112 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



tlie middle of May, and let the 

 bees "•Hnish up the job." 



The combs would be excellent to 

 give to new swarms so as to start 

 them right to work. 



There are numerous places where 

 such combs" can be used to advan- 

 tage. In fact, they are almost 

 worth their weight in gold to the 

 beekeeper wlio judiciously uses 

 them. 



Take good care of each one. 



2. A good prolific queen is the 

 best requisite to success in this 

 case. 



A colony that is just boiling 

 over with young workers will sel- 

 dom give any trouble in this direc- 

 tion. 



A few partly-filled sections given 

 to these idle colonies in the spring 

 will sometimes start them to work. 



For this reason I always save all 

 my partly-filled sections in the fall. 



Angelica, N. Y. 



MUST THE EXTRACTOR GO? 



Gonzales, Cal., Mar. SI. 

 Friknd Alley: 



The following I clip from the San Francis- 

 co Call, which paper copied it IVoin the San 

 Bernartlino Times. Wliilc I do not lully con- 

 cur Willi the views there expressed, .vet I am 

 inclined to think the writer correct in the 

 main. And as it rather agrees witli the views 

 you lately expressed editorially I send you 

 the piece thinking it may And space in the 

 Ari. Yours truly, 



A. Norton. 



NO MORE EXTRACTED HONEY. 



BEEMEN DECIDE TO REPLACE IT BY 



COMB HONEY. 



The fiict cannot i)e denied tliat tlie 

 beekeepers of California have for sev- 

 eral years past been having a pretty 

 hard time of it. We have seen prices 

 go down gradually, year after year, 

 until now tliey are so low that there is 

 absolutely no profit in the business, at 

 least so far as the production of the 

 extracted article is concerned. And 

 the .decline in prices has seemed to 

 have very little reference to the amount 

 produced. Naturally, one would sup- 

 pose, that in seasons of short crops, 

 prices would l)ecome correspondinuly 

 stimulated. lUit such has not been the 

 case. The price has gradually fallen 

 until two or three cents a pound is 



about the limit of the price received by 

 the producer, and one does not need 

 to know that at such absurdly low 

 prices there is no profit for the bee- 

 keeper. There seems to be some in- 

 superable ol)jectiou among the major- 

 ity of people against the use of ex- 

 tracted honey. Wlien that article was 

 first put upon the market it was 

 thought possible, and even probable, 

 that its use might become general, and 

 that so pure and healthful an article 

 would quickly take the place of the 

 impure and adulterated molasses, syr- 

 ups and " drips,'' wiiich are so largely 

 consumed. Especially was it tlionglit 

 that this would be done when the price 

 for the pure honey was put at a lower 

 figure than those articles could be sold 

 for. But for some reason it has proven 

 all but hopeless to attempt to persuade 

 people generally to become consumers 

 of honey. As a consequence the price 

 has, as already stated, reached a very 

 low point, both here and in the east, 

 though it was much longer in getting 

 down there than on the Pacific coast. 

 Now, beekeepers all over the country 

 are seeking some method by which to 

 make their business profitable. Many 

 of the most experienced beekeepers of 

 tlie east have decided that there is 

 nothing to be done except to put a stop 

 to the production of extracted honey 

 and devote their entire time to the 

 comb. It is now claimed to have been 

 a great mistake to put the extracted 

 honey at so low a price compared with 

 the comb; but tlie damage has been 

 done, and it was based upon the idea 

 that the bees could make about three 

 pounds of extracted honey to one 

 pound of comb honey, and that there- 

 fore the relative prices should be about 

 in the same proportion. But this does 

 not work very well in practice, for 

 while extracted honey at three cents 

 a pound, no matter in how great quan- 

 tity it is produced, does not yiehl a 

 a profit, comb honey at eight to ten 

 cents pays very well indeed. As a con- 

 sequence the advice to stop the pro- 

 duction of the extracted article seems 

 to be well founded. It is certainly far 

 better to produce two tons of comb 

 honey that will give a profit of two 

 cents a pound than to produce six tons 

 of the extracted that has to be sold at 

 a loss. 



[It is evident that so far as the beekeepers 

 of California are concerned the extractor 

 '•must go." Tliere is no douht that the opinion 

 and suggestions we expressed in the A it 

 ahoiit a year iigo, will he aoopted hy the 

 l)rominent heekeepeis ofthis country. Sooner 

 or later the c.Mructor must go. | 



