244 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Were this more generally understood 

 there would be fewer ventures and less 

 dashing of hopes in this diiection. 



In a cellar is where I have been ex- 

 tracting honey during the last few days. 

 It is a cool, comfortable place in which to 

 work, and there are no cracks through 

 which the robbers can squeeze. The ex- 

 tractor is set up on a platform some eight 

 or ten inches above the cellar bottom; the 

 tub into which the honey is strained sits 

 in a hole dug perhaps six inches deep into 

 the cellar bottom, then, still lower, in a 

 sort of pit, about two feet deep, are the 

 scales upon which is set a five gallon can 

 that receives the honey from the strainer- 

 tub. An electric alarm bell gives notice 

 when the can is full. About five feet of 

 the back end of the cellar is partitioned 

 off and the honey warmed up in there by 

 means of a lamp stove. 



The one great objection is that, in order 

 to give ventilation, the door must be of 

 wire cloth, and this allows the odor of 

 the honey to escape, which attracts a 

 great crowd of robbers, if we are ex- 

 tracting after the close of the harvest, 

 and when the door is opened they swarm 

 into the cellar. We overcome this diffi- 

 culty to a great extent by making a great 

 big "smudge" in a tin can and setting it 

 in the cellar way just outside the door. 



A Tent as ordinarily used for a honey 

 house, may be much improved, writes Mr 

 G. W. Haines, of New York, by making it 

 higher and putting a "window" of mos- 

 quito netting in each gable end. The 

 trouble with a tent is the hot, close inte- 

 rior when it must be closed to keep out 

 bees. Mr. Haines bought some 8-oz. 

 duck and sewed a three-foot strip all 

 around the bottom, thus making the walls 

 six feet high instead of only three feet, 

 using poles with a corresponding increase 

 of length. To furnish the windows he 

 cut out a piece 1 8 inches square at each 

 end. The piece was not cut out entirely, 

 but the lower edge was left fast, so that 



it hung down like a flap inside the tent. 

 The edges were bound and furnished with 

 bottons and button holes, which allowed 

 the flap to be buttoned up in case of rain. 

 The opening, as already mentioned, was 

 covered with netting, and a small opening 

 left at the "peak," which served the pur- 

 pose of a bee-escape. A tent thus ar- 

 ranged proved to be as cool, as an ordin- 

 ary honey house. 



«-n«'«.«^^«<».«'» 



How to Get Good Prices. 



I have urged my readers to ask a good 

 price for their honey, but simply asking 

 is not enough. It is a very easy matter 

 to ship off a crop of honey to some dealer 

 and get the ordinary, ruling market price 

 for it. If you wish to secure more than 

 the market price, then some effort must 

 be put forth. In the first place, there 

 must be some reason why a good price 

 shall be received. Take my own case for 

 instance; my honey is not ordinary honey, 

 it is raspberry honey. Then it is thor- 

 oughly ripened— left on the hives weeks 

 after it is capped over— and is thick, rich 

 and delicious; and it is put up in bright, 

 new 60-lb cans. It is impossible to pro- 

 duce an article superior to this. Having 

 produced such a fine article, and put a 

 proper price upon it, the next step is to 

 let consumers know about it— advertise it 

 and send out samples. I am now adver- 

 tising it in three of the bee journals. Of 

 course this costs something, and if a man 

 were to be in the business only a year it 

 might not pay him, but a man can gradu- 

 ally build up a trade, and secure a class 

 of customers that will buy his honey year 

 after year without any advertising. I am 

 now receiving orders from men who 

 bought honey of me last year. They 

 don't even ask for samples; they say, "if 

 your honey is like that of last year, you 

 may send me so many cases," and they 

 send on the cash. 



Now friends, isn't it worth while to 

 have such a trade? To be able to sell 

 your honey year after year to the same 

 men, those who are willing to pay you 



