956 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



the stomach of the ntirse-bee, and by a pro- 

 cess of digestion, or secretion, or both, form- 

 ed into milk of chyle, which is the only food 

 of the immature bee; and if, from any rea- 

 son, the supply of honey entirely gives out 

 at such times of prolific brood-rearing, the 

 larvic are sucked dry by the mature bees, so 

 they (the bees) need not perish; and if the 

 honey-famine still continues, the nurse-bees 

 feed to the mature bees, intead of to larva?, 

 what chyle they have prepared, so that the 

 life of the colony may be preserved as long 

 as possible, with the hope that honey may 

 again come from the fields before all perish. 

 At no other time have I ever known of ma- 

 ture bees eating pollen. I have starved sev- 

 eral colonies in the fall in a vain attempt to 

 make old bees subsist on pollen." 



"One more question before I go. A neigh- 

 bor of mine says pollen and propolis are the 

 same thing. Is he right?" 



"No. Their offices are very different. 

 Propolis is a resinous substance gathei'ed by 

 the bees from the buds of trees which secrete 

 or exude it, and is used to stop all cracks in 

 and about the hive not large enough to ad- 

 mit a bee, and to smooth over all vmeven 

 surfaces about that part of the hive they 

 come in contact with. It is as^different from 

 the farinaceous substance of pollen as glue is 

 from tiour, and could in no way be made to 

 take the place of pollen in preparing the 

 food for the larval bees. Your neighbor can 

 be no close student. or he would not make 

 any such assertion." 



C03IB VS. EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Comb Honey Re<iuires a Rapid Honey- flow; 

 3Iore ExiJensive Fixtures. More Labor to 

 Produce; Swarming Controlled More Eas- 

 ily in Colonies Run for Extracted Honey. 



BY E. W^ ALEXANDER. 



Frequently I receive letters from different 

 parties wishing to know which is the more 

 profitable to produce— comb or extracted 

 honey. This, in some respects, is a rather 

 hard question to answer, tor much depends 

 not only on the location and season, but al- 

 so on the man and his methods. Rather 

 than produce extracted honey as some do I 

 should prefer comb honey. 



There are many localities where the sur- 

 ,plus is gathered so slowJy, even in good sea- 

 sons, that it is almost impossible to produce 

 a nice quality of comb honey. Then there 

 are many seasons, even in good locations, 



when the surplus comes so unevenly, by un- 

 favorable conditions of the atmosphere, that 

 this, too, to a great extent, prevents the se- 

 curing of nice comb honey. We all know 

 that, the sooner the sections can be filled 

 and well capped, then removed from the 

 bees, the nicer will the honey appear. 



Some years ago, in conversation with one 

 of our principal honey-merchants, he called 

 my attention to a line lot of comb honey he 

 had just received. Each section was glassed 

 on each side, and the combs were as white 

 as any new comb I ever saw. I don't think 

 the sections could have been on the hive 

 more than ten days. They were so white 

 and free from travel-stains he told me he 

 could sell that honey for 4 cents per lb. more 

 than oi'dinary honey, on account of its fine _ 

 appearance. ■ 



A location that will require the whole sum- ■ 

 mer in order that a colony can secure 30 or 

 40 lbs. of comb honey should never be used 

 to produce honey of that kind, for only a 

 rich harvest with strong colonies and warm 

 nights, so the bees will continue their work 

 in the sections, night and day, will give us 

 choice comb honey, and usually it is rather 

 hard to have these requirements all at the 

 same time; and if either is lacking, then we 

 have a surplus of poor quality and a large 

 number of unfinished sections. 



Then there is the expense connected with 

 comb honey, which we must consider. This 

 is no small item in large apiaries. I hardly 

 know just what it would be now, as it is a 

 long time since I produced comb honey. But 

 when I did, it cost me at least 2 cents per lb. 

 for the necessary sections, comb foundation, 

 glass, and crates. Then the freight charges 

 were high, and frequently the honey got bad- 

 ly damaged in transit; and the worst of all 

 was the uncertainty of securing much sur- 

 plus. Then when I got the net returns from 

 the co;nmission men, and found they were 

 only 10 or 12 cents per lb., with still another 

 discount to be made of 2 cents per lb. or over 

 for supplies, I gave up the production of 

 comb honey in disgust. 



The desire to swarm is hard to overcome 

 in producing comb honey— much more so 

 than with" extracted. It is much handier to 

 make increase, rear queens, or form nuclei 

 in running an apiary for extracted honey, 

 for I think these all require some brood when 

 started, which never should be taken from a 

 colony at work in sections, for it soon re- 

 duces their working force and causes them 

 to be somewhat discouraged. This can be 

 easily proven by removing their bi'ood and 

 putting in its place combs partly filled with 

 honey. 



Now, the question of labor is one we must 

 consider. From our past experience we find, 

 from the time sections, crates, comb founda- 

 tion, separators, and glass are received from 

 the manufacturer until the comb honey is 

 sold, it has required far more labor than it 

 would to produce a given amount of extract- 

 ed honey. Whichever you produce, I con- 

 sider it of as much importance to prepare 

 your bees well in the spring for the summer 



