26 Advanced Bcc Culture 



hone}-, as tliere is abundant time in which to build combs for the storage 

 of the hone}-, fill them, and seal them over. 



In the white-clover and basswood regions, swarming and the main 

 honey-harvest come at the same time ; in some parts of the Southwest, 

 swarming comes on with the flow from the early minor honey-plants, 

 and is almost entirely abandoned with the advent of the heavy honey-flow 

 that comes on later. 



The question of large versus small hives, over which there have 

 been so many spirited discussions, is largely one of locality. In the cooler 

 regions, where the harvest is early and short, small hives find favor, 

 especially in comb-honey production, while the large hive is a favorite 

 in the warmer regions that are blessed with a long honey-flow. 



Which the bee-keeper shall produce, comb or extracted honey, is 

 also largely a question of locality. Where the main honey-flow is short. 

 as it is often from basswood, sometimes lasting only a few days, there 

 is not time for the bees to build combs in the sections, fill them, and 

 cap them over, before the harvest is over and past. With full sets of 

 drawn combs in the extracting-supers, a good crop of extracted honey 

 may be secured within a week. Such conditions as these exist in man\- 

 parts of Wisconsin. Where honey must be shipped long distances to 

 market, as is the case in Cuba and California, one very important reason 

 for producing extracted honey is that there is so much less danger of 

 damage in shipment. Dark honey is, as a rule, much more salable in 

 the extracted form. When the flow is light but constant, and of long 

 duration, as in Colorado, and the honey is white, comb-honey production 

 has its advantages, as honey is worth more when stored in sections than 

 when taken in the extracted form. 



California furnishes the most immense crops of honey that are any- 

 where produced, but they are entirely dependent upon the rainfall that 

 comes in the winter. If the rains fail to come, the bee-keeper knows to 

 a certainty that not only will there be no surplus, but, unless the proper 

 management is given, his colonies will perish from starvation. 



In the buckwheat regions of New York, not much dependence is 

 placed upon the early honey-flows for securing a surplus. They enable 

 the bees to breed up, and, as a rule, finish their swarming, before the 

 buckwheat opens, when the main crop of the season is gathered. A 

 colony so weak in the spring that it would be nearly useless in a flow 

 from clover or basswood, has abundant time in which to build up for 

 the buckwheat honey-harvest. 



Then, again, there are localities near swamps, where the main flow 

 comes very late, from fall flowers, asters, and the like. The yield is 

 often very abundant, but the quality is undesirable when used for winter 

 stores. If the cold confines the bees for several months upon such stores. 



