240 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 15 



Conversations with 

 Doolittle 



At Borodino 



COMB HONEY AND SEPARATORS. 



Will you explain how to work successfully for 

 comb or section honey, and state whether it Is as 

 easy to produce as extracted? 



I have always considered that the secur- 

 ing of a fine crop of comb honey each sea- 

 son is the best test of skill and proficiency 

 in the art of apiculture. In the production 

 of honey I take most delight in working for 

 the comb, as it seems to me that nothing is 

 more beautiful than a perfect specimen of 

 clear white comb honey. This is especially 

 true when the combs are uniform, smooth, 

 and well filled. Almost anybody can secure 

 extracted honey; and for the novice, or the 

 one who does not study to attain the best, it 

 is, perhaps, wisest to work for extracted 

 honey. The advantages in comb honey are: 

 A much more beautiful product — one which 

 brings a much higher price in the market, 

 and the satisfaction of knowing that the 

 highest skill of the art has been attained. 

 However, there is generally a smaller quanti- 

 ty secured, and it is much more difficult to 

 ship comb honey so that it will reach its 

 destination in perfect condition. With col- 

 onies very strong, and a bountiful harvest of 

 nectar, I have succeeded sometimes without 

 separators in getting quite uniform and well- 

 filled combs in sections which were filled 

 with thin comb foundation; but with a mod- 

 erate yield of nectar I have found many of 

 the combs thicker, and a general lack of 

 uniformity. I decided year^ ago, because 

 of this unevenness, that it was never wise 

 to try to get along without separators. 



The first effort toward the production of 

 comb honey should be to have the colonies 

 strong at the dawn of the surplus flow of 

 nectar. This requires a knowledge of one's 

 location, whether there are many flowers 

 blooming in the field, and which of these 

 will best supply the needs of the bees and 

 the multitudinous brood. Generally speak- 

 ing, in New York, clover, linden, and buck- 

 wheat are the main flora giving a surplus 

 above that needed by the bees. 



Supers should always be ready to set on 

 the hives of all strong colonies at the very 

 beginning of the honey-flow; otherwise the 

 first honey is stored in the brood-chamber, 

 the swarming fever contracted, and the sea- 

 son frittered away. 



No one who works for section honey can 

 afford to dispense with thin comb founda- 

 tion. I usually put full sheets of founda- 

 tion in the sections, especially in the first 

 super, although good-sized starters do very 

 well. A few bait sections must be used in 

 the first super put on each colony to secure 

 the best results. If I could have my way I 

 would have every fifth section in the first 

 super a bait, using them in two tiers, each 

 two-thirds of the way from the center on 



either side. This would start all colonies, 

 strong enough to work in sections, on the 

 whole number in the super at about the 

 same time, which is of much advantage in 

 securing nice, even, snow-white capped hon- 

 ey which now is styled "fancy white." I 

 can not make it pay to cut out the combs 

 from the partly filled sections in the fall 

 and sell them for "bulk comb honey," as 

 ' many tell me they do. 



After having decided that it was never 

 wise to try to produce section honey with- 

 out separators, the question which next con- 

 fronted me was how to use them. During 

 my thirty-five years' experience with sepa- 

 rators I have used solid tin and wood, queen- 

 excluding zinc, fences of wood and tin, and 

 X and ys inch-mesh wire cloth; but I have 

 come to the conclusion that, for me, nothing 

 is as good as tin separators nailed to wide 

 frames; and as my honey has always brought 

 as much as or a cent or two more a pound 

 than the highest market quotations, I 

 see no reason why I could secure better 

 prices if I were to change my system of se- 

 curing section honey. After an experience 

 based on many carefully conducted experi- 

 ments, I am satisfied that the claim that 

 tin separators have a tendency to cause less 

 work in the sections, resulting in a decreas- 

 ed yield of section honey, is more theory 

 than fact. 



I prefer wide frames, because the bees do 

 not have access to the outside of the sections 

 at any point except the edges of the horizon- 

 tal pieces above and below the separators, 

 and here there is very little stain or bee-glue 

 used. Hence when the sections are filled 

 and finished they are nearly as new and 

 perfect as they were when put on the hive, 

 requiring littleif any scraping to clean them 

 of ])ropolis, or bee-glue, as it is often called. 

 This is no small item, as our older apiarists 

 know who have spent days if not months 

 in cleaning sections so they would be pre- 

 sentable when marketed. With a good 

 yield from basswood, I have taken off hun- 

 dreds of sections each year, that came out 

 of the wide frames nearly if not quite as 

 clean in all parts as they were when they 

 left the supply-house. 



More work is undoubtedly required when 

 producing comb honey than extracted; but 

 as the larger part of this work can be done 

 during the slack season of winter, the real 

 rush of the busy honey season is much les- 

 sened, so I have always considered it easier 

 to produce comb honey than extracted. 



Homestead Lands with Bee-ranges Scarce in Ida- 

 ho 



We note, page 184, March 15. Mr. J. E. Miller's let- 

 ter on " Idaho as a Bee State." Mr. Miller is right 

 in his statement that there is yet homestead land 

 to be had, in Idaho; but he Is mistaken regarding 

 the possibility of securing a bee-range on or very 

 near homestead land. We are holding down a 

 homestead, but our bees are four miles from it, in 

 the irrigated valley. We agree with Mr. Bradshaw, 

 page 96, Feb. 15, that at present all the range is well 

 stocked. Evidently Mr. Miller has not thoroughly 

 investigated the question of ranges. 



Parma, Ida.. March 21. Wendt Bro's. 



