6 COMB HONEY. 
comb-honey locality. Even in the best localities during an occa- 
sional season conditions are such that it is not possible to produce 
comb honey of fine appearance. Some comb-honey specialists find 
it profitable to provide an equipment for extracted honey for such 
an emergency. In some cases comb honey is produced only during 
the height of the season, when conditions are most favorable, extract- 
ing supers being used both at the beginning and close of the honey 
flow. 
While the professional beekeeper is thus curtailing the production 
of indifferent grades of comb honey, bee diseases are rapidly elimi- 
nating the careless producers. From the present indications, there- 
fore, it would seem certain that there must be a gradual elimination 
from the markets of all inferior and indifferent comb honey—grades 
that must compete directly with extracted honey. This should mark 
a new era in the production of the best grades of comb honey in the 
localities that are peculiarly adapted to comb-honey production. 
The beekeeper who is thus favorably located will do well to consider 
the possibilities of future market conditions for a fancy grade of comb 
honey. 
The following discussion is necessarily but a brief outline of modern 
apparatus and methods and of course can not in any sense take the 
place of the broad experience necessary in profitable comb-honey 
production. It is assumed that the reader is more or less familiar 
with the more general phases of beekeeping. (See Farmers’ Bulletin 
No. 447. This bulletin also contains a complete list of publications 
of the Department of Agriculture on beekeeping.) 
APPARATUS FOR COMB-HONEY PRODUCTION. 
Shop and Honey House. 
A building containing storage space for apparatus, a well-lighted and 
ventilated workshop as well as a honey room, is a necessity in comb- 
honey production. The arrangement and location of the shop and 
honey house will depend upon local conditions and circumstances. 
The usual mistake is in constructing these too small. In the North 
the shop and honey house is usually built over the wintering reposi- 
tory or cellar. Since rats or mice would do great damage to the con- 
tents of such a storehouse, the construction should be such as to 
exclude them. If a concrete foundation is used and the sills are 
embedded in a layer of ‘‘green’”? mortar, no trouble of this kind 
should be experienced. If a series of out-apiaries are operated for 
comb honey, the supers, extra hives, etc., are usually kept in one 
building located near the home of the beekeeper. This serves as a 
central station and storehouse, the supplies being hauled to and from 
the apiaries as needed. This building may be supplemented by a 
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