ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 115 



quantity of honey is not materially lessened by thoroug-hly ripening it; 

 if larger crops are secured by extracting- it "green," it is the result 

 of the stimulus given the bees by furnishing them such an abun- 

 dance of empty combs. By the use of plenty of store-combs and 

 supers, the same results, or nearly the same, may be obtained, and 

 the ripening of the honey secured, by tiering up. The interest upon 

 the cost of extra combs and supers is a small thing compared with 

 the putting of unripe honey upon the market. By the use of plenty 

 of combs, tiering them up, the work of extracting may be put off 

 until the busy season is over. The great trouble is the lack of in- 

 centive for producing well-ripened honey for the general market. 

 The production of extracted honey to be shipped away for some 

 commission merchant to sell, is much like making butter to be sold 

 at a country store. All brings the same price. White clover honey 

 brings so much, buckwheat so much. The honey with the fine, 

 delicate flavor, the thoroughly bee-ripened, well-preserved, superior 

 article, will not bring one cent more in the general market than the 

 ordinary, -pretty good honey. Perhaps, for manufacturing purposes, 

 there is no advantage in having such a superior article, but for table 

 sauce there is; and the only way in which the man who produces a 

 really superior article can hope to receive pay for his extra trouble, 

 is by selling direct to consumers, or by establishing a reputation for 

 his honey among dealers and their customers. The only secret in 

 producing a superior grade of extracted honey, honey that will be 

 the equal of that that drips from the delicate morsel of comb at the 

 tea table, is that of leaving it on the hive until it is sealed and 

 thoroughly ripened. Leaving the honey on the hive a few weeks 

 after it is sealed seems to give an added ripeness or richness. Of 

 course, robbers are ready to give trouble after the close of the 

 season, but the use of bee escapes overcomes this difficulty. When 

 the supers are freed from bees by the use of bee escapes, the honey 

 is usually cold by the time it is off the hive, it having lost the heat 

 imparted to it by the bees, and it does not extract nearly as easily as 

 though the bees had been brushed off and the honey extracted im- 

 mediately. The proper course is to stack the supers up in a warm 

 room, one heated by a stove, until the honey is warmed through, 

 when it may be thrown out with the greatest ease. I am aware that 

 this system is not the one usually followed, but I believe it has de- 

 cided advantages over other systems, and results in honey of a 

 superior quality. Have plenty of combs and supers; tier up the 

 same as in the production of comb honey; leave the combs on the 

 hive until the honey is thoroughly ripened; remove the honey by the 

 use of bee escapes, and warm it up artificially when ready to extract. 



