WHICH IS THE MOST PROFITABLE, THE PRODUCTION OF COMB OR 



EXTRACTED HONEY?* 



George B. Howe, Black River^ N. Y. 



At first thought most beekeepers would say this would hardly 

 be a fair question. I shall do my best to explain why I changed 

 from comb to extracted honey after producing comb honey 

 by the ton for years, and having such men as Mr. F. H. Loucks 

 compliment me as one of the best comb-honey producers of the 

 state. Mr. Loucks said at one of our conventions that he could 

 not understand why, at that time, I should make a change, when 

 others were taking up comb-honey production and most of the bee 

 journals and even the Department of Agriculture at Washington 

 were urging beekeepers to produce comb honey, as there surely 

 would be a shortage. 



Let us take up this matter thoroughly. Taking the price of 

 comb and extracted honey for the past few years, I find that the 

 prices of extracted honey have kept abreast with those of comb 

 honey as they have advanced, and in some sections are in the 

 lead of comb honey prices. 



A prominent beekeeper told me several years ago that I was 

 making a mistake, that I should produce extracted honey ; so I 

 decided to experiment. I took the colonies that were not strong 

 enough to produce comb honey and to my surprise they made 

 more pounds of this kind than the stronger did of comb honey. 

 I had been told this before, but I figured that if such weak colo- 

 nies did so well what would the stronger colonies do. Conse- 

 quently I set aside a yard and ran it for extracted honey ex- 

 clusively. This proved what my friend had told me — I was 

 losing money producing comb honey. 



Lest you get the wrong impression let me explain why I ob- 

 tained these results. Our honey flow is from clover and bass 

 wood; there was no dark honey to speak of. Most years bass 

 wood fails to yield us any honey, and this being the case we have 

 a short flow^, which leaves even the expert with too many unfin- 



* Given at the New York State Beekeepers' Association Meeting at Syracuse, 

 January, 1912. 



[1501] 



