ALEXANDER'S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 55 



It looks nice to go Into your storehouse at the close of the season 

 and see several tons of choice comb honey with hardly a section that 

 is not of the finest quality; and to see the clamps all empty, with no 

 partly filled sections lying around is another thing which shows there 

 has been some sljlll used in producing that crop of honey. 



Some of you may think that this implies lots of work, which I will 

 admit, and so does every thing connected with the successful manage- 

 ment of bees. I know many let them take care of themselves, and 

 appear to be satisfied with whatever they can get; but I never should 

 like to run a business in that way. 



In the above I have called your attention to the three worst troubles 

 in producing comb honey, and I have also given you a practical way 

 of overcoming them. 



About twenty-six years ago I sold nearly three tons of comb honey 

 that was produced in this way to a dealer for two cents a pound above 

 the market price, on account of its fine appearance. It is the same 

 in producing comb honey that it is with extracted. You must adopt 

 methods whereby you can combine a fine quality with a large quantity, 

 and then you are on a straight road to success. If I should ever again 

 return to the production of comb honey the above method is the one I 

 should most decidedly adopt. 



When I was running my bees for comb honey we had no practical 

 feeders as we have now, whereby honey can easily be fed to our comb- 

 honey-produclng colonies; neither did we realize how easy it Is to have 

 an abundance of choice young queens early in the season to supersede 

 our old queens with. Had I known then as I do now how easily these 

 two Important factors can be acquired I would not have changed from 

 comb honey to extracted as I did; for I am sure there is more money 

 In producing a choice grade of comb honey, as I have described, than 

 there Is in producing extracted honey. 



May, 1906. 



COMB VS. EXTRACTED HONEY. 



COMB HONEY KEQTJIRES A EAPID HONET-rLOW; MOEB EXPENSIVE FIXTUBES, MOBB 



LABOB TO produce; swaeming conteolled mobe easily in 



COLONIES BUN FOB EXTBACTED HONEY. 



Frequently I receive letters from different parties wishing to know 

 which Is the more profitable to produce — comb or extracted honey. 

 This, in some respects, is a rather hard question to answer, for much 

 depends not only on the location and season, but also on the man and 

 his methods. Rather than produce extracted honey as some do I should 

 prefer comb honey. 



There are many localities where the surplus is gathered so slowly, 

 even in good seasons, that It is almost Impossible to produce a nice 

 quality of comb honey. Then there are many seasons, even In good 



