SURPLUS HONEY.
Under the modern system of bee culture we obtain two kinds of honey, known as comb and extracted. Comb honey is brought before the consumer just as it was stored by the bees, while extracted honey is the pure honey emptied from the comb by means of the honey extractor. If not adulterated by middlemen both are equally healthful and nutritious.
Honey is not a luxury, but a necessary addition to our food, it being the pure sweet as secreted by the flowers from which it is gathered by the bees, being healthful and much safer than the poisonous confections sold under the name of “candy.”
Comb honey is preferred by many on account of its fine appearance. It must be placed in the market in good shape, indicating that it is intended for food and not simply as a luxury, a sweet morsel to be tasted by the children. Some of our writers on bee culture (but I am happy to say only a few) went wild some time ago advocating one-half pound frames. They argue that it can be sold at a higher price, but all bee-keepers know that forcing bees into such small combs greatly reduces the crop, and if such a course could be pursued by our bee men it would at once convey the idea that honey was only a substitute for candy or chewing gum. My advice to the bee-loving readers of this magazine is to let them severely alone in their craze. A season or two will abolish such small things. The man whose soul is so small and his ideas so contracted, and his business principles so mean as to place a half pound honey package upon the market for the purpose of extorting a half penny or so from his fellow man deserves to be classed with—you may draw your own comparison.
Anything smaller than a one pound section or frame is a loss to the producer as well as the consumer. A one pound comb makes a nice package, and such frames can be nicely crated and safely shipped.
Comb honey should be removed from the hive as soon as all the cells are sealed over. If left to remain it becomes darker by the bees passing over it. When taken from the hive it should be placed in a dark room until sold or shipped to market. Some writers advise smoking it with sulphur to kill the wax worm. I never found this necessary, as I never have found worms on my comb honey. Honey should be nicely graded, and the finest shipped or sold in separate lots. My frames hold two pound each, of these I place six in a crate having glass at each end showing quality of honey. These crates suit the retail as well as the wholesale dealers and consumers generally buy a whole crate—12 to 13 pounds. Many of my customers in adjoining towns buy from three to six crates. Unfinished or partly sealed combs can be emptied with the extractor and put away for next season.
Extracted honey should be placed in nice, clean, attractive packages. For home trade self-sealing jars do very well. For shipping, kegs are found to be the best.
Just here I would give a word of warning. Do not extract before your honey is sealed, if you do it is not ripe and too thin and will sour, thus spoiling your reputation as a honey producer. Don’t be too eager to obtain a large quantity, let the quality be good and you will have no trouble to find plenty of buyers. It is only the poor, unripe article that cannot be sold, and which gives some of our writers in the bee papers so much trouble to find a way to dispose of their honey.
(Penna.)
H. H. Flack.