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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 21, 1904. 





Contributed Articles 





Producing Comb or Extracted Honey— 

 Which? 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



WHICH will be the more profitable for me to produce, 

 comb or extracted honey ? is a question that those 

 starting- in our pursuit sometimes ask, and as I have 

 produced both comb and extracted honey in quite a large 

 way for a number of years, my opinion on this question may 

 be of interest to such. But it is a big subject — much too 

 large to discuss in detail in one article, so it will be neces- 

 sary for me to be brief, barely touching, or not even men- 

 tioning, some things that may have a good deal of influence 

 on the matter. 



It has often been said that it requires less work, skill and 

 experience to produce first-class extracted honey than it does 

 to produce first-class comb honey, but, in my opinion, it re- 

 quires just about as much skill and experience to secure 

 first-class extracted honey as it does the same grade of comb 

 honey ; and, as far as the work is concerned, I would rather 

 do the work necessary to produce, say $1000 worth of comb 

 honey, than I would to produce the same value of extracted. 

 It is true that there would be more work about the comb 

 honey, but by far the largest part of the work with comb 

 honey can be done during- the comparatively leisure time of 

 winter, early spring, and in the fall after the rush of our 

 sweet harvest is over. 



In my locality the main, or hardest part of the work 

 about extracted honey, has to be done rig-ht in the rush of 

 harvest. Of course, enough combs and upper stories could 

 be provided so that the extracting could be left until after 

 the flow, but there are a good many difficulties about this be- 

 sides the large expense and storage-room required. It is 

 considerable work and expense to take care of and keep 

 such a large number of combs free from moth-worms dur- 

 ing the large part of the time they are not in use. But this 

 plan is prohibitive here, owing to the fact that most seasons 

 our clover and basswood honey gets so thick after it is 

 sealed that it is impossible to extract it — that is, the larger 

 part of it does. 



And, now I am g-oing- to mention something that to 

 many may seem at least strange, if not hard to believe, 

 which is, that, in many seasons here, weak colonies will 

 not produce first-class extracted honey. This has been 

 noticeable the last two seasons, which have been excep- 

 tionally cool and wet during- part of the flow. I have, in my 

 store-room at this writing-, between 5000 and 6000 pounds of 

 extracted clover honey from last season's crop. Some of 

 this is so much inferior to the rest in flavor that I am selling 

 it for 1 !2 cents less a pound. It was all extracted at or about 

 the same time, and the only cause of or reason for its being 

 inferior is that it was taken from weak colonies. It was 

 kept separate, for the difference, when extracting, was very 

 noticeable. The honey in the combs, taken from strong 

 colonies, would be so thick that it was hard to throw it out. 

 It was also hard to uucap it, for the honey was so thick and 

 waxy that the knife would gum up badly before one side of 

 a comb was uncapped. But the honey in these combs from 

 weak colonies was altogether different, though they were 

 left on the hives until well sealed. A knife would work on 

 these combs all day without gumming up, and it took but a 

 few turns in the extractor to throw the honey out, and while 

 this honey was very thin, compared to the other, it was not 

 sour, but it had a different and inferior flavor. 



Now, another fact that may seem strange, is that this 

 thin honey is now candied so solid and hard that it is almost 

 impossible to dig it out of an open can, while the other is 

 just beginning to granulate. 



Although I am straying from my subject, there is an- 

 other thing I would like to mention. Last season I did not 

 order enough 60-pound cans, so I used a large number of 

 round dairy or milk cans ; these hold about SO pounds, and I 

 prefer them to the square cans for my retail trade, but as 

 they have open tops and loose covers they do not answer to 

 ship honey in. 



I sent samples of this second-grade honey to many of 

 my customers at a distance, and received a good many more 



orders than I expected, probably on account of its cheap- 

 ness. In order to get it into shipping-cans I had to heat it, 

 and as I thought it did not have much fine flavor to lose or 

 injure, I just set these cans in a large tank of boiling-hot 

 water, and kept the water at or near the boiling point until 

 the honey was melted ; and this treatment, instead of injur- 

 ing its flavor, improved it greatly, according to my own 

 taste, as well as a number of others to whom I gave samples 

 of the two kinds. Afterwards I treated four cans of the best 

 grade in the same way, in order the more easily to get it into 

 shipping-cans, and nearly, or quite, ruined it for table use ; 

 and I find that it is almost impossible for me to liquefy this 

 best grade slowly and carefully enough but what its flavor 

 is injured. 



Now, just what should make this difference in honey 

 gathered from the same fields at one time, by the same race 

 of bees, I do not fully understand. I have often noticed the 

 difference in honey gathered by weak and by strong colo- 

 nies other seasons, but I never had it occur in such a large 

 way as it did the last two seasons. But this I can easily 

 account for, because I never had so many weak colonies be- 

 fore, and never before in my time was there such cool, wet 

 seasons as the past two were. 



The way I account for the matter is this : In a wet, cool 

 season these weak colonies are not able to generate heat 

 and thoroughly ripen honey as it should be. 



And now, while on this subject, I should like to say that, 

 in my opinion, no extracted honey ever was, or ever can be, 

 produced in commercial quantities that is equal in flavor to 

 Jirst-class comb honey. I believe that where bees are pro- 

 vided with ready-drawn comb to store in, they fill and seal 

 these combs before the honey is as well ripened and fla- 

 vored as would be the case if they had to build their own 

 comb and store more slowly. But there is a great deal I 

 don't know, but what I would be safe in saying is, that the 

 largest part of the comb honey that is marketed is far from 

 being first-class. 



Another thing that might be considered against the pro- 

 duction of extracted honey, is that here a large percent of 

 these colonies, especially if there is much black or German 

 blood in the yard, will have to be fed heavily for winter. I 

 have a large and growing trade worked up in extracted 

 honey among a class of people who are not able to use much 

 comb honey, and, anyway, at the relative market prices I 

 can make more money from a large yard, by producing both 

 comb and extracted than I could from either one alone; so, 

 unless there is some radical change I shall continue to pro- 

 duce both kinds — about " 'alf and 'alf," as the Englishman 

 said. Southern Minnesota. 



Packing Bees for Winter— Other Matters. 



BY EDWIN BEVINS. 



I HAVE nearly completed the work of packing for winter 

 my 168 colonies of bees. It is quite a task to pack so 

 many in the way I do, but I do not believe there is any 

 way more successful for this latitude. It is simply to put 

 an empty super on the hive, then fill with a chaff cushion, 

 and then set up an outer case which allows a space of about 

 4 inches between the sides and the back ends of the hives, 

 which space is filled with wheat or cut straw packed firmly. 

 Some bee-keeper said in the American Bee Journal not 

 long ago, that he left the section-holders in his supers when 

 packing- for winter. L,et me say, that I think his bees would 

 be better off with no bee-space between the frames and 

 packing. 



DOUBLING UP COLONIES. 



I did not start to write this article with the idea of giv- 

 ing- anybody advice, but I will say a few words in answer to 

 the inquiry of F. P. Briggs, on page 76S. In doing so, how- 

 ever, let me say that I make no claim to the title of veteran. 

 I have doubled up colonies of bees every year, and at all 

 times of the year excepting in winter, and have one invari- 

 able way of doing it. When, for any reason, I wish to unite 

 two colonies, I choose a time when the bees are all at home 

 — either a cool day, or very early in the morning, or when 

 the bees have become quiet towards evening. Smoke the 

 bees of both colonies a little at the entrance, remove the 

 cover of one hive, smoke the bees of it a little at the 

 top, put two thicknesses of newspaper over the frames, 

 punch a little hole in the paper, then take the other hive 

 from its bottom-board and place it on the hive from which 

 the cover was removed. The bees slowly eat the paper 

 away and unite without any fuss. I never could be induced 



