330 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



SEES OXr SKABJQS. There are ca- 

 ses doubtless, where it is advantageous to 

 both parties, to let bees out on shares, but 

 as a genex-al thing, I would advise owning 

 your bees, even though it be but a single 

 colony, before you commence to build up an 

 apiary. It almost always happens that one 

 of the parties is dissatisfied ; and as is fre- 

 quently the case with such partnership ar- 

 rangements, both the parties have been 

 wronged, to hear their story for it. 



I believe it is customary for one of the 

 partners to furnish the bees, and the other 

 to do the work ; at the end of the season, 

 everything is divided equally. If new hives, 

 Italian queens &c., are to be used, the ex- 

 pense is equally divided. The division of 

 stock is usually made as soon as the honey 

 season is over, and each party takes his 

 chances of wintering. To prevent any mis- 

 understanding, I would advise that the 

 whole agreement be put in writing, and that 

 whenever something tunis up for which no 

 provision has been made, some agreement 

 be made in regard to it, and that this be put 

 in writing also. Instead of inquiring what 

 other folks do, arrange the matter just as 

 you can agree, and make up your minds in 

 the outset that you are going to remain good 

 friends even if it costs all the bees and your 

 whole summer's work. 



BOHACt'E. [BoTd'jo Officinalis). This 

 lias been at different times recommended 

 for bees, but as those making the experiment 

 of planting several acres of it, did not re- 

 peat it succeeding years, I think we are just- 

 ified in concluding it did not pay. I hr.ve 

 raised it in our garden, and some seasons 

 the bees seem very busy on it. It has a 

 small blue blossom, and grows so rapidly, 

 that a fine mass of bloom may be secured by 

 simply planting the seeds on the ground 

 where you dig your early potatoes. If it is 

 to be raised by the acre, it should be sown 

 at about the same time and much in the 

 same manner, as corn is sown broadcast. 



GAOTBIEB HOSISS'S'. All honey, as a 

 general thing, candies at the approach of 

 cold weather. It has been suggested that 

 thin honey candies quicker than thick, and 

 such may be the case, for lioney that has 

 been i)erfectly ripened in the hive, that is, 

 having been allowed to remain in the hive 

 several weeks after being sealed over, Avill 

 sometiraes not candy at all, even if exposed 

 to zero temperature. As some lioney can- 

 dies at the very first approach of cold weath- 

 er, and other samples not until we have se- 

 vere freezing weather, we can not alwavs be 



sure that i>ei-fect ripening will prove a pre- 

 ventive. It is very seldom indeed that we 

 find sealed comb honey in a candied state, 

 and we therefore infer that the bees know 

 how they can preserve it best for their use ; 

 for although they can use candied honey 

 when obliged to do so, it is veiy certain that 

 they dislike to bother with it, for they often 

 carry it out to the entrance of their hives 

 when new honey is coming in, rather than 

 take the trouble of bringing water with 

 which to dissolve it. 



HOW TO PREVEISTT HOKEY FROM CAN1>YING. 



By follo\\'ing out the plan of the bees, we 

 can keep honey in a clear limpid liquid 

 state, the year round. The readiest means 

 of doing this, is to seal it up in ordinary 

 self-sealing fruit jars precisely as we do 

 fruit. Maple molasses, syrups and preserves 

 of all kinds, may be kept in the same way, 

 if we do our work well, almost as fresh, 

 and with the same flavor, as the day they 

 were put up. We should fill the jar full, 

 and have the contents nearly boiling hot 

 when the cover is screwed on. The bees 

 understood this idea perfectly, before fruit 

 jars were ever invented, for they put their 

 fresh pollen in the cells, cover it perfectly 

 with honey, and then S'eal it up with an air 

 tight wax cover. To avoid heating the hon- 

 ey too hot, it may be best to set the fruit 

 jars in a pan of boiling water, raising them 

 up a little from the bottom, by a tliin board. 

 If the honey is over-heated, just the least 

 trifle, it injures its transparency, and also 

 injures its color; in fact it seems almost 

 impossible to heat some kinds of honey at 

 all, without giving it a dai'ker shade. 



CANDIED HONEY CONFECTIONERY. 



If you allow a barrel of linden or clover 

 honey to become candied solid, and then 

 scoop out the centre after one of the heads 

 is removed, you wiP find, after several 

 weeks, that the honey niound the sides has 

 drained mucli after the manner of loaf sug- 

 ar, leaving the solid portion, sometimes 

 nearly as white as snow, and so dry that it 

 may be done up in a paper like sugar. If 

 you now take this dry candied honey and 

 warm it in an oven mitil it is soft, it can be 

 worked like " taffy," and in this state you 

 will pronounce it, perhaps, the niDst delic- 

 ious confectionery you ever tasted. You 

 can also make candy of honey by boiling, 

 the same as molasses, but as it is little if 

 any better, and much more expensive, it is 

 seldom used. 



CAltTBir rOR BEES. Very little is 

 to be added to the directions just given for 



