28 BULLETIN 685^ U. S. DEPAE.TMEKT OF AGKICULTUBE. 
able to produce a larger quantity of honey if they are not 
compelled to build comb for it, and by emptying the combs 
and replacing them in the hive, the bee is able in periods 
of heavy nectar secretion to proceed immediately to the 
storage of more honey. 
By reference to Table Ylll it will be seen that the greater 
proportion of section comb honey is produced in the North 
Atlantic, the North Central and a few Western States, 
practically all of the ^^bulk" or chunk" honey in the 
Southeastern and South Central States, and the larger pro- 
portion of the extracted or hquid form in the North Central 
and Western States. The comb honey is most in demand for 
the home and fancy trade and for seasonal consumption, much 
the greater proportion being consumed within the first six 
months after its production, the extracted as a staple product^ 
being stored and handled throughout the year and entering into 
interstate and foreign commerce, and the ^^bulk" or chunk'' 
honey for home consumption, finding only a Umited and local 
market. The present year shows a decided drift in the 
Southern States away from the production of " chunk" honey 
and toward comb in sections, being a transition stage accom- 
panying the gradual introduction of improved methods 
in the States where ^^bulk" honey has hitherto been a, if not 
the, principal form. 
It should be borne in mind that in the Southeastern 
States the less progressive elements of the industry, which 
are more largely devoted to the production of "chimk" 
honey, are but hghtly represented in these returns and that 
the production of that form is probably in much larger 
relative proportion than here shown, while comb-honey is 
overstated, both in these States and in some of heavy com- 
mercial production, such as Cahfornia, where the extracted 
forms a larger proportion than indicated. 
