THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



251 



their work in the sections, night and day, 

 will give us choice comb honey, and usu- 

 ally it is rather hard to have these re- 

 quirements all at the same time; and if 

 either is lacking, then we have a surplus 

 of poor quality and a large number of un- 

 finished sections. 



Then there is the expense connected 

 with oomb honey, which we must consid- 

 er. This is no small item in large apiar- 

 ies. 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 badly 

 damaged in transit; and the worst of all 

 was the uncertainty of securing much 

 surplus. Then when 1 got the net returns 

 from the commission men. and found they 

 were only 1 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 dis- 

 gust. 



The desire to swarm is hard to over- 

 come 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 ex- 

 tracted honey, for 1 think these all require 

 some brood when started, which never 

 should be taken from a colony at work in 

 sections, for it soon reduces their working 

 force and causes them to be somewhat 

 discouraged. This can be easily proven 

 by removing their brood and putting in its 

 place combs partly filled with honey. 



Now. the question of labor is one we 

 must consider. From our past experi- 

 ence we find, from the time sections, 

 crates, comb foundation, separators, and 

 glass are received from the manufacturer 

 until the comb honey is sold, it has re- 

 quired far more labor than it would to 

 produce a given amount of extracted 

 honey. Whichever you produce, 1 con- 

 sider it of as much importance to prepare 

 your bees well in the spring for the sum- 

 mer harvest as it is to prepare them in 

 the summer for the long cold winters of 

 the North. 



In the above I have briefly called your 

 attention to a few of the many troubles 

 in producing choice comb honey. With 

 extracted honey it in many ways is so 

 different that it is almost like another 

 business. We have the whole spring sea- 

 son to rear young queens, make increase, 

 and build them up into strong colonies;* 

 and although when the harvest comes 

 there may be some still weak in bees, we 

 know that they will give us some surplus, 



even though the season is a poor one, and 

 the harvest is strung along all summer 

 with only now and then a good honey day. 



As soon as a colony is strong enough in 

 bees, and is full of brood and honey, all 

 that is necessary to do is to put on top a 

 hive of empty combs with a queen- 

 excluder between; and if you want them 

 to commence storing honey above, at 

 once exchange an empty comb from your 

 upper hive for a comb of brood from below. 



Some prefer shallow combs to extract 

 from; others prefer combs of the same 

 size as those below, and use one or two 

 combs less in their extracting-supers. We 

 prefer all combs in the apiary to be of the 

 same size, and use the same number in 

 the extracting-suoer as in the main hive. 

 This gives more comb surfao-e, so the 

 honey will evaporate much faster than in 

 thick combs. 



Here is one of the principal reasons why 

 we are never troubled with thin honey. A 

 strong full colony that has plenty of room 

 to spread out their honey and keep it hot 

 night and day will thicken it very fast. 



Storage-tanks are very important in 

 producing extracted honey of fine quality. 

 After it is strained into them there will be 

 a little scum rise to the top, which can 

 easily be skimmed off, and never should 

 be allowed to go with the honey. Then it 

 is easy to draw off the thick honey from 

 the bottom, which gives you the very best 

 quality that can be produced. 



Comb honey is rather unfortunate in 

 many ways. It is used only for table use. 

 and here it has to compete with nearly all 

 kinds of fruit, maple syrup, and a small 

 per cent of extracted honey. But not so 

 with extracted. There is a growing de- 

 mand at nearly all times of the year for 

 it. This is used mostly for manufactur- 

 ing purposes. 



As to the amount of comb or extracted 

 honey that an apiary can be made to pro- 

 duce this is well worth considering. Some 

 good bee-keepers estimate 2 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted for one of comb. We are sure we 

 could never secure more than one third as 

 much comb as we do extracted, even 

 though it cost far more labor. 



Still another thing 1 like about produc- 

 ing extracted honey is that, as soon as the 

 harvest is over, the work in the apiary is 

 nearly done, except putting the bees in 

 their winter quarters. 



In the above 1 have tried to show both 

 sides of the question to the best of my 

 ability, and I leave you to answer your 

 own question as to which is the more 

 profitable to produce comb or extracted 

 honey. 



Delanson, N. Y. 



