2C, 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb 



antl interest in all improvemcuts in our spec- ] 

 ialty, by granting that the Tollovfing is a great 

 stride in favor of extracted honey What 

 credit there is belongs more to accicJent than 

 to lis. 



You see we had some basswood honey, two 

 barrels of it, in 1874, and to keep io from going 

 into that troublesome candying process we 

 had it taken to our store and deposited near 

 the furnace ; in spite of this it soon began to 

 roll up and ooze out of the bung-holes, and we 

 scraped it off. and dipped it out panful after 

 panful, until we began to think it really never 

 would stop, and to seriously meditate selling 

 it for 10 cents, just because it, like the old lady 

 of the fable, could never be (luiet. But by and 

 by it stopped, and some huge piles of paper for 

 Gleanings and other rubbish were put around 

 the barrels until we almost forgot we had 

 them, but when the honey table was started, 

 basswood honey was suggested as a variety, 

 and one of the barrels was opened. A few 

 doxen jars were filled — after it was melted — 

 and as the most liquid portion was easiest to 

 get out the candied honey was left clear to the 

 top of the barrel on one side. One day the 

 remarkable whiteness of this attracted our at- 

 tention and a plateful was put in a glass show 

 case Now it was that Dame Nature began to 

 sh(jvv us what s7ie was trying to do, for the 

 honey was getting whiter and whiter, and as 

 we take (mother admiring look at the pearly 

 blocks as they sparkle in the lamplight, we 

 pronounce it more beautiful than the plates of 

 comb honey by its side. It melts in one's 

 mouth like delicious confectionery; and even 

 old bee-keepers do not recognize it as honey. 



Mrs. R., who never can bear "basswood" 

 honey is eathusiastic over it; in fact we en- 

 trusted to her and Blue-Eyes the task of mak- 

 ing the experiment of melting some of it and 

 when it softened so that it would pull like 

 snowy cream candy, they ate it every bit and 

 we never saw it at all, giving us an excuse 

 that any one would have done the same if they 

 had just got one taste of it. 



Now we haven't told all 5'et, for this same 

 beautiful honey can be done up in paper pack- 

 ages, or put up in paper boxes and it actually 

 isn't "sticky" a particle. Just think of it ! ye 

 sons of toil — and stickiness — all that is to be 

 done in the future is to run your honey into 

 barrels, put it out of doors and get it candied 

 the fust cool night, roll it over and let the liq- 

 uid portion with its rank odor and coloring 

 matter all drain out, a la loaf sugar ; then lay 

 it on shelves to dry and put it in boxes lined 

 with pink tissue paper and get your own 

 prices. 



We have only succeeded partially in doing 

 liie same thing with clover honey, that is, it 

 has not yet (;ome out so white and drj^, but we 

 think it can be done, and right here comes 

 in something I'unu}'. This honey when melted 

 is so thick that it will no^ even run, and is 

 more effectually ripened in every sense of the 

 word, than the bees ever do it in the hive. If 

 yo'.ir honey is thick enough to cand.y, you need 

 have no foars about it. Does it not lose in 

 weight Ijy such concentration? It must, we 

 think, certainly, and we have advanced the 

 dry wliite honey to 25 cents, while we sell the 

 other at 18. If you do not succeed in making 



it we 'vill send you ^^ lb. in a wooden box, by 

 mail, for loc, or % lb. for 35c. As it is light 

 and porous, you will have enough to trj^ ihc 

 cream candy, by warming slightly in au 

 oven. 



There is something about it that we do not 

 quite understand yet, for we have tried drain- 

 ing it in a dish with a bottom of perforated 

 tin, and wc have at present a lot of it hung up 

 in a wire-cloth basket, but it does not come out 

 as white as l>y simply standing a barrel on end 

 that had been on its side while the honey was 

 candying. It is doubtless a slow process of 

 crystalization, and it is this that causes tho 

 honey to run over and ooze out of the buui;- 

 holes. 



Dear, kind, old Dame Nature, and you did 

 know best after all; hereafter we shall take 

 as much pleasure in seeing the honey caudy 

 and expantl, as we do in seeing the fruit blos- 

 soms unfold; and by the way do you know how 

 we extolled the clover honey belonging to our 

 neighbor Payne ? 



Well, this clover honey had stood in 

 stone crocks a whole year and had ripened 

 to a standard of excellence and purity that we 

 I'eally believe is be\'ond the ix>vver of the bees, 

 the coloring matter and rank fllivvor having 

 probably drained to the bottom of the crocks. 

 If you have any poor honey put it out in the 

 cold and let it candy, then turn it out on a 

 sheet of wire-cloth where it will 'oe out of the 

 dust, and drain off all the liquid portion ; now 

 it may astonish you to hear that it may be 

 dried in an oven, to expel all the water, but 

 such is the case, if you do not make the heafe 

 so great as to melt it. And in this shape it 

 may be kept for j'ears, and even done up in a 

 paper like sugar. Paper boxes to hold 1 lb. 

 will not cost over 2c., and wooden boxes suit- 

 able for mailing sami)les, but little more than 

 twice as much ; of course we can use our usual 

 labels nicely. 



HIVES. 



W'E have strong liopes that during this cen- 

 tennial year, not only our own country, 

 but The whole world, of bee-keepers, may pretty 

 nearly agree on what is really needed for a 

 bee-hive. And to see how much progress wc 

 have really made in that direction is a part of 

 the purpose of this present article. 



Our neighbor Dean said a few days ago that 

 if he were going to raise comb honey, he would 

 unhesitatingly adopt the shallow Langstroth 

 frame, although he has been one of the sti'ong- 

 est advocates of the Gallup frame. Just what 

 effect the artificial bleached wax comb is going 

 to have on the shape of hives, we are unable to 

 tell, but there can be little doubt but that it 

 will turn many others, like friend D. toward 

 the L. frame and two-story hive. This la.-t 

 season has been a little peculiar. More than 

 one of our readers have extracted their honey 

 in the summer and fed it back in the fall to 

 prevent starvation. This is certainly not good 

 policy ; for we lose tlio labor and wax in tin- 

 caps when wc uncaj) ihe honey, and then ai'e 

 obliged to feed enough more in the fall for 

 them to build new caj)S. To \'iti.'K\' sugar mif/Zd 

 pay, but to feed tlr,; Jioiicy Ijack. never. The 

 1 principal objection to the t\v'i-~.tury hive for 



