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152 



TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



to write a short paper for this dis- 

 ting-uished body of bee-keepers. I be- 

 lieve our program calls for a five 

 minute address or paper on this sub- 

 ject. I think every one will agree 

 with me that if you try to boil down 

 your remarks on extracted or comb 

 honey to a flve-minute paper, you will 

 be at a loss to know exactly what is 

 of benefit to bee-keepers. 



"EXTRACTED HONEY— FROM NEC- 

 TAR TO MARKET." 



When receiving the first intimation 

 from our secretary that I was expect- 

 ed to say something on the a.bove sub- 

 ject at this gathering of bee-keepers, 

 I remarked to a friend that it was an 

 old and very common-place theme — 

 one in which it would be very hard 

 to bring out anything new, particular- 

 ly so, as nearly every issue of our 

 different bee-papers have articles 

 bearing upon this line of thought. 



My friend retorted that this was the 

 case with almost any phase of the 

 industry at the present time, and that 

 it was only by "keeping eternally at 

 it," that any advancement would be 

 achieved. With this thought in view, 

 and with little hope of bringing any- 

 thing new before you, I shall briefly 

 outline a few essentials that I have 

 found by actual experience to be 

 necessary in the production of a good 

 article of extracted honey for table 

 use, — indeed, I am quite sure that it 

 will also pay those in the long run, 

 who produce other grades of honey for 

 manufacturing purposes, also to take 

 pains to produce the very best grades 

 that is possible in their location, as, 

 from what I can learn, even the man- 

 ufacturers who require honey, do not 

 from choice use the thin, unripened 

 stuff. 



If asked to briefly epitomize the es- 

 sential factors that enter into the pro- 

 duction of good extracted honey, I 

 would among other requirements 

 mention the following: Good, stron? 

 colonies; at least a fair flow of honey, 

 and the possession of enough drawn 

 super combs to permit ripening of the 

 honey on the hives and allow for stor- 

 age of 'honey at the same time. And 

 after the extracting is done, that all 

 honey be put into retainers as soon 

 as possible, as in our climate honey is 

 more apt to deteriorate than improve 

 when left exposed to the atmosphere 

 for any length of time. By the term 



"our climate," of course I include all 

 the territory having a humid atmos- 

 phere like Ontario, as there is no 

 question but that there are many sec- 

 tions in the Western States that these 

 remarks will not apply to. 



Our subject title speaks of 'nectar" 

 and "honey," and by this we would 

 understand that there are different 

 stages in the production of honey by 

 the bees. Our dictionaries give us 

 little modern light on the word "nec- 

 tar," as we use the word in bee-keep- 

 ing, for the word, like many more in 

 the English language, has changed its 

 meaning faster than the lexicograpih- 

 ers have been able to keep pace. Stu- 

 dents of mythology know that the 

 original term, "nectar," was used to des- 

 ignate the food of the gods, and at 

 the present period our best diction- 

 aries, in addition to this meaning, 

 also define the word as meaning any 

 very sweet drink. But "nectar," as 

 we bee-keepers understand the term, 

 means the freshly gathered sweet sub- 

 stance found in flowers and carried 

 into the hives by the bees. 



While nectar is undoubtedly sweet, 

 and more or less pleasant tasting 

 when thus gathered, yet experience 

 has taught us that if this freshly gath- 

 ered article is extracted from the 

 combs ^ too soon, without having- had 

 the excess of water content eliminat- 

 ed by the bees, the sweet taste of the 

 aforementioned gods to* insinuate for 

 a moment that they feasted on such 

 an inferior and ill-tasting food as the 

 resultant product is apt to be. 



Modern methods of bee-keeping 

 render it exceedingly easy to produce 

 unripe honey, and I am glad to say 

 as well, that in the hands of bee-keep- 

 ers so inclined, to produce a good, 

 well-ripened article. 



I say, "in the majority of cases," 

 as fortunately on rare occasions, 

 for all we can do to the contrary, our 

 honey will not come up to the stand- 

 ard we would like, owing to peculiar 

 wegfther and other conditions that 

 sometimes are hard to be explained. 



I have said that modern methods 

 make it quite easy to produce unripe 

 honey, and in this statement I have 

 in view the fact that nearly all ex- 

 tracted-'honey producers have drawn 

 super combs carried over from year 

 to year, and how easy it is to empty 

 those combs rapidly and often when 



