(Entered at tbo Post-Offlce at Cblcago as Second-Class Mail-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W.York & Co., 334 Dearborn Street. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL., MARCH 28, 1907 



Vol, XLVII— No, 13 



editorial Ji^ie* 

 md Comment^s 



Bottom-starters in Sections 



Some discussiOQ has lately taken place in 

 other bee-papers with regard to the neces- 

 sity for bottom-starters in sections, the dis- 

 cussion being started by the statement of Fred 

 W. Muth, that the use of bottom-starters was 

 one of the factors in securing lower freight- 

 rates. Editor Hutchinson held them unneces- 

 sary. Editor Root thought only experts 

 could manage without them, but accepted the 

 following amended statement which was 

 given in a Stray Straw : 



"Any one can get along without bottom- 

 starters by crowding the bees enough; but it 

 is more profitable to use bottom-starters than 

 to crowd them so. Without bottom-starters, 

 fastening to the bottom is about the last work 

 done on a section, and with room enough it 

 may not be fastened at all ; with bottom- 

 starters it is about the first thing, room or no 

 room." 



Production of Bulk Comb Honey 



When Texas bee-keepers first began to talk 

 about cutting up sheets of comb honey, pack- 

 ing in cans and filling up with extracted 

 honey, it was considered a fair subject for 

 quiet amusement. That consumers should 

 show any strong desire for such messy stuff 

 was not to be seriously considered. Yet the 

 production of bulk comb honey has not passed 

 away as a 6-months' fad, and to-day it seems 

 to be a pretty well settled belief that it is the 

 most profitable form in which to produce 

 honey — at least in Texas. 



Upon hearing the enthusiastic praises of 

 bulk comb honey sung by its advocates, it is 

 inevitable that the question will arise in the 

 minds of others, "Will it not be a profitable 

 thing for me to adopt this form of honey- 

 productionl" A number of different factors 

 enter into the problem. 



We are told that one-third of a can of bulk 

 honey is extracted, and that the price ob- 

 tained for the combination is 3 or 4 cents 

 more than the price of extracted honey. 

 That gives a basis on which to figure, and it 

 will not take much figuring to show that 

 much depends upon the relative prices of 

 comb and extracted honey as to whether it is 

 more profitable to sell them together or sep- 

 arate. Take the Chicago market, with 16 

 cents for best comb and 8 for best extracted. 

 If 2 pounds of comb and 1 of extracted be 

 sold together as bulk honey at S}4 cents more 

 than the price of extracted, that will make 3 

 pounds sold at 11'^ cents a pound, or Sij.^ 

 cents in all. If sold separately, the 2 pounds 

 of comb honey would bring 32 cents, and the 



1 pound of extracted S cents,or 40 cents in all. 

 On the face of it, the man who depends upon 

 the Chicago market would lose 5' j' cents on 3 

 pounds of bulk honey, or nearly 2 cents a 

 pound. 



The printed report for any other market 

 will likewise show a loss, the most favorable 

 case being that of Cincinnati, with comb at 

 14)^ and extracted at 8J-^. Sold separately, 



2 pounds of comb and 1 of extracted will 

 bring 371., cents; sold as bulk at 12 cents a 

 pound, it will bring 36 cents ; still a loss, but 

 only ,1.2 cent a pound. 



But suppose comb is 10 cents and extracted 

 5. Sold separately, 3 pounds of comb and 1 

 of extracted will bring 25 cents. Sold as bulk 

 at 8}., cents, it would bring 2oJ.< cents — a gain 

 of 1-6 cent a pound. 



In general it will he found that the smaller 

 the margin between the price of comb honey 

 and the price of extracted, the greater the 

 chance for gain by selling as bulk. 



If comb honey be produced in frames and 

 cut out, the cost of sections and separators 



will be saved— an important item. Bees will 

 probably produce more honey in large sheets 

 than in small sections; just what percent 

 more has probably not been determined. 



The readiness to accept bulk honey on the 

 part of consumers is another item. In Texas, 

 the popularity of that kind of honey is said 

 to be so great that the supply is not up to the 

 demand. In some localities it might not bo 

 easy to dispose of bulk honey at any advance 

 over extracted. 



All this is said with no thought that it gives 

 a direct answer to the question whether it be 

 profitable to enter the lists as a producer of 

 bulk comb honey ; it only gives a hint as to 

 some of the things to be considered by any 

 one who seriously enters upon its considera- 

 tion. 



^ 



Migratory Bee-Keeping 



In Germany this is practised to a large ex- 

 tent as compared with this country, bees be- 

 ing hauled to the buckwheat fields or the 

 heath fields, either by wagon or by steam cars, 

 and left in charge of a keeper. In England, 

 also, bees are taken to the moors. A writer io 

 the British Bee Journal says he pays 25 cents 

 per colony " for standage and looking after," 

 which does not seem a very large amount. 

 There is a good deal in fashion, and possibly 

 it might be a profitable thing if more bee- 

 keepers in this country would get into the 

 fashion of moving their bees for a particular 

 flow. 



^ 



electricity for Bee-Cellars 



Electricity has been suggested, if not used, 

 for heating bee-cellars. Editor Root seems 

 quite pleased with results obtained by venti- 

 lating a cellar with a small electric desk-fan; 

 and now if we can have electric cars to take 

 the bees in and out, we will be well started 

 on the way toward electric bee-keeping. 



Advertising Honey 



H. B. Phillips, who says he is " the largest 

 bottler of pure high-grade honey in Maine," 

 is doing some advertising of honey along the 

 line so of ten suggested in these columns. Here 

 is what he says about it in a form letter : 



Bear Sirs .—With the idea of creating a 

 larger demand for comb and extracted honey 



