■822 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL,. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Comb vH. Exli'iicted Hoiiev. 



J. L. QUAY. 



Mr. Biissey.iii liKEjouuNAr.df'Dee. 

 6th, has started a subject of interest 

 to me, and one tliat I think should 

 Lave a share of the most careful 

 thought and experiment of our most 

 successful apiarists. The Bee Jouu- 

 NAL is full of articles on almost every 

 conceivable subject, bnt tliis one has 

 not had the attention that its impor- 

 tance should attach to it. 



While I shall differ very materially 

 from Mr. l?ussey's conclusions, still I 

 am glad he has taken the grounds he 

 has, for, perhaps, it will draw out 

 articles from the most experienced 

 apiarists. 



My experience this year,and for the 

 Sast 7 or 8 years, has established the 

 'Opinion very firmly in my mind, that 

 I caji pi'oduce at least three times as 

 iBueh extracted honey as I can of 

 comb honey from tlie same number of 

 colonies. From 15 colonies run for 

 extracted honey this year, my crop of 

 extracted honey was 3,000 lbs. or 240 

 lbs. per colony'; from over .50 colonies 

 run from comb honey, my receipts 

 were :^.. 500 lbs., or about .50 lbs. per 

 ■colony. Of course there was an oc- 

 casional comb, from some of those 

 that were run for comb honey, taken 

 and extracted, bnt not enougli to ma- 

 terially change the ligures. 



Now, as to prices: Mr. Bussey says 

 that Mr. Oatman received 20 cis. per 

 lb. for his honey, aiid,deductihg 4 cts. 

 for expenses, leaving him 16 cts. net; 

 it is then double the price received 

 for extracted honey. JVIr. Oatman re- 

 ceives an exceptionally good price for 

 his honey, on account of quality and 

 amount ; buyers always giving more 

 for large lots than small ones; but even 

 .at those figures it is not double the 

 price that 1 am receiving for my ex- 

 tracted honey at home. 



1 sent some comb honey and some 

 ■extracted honey to two of the most 

 prominent commission firms on Water 

 St., Chicago, a short time ago ; one of 

 them wrote me the other day that the 

 extracted honey was ail sold at 91 cts. 

 per lb., but the comb honey was unsold. 

 The other wrote me that the ex- 

 tracted honey sold for iWc; the comb 

 for 15 cts. per lb. These are fair 

 figures ;is an exam])le, for tlie honey 

 was produced from llie same apiary, 

 sold in the same niaiUet by the same 

 class of men, and collected from the 

 same flowers, at the same time of 

 year. 



Now, as to the proper condition of 

 producing and getting in jiroper con- 

 dition for market. One barrel, holding 

 -50 gallons or 550 lbs. can be bought 

 for $2, at the most, while to get .550 

 lbs. of comb honey in good market- 

 able condition, costs, if 1 count my 

 time anything, $8, at the least. 



My 15 eolonies that we run for ex- 

 tracted lioney gave a profit of $22.80 

 gross i»er colony, while those run for 

 comb gave $7.50 gross. Taking out 

 the actual cost of eacli, for getUng in 

 condition and marketing, you can 

 very clearly see where they would 

 come out. 



There are some mitigating circum- 

 stances in these figures, whicli woLdd 

 help the sliowing of the comb honey 

 side, which I luive not mentioned, 

 such as increasing ; tlie colonies run 

 for extracted honey .did not increase 

 very much; while those run for comb 

 honey have nearly all swarmed once ; 

 but they had the "advantage of having 

 all the honey gathered by tlieir increase 

 accounted for. 



Mr. Bussey will probably want to 

 know why I ran .50 colonies for comb 

 honey and only 15 for extracted, if 1 

 knew that extracted honey paid so 

 much tlie best V 



To this I can only reply that circum- 

 stances control all of us, to a cer- 

 tain extent. My fixtures were all got- 

 ten up for comb honey production, 

 and having, some years, 80 to 1.50 

 colonies to look after alone, I can care 

 for them during the busy season, a 

 good deal easier by running them for 

 comb honey than for extracted. If I 

 were trying to make the best sliowing 

 possible for one apiary. I would not 

 have over .50 colonies of bees in it ; I 

 would not allow them to increase at 

 all. and I would run them all for ex- 

 tracted honey. 



Iho!)etohear from others on this 

 subject, and I will close by saying 

 that I had some 12 or 15 colonies in 

 my yard run for other purposes than 

 honey-producing that I did not count. 

 I now have 1.38 colonies in winter 

 quarters. 



Lee Centre, 111. 



Local Convention Directory. 



I88;i. 



Time and Place of Meetino. 



Jan. 2-4.— Eastern N. Y., at Albany, N. V. 



E. Quakenbush, Sec. Burnerville, N. Y. 

 9.— Cortland Union, ul Cortland. N. Y. 



M. C. Bean, Sec. McGrawville, N. Y. 

 9.— Ohio State, at Columbus. Ohio. 



D. Spear, Sec Cardiu^ton, Ohio. 

 9-1 1, Northeastern, at Syracuse, N. Y. 



G. W. House, Fa.retteville, N. Y. 



10. U.— Indiana State, at nidianapolis. 



Dr. J. H. O'Rear, I'res. 



11. Nebraska State, at Wahoo, Neb. 



Geo. M. Hawlcy, Sec. 

 10,— N. W. 111. and S. W. Wis. at Krecport. 



J. Stewart, Sec. 



18, ChamDlain Valley, at Middlebui-E. Vt. 



T. Brookins, Sec. 



19, iio.— Mahoning Valley, at Berlin Centre, O. 



Ij. Carson, Pres. 

 20.— S. W. Mich., at Ann Arbor. 



G. J. I'ease, Sec. Ann Arbor. 

 Feb. 3.— Northern Ohio, at Norwalk, O, 

 8.— Maine State, at Dexter. 



Wm. Hoyt, Sec. 

 April 5.— Utah, at Salt Lake City. 



E. Stevenson, Sec. 

 17, l.S,- Texas State, at McKinney, 



Wm. K, Howard, See. 

 May 1 1.— Iowa Central, at Winterset. 



J. E. Pryor.Sec. 

 — , —Texas State Convention, at McKinney. 

 Dr. W. R. Howard, Sec. 

 Oct. 17, 18.— Northwestern, at Chicago, 111. 



Thomas G. Newman, Sec. 

 9, 10.— Northern Migh. at Sheridan, Mich. 

 O. R. Goodno, Sec. Carson City. Mich. 

 Dec. 0-6, Michigan State, at Flint. 



H. D. Cutting, Sec, Union, Mich. 



ty" In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Er>. 



^^ The Texas State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its Fifth Annual 

 Convention at ISlcKinuey, Collin Co., 

 on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 

 17th and 18lh. 18S3; at the residence of 

 Hon. \V. H. Andrews. 



The following committees have been 

 appointed, and the programme arrang- 

 ed for the next meeting, by the execu- 

 tive committee; viz : on Resokitions; 

 Apiarian Supplies and Exhibits ; 

 Subjects for Discussion ; and Arrange- 

 ments, to receive and entertain those 

 in attendance from abroad. 



Programme. — President's Address. 

 Subject— State and National Conven- 

 tions. 



Subjects for general discussion : 



Essays.— Tim " Coming bee," W. H. 

 Andrews. Honey plants. Native 

 Ilorsemiiits, different varieties, Wm. 

 R. Howard. 'Extracted vs. Comb 

 Honey," W. K. Marshall, D. D. 

 '' Bee-Moth," W. H. Andrews. " The 

 Queen Bee, her nature and habits. 

 Wm. R. Howard. " The different 

 races of bees in America; their relative 

 value to apiculture," W. K. Marshall, 

 D. D. 



Other essays are promised, and a 

 general good time is anticipated. 

 Ample arrangements are made to ac- 

 comodate those from a distance. 

 Those wishing to place anything on 

 exhibition or correspond with the com- 

 mittee of arrangements, will be 

 promptly attended to, by addressing, 

 W. H. Andrews, President, McKinney, 

 Collin Co,, Texas. All othercorrespon- 

 dence to the Secretary. We would be 

 pleased to have any one propound 

 questions of interest for discussion, 

 as we have found great interest, as 

 well as valuable information gained 

 bj; the discusssion of questions con- 

 tributed to our " Question Box." 



Wm. R. Howard, Sec. 



Kingston, Texas. 



1^" The annual meeting of the 

 Northwestern Illinois and South- 

 western Wisconsin Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation will be held in Temperance 

 Hall, Freeport, Stephenson county, 

 111., on January 16 and 17, 1883. 



Jonathan Stkwaut, Sec. 



Rock City, 111. 



1^ The Eastern New York Bee- 

 Keepers' Union will hold their 11th 

 Semi-Annual Convention on Tuesday, 

 Wednesday and Thursday, January 

 2nd, 3d, and 4tli, 1883, at the State 

 Agricultural Rooms, State Street, 

 Albany, at 10 o'clock, a. m. All inter- 

 ested in bees are invited to attend. 



C. QUACKENBUSH, ISCC. 



W. L. Tennant, Pres. 



1^ The Nebraska State Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, will hold its annual 

 session in Wahoo, Saunders county, 

 Neb., commencing Thursday, Jan. 

 11th, 1883. Arrangements have been 

 made with the railroads to secure l}4 

 fare for the round trip. The Saunders 

 county Bee-Keepers' Association will 

 furnish entertainment free to all 

 visiting apiarists. Bee-keepers from 

 neighboring States will be welcomed. 

 T. L. VonDorn, Pres. 



Geo. M. Hawley, Sec. 



