BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
William McEvoy of Woodburn, Ontario, Canada, claims to have had great success in the treatment of thousands of colonies, and he puts them back into the lives out of which they came; but there have been a large number of cases where the disease has appeared again in the hives whose bodies and fixtures were not disinfected. His plan is to take the infected colony in the height of the honey season, and in the evening shake the bees from their infected combs into their old hive, giving them frames with foundation starters, and let them work on them for four days. The bees will in that time have worked out some comb, and have stored in it all the diseased honey they carried in their sacs from the diseased combs, and then in the evening of the fourth day, he takes the new combs out and shakes the bees on new frames of foundation; and he claims that the cure will be complete as all the infected combs with their
diseas andemies of bees
first made its appearance in this country in New York state. Many an apiary was devastated by it, and it has been only in recent years that we seem to have found a cure.
While this form of foul brood in some respects is similar to the American kind, yet there are several respects in which it very materially differs. In the first place, it is very rarely ropy in its consistency, and the dead larva seldom loses its shape and becomes a sticky mass, but on the contrary, it assumes a watery consistency, and confines itself to the grub itself, which in time turns a dark brown. I have seen it a coffee black in some hives that were infected. Only in its latter stages does it become offensive like American foul brood, but even then it is hardly as foul-smelling.
Mr. E. F. Phillips, Ph.D., in charge of the Department of Apiculture at Washington, D.C., is one of the leading experts on bee diseases and will gladly render a report on any specimen that may be sent to him in a tightly
sealed tin box; so that any beekeeper may determine beyond the shadow of a doubt just what disease he has to contend with.
The usual treatment for black brood up to a short time ago was identically the same as that used for American foil brood, but during recent years the late Mr. Alexander, of Delanson, New York, experimented for a considerable period and finally discovered a treatment that seems to be effective in every case. His plan was to remove from every diseased colony its queen, and by cutting out all queen cells already started, leave the colony in a hopelessly queenless condition for at least three weeks, during which period no new brood developed. During this time all of the healthy brood in the hive will hatch, and the colony, in anticipation of a new queen, will, as all queenless colonies do, clean out and polish every cell for the new eggs; this cleaning and polishing process seems to eradicate the disease completely. Some beekeepers were not very successful in following this method,
DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES
but in the hands of Mr.Alexander it was a pronounced success, and a personal examination of some colonies that were treated the season before failed to reveal to me any indication of the presence of foil brood in any form.
It might be said that during a good honey flow a strong colony runs little chance of becoming diseased. Do all the work with a diseased colony in the evening, and prevent even a single bee from another colony getting access to any of the diseased honey or implements, for one bee carrying even the minutest drop of infected honey to a healthy hive can spread the germs as effectively as a thousand.
Bee Paralysis is another disease that is sometimes found in warm climates, but is rarely known in the North, and, as a whole colony is seldom affected by it, it is not a cause for alarm.
An occasional bee with its abdomen greatly distended will be found crawling along the alighting-board evidently in an effort to get away from the hive to die; and this is about the
extent of its ravages in the North; though the ravages of the disease in warm climates have been known to clean out an entire apiary, and is as dreaded as foul brood. Sometimes the removal and killing of the queen will work a cure, and would seem to indicate that the disease was inherited from the queen, but some experiments have proved that dequeening fails to accomplish the desired result. Perhaps the best way to cure it is to remove from the diseased hive all of its frames of brood and give them without their bees to a strong colony for a day or more, and giving a liberal sprinkling of powdered sulphur to the bees remaining in the affected colony; thus a cure is generally accomplished.
Spring dwindling of a colony is not a disease, but rather a condition, and is usually the result of a cold spell following the removal of bees from their winter cellars. Uniting such colonies has not proved the best plan, and a much better one is to place a queen-excluding zinc on top of a strong colony and on it set theDiseases andemies of bees dwindled one, queen, bees, combs, and all, and when it has built up to fair strength, put it back on its stand.
There are a number of enemies that prey upon the bees, and as some of them are hard to reach, and as the results of their predations are minor, it is one of the phases of bee-keeping where the beekeeper has to take a chance, as it were. There are certain insectivorous birds that catch and eat bees while in flight, and many a good virgin queen in her matrimonial flight has been gobbled up, but this is a chance we have to take, and I know no means of stopping it. In warm climates the dragon flies kill a large number of virgin queens when in flight, and in certain sections they are so numerous that commercial queen-rearing is well nigh an impossibility.
Frogs will often in the cool of the evening place themselves at the entrance of a hive of bees, and many a luckless bee has been ensnared in their long tongues to make a tasty morsel for them. Field mice and small
snakes will often invade a hive, and if the colony is weak will work havoc with the combs, but, with the exception of mice, the setting of the hive upon a stand a foot or so above the ground will prevent their ravages.
An apiary is very likely to be the lurkingplace of skunks, who seem to have a fondness for bees, and the little rascals will, in the shadow of night, scratch on the alightingboard of a hive to lure the sentinels out for investigation, only to be gobbled up by their odoriferous enemies. A few traps baited with the proper bait will soon rid the yard of these pests; but care should be used in their handling if they are still alive when trapped.
In some sections of the country, the fondness of bears for honey has led them to topple over the hives and work much damage, but a little watchfulness on the part of the beekeeper, with the aid of a good rifle, will result in breaking it up.
Sometimes a mouse or small snake will invade a strong colony and be stung to death, 200discases and enemies of bees and when the bees find that they are unable to remove the carcass, they will proceed to propolize or mummify it and glue it securely to the bottom board of the hive. In lifting hives, with their bottom boards, I have frequently found a live snake, or nest of mice, enticed there no doubt by the warmth of the hive and the possibilities of a rich repast; but as these are things of but rare occurrence, no serious harm is likely to occur.
## Chapter Xv Marketing the honey Crop
A FTER the surplus honey has been gathered, whether it be comb or extracted, its proper grading, packing, and marketing is an important factor, as these things added to the quality of the crop will with a little attention mean the securing of a better price for the output, and whether the crop be large or small, is an item worth considering.
Where the apiary is of moderate size, there is no better place to sell the crop than right at home or in a near-by town, as the reputation of the beekeeper, supplemented by a high-grade article, will result in high prices. The honey package should be attractive whether it be wholesaled or retailed, and a package a little more attractive than that of the other dealers means increased revenue.
MARKETING THEHONEVCROP**
If the crop is extracted and is intended for the commission trade or the wholesale bottler, there is no better package than new five-gal-lon cans, two of which come in a wooden case. Being in cans, it is more easily handled by the commission merchant and the bottler, and in this shape will bring a little higher price than if sent in wooden keys with the attendant labor of scooping it out for liquefying.
Use nothing but new, clean cans, and have the early light honey separate from the later dark honey; and be sure of the honesty of the commission merchant, for thereby hangs many a sad tale.
It will be far more profitable to bottle your extracted honey in an attractive bottle and work up a trade among the retail grocery houses, as it means securing about fifteen cents a pound net profit as against about seven cents a pound net profit when sold wholesale.
The standard package for the retail is a glass jar holding just one pound, and a nicely
printed label with a half-tone cut of the apiary and a statement of the purity of the honey will make for it a very ready sale. These jars can be procured from the manufacturers, and as they come in reshipping cases holding two dozen, each can be shipped very handily when filled.
By the time you are ready to bottle your honey it will in all probability be granulated, which in itself is a test of its purity; and to return it to its liquid state it will be necessary to heat it to about one hundred and fifty degrees and hold it there for about three hours; but do not under any circumstances heat it above one hundred and sixty degrees, or you will spoil its delicate aroma and reduce its value. A large tin boiler or galvanized square can can be made at slight cost; it should be eighteen inches deep, and in this boiler over a gasolene or cook stove, with a block of wood underneath each can of honey, one or two of the sixty-pound cans can be placed, with their caps removed, and the boiler filled
**MARKETING THE HONEY CROP**
nearly full of water. When the water heats to the desired point, it should be kept there for about three hours, and when the honey, in the cans is nice and clear, which it will be if it was properly strained at time of extracting, the little one-pound jars should be filled with the hot honey and capped at once, when they are ready for the stores to which they are to be sent.
A most excellent jar for this purpose is the Hazel Atlas Simplex, a jar with a glass cap and a waxed ring, and attractive to the eye. Another good package for the home trade, if a house-to-house canvass is to be made, is the ordinary quart preserve or canning-jar, and as the housewife can make use of this jar after it is emptied, this style of package will appeal to her.
The county fairs held in the fall form an excellent medium for the sale of honey, as the beekeeper can have a booth and an observation hive at hand with live bees in it, and such an exhibit will always attract a crowd.
Sometimes it is a good thing to take the extracting cage referred to in another part of this book, and in it have a hive of live bees. The operator can then go through an interesting performance that will astonish the natives, and secure a large sale of his honey.
Other beekeepers take a little cage of live bees under their arms and visit the business offices of our large cities, taking orders for honey in gallon cans at \(\$2\) a gallon to be sent by express C. O. D. at the expense of the buyer; in this way a profitable employment is secured for the beekeeper during the entire winter months, with a larger profit for his honey than if it were sent to the city wholesale.
Where the output runs up into many tons, it will be more satisfactory for the producer to send it to the cities in bulk, but even in this case there is no reason why the producer should not dispose of a large amount of his output to the grocery trade in bottles, and MARKETING THE HONEVCROP
**reap the benefits of the increased price secured.**
**Generally speaking, there is seldom more than one beekeeper in business on an extensive scale in a given place, and he will have little difficulty in disposing of his crop at home and in near-by towns to both stores and families. This will necessitate the use of a horse and wagon, but the greater profit will make this plan advisable, and it is followed by hundreds of beekeepers every year. I know an old man seventy years of age, who puts his honey up in quart jars, and visits the factories and shops at the noon hour, giving a little talk on bees, who has sold as much as $2000 worth of honey in a single year. He gets fifty cents a quart for his honey.**
**Sometimes in a large city a vacant store on a busy thoroughfare can be rented for a month, and a display of live bees and honey will result in large sales at fancy prices, as bees are a source of interest to city folk. Depart
ment stores are good customers and are glad to have an exhibit of live bees in observation hives together with a nice display of honey, as such exhibits draw a crowd and result in business in all departments.
With the new pure food laws in operation, the beekeeper is having his day, as he no longer has to compete with mixtures of honey and glucose masquerading under the name of pure honey, as was formerly the case. In the matter of honey these laws are rigidly enforced, and adulterated honey is required to have a statement on every package, stating just what the adulterant is and in what proportions. Few people will buy such stuff when they can secure the real thing at a moderate price.
Comb honey has to be prepared in an entirely different way to be placed on the market, and unless great caution is exercised in the matter of packing, serious breakage of the combs will follow. Each section should be carefully scraped of all particles of propolisMARKETING THE HONEVCROP
and the honey according to its appearance carefully graded and marked. The ordinary shipping-cases with glass on one side and corrugated paper in the bottom, and holding twenty-four sections, is the best all-round package that can be used, and these cases can be purchased at moderate cost from any of the supply houses that make them especially for the comb honey producers.
Under no circumstances should these cases be shipped individually. A number of them should be packed in a crate with projecting strips for handles, and the bottom of the
**Marketing the Honey Crop**
**knife. Unless you are careful, there will be more or less gashing of the surfaces of the sections with its resulting drippings, which will make them sticky and unsightly, and greatly reduce their value. Though there is no reason why there should not be a universal rule for grading comb honey, certain rules prevail of a twofold character, known as "Rules for Western Beekeepers," and "Rules for Eastern Beekeepers."**
**The Eastern Grading Rules read as follows:--**
**Fancy.**-- All sections well filled: combs straight, firmly attached to all four sides; combs unsoiled by travel stain or otherwise; all the cells sealed except an occasional one; the outside surface of the wood well scraped of propolis.
**A No. 1.**-- All sections well filled except the row of cells next to the wood; combs straight; one-eighth part of the comb surface soiled, or the entire surface slightly soiled; the outside surface of the wood well scraped of propolis.**
**No. 1.**-- All sections well filled except theHow to keep bees for profit
row of cells next to the wood; combs comparatively even; one-eighth part of the comb
surfaces soiled, or the entire surface slightly soiled.
No. 2. -- Three-fourths of the total surface
must be filled and sealed.
No. 3. -- Must weigh at least half as much
as a full-weight section.
In addition the honey must be classified
according to color, using the terms white,
amber, and dark; that is, there will be, **"Fancy
White," "No. 1 dark,"** etc.
These are the result of the action of the
National Beekeepers' Association in convention
in Washington, D.C., in December, 1892.
The Colorado Beekeepers' Association
adopted the following rules, which prevail
west of the Mississippi:--
new comb-honey grading-rules adopted
by the colorado state beekeepers'
No. 1 White. -- Sections to be well filled
and evenly capped except the outside row,marketing the money crop next to the wood; honey white or slightly amber, comb and cappings white, and not projecting beyond the wood; wood to be well cleaned; cases of separatored honey to average 21 pounds net per case of 24 sections, no section in this grade to weigh less than 13\(
rac{1}{2}\) ounces. Cases of half-separated honey to average not less than 22 pounds net per case of 24 sections. Cases of unseparated honey to average not less than 23 pounds net per case of 24 sections. No. 1 Light Amber. -- Sections to be well filled and evenly capped, except the outside row, next to the wood; honey white or light amber; comb and cappings from white to off color, but not dark; comb not projecting beyond the wood; wood to be well cleaned. Cases of separatored honey to average 21 pounds net per case of 24 sections; no section in this grade to weigh less than 13\(
rac{1}{2}\) ounces. Cases of half-separated honey to average 213
not less than 22 pounds net per case of 24 sections.
Cases of unseparated honey to average not less than 23 pounds net per case of 24 sections.
No. 2. -- This includes all white honey, and amber honey not included in the above grades; sections to be fairly well filled and capped, no more than 25 uncapped cells, exclusive of outside row, permitted in this grade, wood to be well cleaned, no section in this grade to weigh less than 12 ounces.
Cases of separatored honey to average not less than 19 pounds net.
Cases of half-separated honey to average not less than 20 pounds net per case of 24 sections.
Cases of unseparated honey to average not less than 21 pounds net per case of 24 sections.
MARKETING THE HONEVCORP
**It can be seen by the above that the rules for the eastern beekeepers are a little more discriminating than the western standard, and enable the buyer to form a clearer idea of just the quality of the honey bought.**
**When producing comb honey for market, the beekeeper has several styles and sizes of sections from which to select, though in each case the amount of honey will be nearly the same. Formerly the square section with the slotted bee-way was the only one that was used, but there is a growing demand for a plain section a little taller than wide, measuring \(4 imes 5 imes 1
rac{3}{5}\) inches, and although this section is a trifle thinner than the old style, yet it appears to have more honey, and is being adopted more and more by up-to-date beekeepers.**
**There is a class of trade that demands that every section when it is packed shall be glazed, with pieces of glass fitted to each side of the surface of the wooden holder, and although they are a nuisance to prepare, it pays if the
trade demands it, as a little higher price can be secured for the trouble, especially if a fancy paper border is used to secure the glass to the section. Where glass is not used, it is well to encase each section in a pasteboard carton, as it protects the honey and adds to the appearance of the section.
If the faces of some combs are slightly stained, they can be bleached by placing them in a box or small room and fumigating them with the fumes of burning sulphur, or else they can be exposed to the direct rays of the sun, to accomplish the same result.
Beeswax -- its uses how to render it
N running an apiary, especially one maintained for extracted honey, large quantities of beeswax from cappings, old combs, and brace combs, will accumulate, and as beeswax is always in demand and sells at a good price, its proper care and rendering becomes an important item. For many, centuries, beeswax has been a much-needed commodity in almost every branch of work. Before the ingenuity of man made parchment as a medium for writing, tablets covered with beeswax were almost entirely used, and fulfilled a useful purpose. Owing to the fact that beeswax will not rot, it was used by many nations to embalm their dead, and mummies that have lain for centuries upon examination show the wax used to be in a fine state of preservation.
## 10 **Uw to keep bees for profit**
The rubrics of the Catholic Church prescribe bees wax exclusively in the making of candles for solemn ceremonies, as it is secreted by a virgin insect. In the polishing of floors and furniture wax has been found a valuable adjunct, as its use adds to the beauty and life of the object polished. Sculptors, painters, dentists, and molders use large quantities of it, and in the arts and various departments of manufacture it has become so great a necessity that there is never an over-production, and the beekeeper who has a goodly supply on hand will experience no difficulty in exchanging it at the supply houses for new sheets of foundation for both his brood and super frames.
For the use of the beekeeper there has been found nothing that will take its place, although a long line of experiments with paraffin and ceresin have been made, without success, as the bees show a positive dislike for any other foundation than that made from pure beeswax.
## B E E E S W A X
**The making of bees wax by the bees is a very delicate and wonderful process, and if you will open a hive in the height of the honey flow when the bees are at work, a let of the little disks will be found on the bottom board of the hive, and when examined under the microscope they are really beautiful. Before secreting wax, the bees fill themselves with honey and then hang in clusters in their hives; and by generating heat they are able to convert the honey into wax, which as small disks protrudes from the little wax scales located on the under side of the abdomen of the bee.**
Pattern-makers, machinists, and manufacturers of shoe and furniture polish are ready to purchase at a good figure unlimited quantities of pure beeswax, so it can be readily seen that there is a great demand for it, and the careful beekeeper will make it \(arepsilon\) point to save every particle, melting and rendering it into commercial form at his convenience.
It seems unfortunate that progressive meth
ods of bekeeping, as compared with the older methods, have restricted the production of beeswax in the apiary; but as the progress has resulted in a greater production of honey, there is no actual loss in profit. When bees were largely kept in the old-fashioned box hives the bees were brimstoned to get the honey, and as the combs were usually mashed and strained, there was of necessity a larger amount of beeswax secured each season.
With the use of the modern extractor, the honey is extracted from the combs by centrifugal force, and the combs used year after year, so that the proportion of beeswax to honey secured is not as great as formerly; the honey-producer of to-day is dependent upon the cappings from the frames extracted, old combs, brace and bur combs, but even at that the revenue from these sources is considerable. As the wax accumulates it should be kept in a cool place, so that it will not become a breeding-place for the wax moth and be ruined, and for this reason it is well
to melt and render it before it becomes attacked.
There are many methods of rendering old wax, and the beekeeper is allowed large latitude in the matter of selection. One of the older methods was to fill a porous sack or bag with cappings, old combs, and other waxen refuse and to weigh it down in a large kettle, covering it with water and allowing it to boil until the wax began to rise, and when the water became cold a cake of wax would form at the top. At best this method was far from satisfactory, as the cake was more or less burned or water-soaked, and filled with more or less dregs of matter from the old combs from which it was rendered.