416 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



UNRIPE EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Not Profitable to Extract; Injures Sale of Ripe 



Honey; How to Manage so as' to Leave 



it on the Hive Until 



All is Capped. 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND. 



To me the great problem confronting the 

 extracted-honey producer to-day is the qual- 

 ity of a great part of the honey that is al- 

 lowed to go on the market. What would 

 have been beautiful honey if thoroughly 

 ripened on the hive according to nature, be- 

 fore extracting, is often spoiled by igno- 

 rance or carelessness, or, worse still, by 

 some unscrupulous bee-keeper who extracts 

 about as fast as the bees store it, in the 

 hope that, by some hook or crook, he can 

 palmo ff the stuff at the regular market 

 price, thus gaining the price of a few extra 

 pounds he may get by this nefarious prac- 

 tice. 



I am not one who thinks there is an over- 

 production of good extracted honey; but the 

 great trouble is, the large proportion of 

 unripe or poorly handled honey finds its 

 way to the market, and this has a tendency 

 to keep down the price of the better grades 

 of honey. 



If the extracted-honey producers could be 

 made to see how little there is gained in 

 pounds by extracting unripe honey, or, in 

 other words, how little the shrinkage is be- 

 tween thoroughly ripened and unripe honey, 

 there would be very much less of the latter 

 produced. One does not have to keep a 

 colony on the scales very long to see that 

 almost all of the evaporation, or shrinkage, 

 is during the first 24 hours after the nectar 

 is carried into the hive, so not much will be 

 gained in weight of surplus unless the combs 

 are extracted every day— a practice that I 

 never heard of; but there is too much ex- 

 tracting done at about the time the honey is 

 capped along the top of the comb, for a lit- 

 tle raw honey is thus mixed with the cured, 

 ruining the flavor and body t)f the whole lot. 

 One can, therefore, see how easy it is to 

 lower the grade of a whole crop, causing it 

 not only to sell very slowly but to hurt the 

 sale of a good article. 



What is the fraternity going to do about 

 it? Educate? Let the bee- journals take 

 up the cry, ' ' A superior grade of extracted 

 honey at a better price;" and by keeping 

 the extra price at the front it will act as a 

 stimulus for the production of a better arti- 

 cle. After convincing a man that it is to 

 his advantage to produce a superior article 

 of honey, then the question of the sale of 

 this superior honey comes in; but after pro- 

 ducing a good many tons of first-class ex- 

 tracted honey, and selling it at from one 

 to two cents a pound above the market 

 quotations, I have proven that there is no 

 difficulty concerning a market for fancy goods 

 at a fancy price. 



I will admit that there are seasons when 

 it is hard, with any system, to produce a 



superior quality of honey; but these are ex- 

 ceptions rather than the rule. 



if we keep piling on upper stories clear 

 through the season, being careful to give 

 empty combs only as they are needed, and 

 finally leaving the whole bunch on the hive 

 ten days or two weeks after the season 

 closes before extracting we shall not run 

 very much risk. A good many may think 

 they can not afford to have in stock this 

 great lot of extra surplus combs; so, al- 

 though I earnestly advise you to make the 

 investment, I will tell you how to produce a 

 good fair- article, and do quite a share of 

 the extracting during the honey-flow, with- 

 out so many upper stories of combs. 



In the first place, supply yourself with H 

 sets of extracting-combs for each colony to 

 be worked for surplus. If they are ten- 

 frame size all the better; but eight-frame 

 will do (I use eight combs in my ten-frame 

 and seven in my eight- frame upper stories) ; 

 but remember that you can not produce a 

 good article of honey with only one set of 

 extracting-combs to the colony. Put on the 

 upper stories just as usual, as long as they 

 last. If it is plain to see that the honey 

 crop will be short, so that the 1| sets of 

 combs will hold it all, let them stand on the 

 hive ten days or two weeks, as stated above. 

 If the honey season should continue, and 

 more comb room is needed, go to the colo- 

 nies that have two upper stories, look them 

 over, and take the first one given them to 

 the extractor. This oldest honey should be 

 nearly all sealed by this time, and the raw 

 thin honey that is being brought from the 

 fields will be nearly all in the partly full 

 story still on the hive. It will be better to 

 extract just enough to give the needed emp- 

 ty combs, for, by so doing, the honey will 

 remain on the hive as long as possible. 



While this plan will not always bring the 

 best results, still if there were no lower 

 grade of honey put on the market than that 

 produced by this plan there would not be the 

 cause for complaint that there is to-day. 



In conclusion, fellow bee-keepers, if you 

 are among those who, in the past, have pro- 

 duced only an ordinary article of extracted 

 honey, and have had trouble in selling it, you 

 are invited to come over and share the ad- 

 vantages of a superior system. Do not put 

 it off, for you are losing money every year. 



Aside from the extra price, one has the 

 satisfaction of knowing he will have pleased 

 customers, so that every pound of this su- 

 perior article that finds its way on the 

 market will cause a demand for several 

 more pounds. 



Remus, Mich., Jan. 28. 



[This is good orthodox teaching, but I am 

 sorry to say some of the veterans do not 

 practice it. and then wonder why prices are 

 low, or, what is worse, they can't sell again 

 to the same place. 



The tiering-up plan certainly does give a 

 fine grade of honey; and if more bee-keep- 

 ers would leave their combs on longer they 

 generally would find a good demand and 



