644 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



October 13, 



Mr. Danzenbaker — I don't see that there is much differ- 

 ence, in my experience. Years ago I had an extractor and 

 used It seven or eight years and then sold it. Then I bought 

 another after five years, and I had It for four years without 

 unpacljing it, for the reason that I was getting all the comb 

 honey that I thought the bees should store. The year before 

 this I produced perhaps 120 pounds of honey that I didn't 

 succeed in getting into comb honey; this year none — all comb 

 honey. What It costs I cannot say ; it depends on the number 

 of bees In one place. Some say that 100 colonies can be kept 

 In one place. I think 10 will do much better. This year 

 there were 14 colonies in box-hives only two miles from where 

 1 had 90. I made a bargain with a man that I would give 

 him the hives if he would let me have all the honey I could 

 produce to May 20. I transferred the bees, having a man to 

 help. That took two days. I got a sugar-barrel full of 

 honey. I put on sections and got 900 finisht sections from 

 the 14 colonies. I think I went but once a week to that yard 

 — perhaps six times in all. I can't say what it cost. I don't 

 think I could have got more honey if I had extracted. I 

 bought the foundation ; that is all paid out. I got $135 for 

 the honey from the 14 colonies. I did better with them than 

 In the yard where I was working with the bees every day, 

 where there were 90 colonies. That is the result of a few 

 hives in a place. I had a few bees in a place that paid .$15 

 to $20 a colony. This year there was a man that had 100 

 colonies and he got a fair crop. I had a yard about two miles 

 from it, and 1 got four times as much, but I hadn't so many 

 bees. I have been at Medina. Look at the number of colo- 

 nies in that yard for queen-rearing. I don't think a neighbor 

 could succeed there if he had only one colony. It takes all 

 the honey there is to keep breeding bees. The cost of honey 

 depends upon the situation. I know some places there is no 

 profit in it. In the case I spoke about, with the 14 colonies, 

 the hives were worth $1 apiece. It took us three days to 

 transfer, and six days work in getting the honey. That was 

 nine days altogether. I got $135 worth of honey. 



Mr. Cameron — Suppose you have a case where you spend 

 $40 for supplies and don't get any honey ; then how much 

 does it cost a pound ? (Laughter.) 



Mr. Whitcomb — It takes 15 pounds of honey to produce 

 a pound of comb. In this locality I doubt whether we can 

 produce comb honey profitably for less than 15 cents per 

 pound, while we can produce extracted honey for 5 cents. 

 The bees haven't time to put up comb in the fall, when the 

 heart's-ease is yielding. We are compelled to produce more 

 extracted honey than comb honey here, because there isn't 

 time to build the comb when the honey is flowing. The 15 

 pounds of honey it takes to build a pound of comb is certainly 

 worth something. Honey-comb isn't gathered, it must be 

 built. It takes the time of the bees, and it takes material. I 

 doubt whether a pound of comb honey can be produced profit- 

 ably in this section for less than 15 cents. I would rather 

 produce extracted honey at 5 cents, so far as profit goes, than 

 comb honey at 15 cents. Of course, a great many out here 

 produce comb honey, but very little of It. I doubt whether in 

 the great alfalfa districts of the West, where the honey comes 

 In at times very rapidly, it is not more profitable to produce 

 extracted honey than comb houey. Here we sell more ex- 

 tracted honey than we do of comb, because here our customers 

 take a gallon of the extracted honey at a time, where per- 

 haps otherwise we would sell them a pound. They buy it 

 cheaper, of course. They know it is as pure as the honey 

 they buy in they comb. 



A. I. Root — In Arizona, where they have those great 

 alfalfa regions, immense quantities of honey are produced. 

 There was one apiary of 300 colonies in one spot that pro- 

 duced 200 pounds to the colony. The man told me that if 

 somebody would take the honey off of his hands at 3 cents a 

 pound, he would go ahead. He figured that he could produce 

 it at 3 cents a pound and make a success of it — that is, ex- 

 tracting. All he got over the 3 cents he counted as profit. 



Mr. Cameron — I remember that a long time ago Dr. Gallup 

 publisht the statement that he got out of one colony 50 

 pounds per day. You can't get 50 pounds of comb honey in 

 a day. I don't believe it. 



Dr. Mason — If there is one honey-producer that we feel 

 we can rely upon in his statements It Is Dr. Gallup. Dr. 

 Gallup got in 30 days 600 pounds from one colony. Dr. 

 Gallup don't lie. 



Mr. Cameron — He couldn't get comb honey at that rate. 



Mr. Rauchfuss — In regard to the cost of producing comb 

 and extracted honey, we had some discussion at oue of our 

 State meetings four or five years ago, and it was estimated 

 then — and those estimates were given by specialists — that it 



costs 4 cents to produce extracted honey, and 7 to 8 cents for 

 comb honey. 



KEEPING BEES NEAR COLTIVATED CROPS. 



'■ Can a bee-keeper be forced to remove an apiary because the 

 land adjoining is used for cultivated crops, provided the bees are 

 on bis own land, are not near a public highway, nor any dwelling, 

 and also separated from the adjoining property by a high, tight 

 board fence, the claim being that the bees sting men and horses ?" 



Dr. C. C. Miller — That Is a question of law. It might be 

 answered very differently in different States. I do not believe 

 that we are competent authority to answer that question. We 

 may waste time by discussing questions that do not properly 

 belong here. There are things that can be better discust In 

 the bee-papers, and there are things that we can better dis- 

 cuss here face to face. I think our time can be better occu- 

 pied than in discussing this. If any one knows the answer of 

 course we will be glad to hear it, but I do not think we are 

 wise in spending time to say what we think ought to be the 

 answer. 



HOW MUCH EXTRACTED TO PRODUCE A POUND OK COMB HONEY — 

 FEEDING BACK. 



" How many pounds of extracted honey does it take to produce 

 one pound of comb honey ?" 



Mr. Danzenbaker — I suppose that means the relative 

 quantity that the colony will produce of each. In June and 

 July, in the warm weather, I think the bees will make the 

 wax they need to put the honey in. In the fall they do not 

 generate so much wax. A man who is produclug extracted 

 honey in the cool weather would have the advantage. In my 

 experience in June and July I claim I can make more money 

 on comb honey than on extracted The young bees in the 

 hive are elaborating the wax and molding it into the comb to 

 put the honey in that the field-workers bring in. It depends 

 on the season. 



Pres. York — The person who askt the question may have 

 been thinking of feeding back : how many pounds of extract.,d 

 honey must be fed to produce a pound of comb honey ? 



Mr. Danzenbaker — I don't think it would pay to do it. 



A. I. Root — The question about feeding sugar to make 

 honey comes in here. I believe we are all decided that it does 

 not pay. even If it is honest. 



E. R. Root— It has been stated in the books that it takes 

 20 pounds of extracted honey to produce one pound of honey- 

 comb. 



Dr. Mason — If I had completed an experiment I had be- 

 gun, I could have said something about this. I do know this, 

 that within the last 15 days I fed about 35 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey, and I have taken about 40 pounds of comb 

 honey from it. Saturday evening I raised up two supers of 

 plain sections I had on the hive^— 2-4 sections in each one, 48 

 sections in all — and they felt as If they weighed 50 pounds. I 

 put on a bee-escape, hoping to get time to find out something 

 about it, but I didn't. I am quite sure those 48 sections are 

 well filled. Other colonies were by the side of that, and gain- 

 ing some, but not very much. Tliey got more honey than I 

 fed to them. I am going to look at It when I get home, and 

 then I will report. 



TEST TO DETECT GLUCOSE ADULTERATION. 



H. L. Miller — I should like to ask If there is any way of 

 testing honey to know if there is glucose in it. 



E R Root — Certainly, there are several ways known now. 

 Mr. Selzer, of Philadelphia, has made a specialty of it. He 

 says he can tell without doubt whether a sample of honey con- 

 tains glucose, and very nearly the percentage, by chemical 

 means. 



H. L. Miller — People generally don't have those means to 

 use. I understand that by putting the glucose into tea, it will 

 turn the tea dark. If that is true, I should think that would 

 be as good a way as any. 



Eugene Secor — I don't know of any way of testing except 

 chemically — analytically. 



An Attendant — Does glucose candy like honey? 



Dr. Mason — It will candy, but not like honey. I have got 

 two gallons candied. 



LContlnued next week.l 



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