1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



71 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



AT Borodino, New York. 



WHEN SHOULD WE EXTRACT HONEY? 



"Mr. Doolittle, I had thought of working 

 mainly for extracted honey next season: but 

 from what I have read, it is not at all plain 

 when I should extract the honey from the 

 combs. I find that most bee-keepers, those 

 living in the northern and eastern part of 

 the United States, advocate leaving the hon- 

 ey on the hives till it is all sealed over, some 

 even saying it should be left on till the end 

 of ti»e season, or at least till the flow from 

 clover or basswood is over; while those liv- 

 ing in California and in the most of the 

 Southern States claim that it is a waste in 

 time and honey to leave the honey after the 

 combs are half sealed over. Others advocate 

 extracting when few or no ceils are sealed, 

 and then ripening the honey in tanks. Do 

 you think locality plays an important part in 

 this matter? " 



"Undoubtedly locality does have some- 

 thing to do with this, for under certain con- 

 ditions honey may be in excellent condition 

 to extract when the combs are only partly 

 sealed over; while under other conditions, 

 and with certain kinds of honey, it would be 

 much better if not extracted until the combs 

 were fully sealed, and, better yet, if h f t on 

 the hives from one to four weeks longer. 

 These are points with which the expert is 

 familiar, though often overlooked by the in- 

 experienced. You can not go far out of the 

 way by following the advice of such men as 

 Hutchins ^n. Root, Coggshall, and others, 

 who advocate leaving honey on the hives till 

 the end of the flow from the nectar- plants 

 which give what is termed 'white honey,' 

 or till the end of the bloom of those flowers 

 which give your main crop of white honey, 

 if the mixing of the different white honeys 

 hurts the flavor and sale of your product. 

 Expert skill in handling extracted honey is 

 not so important in the arid West, as I under- 

 stand it, as it is in many other localities. 

 Conditions there are naturally favorable to 

 the caring for honey under almost all cir- 

 cumstances; not so, however, in this State 

 and in many other places." 



"But some of the writers claim that honey 

 can not be left on the hives until sealed, 

 without materially lessening the crop. 1 hey 

 start extracting when the combs are sealed 

 along the tops a little, and from that to the 

 middle. This honey is then allowed to stand 

 in tanks covered with canvas, and evaporat- 

 ed until it attains the proper consistency. 

 It would take the bees from three to five 

 days to complete the sealing of such combs, 

 which time would be nearly or entirely 

 wasted on account of there being little or no 

 room in which to store honey while the re- 

 maining cells were being capped over. I re- 

 member one of these writers laid particular 

 emphasis on these words, 'The honey can 

 ripen just as well in the tank as in the hives. 



and the majority of the bees are not com- 

 pelled to lie idle, or resort to the brood- 

 combs, to find room to store their honey." 



" But such a state of affairs is not neces- 

 sary, even if such an assertion held good; 

 for the extracted honey producer sees that 

 colonies have sufficient comb room for the 

 storing of honey while the combs which are 

 filled are being sealed over." 



"But that would require a large invest- 

 ment for hives and combs that would not be 

 needed by the frequent- extracting plan, as 

 well as not giving as good returns at the end 

 of the season Another writer said that 

 nearly or quite nine- tenths of all loss of 

 weight caused by the curing of newly gath- 

 ered honey in the hive occurs during the 

 first twelve or fifteen hours after it is first 

 deposited in the combs.' Now, if this is the 

 truth I can see no reason for leaving the 

 honey on the hives several days longer, thus 

 limiting the storage capacity of the hive, 

 just to allow the honey to lose the one-tenth 

 of weight necessary to ripen it sufficiently 

 for market. Why not extract it and allow 

 the honey to ripen in the tank, thus giving 

 the bees room to work without piling up- 

 hive after hive of combs till the end of the 

 season, this requiring quite a large invest- 

 ment of capital, which, in my case, would 

 have to be borrowed? " 



"If it were proven that honey of a nice 

 flavor, equal to that of honey v/hich has 

 been ripened on the hive and prepared by 

 the bees for a month or more could be pro- 

 duced by the tank method, then your reason- 

 ing might be correct; but the honey which 

 holds its customers year after year is not, as 

 a rule, honey which is extracted unsealed. 

 The extracting and sale of unripe honey is 

 not to be defended, and will react against 

 the one practicing it, for such a one will not 

 be likely to sell this quality of honey twice 

 to the same purchaser." . 



"I am far from advocating unripe honey; 

 but if honey can be extracted before it is 

 fully sealed over, and then ripened in a tank 

 so that it will weigh not less than twelve 

 pounds to the gallon, retaining at the same 

 time that nice taste and flavor, why do you 

 and others oppose it? " 



"Very many have started out with just 

 the same ideas; but, so far as I know, all 

 who have really been anxious to improve the 

 call for extracted honey are now leaving it 

 with the bees till it is fully sealed over, and 

 the most of our really practical extracted- 

 honey producers leave it with the bees till 

 there is danger of having two or more kinds 

 of honey mixed." 



"The extracting of partially sealed honey,, 

 and allowing it to ripen in a tank, while the 

 bees are filling the combs again, is some- 

 thing which appeals to me strongly, and, if 

 I thought I was scientific enough 1 should do 

 so, for I am firm in the belief that the ex- 

 pert who uses this method, and thus increas- 

 es his yield, is to be commended. I would 

 not class him as an unscrupulous person, 

 but a level-headed business man." 



"And my advice would be, 'gaslow.' " 



