52 ALEXANDER'S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 



work during the day; but, not so. It seemed to act as a stimulus to still 

 greater activity when they could go to the flowers. Then I felt I had 

 solved the problem of producing comb honey from extracted. There were 

 no more partly filled sections to bother with; no more travel-stained 

 sections to sell at a reduced price, but every one nicely filled out clear 

 to the wood, and well capped. 



I then found I had at my control for about 60 days as rich a harvest 

 for the colonies I ran for comb honey as I could desire, and with not 

 a break of even a day It was a pleasure to see those sections filled with 

 choice comb honey. 



I don't think it possible to feed thick extracted honey to bees for 

 the purpose of producing comb honey so as to derive any profit from it 

 after the honey-producing season is over. I think that nearly all those 

 that have ever tried it, and went only so far along this line, have given 

 it up in disgust. But when I took up this line of the business I went 

 much further than any I had ever heard of, and made it a success. 



The day is coming when the comb-honey producer will find It as 

 1 have stated above. He will have complete control of his harvest for 

 comb honey simply by keeping a few more colonies and running them 

 wholly for extracted honey to help his comb-honey colonies along during 

 those natural changes of the atmosphere which frequently cause the 

 flowers to stop secreting nectar several days at a time. Then the bees 

 stop working in their sections, their combs turn yellow, and, if the 

 honey-dearth lasts many days, as it sometimes does, it requires a good 

 harvest to start them at work again in their sections, and then those 

 sections will never sell for the highest market price. This can all be 

 prevented when there is a good feeder under every hive, and tanks full 

 of extracted honey. 



I repeat that, in order to produce comb honey from extracted at 

 any profit, it must be done during hot weather while the bees are gath- 

 ering nectar from the flowers, and the honey, before it is fed, must be 

 thinned with boiling water to about the consistency of nectar. To feed 

 thick extracted honey out of season to produce comb honey is a waste 

 of both time and honey; and the small amount of comb honey that is 

 produced is likely to granulate and become unsalable. 



This is one of those leading subjects which should receive our at- 

 tention until our markets are free from so much unsalable honey as 

 we often see. With the knowledge and appliances for producing honey 

 we now have, no man is excusable for putting a poor article on the 

 market; and it is a duty we owe to ourselves and each other to con- 

 demn this practice wherever we see it. I can not see how locality 

 can make much difference in this matter; but I can readily see that, 

 if honey Is thinned to the consistency of nectar with boiling water, it 

 will have a tendency to prevent Us granulating; and if fed to bees In 

 this condition during the season when it is natural for them to build 

 comb and are gathering nectar from the flowers, a short slim harvest can 



