The Production of Extracted-Honey 287 



Advantages of extracted-honey. 



The fact that the combs may be repeatedly used increases 

 materially the amount of honey produced by a single colony 

 and thereby reduces the cost of production of a pound of 

 extracted-honey. There is less secretion of wax and, since the 

 secretion of a pound of beeswax is estimated as costing from 

 six to twenty pounds of honey (and probably considerable 

 bee vitality), this saving is considerable. In light honey- 

 flows, bees often refuse to work in comb-honey sections, 

 whereas they will store the available nectar if extracting 

 combs are on the hive. Under comb-honey conditions the 

 queen is often cramped for room and the population of the 

 colony is thereby reduced, while in extracted-honey con- 

 ditions she has abundant room, unless otherwise restricted. 

 The larger comb area in extracted-honey production fur- 

 nishes the bees plenty of cells in which to store fresh nectar, 

 giving increased evaporating surface and thus hastening 

 the ripening process. The beekeeper can care for more 

 colonies in producing extracted-honey than in producing 

 comb-honey. Swarming is more easily controlled and is 

 much less prevalent because of the abundance of empty 

 comb provided. Furthermore, in comb-honey production 

 most of the work in the apiary requires skill and experience, 

 while in extracted-honey production one man can furnish 

 the skill for many colonies and can employ unskilled labor 

 to help during extracting. In selling extracted-honey to the 

 consumer there is the marked advantage of blending honeys 

 from different sources, thereby obtaining a mixture which 

 can be duplicated year after year. 



Disadvantages of extracted-honey. 



While more extracted-honey than comb-honey can be 

 obtained from a colony in a season, this is balanced by the 

 fact that the wholesale market value of a pound of ex- 

 tracted-honey is less than that of a section of comb-honey, 

 the unit with which a pound of extracted-honey must be 

 compared. However, year in and year out the advantage 



