2 MISCELLANEOUS PAPEKS ON APICTJLTUKE. 



be easier in the future. For a discussion of this work the reader is 

 referred to Bulletin No. 110 of the Bureau of Chemistry, entitled 

 " Chemical Analysis and Composition of American Honeys." 



Some of the common practices of bee keepers are, however, open 

 to serious question, and it is primarily to call attention to these that 

 the present paper is presented. It is possible to treat pure high- 

 grade extracted honey so that on chemical examination it would be 

 condemned or called in question. In the past there has been some 

 trouble in cases where chemists have declared honeys, to which noth : 

 ing has been added, to be adulterated ; part of the fault possibly lies 

 with the use of poor methods by chemists, but not all of it. If a bee 

 keeper treats pure honey so that its chemical composition is changed, 

 it is no longer honey, and should not be sold for such. Several of 

 the most widely circulated text-books on apiculture advocate very 

 questionable practices. 



There are several text-books giving detailed information as to the 

 production and care of extracted honey. It is not the purpose of 

 this paper to replace these, but to point out the main principles to be 

 observed, and especially to call attention to a few points which do 

 not seem to be understood by the majority of honey producers. Many 

 details which are apparently unnecessary in most cases are omitted, 

 since the writer believes that each bee keeper must find out many 

 minor details in his own experience, and less important phases of 

 the work may better be learned from other sources. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF THE PRODUCTION OE EXTRACTED HONEY. 



It is not the purpose of this paper to advocate the production of 

 extracted honey as preferable to that of comb honey, nor would it be 

 at all desirable to have the production of fancy comb honey dimin- 

 ished. For the benefit of the honey market, however, it could not 

 result in anything but good were the poorer grades of comb honey 

 to be sold as extracted. The discolored ("travel-stained") and 

 irregularly or partially capped comb honey found on so many mar- 

 kets is a poor advertisement for the the bee keeper who tries to 

 produce a fancy article. 



The production of extracted honey means considerably less labor 

 for the bee keeper and also less work of certain kinds for the bees, 

 for it is not necessary for the latter to secrete so much wax. Since 

 it takes several pounds of honey under most conditions to produce 1 

 pound of wax, the surplus per colony is greater with extracted honey 

 than with comb, but this is compensated by the fact that comb honey 

 of equal grade universally sells at a higher price. 



In the production of extracted honey it is much easier to control 

 swarming, since the brood chamber is not contracted so much and the 

 queen has an opportunity to work to her maximum capacity. On 



