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76 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 



self, I wouldn't give very much for the chances of a queen 

 being a good queen if she didn't lay in the fall. 



Mr. Abbott — The probabilities are she will not be a good 

 queen. If she is superseded she will not be. She will be 

 dead. 



SOUR HONEY IN THE BROOD-CHAMBER, 



"Can the case of sour honey in the brood-chamber be ex- 

 plained? That is, where honey sours in the brood-chamber?" 

 Mr. Wilcox — I think it can be explained, but I dori't see 

 how it can be helped. I have seen sour honey because it was 

 gathered from . something that was sour before it was gath- 

 ered, and also because it absorbed so much moisture from the 

 temperature. It was a ^ery weak colony, and it got just 

 warm enough so fermentation would commence; but the 

 main cause is where it is gathered from some sour sub- 

 stance. < 



PRICES OF EXTRACTED AND COMB HONEY. 



"What price must extracted honey be sold for to make 

 the average colony as profitable as it would be if run for 

 comb honey which sells for 15 cents per pound? 



Mr. Baldridge — That depends upon whether you are go- 

 ing to wholesale or retail it. No man has any right to sell 

 extracted honey for any less than comb honey at retail. I 

 charge the same price and I give my customers their choice, 

 and my books will show that 90 pounds in zoo are extracted. 

 What is the use of giving your honey away? I was in exis- 

 tence as a bee-keeper before extracted honey was brought 

 about. Nobody would ever have asked bee-keepers to have 

 done it if they hadn't done it themselves. 



Dr. Miller — Mr. President, Mr. Baldridge isn't answering 

 the question at all. 



Mr. Baldridge — Fifteen cents. 



Mr. Wilcox — That is a subject that I commenced study- 

 ing a good many years ago, and I thought that I could find 

 it by referring to the back numbers of the American Bee 

 Journal, and I spent a week at it, and now I am obliged to 

 guess at it, that about two pounds of extracted to one of comb 

 is an equal matter with the average. Of course, conditions 

 vary one season with another, and one locality with another, 

 and there are several circumstances to be taken into consid- 

 eration. It is a very practical question, and a very important 

 one for beginners. I wish to get at the facts. I produced 

 comb honey for ten years -exclusively, and I was satisfied then 

 that that it was the most profitable, and I changed finally to 

 extracted because my locality produced principally dark honey, 

 and I am sure it is more profitable than the comb. I tried again 

 to produce the comb honey but I can't produce it now as well 

 as I could 30 or 40 years ago. I believe I have^ lost the art. 

 I think when you take into consideration the losses, and 

 risks, and breakage, that it is about a fair and equal thing 

 to us, and that the price of comb honey should be just double 

 the price of extracted. That's my rule. 



Mr. Horstmann — If you sell comb honey at i^ cents a 



:.-U. 



