Preparation for Comb Honey. 487 



CHAPTER XIII. 

 Working for Comb Honey. 



While extracted honey has so much to recommend it, 

 and is rapidly growing in favor with American apiarists, 

 still such reports as that of Dr. C. C. Miller, who in 1884 

 increased his 174 colonies to 202, and took 16,000 pounds 

 of comb honey in one-pound sections, which netted him 

 very nearly $3,000, and that of Mr. Doolittle, who has 

 secured nearly 100 pounds of comb honey per colony for a 

 long series of years, may well lead us not to ignore this 

 branch of our business. The showy horse, or the red short- 

 horn, may not be intrinsically superior to the less attractive 

 animals; but they will always win in the market. So comb 

 honey, in the beautiful one-pound sections, will always 

 attract buyers and secure the highest price. As more 

 embark in the production of extracted' honey, higher will 

 be the price of the irresistible, incomparable comb honey. 

 Well then may we study how to secure the most of this 

 exquisite product of the bees, in a form that shall rival in 

 attractiveness that of the product itself, for very likely the 

 state of the market in some localities will make its pro- 

 duction the most profitable feature of apiculture. 



POINTS TO CONSIDER. 



To secure abundance of comb honey the colonies must 

 be very strong, and the brood-combs full of brood at the 

 dawn of the honey harvest. The swarming fever must 

 be kept at bay or cured, before the rapid storing com- 

 mences, and the honey should be secured in the most attract- 

 ive form. 



TO SECURE STRONG COLONIES. 



By feeding daily, whenever the bees are not storing, 

 commencing as soon as the bees commence to store pollen, 

 we shall almost certainly, if the bees have been well win- 

 tered, secure this result. We should also use the division 



