BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Miss Wilson generally does all the scraping; that is, all the scraping besides what Philo has done, and sometimes his part, as in Fig. 98. She sometimes scrapes on a board on her lap, but usually on one of the small tables heretofore mentioned (Fig. 99). If the section should rest upon the table, the knife used in scraping could not freely reach the lowest parts, so a loose block lies on the board, on which the sections rest. Another advantage of the block is that the accumulation of propolis is not so much in the way. The size of this block is not material; it may be an inch thick, four inches long or longer, and two inches wide or wider. The block could be nailed down, but it is more convenient to have it loose, so as to scrape the propolis of the table from time to time. The scrapings have generally been thrown away, but with a steam wax-press it may pay well to get the wax out of it. Possibly propolis may yet be a marketable commodity.
The knife used is a steel case-knife kept very sharp. The sides and edges of the sections are to be scraped, and, if necessary, sandpaper follows the knife. The finishing touches are put on Philo's work, knife-marks, pencil-marks, and any discolored spots being carefully removed.
A scraper should be a careful person, or in ten minutes' time he will do more damage than his day's work is worth. Even a careful person seems to need to spoil at least one section, before taking the care necessary to avoid injuring others. But when the knife makes an ugly gash in the face of a beautiful white section of honey, that settles it that care will be taken afterward.
## packing sections in shipping-cases.
The scraper has in easy reach two shipping-cases. In one, as fast as they are scraped, are put all sections
The most difficult thing about the packing is to prevent veneering. It seems to come so natural, when a particularly white and straight section goes into the case,
_Fig. 66--Feeder-Sections._
to put it next the glass, best side out at that. But it is especially desirable that the outside shall be a fair index of the entire contents of the case. In the long run there is money to be made by it, to say nothing of the feeling of satisfaction,
honey-show.
When the cases are filled and weighed, they are stacked up in piles, and these piles are mostly--perhaps always--so arranged as to make the best show possible. There is no object in this beyond the pleasure it gives the family to see it for a few days, perhaps only for a day. But the sight is a beautiful one so long as it lasts, as I think you will agree with me if you look at Fig. 104.
I have sold a crop of honey before it was off the hives and sometimes I have kept part of a crop over till spring.
In any case the honey for home use in spring must be kept over. It is not the easiest thing in the world to keep it through the winter in good shape. If kept cold it is apt to granulate or candy, as it is usually called. If allowed to freeze, the combs crack and look bad, and in time the honey oozes out of the cracks. Honey is delip-quescent, absorbing from the atmosphere a large amount of water if conditions are favorable. Try putting some common salt in a place where you think of keeping honey ; if the salt remains dry, so would honey. But a place that is suitable at one time may not be at another. Years ago I filled the back end of the honeyroom with honey. It was a good place for it ; the outside walls were thin and the heat of the sun made it a hot place. When cold weather came, however, it was a bad place, and the lower sections at the back part--beautiful, snowy-white, when first put in--becanne watery and dark-looking. A fire for cooking was kept in the adjoining room, and although there seemed but very little steam in the air, by the time it got to the back end of the room, and settled to the lower part, there was enough to spoil hundreds of sections. You see, warm air is like a sponge to take up moisture, and cold squeezes the moisture out of it. The point to see to, then, is to have no air coming from a warmer place to the place where the honey is. I would sooner risk honey in a kitchen with a hot fire and plenty of steam, than in a room without fire and with a door partly opened into a sitting-room where no water or steam is ever kept. Indeed, a kitchen is quite a good place to keep honey, the higher up the better.
It is well known that a cellar, except in particularly dry localities, is about the worst place in which to keep honey ; but it is not so well known that the place the farthest removed from the cellar--the garret--is one of the very best places. My mother kept some sections throughout the latter part of summer in a garret, and after enduring the freezing of the following winter they were as fine as when first put there. The roasting heat of the summer in that garret had so ripened the honey as to make it proof against injury from freezing.
## honey in cellar with furnace.
I just spoke of a cellar as a poor place for honey except in very dry climates. But a furnace in a cellar makes a big difference. In 1903 a furnace was put in my cellar. Several winters since then I have piled up sec tions beside the furnace, at a distance of 1 to 4 feet from it, and anything better could hardly be desired.
## 4.2. Grounded honey
If comb honey becomes granulated or watery, I know of no way to restore it. If for home use, or if one happens to have a market where extracted honey sells for a good price, the sections may be put in stone rocks _slowly_ melted, being sure it is not overheated, and then when cool, the cake of wax may be lifted off the honey.
The best place to keep comb honey is also the best place to keep extracted; but if extracted honey becomes granulated or watery, it may be restored to its former, or even a better condition. If thin an! not granulated, by setting it on the reservoir of a cook-stove and letting it remain days enough, it will become thick. I suppose you may have known this, and also that extracted honey, when granulated, may be liquefied by slowly heating, but did you know that when thin honey is warmed for a long time the flavor is improved? I have had the flavor improved and could attribute it to nothing but remaining a couple of weeks on the reservoir. I do not mean by this that if fine-flavored honey in good condition is placed on the stove reservoir it will be improved. Most people, however, who have had much to do with honey, must have noticed that when extracted honey becomes thin from attracting moisture from the atmosphere, it seems to acquire a different flavor--perhaps I might say it has a sharp taste--and the slow heating seems to restore it partly if not wholly to its former condition.
## 5.3. ripening honey.
The same thing is true of honey which is taken thin from the hive, not yet having been brought to proper density by the bees.
There is a difference of opinion as to whether honey, or perhaps nectar, evaporated outside of the hive, is equal to that which remains in the live till thick. Of course, no large amount could be evaporated on a stove reservoir. Some bee-keepers have large tanks in which to evaporate honey by the sun or other heat.
It must not be understood that when honey has really sourced it can be made good by the process mentioned.
_Fig. 68.--Sections II'edged for Scrabing._
There is another plan which I have used to secure some extra-fine extracted honey for our private use.
Whether it could be used profitably on a large scale. I cannot say. There are, however, always people who are ready to pay a high price for an extra article. After a crock of clover honey has granulated, I turn it on its side or upside down, and let it remain days enough to drain off all the liquid part. If drained long enough, the residue--and this will be nearly all the crockful--will be as dry as sugar, and when this is liquefied by slow heating it makes a deliciors article. It will, however, granulate very easily a second time. On a larger scale, the liquid might be drained off by boring a hole at the lower part of a barrel of granulated honey. I spoke of treating clover honey in this way; I do not know what other kinds may be treated the same way, but I have had some granulated honey of smooth, even texture, from which no liquid part could be drained. When set to drain, the whole mass would roll slowly out.
## marketing honey
I have had no uniform way of marketing honey. I should prefer in all cases to sell the crop outright for cash, if I could get a satisfactory price; but some years I can do better to sell on commission. Judgment must be used as to limiting commission-men to a certain price. Some commission-men will sell off promptly at any price offered, and when sending to such men it is best to name a certain figure. below which the honey must not be sold. I have sold in my home market, as well as in towns near by, and have shipped to nine of the principal cities, and it would be an impossibility for me to say what would be my best market next year. Prices vary according to the yield in different parts of the country. If shipping to a distant point in cold weather, I keep up a hot fire to warn the honey twenty-four hours before shipping. If very cold I wait for a warm spell.
### loading sections when shipping
On a wagon, the length of a section should run across the wagon--on a car lengthwise of the car. Convenience of packing in a wagon, however, is of first consideration, for with careful driving it matters little which way the sections are placed. On the other hand, no matter what the inconvenience, I would have the sections in a railroad car so that when a heavy bump comes the sections must take it endwise. I always prefer, if possible, to load the honey directly into the car myself. Then I know that it will carry well, unless the engine does an unreasonable amount of bumping.
## Packing sections in a car.
Very likely a number of cases of honey packed in a crate do not need any special care in loading ; but if I can make sure that the honey will go through to its destination without any reloading. I prefer to put the cases in the car one by one. If the number of cases is so small that there is no need to pile one case on another, then the cases are put in one end of the car and kept in place by a strip of common inch lumber nail on the floor. If there are enough cases so they must be tiered up, then the lower tier has a strip nailed on the floor as before, but each of the upper tiers is fastened differently. On each side of the car is nailed a cleat to support a fence-board which runs across the width of the car, resting flat like a shelf on these cleats. Another cleat is nailed on the side of the car over the board, so it can move neither up nor down. The board is up tight against the cases, perhaps a little above their middle. Then a third cleat is nailed on each side of the car against the board to prevent the board from moving in the least.
If there is a space at the side of the car, straw is packed hard into it beside the cases. If the space is very small, pieces of old wooden separators may be wedged in. Newspapers are laid on the bottom of the car under the cases, and newspapers tacked on top of them.
## Home market.
Much has been said about cultivating a home market, but there are two sides to the matter. If bee-keepers from neighboring towns come in and supply my home market at 2 cents per pound less than my honey nets me when shipped to a distant market, about all I can do is to leave the home market in their hands. I suspect, however, that it would have been to my advantage to have paid more attention to developing my home market for extracted honey.
## Home versus distant market.
In deciding between a home and a distant market, there are more things to be taken into consideration than are always thought of. There is breakage in transportation, and the greater the distance the greater the risk. If I can load my honey into a car myself, and it goes to its destination without change of cars, I do not feel very anxious about it. On this account a car-load is safer than a small quantity, for a full car-load may be sent almost any distance without re-shipping. If re-shipped, it is not at all certain how it will be packed in a car.
_Fig. 100.--Sections Ready for Casing._
once sent a lot of honey to Cincinnati, and when it arrived at its destination, the sections were actually lying on their sides! I suppose the railroad hands who packed it in the car at the last change, thought the glass was safest from breaking if the case was put glass side down. The strangest part about it was that I lost nothing by the breakage. The dogged persistence of a German consignee obliged the railroad company to pay all damage: for the consignee was that staunch German and genital friend of bee-keepers--the late C. F. Muth. It is the only case in which I have known a railroad company to pay for breakage of honey.
There is less danger of breakage by freight than by express. Besides danger of breakage, there is risk of losing in various ways. You may not be able to collect pay for your honey. If sent on commission, the price obtained may be less than the published market report. You have no means generally to know how correct the claims for breakage may be. In fact, unless you know your consignee to be a thoroughly honest man, you are almost entirely at his mercy. A quarter or half a pound may be taken off each case by the claim that it is custom to reject fractions.
## prices in home and distant market.
Taking all these things into consideration, together with the cost of freight and shipping-cases, it must be a good price that will justify a man to ship off honey to the neglect of his home market. **If shipped** to be sold on commission, provided he ships to a near market, the price should be at least 3/2 cents per pound more than he can get in his home market, to justify his shipping. If he ships to a distant market the difference should be still more, as the additional freight may make a difference of 1 cent per pound or more, and the risk of breakage becomes greater.
Not always, however, must I be willing to sell in my home market for less than I can get abroad. If there is a year of dead failure in my locality, or so nearly a failure that the home market must be at least partly supplied from elsewhere, then I should get more for my honey than the grocers will have to pay in the large city markets, for they must add freight to the price they pay there.
## fall feeding.
Some seasons are so poor that the bees do not get enough throughout the whole season to carry them through the winter. One year I took no surplus, and fed 2,800 pounds of granulated sugar for winter stores. Some years the clover crop will be a failure, but plenty of stores will be gathered later in the season to carry the bees over winter. It is not always easy to tell in advance just what will be, but it is best to err on the safe side; and it is no harm to have more stores on hand than are actually needed.
It is also letter to have the feeding done early. If the feed is given so early that it can be given thin enough, the bees make chemical changes in it that make it letter for winter.
Forelly I did not take this into account, and I syrup was prepared that approached the consistency of honey. Water was put in a vessel on the stove, and when at or near the boiling-point granulated sugar was slowly stirred in at the rate of five pounds of sugar to a quart of water. When the sugar was about dissolved, an even teaspoonful of tartaric acid for every twenty pounds of sugar, previously dissolved in water, was stirred into the syrup, for without the acid the syrup is likely to turn into sugar in the combs when fed so thick. If I were to feed late in September, or in October, I think I should prefer the same syrup now.
## feeding early for winter.
But by feeding in August or early in September the work can be made much easier, and at the same time the food will be better for the bees. For they will so manipulate the thin feed given them that no acid will be needed, making their winter stores much more like the stores they obtain from the flowers. There is nothing complicated about the feeding, and there is not the same trouble with robbers as when syrup is made. First, the feeders are all put on, and left standing uncovered. Then the amount of sugar needed in each feeder is put in dry, whether that be two pounds or fifteen pounds. Then I go around to each feeder, and, making a depression in the center of the sugar, put in half a pint or more of water. I do this rather than to put in the full quota of water at first, because in the latter case it is possible that the water would force its way into the reach of the bees without having much sweetness in it, for I forgot to say that I use the Miller feeder. I am not sure that this precaution is necessary, but it can do no harm. I now go around and put in each feeder about as much water as will balance the sugar, counting either by pints or pounds. Of course, if twelve pounds or more of sugar should be in the feeder, it will be impossible to balance the sugar with water. In that case I put in all the water I can. Next day or so the liquid will be used out, and I can fill up again. Indeed, in many cases where equal parts of sugar and water are given, the water will be mostly out by the next day, leaving only damp sugar in the feeder, and more water must be added. Practically, this is giving the feed very thin, and I suspect it is all the better. I have never had any trouble from robber-bees while leaving the feeders open in the way mentioned, of course covering up as soon as water is all in : although I have had trouble by leaving a cover on a feeder that was not bee-tight, and with such a cover it is better first to put on a cover of cotton cloth that hangs down all around.
## selecting colonies to feed.
I have spoken as if a feeder was put over each colony lacking stores. That is by no means always the case--indeed, not often the case. There are reasons why it is better to have a comparatively small number of colonies do the storing, taking, sealed conbs from these to give to the weaker ones. It is a good deal less trouble, when the feeding is begun in good season, to have one colony store enough for five or ten others besides itself than it is to have feeders on all of the five or ten colonies. Some colonies will store better than others, and the best can be chosen.
For some reason, bees seem to store from a feeder much better late in the season than they do before the harvest time. The greater strength of the colonies and the warmer weather would make one expect a difference, but it has always seemed to me that there was more difference than could be accounted for without some other reason. So it is desirable at this time to have not only enough combs filled to bridge over the winter, but to supply any possible deficiency up to the harvest time.
An upper story of empty combs is put on, possibly two. As fast as combs are completely filled and sealed they can be removed and replaced by empty ones. If it is desired to have combs filled out upon foundation, beautiful work will be done upon them in these upper stories. It will easily be seen that it is less trouble to add sugar from time to time as needed, also to add water as needed, than it is to apportion the smaller amounts to a number of colonies. No great matter if too much or too little of one or the other is present : the thing will regulate itself. For with cold water there is no danger of the fee! being too thick, and all the harm of too large a proportion of sugar is that the bees will have to wait for more water when it is too dry to give down. On the other hand, they will continue taking it down when it is much thinner than half-and-half, and perhaps it is all the better manipulated when very thin.
Perhaps it would do as well to feed as described under wholesale feeding in spring, but in that case I should want the feed quite thin, and there would be more danger from robbers, and more danger of having thin feed left in the feeders to sour.
## Difficulty in deciding about stores
It is not an easy thing to determine just what amount of stores is needed to carry a colony through to the next harvest. Some colonies use more than others under apparently the same conditions. Experience will enable one to judge fairly well by inspection as to the amount of stores present, but one can be more exact about it by actual weighing. Besides, with proper conveniences for it, the weighing takes less time. But two colonies may weigh exactly the same, and one may have abundance and the other may starve, because, although weighing the same, one had much more honey than the other. One had much pollen, the other little. Or, the combs of one were new, and the combs of the other very old and heavy. The only safe way is to have all so heavy that under any and all circumstances there will be no danger. So we aim to have each live with its contents, its cover, and its bottom-board, weigh as much as fifty pounds. Some will weigh so much more than this that hefting will show that there is no need of weighing. Evena strong colony that stored well throughout the season in a prosperous year may have had the brood-chamber so stocked with brood that not enough honey was in the brood-chamber, so it is well to left and weigh even in the best seasons, and to do this late enough so that storing from flowers need no longer be taken into account, and
_Fig. 102.--12-Section Shipping-Case._
so early that there will be abundance of time for the bees to arrange matters to their liking in the brood-chamber.
## weighing colonies.
A common spring balance with a capacity of eighty pounds is used for weighing (Fig. 105). An endless rope passes around the hive under the cleat at each end, then the hook of the spring balance passes under the two parts of the rope over the hive, and the slack is taken up by tying a string around the two parts under the hook. A hickory stick used as a lever passes through the ring of the upper part of the spring balance, the short end of the lever being supported by a light frame-work that stands on the adjoining hive. When all is properly adjusted, the long end of the lever is raised, and the weight is read, and then taken down, so that a comb or combs may be added to bring up to the desired weight. If no precaution is taken, the spring balance, when first raised, will slide on the lever down against one's hands or shoulder. To prevent this a stout string has one end tied to the short end of the lever, and the other end tied to the ring of the balance, so as to keep it within bounds.
## reserve combs of honey.
After all I have said about feeding, I am happy to say that since about the time of the coming in of the 30th century very little feeding has been done. Most years not a feeder is put on. This is partly due to the increase of fall pasturage, and perhaps in some degree to the fact that the present stock of bees are more provident than they were some years ago.
In spite of the better fall feed, some colonies in 8-frame hives might be short of stores before the white-honey harvest. To meet such cases, combs filled with sealed honey are kept in reserve from the previous fall. These reserve combs are valuable for another purpose. Left to themselves the bees would have very little honey in the hives at the opening of the honey harvest, and all vacancies in the brood-chamber must be filled before honey goes into the supers. Now if we have reserve combs on hand from the previous fall, so as to have the brood-chamber entirely filled with brood and honey at the opening of the harvest, then there is nothing left for the bees to do but to vote the first honey up-stairs, instead of waiting for the brood-chamber to be filled. You may ask what is gained by merely swapping last year's honey for honey in the sections. There would be nothing gained if the honey in the reserve combs were white-cloverhoney. But it is fall honey ; and for every pound of fall honey we put in the brood-chamber we get back a pound of white honey in sections.