Mar. 30, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



197 



Report of the Chicag-o Bee-Keapers' Convention. 



BV A SHOKTHAND REPOKTEK. 

 [Continued from pa^e 182.] 

 Next was read a paper -written by Mr. C. P. Dadant, of 

 Hancock Co., 111., on 



Producing Extracted Honey on the Mississippi River. 



It is with the g^reatest plea.sure that I open a subject 

 which is probably more familiar to me than any other ques- 

 tion pertaining- to bee-culture, as we have made the produc- 

 tion of extracted honey on the Mississippi River a constant 

 practice for a quarter of a century or more. It is only nec- 

 essary to state our experience and our reasons for tindiiij,'- it 

 more profitable than the production of comb honey in the 

 same circumstances. 



It was only after some 10 or 12 years of experience witli 

 both comb and extracted honej', begun immediately after 

 the invention of the honey-extractor, that we finally con- 

 cluded to devote our apiaries almost exclusively to the latter. 



Everv apiarist who has read up on the subject is aware 

 of the great cost of comb to the bees. It is by dig-esting 

 honey that the bee produces wax, which is produced much 

 in the same way as fat on farm animals, and costs the bees 

 about the same proportion of honey as fat costs of grain — 

 an amount variously estimated at from 7 to 15, and even 20 

 pounds, according to the more or less favorable circum- 

 stances in which the insect or the quadruped finds itself. 

 The production of extracted honey does away in part with 

 this expenditure, or, in other -words, with the enforced pro- 

 duction of comb during the harvest. 



When the colony is populous and the crop begins, as it 

 very often does in a sudden way, the bees often find them- 

 selves short of room to deposit their honey, even before 

 they have become prepared to produce any comb : for it 

 takes some 24 hours before the transformation is made, and 

 until wax is produced and comb is bi'.ilt, a part of the bees 

 at least, have to remain idle and lose the opportunity of 

 going to the field. And if comb has to be built rig-ht along 

 to lodge the crop, it is a very important item of expense to 

 them, both in time and honey. It is therefore not astonish- 

 ing that bee-keepers should have found in practice that 

 more than twice as much honey could be produced, if the 

 combs could be furnisht ready to be filled by the bees in- 

 stead of having- to be built by them. 



Some comb honey producers who think that this ques- 

 tion has been overestimated, say that the bees naturally 

 produce beeswax anyhow, and that this beeswax must be 

 used by them or wasted; but they do not stop to think that 

 a certain amount is needed at all times, even when full 

 combs are given to the bees, to repair such places as may 

 have been damaged by the handling, or to lengthen the cells 

 that have been cut down in extracting, and also to seal the 

 cells when they consider the honey sufficiently ripe to be 

 sealed. 



I do not know whether the bees are really compelled by 

 Nature to transform some honey into wax if they will 

 or not during a heavy honey-flow, but I can hardly IJelieve 

 the quantity thus produced can be very great in ordinary 

 circumstances ; for I have never seen any beeswax wasted 

 except in accidents to the bee-hive, such as the breaking 

 down of some of the combs by heat and weight, when the 

 bees are all compelled to fill themselves to the utmost with 

 the wasting honey. In such instances I have noticed that 

 they would attach it to the walls of the hive, as if expecting 

 to use it later on. 



At any rate, our experience, which was gained by a 

 number of years of production on hundreds of colonies, has 

 clearly evidenced to us, and to our entire satisfaction, that 

 the teachings of the masters — who advanced these ideas, 

 let it be remembered, long before the invention of the ex- 

 tractor — are in accordance with the facts. Experience 

 proved that bj' saving our combs with the use of the ex- 

 tractor, and returning them to the bees the foUovring sea- 

 son to be used and filled over and over again, we could pro- 

 duce more than twice as much extracted honej' as comb 

 hone}-. 



Extracted honey is hardly ever less t'.-an half the price 



of comb honey on any market, and very often it may be sold 

 for two-thirds of the value of comb honey. Besides, it is 

 much safer to ship, less easily damaged by railroad hand- 

 ling, and when it has to be kept over from one year to 

 another, the risk of its losing any of its quality or salable- 

 ness is much less than with comb honey. We know this 

 also by experience, for we have often found it advisable to 

 keep honey from one year to another to secure a greater 

 price for it. In years of great crop the price is low, 

 while the seasons like the present (1898), when the crop 

 seems to have been universally a failure, much better 

 prices may be secured : besides the satisfaction one has of 

 keeping one's customers by being- able to supply them. 



We have often kept extracted honey one. two, three, 

 and even four years, without loss ; while with comb honey 

 the leakag-e and the danger of the invasion of the moth 

 make it very unadvisable to hold it beyond the season of its 

 production. 



But the advantages above-mention are not the only ones 

 that are connected with the production of extracted honej- 

 when compared with that of comb honey. A most impor- 

 tant point to be considered, or at least one that has had to 

 our mind a great deal of weight, is in the easier and more 

 thoro prevention of natural swarming. When the number 

 of colonies under the control of one man has reacht into the 

 hundreds, the results in honey are of much greater value 

 than the results in swarms, which can only be sold with 

 difficult}-. Then, if swarming can be almost entirely pre- 

 vented much less capital is needed in the way of empty 

 hives. The bees need less watching, and the cost of pro- 

 duction is lessened. With large hives, of course, and plenty 

 of room, and a judicious use of shade and ventilation, 

 swarming-, even with comb-honey production, maj* be kept 

 within comparativel}- reasonable limits, but with an addi- 

 tional supply, liberal and unlimited, of empty combs ready 

 to put on the hive at a moment's notice, there is no need of 

 any fear of swarming except in unusual circumstances, or 

 with careless management. 



But to my mind, and with the results of past experience, 

 I cannot too strongly urge the importance of using hives in 

 which the fertility of the queen will have full scope, and 

 supers which will not cramp the bees for space in a few 

 days. One must remember that the little 24-pound super is 

 entirely inadequate for a strong colony that is to be sup- 

 plied with an unlimited stock of empty comb. 



I have no patience with the extracting-super made to 

 fit the ordinary section-case. A super 4'+ inches deep gives 

 too much labor in the handling. The supers that we use 

 with our large hives hold from 40 to 60 pounds of honey, 

 according to the season, for inuch depends upon how the 

 bees fill them. But one super is not enough, tho in some 

 bad seasons each colony may not fill even this space. We 

 keep an average of two supers or more full of empty comb 

 for each of our colonies, and we have had man}- instances 

 where even three supers were placed on populous colonies 

 and filled several times over during one .season. 



Another item in favor of extracted honeyis that it costs 

 less labor; for when the combs are once built there is noth- 

 ing to do in the way of preparation for each crop. The 

 labor of folding sections and placing in the foundation- 

 guides, or strips of comb that are necessary to secure sala- 

 able, straight combs ; the putting in of the sections, the 

 constant oversig-ht to make sure that not too great a number 

 of sections will remain unfinisht and unsalable, the annoy- 

 ance of seeing a half-filled case deserted by the swarming 

 of the colony are not fully compensated by comparative 

 profits. 



The labor of removing combs or supers for extracting 

 is no greater than the removal and putting in shape of the 

 same crop of comb hone)-, and extracting is additionallj' 

 remunerated by the cappings. which, when rendered into 

 beeswax, will go very far towards paying the help employed. 



The best grades of honey probably bring the best prices 

 when in the very nicest shape in the comb, but the inferior 

 g-rades. such as honey-dew, buckwheat, boneset, etc.. have 

 no value for the table, and can only be used in the liquid 

 extracted form bv bakers, tobacconists, brewers, and others. 

 C. P. Dadant. 



Dr. Miller — The fact is, if every one were to believe 

 with Mr. Dadant — and I wish he were here, as he is one of 

 the nicest men you ever met — if everybody were to believe 

 with him. then "everybody would produce extracted honey, 

 and it looks inconsistent for him to urge the production of 

 extracted honey : if he were looking after his own welfare 

 he ought to say. produce comb honey, so he would have the 

 market for extracted honey himself. I suppose there are a 



