THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



631 



lie successful! V assailed, and though 

 falsehood and error may, for the mo- 

 ment, seem to be in the ascendant, 

 " truth, tliough crushed to earth, will 

 rise again,'" and triumphantly assert 

 and maintain its position against all 

 odds, and falsehood and error be 

 buried so deep as never to be resur- 

 rected. From ages long gone by till 

 now it has been easy to write, but it 

 is too often the case that those who 

 know the least of a given subject are 

 the first to write upon it; so with 

 apiculture. Many who are actuated 

 by a desire simply perhaps to see 

 themselves in print, write a plausible 

 article, the only merits of which are 

 its finely turned sentences,;and fully 

 rounded periods. Others with axes 

 to grind, for the purpose of turning 

 an honest (V) penny; others still, ac- 

 tuated it would seem with no motive 

 other than to deceive, put themselves 

 before the public. All of these would 

 do no harm if the readers were bee- 

 keepers of experience ; but. unfortu- 

 nately, these articles are read by many 

 who "have just commenced keeping 

 bees, and to a great extent look for 

 information from the articles they 

 read in their bee papers. They are 

 taken, and taken in by them, and 

 when they find out the falsity and in- 

 correctness of them, they at once de- 

 nounce all writers, and those who are 

 striving to give correct information 

 are looked upon as humbugs and 

 swindlers as well as the other class 

 mentioned, and the result is that api- 

 culture receives a blow from which it 

 takes a long time to recover. 



There is a remedy, and one that will 

 give the occupation a new Impetus 

 and tend to advance it to the position 

 it ought to occupy. It remains with 

 us, however, to adopt and apply the 

 remedy, and no matter if it is some- 

 what caustic and burns our self-con- 

 ceit, we must vigorously apply it till 

 the sore is healed, and a cure effected. 

 That remedy is, for us to study the 

 business in all its bearings, and par- 

 ticularlv the habits and peculiarities 

 of the "honey bee. State nothing as 

 facts until fully proven ; give theories 

 as theories only, and the reasons for 

 accepting them, but until fully backed 

 up by carefully conducted experi- 

 ments, state them as theories still. 

 Write for your special journals and 

 write often, but do not be guilty of 

 writing unless you have something to 

 write about ; state results briefly and 

 the causes which led to them, and 

 always give a full account of unsuc- 

 cessful as well as successful experi- 

 ments. Be ready at all times to ami- 

 cably discuss any matter in which 

 your own opmion is not accepted by 

 others as correct. Do not hastily 

 adopt a new thing because it is new, 

 and, above all things, do not hastily 

 condemn a new thing before fully un- 

 derstanding it. Avoid personalities 

 in discussion, whether written or 

 spoken, and, as earnest thinking men, 

 do all that in you lies to advance the 

 cause in which you are engaged and 

 which you so fondly love. Thus will 

 the science of apiculture be made to 

 advance and take its proper place 

 among the legitimate means of sup- 

 port in the world, and become a 



source of mental discipline and pecun- 

 iary profit. Consider the honey bee 

 not simply as a means of gain, but as 

 a wonderful instance of God's good- 

 ness and kindness to man, who cre- 

 ated the world and all therein con- 

 tained for this his own glory and 

 man's comfort and pleasure. "Goto 

 the bee (ant), consider her ways and 

 be wise," remembering that he who 

 gave the honey bee its wonderful in- 

 stinct (almost" allied to reason) is the 

 Creator of us all, and that from him 

 only can we obtain support and suste- 

 nance, and from what we learn of the 

 wonders of the created, learn to look 

 with love and reverence to him, the 

 Creator. .Attend the Conventions to 

 which you are sent as delegates, not 

 simply with the idea of having a good 

 time and making pleasant and agreea- 

 ble acquaintances, but go there as 

 men who have a purpose to attain, a 

 duty to perform, and in its attain- 

 ment and performance be actuated 

 solely by a aesire to aid, assist and 

 encourage all steps that may be taken 

 to forward the interest of apiculture. 

 Work with head and heart for the in- 

 terest of the whole ; frown upon error, 

 and heartily cheer for the right ; do 

 not resolve the Convention into a 

 scandal shop, or form it into a mutual 

 admiration society, but give to all 

 their just due, and encourage pro- 

 gress, no matter from whence it origi- 

 nates ; respect the opinions of others, 

 even when they clash with your own, 

 and by argument instead of sarcasm, 

 strive to carry your own points. Let 

 your points 'be for the general good, 

 and not for a selfish purpose only. 



Thus shall we make apiculture a 

 noble profession, and cause it to 

 proudly hold up its head among other 

 occupations, and become a power in 

 the hind. 



Foxboro, Mass., August, 1882. 



For tlie American B^e JournaL 



Comb Ts. Extracted Honey. 



DR. C. C. MILLER. 



Shall we work for comb honey, and 

 how ."hall we get the most of it V 



I don't believe much in essays for 

 Conventions, but as the President of 

 the National Convention has honored 

 me by asking me to write on the above 

 subject, I cheerfully make the effort, 

 especially as the subject is one which 

 is to me intensely interesting, and 1 

 hope something in the essay may pro- 

 voke discussion. If there is discus- 

 sion, I linow I shall learn something 

 from it. 



Practicallv, I answer the first part 

 of the question by saying that I have 

 this season taken fifteen thousand 

 pounds of honey, and my extractor 

 has stood untouched the whole sum- 

 mer. This answer is. however, only 

 for the present time ; for changes are 

 so constantly taking place that another 

 year may make extracted honey the 

 most profitable tor me to raise. The 

 answer is also only for myself. For 

 many others I am satisfied it is better 

 to extract all honey. Not 50 miles from 

 where I live is a man who sells thou- 

 sands of pounds of extracted honey at 



the highest price which can be ob- 

 tained for comb. That man would be 

 foolish to raise comb honey in prefer- 

 ence to extracted. Underthe present 

 condition of matters, probably each 

 producer must decide for himself 

 which kind will yield the most net 

 profit. A few years ago I raised ex- 

 tracted honey exclusively, and I may 

 be allowed to gire some of the reasons 

 why I now prefer to raise comb honey. 

 So long as I had only enough honey to 

 supply the home market, I could sell 

 extracted for about the same as comb, 

 but having now a larger apiary, I am 

 obliged either to ship to the large 

 cities, or spend a good deal of time in 

 developing a larger field as my home 

 market. I think this latter course 

 would take a good deal of my time 

 through the winter, and at that time 

 of the year I want something of a 

 vacation. Moreover, if I sell ex- 

 tracted to the best advantage in a 

 home market, I must spend no little 

 amount of time and labor constantly 

 getting it ready in small packages for 

 retailing. If I ship to the large cities 

 I can ship in bulk the extracted, and 

 be easily rid of it, but a glance at the 

 quotations frightens me from such a 

 course. Comb honey is quoted about 

 double the price of extracted, and I 

 do not believe I can raise twice as 

 much extracted as comb. Possibly, 

 if I had a smaller number of colonies 

 I might. I think one person can take 

 care of a larger number of colonies 

 run for comb than for extracted honey. 

 Then all my fixtures and arrange- 

 ments are at present for comb honey, 

 and without the prospect of decided 

 gain, I should not want to change. On 

 the whole, looking honestly at the 

 whole ground, I do not think I have 

 made out so strong a case but that I 

 might be induced to change upon be- 

 ing better informed as to the best way 

 of raising extracted honey, or upon a 

 sufflcient advance in the price of the 

 same, and I expect to see the price 

 constantly approximate toward that 

 of comb honey. But just at present 

 I hardly expect to use the extractor 

 more than enough to supply my own 

 table, for a good article of extracted 

 I believe to be best for the consumer. 

 Coming now to the second part of 

 the question, how shall we obtain the 

 most comb honey "? If some years of 

 practice, together with lying awake 

 nights studying over the question, 

 may fit (me to answer it, then I may 

 certainly lay some claim to be the 

 right man. But candidly. I don't 

 know. If a trip to the Cincinnati 

 Convention will give as full an answer 

 to the question as I desire. I shall feel 

 well repaid for the journey, even if I 

 have to make it on foot. The question 

 is a verv general one, covering pretty 

 mucli the Whole field of bee-keeping, 

 involving a large number of other 

 questions, to some of which I may 

 briefly allude. Among the first, comes 

 the question as to the best bees; a 

 question I do not feel competent to 

 discuss, and one which has been much 

 discussed already in our papers. I do 

 not. however, believe that the best 

 bees for business will be had by get- 

 ting queens from the best strain, and 

 then breeding from them indiscrimi- 



