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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 8, 1903. 



time to settle and become clear and sparkling before it is 

 put into cans or barrels, and to prevent delay in extracting, 

 by having to wait for cans or barrels to put the honey in. 



Having a field and apiaries, with machinery to run 

 them, and a good system of management, we will now con- 

 sider the marketing of the crop. 



If the cost of producing a pound of honey is 4 cents, it 

 is easy to see that the man who is obliged to sell all of his 

 honey at 4 cents will soon conclude that bees don't pay, and 

 get out of the business. To make money, he must be able 

 to hold his honey until the market price rises, for every 

 cent he makes is in the difference between the cost of pro- 

 duction and the price at which he sells. Organization un- 

 doubtedly helps to hold up prices. The organization of the 

 California National Honey-Producers' Association, to- 

 gether with a medium crop instead of a full crop, as was 

 expected early in the season, has kept the honey market 

 from going to pieces in California this year ; but organized 

 weakness is not strength— it is only a bluff. The Steel 

 Trust has been considered a pretty strong organization, and 

 yet it has not been able to prevent a depreciation of its 

 stock to the extent of over $300,000,000 in the last few 

 months. Why has this thing happened ? Too many of its 

 members had to have money, and steel stock had to be sac- 

 rificed to get it. 



When the holders of any stock or commodity are finan- 

 cially weak, the price of that stock or commodity is bound 

 to fall ; but when they are all strong the price is equally 

 sure to rise. 



When a large crop of honey is harvested the bee-keep- 

 ers, or a large majority of them, are financially weak, and 

 while they are making sacrifices of their honey to get 

 money the price is bound to rule low ; but their honey, 

 when sold, goes into the hands of strong men, and soon the 

 price begins to rise. If you have money to live on, and no 

 debts to pay, just wait until it gets to the .highest price, 

 then sell. J. F. McIntyre. 



Mr. York, in the absence of the writer, then read the 

 following 



RESPONSE BY E. S. LOVESY. 



I fully agree with Mr. McIntyre in every point he advo- 

 cates except queen -excluders. I can get more honey by 

 giving the queen free range, as I run entirely on the divis- 

 ion plan, giving the bees plenty of room ; and if the queen 

 should get into the surplus boxes, I can make good use of 

 the brood, making new colonies or building up. I believe 

 in building up strong colonies before I divide, as the results 

 are often disastrous to divide and attempt to build up after- 

 ward. 



I believe with Mr. McIntyre in the careful selection of 

 a location, 10 frame hive, a liberal use of foundation or 

 drawn comb, a good system of management that will keep 

 the hive full of bees ; and all honey should be properly ex- 

 tracted and ripened. If these conditions are complied with, 

 as a rule it can be held for the highest possible price. 



I also agree with Mr. McIntyre that the bee-keepers are 

 in need of a stronger organization. We should not forget 

 that " in union is strength ;" a lack of which may cause our 

 energy, at least, to be partly lost. 



I regret that conditions are such that I can not be at 

 the convention. E. S. I/OVESY. 



L. L. Andrews — I would like to ask Mr. McIntyre what 

 he thinks of the use of the hot knife as compared with the 

 cold knife in extracting ? 



Mr. McIntyre— I am sorry to say that while I have seen 

 it done I have never uncapped any honey in my life with a 

 hot knife, but after putting the cold knife into the hands of 

 others, and showing them how to use it, they would never 

 use the hot knife again. 



George M. Wood — I would like to ask Mr. McIntyre to 

 explain his method of using the cold knife ? 



Mr. McIntyre — I have a little wooden keg usually, be- 

 cause it does not dull the knife when you throw it in. Three 

 knives are about all you can handle. We take a knife out 

 of the water all soaked, clean and sharp, run it to one side 

 and the capping drops off, then up the other side of the 

 comb. You can use it on several combs that way. Whenever 

 a knife gets dirty — the least bit of wax on it— it goes right 

 in to soak off, and when it comes out it is wet, clean, and 

 free from honey, and, being sharp, it runs up the comb and 

 cuts it right off, sleek as a razor would do it, and does it 

 much quicker than a hot knife. 



Mr. Wood — Do you use a long knife ? 



Mr. McIntyre— I would not use anything but a Bingham 

 knife. 



Mrs. D. A. Higgins — I would like to ask Mr. McIntyre 

 whether he can uncap well-cured white or black sage honey 

 with a cold knife ? 



Mr. McIntyre — We do not uncap any other kind — very 

 little of any other kind. This is the honey (sample pro- 

 duced). You can turn it up for some time on a cold day be- 

 fore it will come out. It seems very queer that any one 

 should run up against any difficulties. The hot knife, ac- 

 cording to the way I have seen it used, will run half way up 

 a comb or so, as far as it will go ; but our cold knife will 

 uncap several combs. 



Mrs. Higgins — I find it will uncap one comb ; that is all. 



Mr. McIntyre — I always cut from the bottom up. be- 

 cause the comb is leaning a little that way, and as we run 

 the knife up it drops right clean. 



Frank Benton — Since Mr. McIntyre has had a great deal 

 of experience in producing extracted honey on a large scale, 

 I would like an expression from him as to how the different 

 races of bees compared. He is not restricted in extracted 

 honey to the kinds of bees that will produce white combs, 

 since, of course, capping comes away anyway, and the 

 honey from one is as good as the other. 



Mr. McIntyre — I commenced bee-keeping in California 

 with some stock I bought from Dr. Gallup. I brought his 

 apiary here, and we had some very nice imported Italians. 

 Later I got some Cyprian stock. I crossed these, and for 

 extracted honey I find that I can get more honey with some 

 Cyprian blood than with the Italians alone. They have 

 really proved to be the strongest houey-gatherers I have 

 had. I do not like the stinging qualities of the pure Cyp- 

 rian. I have crossed them somewhat with Italian-hybrids. 

 If I had crossed them with the Carniolans, which, I believe, 

 is the favorite cross, they would be pure hybrids. These 

 Italians crossed with Cyprians have proved to be the best 

 bees in my hands. 



J. F. Flory — Are they not crosser than the Italians ? 



Mr. McIntyre — Yes ; I think you can not add Cyprian 

 blood without adding a little temper. I think probably 

 there is a little Cyprian blood in the queens. Those are 

 selected from may be 10 to 20 generations bred in my own 

 apiary, and I can not tell whether there is Cyprian blood in 

 a queen, but I pick her for her business qualities. I would 

 not take a queen that would sting me all to pieces ; I would 

 not breed from such a queen. I want them to be easy to 

 handle, nice in color, and I want them to be great honey- 

 gatherers. Those three points are about all I look to. I 

 can not ask a queen whether she has any Cyprian blood in 

 her or not, if she is easy to handle. 



Geo. L. Emerson — I have not much to say, but I was 

 interested in this cold-knife proposition, and thought per- 

 haps we might get a little more information. Mr. McIntyre 

 is a very large honey-producer. We have never been able 

 to use a cold knife with any degree of satisfaction what- 

 ever. We seem to have a diversity of opinion here. There 

 may be some that think they will have to change and use 

 a cold knife instead of a hot knife. If they are going 

 to do that they ought to know how to do it. If there is any 

 way Mr. McIntyre can show me how to get away with that 

 gasoline stove, I would like to have him do so ; but we must 

 have the same quality of work, even if we are a little 

 warmer in doing it. I believe that is all. 



T. O. Andrews — I was going to say if there was crossed 

 blood in those queens Mr. McIntyre sent me, they are the 

 most uniform I ever got together. So I thought they were 

 pure Italians. 



H. H. Hyde — I would like to know if Mr. McIntyre has 

 ever used shallow frames for extracted honey, S^s inches 

 deep. 



Mr. McIntyre — No, I have had some frames 7x17. They 

 would do very nicely to extract from, but they did not suit 

 me for brood-chambers, so I have only the 10-frame Lang- 

 stroth. We usually manage to get them down near the 

 super, which is so much heavier ; get the combs out and 

 extract them about from eight to ten days, according to the 

 way the honey flows. 



Mr. Hyde — We have used both shallow and Ideal supers, 

 and we have concluded we can handle more conveniently, 

 and quicker, by using the Ideal super for extracted honey ; 

 and, in extracting, we have a lar^e extractor that takes 

 two of the frames in each basket. When we come to uncap 

 we can uncap one side, and do not go over it twice. But the 

 principle is in not using the Porter escape at all. One man 

 simply takes hold of the super, the first man smokes it 

 freely. One man gives it a wobble. In a few minutes we 

 take it in the house, and then can take otT the super about 

 as quick as one frame, and we consider it quite a gain also 

 in uncapping. 



