EXTRACTED HONEY 
315 
There is a great variety of different types 
of jars from the smallest tumbler to the 
large two-quart Mason jars. Square bot¬ 
tles with large mouths using corks were 
very popular a few years ago and are still 
used quite largely. These are obtainable 
with a picture of a straw skep pressed in 
the glass on the front. 
Mason fruit-jars and jelly tumblers are 
popular because they can be bought any¬ 
where, and no one objects to buying them 
with honey, since they are always useful. 
Whenever possible select crystal-white 
glass rather than that of a greenish tint, 
for green does not show the honey to the 
best advantage. 
Paper milk-bottles have been used for 
honey to some extent for local trade; but, 
while these are very satisfactory for granu¬ 
lated honey, they do not answer for long 
shipments of liquid honey that is not gran¬ 
ulated. For this reason they are not very 
popular. 
Extracted honey is one of the purest and 
best foods. It should not be classed with 
.cheap syrups, and therefore it deserves the 
best and most attractive package. 
EXTRACTING.— To produce extracted 
honey one must have a big force of bees, 
as in the case of comb honey. The pro¬ 
ductiveness of an apiary can not be meas¬ 
ured by the number of colonies it con¬ 
tains, but by the number of bees in the 
individual colonies. To achieve the best 
results is to see that each colony is in good 
working order by the time the flow opens, 
and to do this it is necessary to examine 
each separately in order to ascertain its 
condition. Special attention must be 
given to each queen; and every one that is 
in any way defective should be replaced 
with another that is young and vigorous. 
It will never do to retain a queen whose 
prolificness is doubtful, for the colony of 
such a queen will yield very little surplus, 
or, in all probability, none at all. It is 
far better to replace such a queen, even if 
another has to be bought. The next impor¬ 
tant thing to be careful about is the 
strength of each colony. If the honey flow 
begins a month or six weeks ahead, and 
the weak colonies have young prolific 
queens, an effort may be made to build 
them up to full strength in time for it; 
but if the flow is near at hand, it is better 
to unite the weaklings. 
In some localities, the main honey flow 
is preceded by a light flow from some other 
source, while in others there is a dearth 
until the opening of the harvest. Where 
the former is the case the bees will make 
good progress in brood-rearing, and the 
colonies consequently will build up nicely; 
but where there is but one flow, some colo¬ 
nies may be in the poorest kind of condi¬ 
tion when it commences. 
If the colonies were prepared properly 
in the fall, and left with sufficient stores, 
they may need no further attention until 
the honey flow; but if they lack stores or 
necessary room for the queen to lay, the 
matter should not be neglected; for in or¬ 
der to get a good crop it is imperative that 
at the beginning of the honey flow the hives 
be overflowing with bees. In the case of 
those colonies that need attention, the num¬ 
ber of bees actually present at the open¬ 
ing of the flow will depend entirely upon 
the manipulations begun some six or 
eight weeks previously. 
During these weeks the colonies should 
be kept always supplied with plenty of 
stores. At all times there should be at 
least from ten to twelve pounds of honey in 
the hive—-more if possible; for during 
spring breeding great quantities of stores 
are needed, full colonies sometimes need¬ 
ing three or more pounds each week. It is 
necessary to have stores in excess of their 
actual needs, in order that brood-rearing 
may continue at the proper rate. There¬ 
fore close watch should be kept in order 
that the stores may not run low and thus 
curtail brood-rearing. 
If some colonies are short of honey, it is 
generally possible to find others in the 
apiary which can easily spare a few 
combs; and if no disease is present in the 
apiary, these stores should be equalized; or 
lacking these stores it may be necessary to 
feed syrup or candy. See Feeding in 
Spring and Building up Colonies. 
However, the general opinion of the 
majority of large producers is that it is 
better to avoid spring feeding if possible. 
If in need of stores they should be fed; 
but the better way, as mentioned before, is 
to have strong colonies of young vigorous 
bees with an abundance of good stores in 
