CHAPTER IX 
PRODUCTION OF COMB HONEY. 
Tue successful production of comb honey requires more skill, 
perhaps, than any other branch of agricultural pursuit. Under 
certain favorable conditions it is a very easy matter and anvone 
who will supply sufficient supers will get a good crop. Such 
conditions, however, are of rare oceurrence and the average season 
in the average locality vives abundant opportunity to develop the 
resources of the producer to the utmost. 
The man who specializes in comb honey will usually produce 
small quantities of extracted honey also, while the extracted 
honey producer will have no occasion to produce sections, unless 
he especially wishes to have some of both. 
As to whether one should specialize in comb or extracted 
honey will depend upon many things. The skill of the operator 
is an important consideration, as extracted honey does not require 
as careful attention to details as the production of comb honey. 
The amount of the crop, source from which it comes, and the 
market which is available, all should be taken into consideration. 
Comb honey as a rule commands a more ready sale and does not 
require the expensive muchinery necessary to satisfactory pro- 
duction of the extracted product. 
~ One of the most important factors is the nature of the honey 
flow. If one lives in a region where the flows are long and very 
light, it is difficult to eet well-finished sections, and extracted 
honey will nearly always prove more profitable. If, on the other 
hand, the flows are short and very rapid, so that honev is piled 
up so fast as to make the bees fairly dizzv with the excitement of 
it, sections will be nicely finished and a large part of the crop 
ean be made to grade fancy or number one. Under circumstances 
of this kind sufficient wax is secreted to build the combs with little 
noticeable tax on the production, aud comb honey will probably 
be more profitable. 
136 
