154 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



Comb Honey, or Extracted? 



Mb. Editor :— As we are on our way home 

 from the convention at Cleveland, and have to 

 undergo the pahiful ordeal of "laying over" 

 to-day at Louisville, Ky., we thought we could 

 not spend the time more pleasantly in any way 

 than in writing to the Journal. We attended 

 the convention mainly to satisfy ourself by con- 

 sultation with honey raisers from different sec- 

 tions of the country as to the comparative 

 pi-ofitableness of raising box or extracted honey. 

 Or, rather, we wanted to learn more particularly 

 whether we could in the future stand a reasonable 

 chance ot selling, at a fair price, all the ex- 

 tracted honey we could raise— say at one-half 

 the price that comb honey commands. 



If the convention had satisfied us fully on this 

 point, we, for one, should have imbibed our full 

 share of the motto : "Be happy," that was dis- 

 played so conspicuously on tlie wall in the rear 

 of our venerable and pleasant looking president. 



We went to the convention strongly preju- 

 diced in favor of running our apiary for extracted 

 honey alone, as we have it arranged now for 

 that kind of management ; and as we com- 

 menced this year with only eight double hives 

 and seventeen single ones, and increased the 

 stock to thirty-six two-story and sixteen single 

 ones, and obtained nearly two tons of extracted 

 honey, we felt certain that in another year, we 

 could increase the stock to one hundred colo- 

 nies, and obtain ten thousand (10,000) pounds of 

 honey. This, even at ten cents per pound, would 

 pay handsomely. But where could we find a 

 m;irket for all this in bulk? And as there are 

 hundreds of beekeepers who could, and per- 

 haps will do the same thing, is there not danger 

 of the business being overdone ? 



We all know that the fruit business has been 

 overdone, and the days for fancy prices are gone. 

 That business certainly offered no more induce- 

 ments than the production of extracted honey 

 does now, even at ten cents per pound. The 

 fraud of adulteration could be lived down, if 

 there were any reasonable prospect that the de- 

 mand for extracted honey would nearly keep 

 pace with the production. Another trouble is, 

 that the low grades of West India honey must 

 always come in competition with it. 



It is generally admitted that we must build 

 up a market for extracted honey ; and as it is a 

 maxim among fruit men, that "he that introduces 

 a new fruit, must be its own buyer," we are 

 a little afraid this might apply also to extracted 

 honey. Above all things in the world, we dis- 

 like to have anything to sell which nobody 

 wants to buy. We find that there is already a 

 good market for comb honey almost anywhere, 

 and in many cities, thei-e is not half a supply. 

 On our way to the convention and back, we 

 talked with grocery men in Nashville, Louis- 

 ville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, A:c., and find that 

 they are all anxious for consignments of box 

 honey, saying that they can get from twenty- 

 five to thirty-five cents per pound for it. It 

 sells very readily, and they say they never had so 1 



large a supply but they could sell it all in a few 

 days. But none of them wants to sell extracted 

 honey. The complaint is that it goes slow ; 

 that their customers are afraid of it ; that there 

 has been so much adulteration, that most buyers 

 of honey, who are not judges, prefer to buy and 

 pay more for comb honey, for fear of being im- 

 posed upon. That many of their customers, 

 when wanting a simple sweet, will generally 

 buy molasses or syrup, because it is cheaper ; 

 while the wealthy classes, who wish it princi- 

 pally for show on the table, want nice white 

 comb honey. These are about the facts which 

 we have been able to gather from grocery men, 

 aud we hope that others, who have had more 

 experience, will tell us if they are correct. 



On the other hand, we have an exalted opinion 

 of the speed and power of railroads ; but es- 

 pecially is our impression lively as to their 

 smashing ability ; and in the distant future, we 

 can see visions of smashed-up honey combs, 

 which niy little pets r.nd myself have labored so 

 hard all the year to fix up so nicely. And, sad- 

 dest of all, to receive from our grocery man the 

 discouraging intelligence that "your honey ar- 

 rived very much broken, and leaking badly ; and 

 if we can sell it at all, we shall have to sell it 

 very low." 



If we could only sell extracted honey, how 

 sim]:ile and nice it would be only to have a good 

 hoiiey extractor and a lot of good iron-bound 

 whisky barrels, and we could ship to the end of 

 the world, and the railroad men might tumble 

 it about to their hearts' content, without dam- 

 age to it or me. 



How shall we send our honey to market ? 

 When shall we send it? Where shall we send 

 it ? To whom shall we send it ? Upon this 

 subject, we feel that our ideas are rather 

 "tangled"' up, and, like the drone question, 

 it is as clear as mud to us. Brother and sister 

 beekeepers, we want your advice on the lioney 

 question. The drone question we leave for Dr. 

 Bohrer, and feel that he will be found ready and 

 equal to the occasion, if not superior to it. 



S. W. Cole. 



Andrew Chapel, Tenn. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



How to make Super Hives. 



The way commonly recommended by bee- 

 keepers, to get up super hi\es from which to 

 extract honey during a plentiful yield, is as fol- 

 lows : Put a box of the same size as the lower 

 or main box, without bottom or honey-board, 

 after removing the latter from the hive that is 

 calculated to be doubled, oiWho top of tins, and 

 removing a part of the comUs from what is now 

 the lower chamber, into the upper story — filling 

 up both sections with emiity frames, and putting 

 a honey-board and cover on top of the upper 

 section. By following this advice in former 

 days, I found that it did not work according to 

 my anticipations. It appeared to me as if the 

 large amount of empty room all at once given, 

 discouraged the bees, or so cooled-off their 

 brood-nest, that they were unable to build much 



