BOX HIVES 
136 
ruled that anything 1 under 'one pound 
should be stated in ounces. Anything above 
a pound should be stated in terms of 
pounds and ounces. It is contrary to the 
ruling to make a label read “36 ounces, net 
weight,” when it should read “two pounds 
and four ounces, net weight.” The purpose 
of this is to prevent confusing the con¬ 
sumer by making a statement which may 
be at the same time misleading. If the 
label states, for example, that the pack¬ 
age contains 60 ounces, the consumer has 
to make a mental calculation to determine 
how much honey or other food product he 
is getting. The purpose of the law is to 
give the consumer an opportunity to know 
just what he is getting, and the exact 
weight in terms that are the most easily 
understood. 
LABELING BOTTLED HONEY. 
As a general rule, small circular labels 
should be used. The big ones that cover up 
the whole jar do not usually afford as 
pretty an effect as the small, neat, tasty 
labels that give the customer an opportun¬ 
ity to see the honey. It is the honey that 
sells; and if it is a fine quality, the grocer 
should be induced to display it in such a 
way in his window that the light will 
sparkle thru it, and it will then readily 
sell itself. 
BOTTLING HONEY IN A COMMERCIAL WAY. 
There are several large bottling concerns 
in the country that have put up honey in 
glass in an extensive way. During the act¬ 
ive season they will send out two or three 
carloads of bottled goods a week. These big 
concerns necessarily have to employ exten¬ 
sive apparatus—something which, at the 
same time, will be sanitary. First the bot¬ 
tles must be washed and sterilized; the 
honey must be heated in large tanks, glass- 
lined, and it must then be conveyed to a 
bottle-filler which automatically fills the 
bottles just so full and no more. The bot¬ 
tles are then carried by a traveling belt to 
a capping-machine, and then to a label¬ 
ing machine, and finally to the box which 
receives the packages > after they have been 
sponged off and wrapped. Some of the 
large illustrations here will give one an 
idea of how honey is put up in glass in a 
large Avay. 
For putting up in tin cans see Extract¬ 
ed Honey. 
BOX HIVES.— It seems as if any de¬ 
scription of box hives in a work to teach 
modern apiculture Avould be out of place: 
but the facts are, there are thousands upon 
thousands of colonies kept in these old 
gums in the south Atlantic States where 
there are more bees and beekeepers to the 
square mile than anyAvhere else in the 
United States. 
These hives, as the name indicates, are 
merely boxes containing neither brood- 
frames nor movable fixtures. They usually 
consist of a rude, rough box about 12 or 
15 inches square, and from 18 to 24 inches 
high. Thru the center there are two cross¬ 
sticks, the purpose of which is to help 
sustain the Aveight of the combs built in ir¬ 
regular sheets within the hive. 
At the close of the season it Avas and is 
the custom for the oAvner of box hives to 
go around and “heft” his hives. Those 
that are heavy are marked to be brim- 
stoned ; and those that are light are left to 
Avinter over for the next season if they 
can. The bees of the first named are de¬ 
stroyed with sulphur fumes, and then the 
beebread, honey, and everything are cut 
out. 
In the more modern box hiA’es there are 
boxes with glass ends that can be draAvn 
out from an upper part, leaving the lower 
intact. In this case the bees are not de¬ 
stroyed. In any case there is no oppor¬ 
tunity to inspect combs, hunt queens, di¬ 
vide, nor perform any of the hundred and 
one operations peculiar to modern apicul¬ 
ture. 
As stated at the outset, in some of the 
southern States, particularly the south At¬ 
lantic — Virginia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia — box 
hives or log gums are used very largely. 
Indeed, there are very few modern hives or 
modern beekeepers. The mountaineers in 
some of those States are of the purest of 
pure Anglo-Saxon blood. Tbeir ancestors 
came from England 300 years ago. As 
their isolation up in the mountain shuts 
them out completely from the outside 
world, many of the old customs and modes 
of speech still cling to them. At all events, 
they appear to be keeping bees in box hives 
