ALEXANDER’S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 57 
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 season 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 com- 
mence 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-super as in the 
main hive. This gives more comb surface, 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 demand at nearly all times of the year 
for it. This is used mostly for manufacturing purposes. 
As to the amount of comb or extracted honey that an apiary can 
be made to produce this is well worth considering. Some good bee- 
keepers estimate 2 Ibs. of extracted for one of comb. We are sure we 
could never secure more than one-third as much comb as we do ex- 
tracted, even though it cost far more labor. 
Still another thing I like about producing 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 I 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. 
July, 1907. 
