102 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 11, 1904. 



cluster in the brood-chamber which hung- to the floor of 

 hive ; of course the corners of body were not full. By using- 

 only one super the bees began to draw comb in both super 

 and brood-frames, then by slipping another super between 

 would stretch the bees out, as it were, and as they had be- 

 gun to draw comb in brood-frames there was no tendency to 

 store pollen in sections. Remember that the weather was 

 warm at this time, and getting warmer, and in warm 

 weather the bees can be induced to cover a much larger 

 space and work well than what it takes in which to cluster. 

 The bees can still be clustered thickly in brood-chambers 

 containing no comb if you have a large entrance, but when 

 given another super they will not hang in a big cluster on 

 these strips, but many will go to work in the super immedi- 

 ately over strips in the brood-chamber, which will soon con- 

 tain eggs, and, as I said before, that brood-chamber will be 

 built for immediate egg-laying, and will not contain an 

 enormous amount of drone-comb. The honey will go into 

 the supers, and in a little over 3 weeks some young bees 

 will begin to hatch, and soon they will do inside work, and 

 brood-rearing will not be at the expense of the best honey- 

 flow. If swarms are hived on comb, that queen will lay to 

 her fullest capacity, and soon they will consume nearly all 

 the honey they can gather to feed brood ; not only so, but 

 they spend their strength and energy in rearing a lot of 

 bees that will probably not be field-workers until the honey- 

 flow is on the wane. Then whit have you ? Even if the 

 honey season is not nearly over, the bees will have a ten- 

 dency to stick to the brood-chamber and not work so readily 

 in supers ; at least that is mv experience. 



Knox Co., 111., Dec. 17, 1903. 



No. 1.— Comb or Extracted Honey-Which? 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



TO the reader who wants his answer in two words, my 

 reply will be short. My preferences are for producing 

 extracted honey. But there are so many things to be 

 considered in the decision of a preference for one or the 

 other mode of bee-culture, that I wish to explain at length 

 my reasons, so that I may not lead astray those who are 

 still undecided. I will therefore deviate from my custom- 

 ary rule of writing short articles, and will occupy two or 

 more articles with this subject. 



I will begin by comparing conditions as they were when 

 I began bee-culture, with present conditions. At that time, 

 some 35 years ago, the honey-extractor had just been in- 

 vented, and bee-culture was as yet in a very imperfect con- 

 dition. The honey was produced in little boxes weighing 

 from 5 to 8 pounds each. The best looking boxes were 

 made with only the top and bottom of wood and four little 

 posts at the corners to which four panes of glass were fast- 

 ened. The regular Langstroth hive was supplied with six 

 of these boxes, and they did not admit of tiering- up. About 

 36 pounds of honey was as much as any colony was sup- 

 posed to be able to store. The rougher hives had boxes 

 with only one side of glass, but the careful bee-keepers 

 would place guides of white comb glued to the inside top of 

 such boxes, next to the glass, in order to secure a smooth- 

 looking comb, straight and neat, for a better showing. 

 Otherwise the bees might have built their combs diagonally, 

 and the box, when fi led, would not have presented such a 

 fine appearance. These boxes had but one small hole for the 

 bees to enter, and were slow to fill. 



The first section-boxes that I can remember for the 

 production of comb honey, were gotten up by Gen. Adair, 

 of Kentucky, who made a super composed of sections two 

 inches wide and fitting against each other. These sec- 

 tions were much larger than anything we have to-day, as 

 they usually held about three to four pounds of honey. 

 Comb foundation was not yet in use, and in order to secure 

 straight combs it was necessary to glue small bits of white 

 comb from a previous season to the top of each section. 

 But a great deal of honey was sold in this shape, and at 

 good prices. Mr. Harbison, and the other California bee- 

 keepers, were the first to make a smaller section with a tri- 

 angular top-bar, so as to secure straight combs without hav- 

 ing to use guides. Then a little later A. I. Root suggested 

 the making of a one-pound box for retailing, and also about 

 that time began the making of foundation, and the present 

 system was thus introduced to stay. 



We had very quickly found out that the little-box sys- 

 em, with room for 36 pounds on the hive at one time, was 

 nadequate. Although not located in the best of honey-dis- 



tricts we discovered that, when the honey was in the blos- 

 soms, a strong colony could use more space than was gen- 

 erally thought ample. We adopted the Adair super at 

 once. This, of course, enabled us to give the bees all the 

 room they wanted, but several things militated against the 

 production of comb honey as compared with extracted honey 

 in our experience. We noticed that the bees swarmed a 

 great deal more when they had to build their combs than 

 when combs already built were furnished to them in ample 

 quantities. 



It is a now positively accepted fact that a strong colony 

 of bees may harvest as much as 20 pounds of honey in a sin- 

 gle day. If room is not found for this honey, some of the bees 

 have to remain loaded until room is found, and are therefore 

 kept from going to the field. Though it is a fact that this 

 honey is very watery, and evaporates perhaps as much as 25 

 percent within a couple days, yet the bees find themselves 

 crowded for room unless many empty combs are within 

 their reach. They then have nothing to do but hang in 

 clusters in the empty space till the honey which is contained 

 in their honey-sac is digested and changed into wax. This 

 is an inducement to swarm, and thai is why so many colo- 

 nies swarm with space still in their reach. 



There are also other causes of swarming, even when 

 there is empty comb in the hive, but this question has noth- 

 ing to do with the present subject, as it is an exceptional 

 occurrence. 



What I have stated above shows why colonies producing 

 comb honey will swarm much more readily than those pro- 

 ducing extracted honey. In the first case, they must be 

 crowded for room before they will build combs, and will 

 then crowd themselves and the queen both. In the second 

 case, if the extracting method is properly followed they will 

 have empty cOmbs at their disposal at all times, and never 

 need to crowd themselves or the queen. It is true that bees 

 produce beeswax, willy-nilly, during a good season, but the 

 quantity thus produced is never great, and is needed to re- 

 pair the combs that are given them to add to their depth, 

 and to seal them when the honey is thought by them ripe 

 enough for sealing. In a hive provided with a full stock of 

 extracting-combs, there are always some empty combs, 

 some combs partly full, and some sealed combs in one or 

 the other of the supers. 



I said just now that the bees produce wax, whether they 

 will it or not, and this is confirmed by the experience of 

 scientists who have discovered wax-scales formed on bees 

 that were caught in the harvest-field. But the rapid pro- 

 duction takes place only when they hang in numerous fes- 

 toons in the empty portion of a hive. That is why a natural 

 swarm builds so readily, nearly all tVie bees having become 

 wax-makers. Their stomachs are full, and in order to empty 

 their sacs they must first have the structure in which to 

 deposit the honey. 



So the bees that produce comb honey swarm much more 

 readily than those that are supplied with empty combs 

 from previous seasons, that have been emptied by the ex- 

 tractor. 



In a large apiary, when natural swarms are not desired, 

 when, in fact, we are wishing to devote all the energy of the 

 bees and of the apiarist to the ultimate aim of bee-keep- 

 ing — the production of the best of sweets — it becomes 

 natural to want to reduce swarming to its minimum, and 

 that is one of the reasons why we have adopted the produc- 

 tion of extracted honey. 



But I have several other reasons which I will give in 

 another number. Hamilton Co., 111. 



Money as a Health-Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet (3/2x6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we are using it ourselves. 



Prices, prepaid — Sample copy free ; 10 for 20 cts.; 25 

 for 40 cts.; 50 for 70 cts.; 100 for $1.25; 250 for $2.25; 500 

 for $4.00 ; 1000 for $7.50. Your business card printed free 

 at the bottom of the front page, on all orders for 100 or 

 more copies. Send all orders to the Bee Journal office. 



See Langstroth Book Ofler on page 111 of this copy of 

 the American Bee Journal. 



