AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



621 



The question-box was opened, and the 

 following discussed : 



COMB OK EXTRACTED HONEY ? 



" Which is the more profitable, comb 

 or extracted honey ?" 



Dr. Marshall — That depends largely 

 upon the honey market. 



C. J. Cutler — I find no difficulty in 

 selling comb honey at 20 cents per 

 pound. 



J. D. Givens, of Lisbon — I sell ex- 

 tracted honey at my door at 10 cents 

 per pound. Comb honey, at Dallas and 

 Oak Cliff, readily sells at 15 to 20 cents. 

 I can produce twice as much extracted 

 honey. I grade my comb honey ; when 

 the sections are full one pound it is 

 classed grade No. 1, when they fall two 

 ounces short, grade No. 2, and when 

 more than two ounces short, grade No. 3. 



A. M. Tuttle, of Gainesville — Almost 

 every one In Gainesville wants comb 

 honey ; the country around buys more 

 extracted. I can produce more than 

 double the quantity in extracted honey. 

 I sell extracted for 10 cents, and comb 

 honey for from 12J^ to 15 cents per 

 pound. 



George Wilson, of McKinney — I pro- 

 duce extracted honey exclusively, and 

 find ready sale at 10 cents per pound, 



J. F. Teel — I produce both kinds, can 

 get more extracted than comb honey, 

 but I get the best price for comb honey. 

 The profit will depend largely upon 

 market demand. 



BEST MANAGEMENT FOR PRODUCING 

 HONEY. 



The next question discussed was the 

 following : 



" What is the most practical method 

 of management of the apiary, for the 

 production of honey — both extracted 

 and comb ?" 



Dr. Howard, of Fort Worth — Build up 

 the colonies, and have them strong and 

 ready for the honey-flow. I would never 

 take from strong colonies to build up 

 weak ones, as we might lose the working 

 strength of more than one colony, at a 

 time when the production of honey 

 would be worth more than the produc- 

 tion of bees. When I had bees I worked 

 for extracted honey exclusively, except 

 in one small yard of about two dozen 

 colonies of black bees, away from home, 

 which was worked for comb honey. By 

 always having plenty of extra combs I 

 never failed in getting the full benefit of 

 the honey harvest. By extracting all 

 the honey in the yard the last of July, 

 the fall honey-flow was devoted to the 



production of combs, and as mentioned 

 in my essay of yesterday, the pungent 

 honey gathered in the fall was utilized 

 in breeding up in the spring. To induce 

 bees to commence in the boxes, a good 

 way when the brood-chamber is full of 

 honey, is to drive the bees into the boxes 

 by smoking them, which causes them to 

 fill themselves before entering the 

 supers ; this done at night they will 

 commence the work of comb-building in 

 the sections to deposit the honey they 

 carried with them from the brood-cham- 

 ber. I have never produced comb 

 honey to any great extent, and cannot 

 say what proportion of profit might ob- 

 tain in the production of comb or ex- 

 tracted honey, but I believe that I can 

 produce 3 or 4 times as much extracted 

 honey. 



J. R. Atchley, of Arlington — I believe 

 in caging the queen during a heavy 

 honey-flow, unless it should be a gradual 

 flow. If our colonies are strong, by 

 caging the queen we stop the production 

 of bees, and turn the whole force to the 

 production of honey, and no time is 

 taken up in rearing young bees, and no 

 honey is wasted in the nourishment of 

 them, which is an item worthy our con- 

 sideration. 



J. S. Robinson, of Greenville — I believe 

 in taking the honey from the upper story 

 exclusively. 



C. M. Davis, of Denison— My plan is 

 to remove the queen at the onset of the 

 honey-flow, and immediately after it 

 closes, release the queen and give her 

 room by extracting all the honey. 



Dr. W. K. Marshall, of Marshall— I 

 produce mostly comb honey. My plan 

 of getting bees into boxes is to take a 

 table fork and scratch the combs con- 

 taining honey ; in order to repair this 

 damage, all the honey must be removed, 

 and to make room for it, it will be car- 

 ried above and deposited in the sections. 

 This plan I use when I have toward the 

 end of the season a lot of partially filled 

 sections, and have never failed to have 

 my sections nicely finished, so that car- 

 rying over half-filled sections to another 

 season is entirely obviated, besides get- 

 ting all of my sections in a marketable 

 condition. I utilize all of the surplus 

 honey in the brood-chamher. As to the 

 most practical method of obtaining the 

 most honey — while I do not altogether 

 fancy the idea of destroying the little 

 busy workers that have spent their lives 

 in industrious honey-fathering — my plan 

 would be to kill the queen at the com- 

 mencement of the honey-flow, and at 

 the close kill the bees. By this method 

 I save the honey consumed in feeding 



