very nutritious and 

 strengthening, was promised to and 

 was desired by the Jews as the " ne 

 plus ultra " of good things. When prop- 

 erly ripened, white clover, linden, 

 Alsike, alfalfa, and some other honeys, 

 have a sparkling clearness, and the 

 flavor is exquisite, and like other kinds, 

 when candied are free from any liquid 

 portions; and 1 have no doubt that 

 such honey is generally really nicer 

 than much of the well capped white 

 comb honey placed upon the market ; 

 and if all the extracted honey offered 

 for sale were as thoroughly ripened as 

 is comb honey, the latter would be 

 almost driven from the market. 



Is it not a fact, that extracted honey 

 is depreciated in price mainly because 

 its quality is inferior to comb honey, 

 and is inferior because it is not properly 

 ripened, or different kinds have been 

 mixed, thus destroying their distinctive 

 flavor? Each kind should be kept by 

 itself, and so retain its distinctive aro- 

 ma and flavor. Well do I rememtier 

 how delicious the honey was that we 

 used to get from bee- trees on the home 

 farm in the East, in my boyhood days. 

 We didn't know what kind it was, but 

 now I know it was linden. To secure 

 plenty of well-ripened honey it will be 

 necessary to have strong colonies to 

 gather aiid ripen it, and it should be 

 extracted when it can be done to the 

 best advantage of the apiarist and the 

 bees. In the production of such honey 

 it is often necessary to leave it in the 

 hive with a populous colony for some 

 time. AVhen this is not convenient it 

 should be as thoroughly ripened artifi- 

 cially. Many bee keepers think that 

 honey must be sealed to be ripe. This 

 may be true in some seasons, and in 



