Part 5

=Linden=, =sourwood=, and =catalpa=, fine shade, ornamental, and timber trees, yield great quantities of first quality honey in June and July.

=Cotton.=--In the South cotton blossoms, appearing as they do in succession during the whole summer, often yield considerable honey. It would appear, however, that when the plants are very rank in growth the blossoms--being correspondingly large--are too deep for the bees to reach the nectar.

=Chicory=, raised for salad and for its roots, is, whenever permitted to blossom, eagerly visited for honey in July and August.

=Sweet, medicinal, and pot herbs=, such as marjoram, savory, lavender, catnip, balm, sage, thyme, etc., when allowed to blossom, nearly all yield honey in June, July, or August. Where fields of them are grown for the seed the honey yield may be considerable from this source.

=Alfalfa= furnishes in the West a large amount of very fine honey during June and July. Its importance there as a forage crop is well known, but how far eastward its cultivation may be profitably extended is still a question, and even should it prove of value in the East as a forage plant, its honey-producing qualities there would be still uncertain.

=Parsnips=, when left for seed, blossom freely from June to August, inclusive, and are much frequented by honey bees.

=Peppermint=, raised for its foliage, from which oil is distilled, is most frequently cut before the bees derive much benefit from it, but whenever allowed to blossom it is eagerly sought after by them, and yields honey freely during July and August.

=Bokhara=, or =sweet clover=, is in some sections of the country considered a valuable forage crop. Animals can be taught to like it, and it is very valuable as a restorer of exhausted lime soils, while in regions lacking in bee pasturage during the summer months it is a very important addition. It withstands drought remarkably well and yields a large quantity of fine honey.

=Cucumber=, =squash=, =pumpkin=, and =melon= blossoms furnish honey and some pollen to the bees in July and August.

=Eucalypti=, valuable for their timber and as ornaments to lawn and roadside, are quick-growing trees adapted to the southern portions of the United States. They yield much honey between July and October.

The =carob tree=, whose cultivation has been commenced in the Southwest, is an excellent honey yielder in late summer. It is an ornamental tree and gives, in addition to honey, another valuable product--the carob bean of commerce.

=Sacaline=, a forage and ornamental plant of recent introduction, is a great favorite with bees. It blossoms profusely during August, is a hardy perennial, and thrives in wet and also fairly in dry situations, withstanding the ordinary summer drought of the Eastern States because of its deeply penetrating roots.

=Buckwheat= is an important honey and pollen producer. Its blossoms appear about four weeks after the seed is sown, hence it may be made to fill in a summer dearth of honey plants.

HOW TO OBTAIN SURPLUS HONEY AND WAX.

Good wintering, followed by careful conservation of the natural warmth of the colony, the presence of a prolific queen--preferably a young one--with abundant stores for brood rearing, are, together with the prevention, in so far as possible, of swarming, the prime conditions necessary to bring a colony of bees to the chief honey flow in shape to enable it to take full advantage of the harvest. In addition it is only necessary to adjust the surplus honey receptacles in time, making the space given proportionate to the strength of the colony, and, while continuing to prevent as far as possible the issuance of swarms, to remove the accumulated honey fast enough to give abundant storage room.

EXTRACTED HONEY.

To secure extracted honey, the requisite number of combs may be in one long hive, or in stories one above another. Preference is most generally given to the latter plan. The brood apartment is made in this case to hold eight to twelve Langstroth frames, and a second, and sometimes a third or even a fourth story, may be added temporarily. These added stories may be for full-depth frames, or, for convenience in handling and in order to be able to control more closely the amount of space given, they may be half the usual depth, and but one of the half-depth stories added at a time. If numerous sets of combs are at hand, or if it is desirable to have others built, additional stories are put on as fast as the combs already occupied by the bees are filled. Before removing the filled combs time should be allowed the bees to ripen and cap the honey; hence enough combs are necessary to give the bees storage room while they are capping others, the honey in combs that are quite or nearly sealed over may be considered sufficiently ripened to be removed from the hive.

It should also be taken promptly, in order to keep the various grades or kinds separate. However, when the combs of a given super are completely filled and sealed it may be marked and left on the hive if more convenient to be extracted later.

The cells are uncapped by means of a sharp knife, made especially for this purpose (fig. 9), and the combs are then made to revolve rapidly in the honey extractor (fig. 10). The centrifugal force exerted on the honey throws it out, leaving the comb cells uninjured, or so slightly injured that they are wholly repaired within an hour or so after the return of the comb to the hive. The chief advantages of this method of harvesting over that of crushing the combs are at once apparent when it is known that each pound of comb saved represents several pounds of honey (consumed in its construction), and may, with care be used over almost indefinitely in securing surplus honey. Furthermore, extracted honey is of much finer quality than that obtained by crushing the combs and straining out the liquid part, since it is free from crushed bees, larvæ, pollen or "bee bread," etc., which not only render strained honey dark and strong in flavor, but also make it liable to fermentation and souring.

The extracted honey is run into open buckets or tanks and left, covered with cheese cloth, to stand a week or so in a dry, warm room not frequented by ants. It should be skimmed each day until perfectly clear, and is then ready to be put into cans or barrels for marketing, or to be stored in a dry place. Square tin cans, each made to hold 60 pounds of extracted honey, are sold by dealers in apiarian supplies. This style of package is a convenient one to transport, and is also acceptable to dealers. Wooden shipping cases are usually constructed so as to hold two of these cans. Barrels and kegs may be used, especially for the cheaper grades of honey used chiefly in the manufacture of other articles. They should be dry, made of well-seasoned, sound wood, and the hoops driven tight and secured, as well-ripened honey readily absorbs moisture from wood, causing shrinkage and leakage. They should also be coated inside with bees-wax or paraffin. This is easily done by warming the barrels and then pouring in a gallon or two of hot wax or paraffin, and, after having driven in the bungs tightly, rolling the barrels about a few times and turning them on end. The work should be done quickly and the liquid not adhering to the inner surfaces poured out at once, in order to leave but a thin coating inside.

The surplus combs are to be removed at the close of the season and hung an inch or so apart on racks placed in a dry, airy room, where no artificial heat is felt. Mice, if permitted to reach them, will do considerable damage by gnawing away the cells containing pollen or those in which bees have been bred, and which therefore contain larval and pupal skins. Moth larvæ are not likely to trouble them until the following spring, but upon the appearance of milder weather their ravages will begin, and if the combs can not be placed under the care of the bees at once they must be fumigated with burning sulphur or with bisulphide of carbon.

COMB HONEY.

The main difference to be observed in preparing colonies for the production of comb honey, instead of extracted, is in the adjustment of the brood apartment at the time the supers are added. After the colony has been bred up to the greatest possible strength, the brood apartment should be so regulated in size, when the honey flow begins and the supers are added, as to crowd many of the bees out and into the supers placed above.

On each hive a super is placed (fig. 11) holding 24 to 48 sections, each section supplied with a strip or a full sheet of very thin foundation. It is best not to give too much space at once, as considerable warmth is necessary to enable the bees to draw out foundation or to build comb. A single set of sections is usually sufficient at a time. When the honey is designed for home use or for a local market, half-depth frames are sometimes used, the same as those often used above the brood nests when colonies are run for extracted honey, but for the general market pound sections (fig. 12) are better adapted.

It is the practice of many to have nice white comb partially drawn out before the main honey flow begins, or even the season before, feeding the colonies, if necessary, to secure this; and, when the honey yield begins, to supply sets of sections with these combs having cells deep enough for the bees to begin storing in as soon as any honey is collected. Earlier work in the sections is thus secured, and this, as is well known, is an important point in the prevention of swarming. Mr. Samuel Simmins, of England, has long contended for this use of partially drawn combs, and though it forms a feature of his system for the prevention of swarming it has been too often overlooked. Comb foundation is now manufactured with extra thin septum or base and with the beginnings of the cells marked out by somewhat thicker walls which the bees immediately thin down, using the extra wax in deepening the cells. This is not artificial comb, but a thin sheet of wax having the bases of the cells outlined on it. Complete artificial combs have never been used in a commercial way, although there exists a widespread belief to this effect, which is founded on extravagant claims that have appeared from time to time in newspaper articles.

If the brood apartment has been much contracted when the supers were added, the queen may go into the sections and deposit eggs unless prevented by the insertion of a queen excluder (fig. 13). This, merely a sheet of zinc with perforations which permit workers, but not the queen, to pass, is placed between the brood apartment and the supers. The great inconvenience of having brood in some of the sections is thereby prevented. When the honey in the sections has been nearly capped over, the super may be lifted up and another added between it and the brood apartment. Or, should the strength of the colony not be sufficient, or the harvest not abundant enough to warrant the giving of so much space, the sections which are completely finished may be removed and the partly finished ones used as "bait sections" to encourage work in another set of sections on this hive or in new supers elsewhere. The objections to the removal of sections one by one, and brushing the bees from them, are (1) the time it takes, and (2) the danger that the bees when disturbed, and especially if smoked, will bite open the capping and begin the removal of the honey, thus injuring the appearance of the completed sections.

A recent valuable invention, the bee escape (fig. 3), the use of which is explained on pages 15 and 16, when placed between the super and the brood nest, permits the bees then above the escape to go down into the brood apartment, but does not permit their reentering the super. If inserted twelve to twenty-four hours before the sections are to be removed, the latter will be found free from bees at the time of removal, provided all brood has been kept out of the supers.

=Grading and shipping comb honey.=--Before marketing the honey it should be carefully graded, and all propolis ("bee-glue"), if there be any, scraped from the edges of the sections. In grading for the city markets the following rules are, in the main, observed. They were adopted by the North American Bee-Keepers' Association at its twenty-third annual convention, held in Washington, D. C, in December, 1892, and are copied from the official report of that meeting: