810 



TH© SMERICMM MMM J©^KffMl,. 



I do this because I know that honej- 

 from this source is of short duration, 

 and it is better to remove this brood 

 and honey, and give it to weak colo- 

 nies, so that they may all be strong, 

 at the advent of white clover. 



Apple honey is dark, but has a rose 

 flavor which is agreeable, but bees are 

 not strong enough when it blooms, to 

 store any amount of surplus, as it re- 

 quires so much to support brood-rear- 

 ing at this time of the year. 



Raspberry honey is tine, but there is 

 n<it enough of it in this locality to 

 yield much surplus, and at about the 

 same time wild cherry blooms, which 

 secretes bitter honey. Some seasons, 

 locusts and dandelions are rich in nec- 

 tar, and it is much better to have these 

 honejs made into bees, than mixed up 

 in surplus. 



Wlilte Clover Honef . 



When the spring flows of nectar are 

 passed, and the apiary has been man- 

 aged intelligently, every colony will 

 be ready for business, with its hive 

 full to over-flowing with workers, an.\- 

 ious for the fray. Where there are 

 acres upon acres of white clover, with 

 millions of blossoms, and the electrical 

 conditions are favorable for the secre- 

 tion of nectar, coinb will be built so 

 rapidly to store the flood coming in, 

 that it will be so delicate as to be al- 

 most imperceptible, as it melts away 

 in the mouth. When there are millions 

 of nectar-bearing blossoms of white 

 clover, there is no need for bees to 

 roam among other flowers to get 

 honey to mix with clover. 



It is evident that white clover honey 

 is simply the nectar secreted in the 

 blossoms, gathered and evaporated by 

 bees. I have eaten the white sage 

 honey of California, the orange of 

 Florida, yet I have never seen the 

 white clover of the North excelled in 

 delicacy of flavor — a real ambrosia, tit 

 food for gods. 



Bassivood IIuney> 



This is a fine wliite honey, with a 

 flavor peculiarly its own. In this 

 locality, there is little of this honej' to 

 be had in its purity, as it blooms be- 

 fore the close of tlie white clover, and 

 usuallj- lasts onh" for a day or so. In 

 northern latitudes tlie bloom lasts for 

 three weeks, and the trees are very 

 plentiful. More honey has been gath- 

 ered in one day from this source, than 

 from any other. 



About twenty years ago a bee-keeper 

 in this vicinity knowing the reputation 

 of these trees, erected a monument to 

 his memory, by planting tliem largely, 

 and in order to prolong the season of 

 bloom, planted both the Ameri<uin and 

 'European varieties. His planting was 

 a success, as far as the trees are con- 

 cerned, for they grew tinelj', but he 



did not take into consideration the 

 ditference of soil and climate, and they 

 are a partial failure as to honey. In 

 this dry, sandy soil, the bloom all 

 opens at once, and the bees hold high 

 carnival while it lasts, for a daj^ or so. 

 Qraniilated Hone)'. 



At the National Bee-Convention at 

 Detroit, there was on exhibition a 

 square block of extracted, granulated, 

 basswood honej'. I was requested by 

 the owner to sample it, and I never 

 enjoyed eating any kind of confec- 

 tionery as I did this magnificent sweet. 

 The honey had been stored in a barrel, 

 and, when it was used, it was taken 

 out from one side, and a part left 

 standing, which drained and hardened. 

 A block was cut out from tlie dry side, 

 and how nicely it sliced oft". 



Some persons have a mistaken idea, 

 with reference to the granulation of 

 honey. When it granulates in cold 

 weather, as it runs out of the comb, 

 tliej- jump to the conclusion that the 

 bees have been fed sugar, when it is 

 an evidence of its purity. 



Adulteration of Hone}'. 



" Good morning : I called to see if 

 I could buy some bees' honej'. The 

 doctor told me not to buy it at the 

 store, but to get it where bees were 

 kept, as there was so much manufac- 

 tured stufi' in the market." 



" Come into the lionej'-house. Now 

 what kind of honey do you" want? 

 Here is comb honey in sections, and 

 there is extracted honey." 



"The doctor told me to be sure and 

 get bees' lioney in the comb, and ren- 

 der it out myself." 



"Now suppose I take this knife and 

 cut oft' the cells and put it into that tin 

 can which I call an extractor, turn the 

 crank, and throw out the honey, would 

 not that do ?" 



" No ; the doctor said I must render 

 it out myself. What do you charge 

 for that white honey ?" 



"Twentj'-five cents a pound." 



"Twenty-five cents per pound? 

 Why, I bought as nice honey three 

 years ago as that for ' a bit,' and some 

 for ten cents. What has become of 

 all the honey ? Then there was piles 

 of it in the stores ?" 



"There has been a failure in the 

 honey crop for several j'ears. I want 

 to make a bargain with you. Wlien 

 the doctor calls again, find out where 

 I can buy some manufactured honej', 

 for there is a man in Ohio who otfers 

 five hundred dollars for a sample. I'll 

 go snooks with you, as the children 

 sa}', and we'll make some monej-. 

 Now my good woman, don't you sup- 

 pose that if comb honey could be 

 manufactured, at the price it now 

 brings, the stores would be full of it ?" 



Peoria, Ills. 



VALUE OF COMBS. 



Practicability of Saving tlicni 

 for Several Years' Operation. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY A. E. MALEY. 



Mr. Newman : — I send you the fol- 

 lowing article which I found in our 

 county paper, and think it worthy a 

 place in the American Bee Journal. 

 it is as follows : 



It has long been a question with 

 bee-keepers whether honej' - combs 

 could not be used for repeated filling, 

 thus saving much time to the busy in- 

 sect. A correspondent of the German- 

 town Telegraph considers the question 

 as completely settled, for he has 

 thoroughly tested the experiment in 

 his own apiarj'. He says : A bee- 

 hive should contain about 1,800 or 

 2,000 cubic inches in the brood-cham- 

 ber, which will require 1^ pounds of 

 comb to till it (if properly arranged as 

 the bees will do), this being a fact as 

 everj- one knows anything can testify. 

 It re(iuires at least 25 pounds of liquid, 

 sweet or honey as the case may be, to 

 make the 1} pounds of comb, which it 

 also requires at least 15 days' time for 

 a good colonj' of bees to gather and 

 secrete into wax in order to build the 

 combs from, which is to supply the 

 brood-chamber. It is also a fact, not 

 successfully controverted, that a good 

 colony of bees, say 20,000 strong, will 

 gather at least 8 or 10 pounds of honej- 

 in a daj' if the honej' season is a good 

 one. We have often had them gather 

 double that amount in a day. 



At first thought, those who think 

 but little about the true value of combs 

 can hardlj- believe that it takes 25 

 pounds of honej' for the bees to pro- 

 duce a pound and a quarter of comb, 

 yet this statement is true, and anj' one 

 who can figure will find that bees will 

 store at least 100 pounds of nice 

 honey in a season in combs given them 

 to start with, and not compel them to 

 use up the best and most valuable 

 honey for making their combs. 



We have often contended, and are 

 still of the opinion that the best honey 

 is gathered about the time that fruit 

 blossoms come out, and especially 

 when the white clover and other 

 earliest blossoms are in full vigor, 

 which is usuallj' the time our bees 

 here in the North do their swarming. 



They are too often placed in an 

 empty hive or gum to build new combs 

 and shift for themselves, or, as it is 

 usually called "luck," while we are 

 verj- sure the old sinner "luck" has 

 for manj' jears lieen a failure. 



As before stated, the first honey is 

 our best, and in order to procure the 



