T'MIS ISMM'itlC'MH MMM JOIIMHTEIL. 



69 



THIRD PRIZE. 



Extracted Iloncy — Production 

 iuid Marketing'. 



Written for the American BeeJourihal 



BY W. L. PORTER. 



Extracted honey — so-called from the 

 process by which it is taken from the 

 comb — is the pure liquid honey with- 

 out the wax. 



It is taken from the comb by re- 

 moving the caps from the honey-cells 

 with a sliarp knife made expressly for 

 this purpose. Then the combs are 

 placed in a cylinder that can be made 

 to revolve very rapidly, and by centrif- 

 ugal force the honey is thrown out, 

 without any injury to the combs. By 

 this means, the comb can be returned 

 to the hive, and re-filled, thus making 

 a wonderful saving to the bees. 



By careful estimate, it is found that 

 to make one pound of comb, it is nec- 

 essary for the bees to consume twenty 

 pounds of honey. Not only this, but 

 it is a great saving of time, as the 

 making of comb by the bees is not a 

 rapid process, and very often, when 

 the bees have a great abundance of 

 nectar to gather, they are short of 

 honey-cells in which to store it, and, 

 consequently, the precious flow is lost. 

 This great invention, of saving to the 

 bees, gives the apiarist great advan- 

 tage, and enables him to obtain double 

 the amount of honey that he could 

 secure by allowing the bees to build 

 the comlj. Thus it will be easilj' seen 

 that the extracted honey can be sold 

 much cheaper than that in the comb. 



EXTRACTED VS. COMB HONEY. 



"Extracted honey has all the flavor 

 of comb, and is in every way equal, if 

 not superior." For domestic use, it is 

 in every sense to be preferred. It is 

 more convenient for table use, and 

 more wholesome. Beeswax is indi- 

 gestible in the strongest acid — nitro- 

 muriatic does not aflect it. In a pretty 

 syrup-cup, or a handsome glass bottle, 

 it is always convenient and attractive, 

 and an ornament to the table — tooth- 

 some, and wholesome to the stomach. 



It is easier to conti'ol an apiary for 

 extracted honey than for comb honey. 

 Extracting from the brood-frames gives 

 the queen ample room to deposit eggs, 

 consequentlj' the hive can always be 

 populous. By using the extractor with 

 a two-story hive, the apiarist can give 

 each colony of bees plenty of room 

 both to store honey and for the rearing 

 of brood. By this means, the swarm- 

 ing trouble can be entirely overcome. 



and the bcc-kccper does not need to be 

 constantly with his bees, as does the 

 producer of comb lioney. Thus he can 

 control a much larger apiary. 



As a commercial article, extracted 

 honey is easy to handle. It can be 

 put into tin pails, tin cans, or barrels, 

 and shipped anywhere by freight, thus 

 making a cheap transportation without 

 breakage or leakage ; while comb 

 honey must be sent by express, costing 

 more, and often arriving in a broken 

 and damaged condition. 



MARKETING EXTRACTED HONEY. 



After noting all the advantages to 

 be obtained by the e.xtracted method, 

 we naturally inquire why it is that 

 honey is not entirely produced in this 

 form — and it is indeed a serious ques- 

 tion to the producer. While we find 

 all the foregoing advantages, there is 

 one drawback — that is, it is slow to 

 market — hard to convert into the 

 much-needed cash. There are many 

 reasons why this is so, and to over- 

 come them, should be our future 

 work. 



The reasons for the slow consump- 

 tion of extracted honey are these : 



1. People associate the liquid ex- 

 tracted honey with strained honey. In 

 olden times, before the extractor was 

 invented, it was the custom, every fall, 

 to kill off a part of the bees, and take 

 the honey. This honey came from the 

 brood-chamber — a mixture of honey, 

 pollen, young bees, larvje, etc. This 

 was all mashed together in a tub, and 

 placed in a bag which was hung up to 

 drain. The honey was dark and 

 strong, and flavored with bee-bread 

 and other impurities. Up to the pres- 

 ent time, many people, in asking for 

 extracted hone}', call it " strained 

 honey," and it is sad, but very true, 

 that many do not know the difi'erence. 



2. When extracted honey first came 

 into use, it brought a good, round 

 price, and there was an opportunity 

 for the unscrupulous to adulterate with 

 sweets that could be had cheap, and 

 in this way make a handsome profit. 

 Soon our markets were flooded with 

 the spurious stuff, and the innocent 

 had to sufler, and soon became very 

 suspicious of all liquid honey. To guard 

 against fraud, they concluded to buy 

 nothing but comb honey, at the same 

 time admitting that they would pre- 

 fer extracted, if they could get that 

 which they knew was pure. 



3. Another cause for complaint is, 

 that when the extractor first came into 

 use, the apiarist, for lack of experience, 

 extracted the honey before it was 

 thoroughlj" ripe, and a great deal of 

 honey was put on the market in its 

 unripe condition, and often fermented 

 on the grocer's hands, and proved so 

 unsatisfactory that he desired no more. 



lie was confident that the honey hail 

 been "doctored," for he was very sure 

 that pure honey would act in no such 

 way ! 



4. Still anotlier objection to e.x- 

 tracted iioney is, that it candies. The 

 merchant or consumer gets the honey 

 clear and beautiful, but soon a cloudy 

 appearance comes, and later the honey 

 becomes solid. This is not understood, 

 and the party is very sure tliat the 

 honey is not pure, for, says he, "It 

 has returned to sugar." If tlie matter 

 had been understood, it would have 

 been a guarantee that tlie article is 

 pure, and a little patience in applying 

 heat would have returned the honey to 

 its original beautiful state. 



These four points, I think, cover all 

 the objections, and have been the 

 cause of the wide-spread prejudice 

 which exists against the extracted- 

 honey trade. Before we can hope to 

 see the consumption of extracted honey 

 which should exist, we must enlighten 

 the world, and show to the people that 

 these objections exist in theory, and 

 not in reality ; that strained honey is a 

 thing of the past ; that now e.xtracted 

 honey is sold so cheap that there is no 

 cause for adulteration. 



We should use every opportunity to 

 make the consumer familiar with the 

 process of extracting the honey from 

 the comb, and let them see that ex- 

 tracted honey is identicallj' the same 

 thing as comb honej- — the honey with- 

 out the wax ; that we so thoroughly 

 understand our business, that we would 

 no more think of selling our honey un- 

 ripe, than we would sell fruit in its 

 unripe state ; and that when honey 

 candies, it is a guarantee that it is 

 pure, and by applying heat it will 

 quickly return the honey to its original 

 state, without the least injury. 



To gain this confidence, let each 

 producer begin near at home to build 

 up his market where people have con- 

 fidence that the article is all it is rec- 

 ommended to be. Let him sell all that 

 is possible in this way, by selling for 

 cash or for trade. It can often be used 

 to pay small debts, and trade for 

 needed articles for the family use. 

 Thus the doctor, shoemaker, and the 

 blacksmith can be settled with wholly, 

 or in part, by extracted honey. 



When we have exhausted our home 

 market, we should try our retail 

 grocers. We should begin by giving 

 them all the " light" on the nature of 

 the honey, and the bees that gathered 

 it. Educate them to know that it is 

 the pure article ; that when it candies, 

 it is a proof of purity ; and that it takes 

 only a trifle of time to heat it and 

 bring it back to the original state. 



If the retail grocer cannot use it all, 

 and we wish to go to the large city, 

 and consign our honey, let us put it 



