The Production of Extracted-Honey 
287 
Advantages of extracled-honey. 
The fact that the combs may be repeatedly used increases 
materially the amount of honey produced by a single colony 
and thereby reduces the cost of production of a pound of 
extracted-honey. There is less secretion of wax and, since the 
secretion of a pound of beeswax is estimated as costing from 
six to twenty pounds of honey (and probably considerable 
bee vitality), this saving is considerable. In light honey- 
flows, bees often refuse to work in comb-honey sections, 
whereas they will store the available nectar if extracting 
combs are on the hive. Under comb-honey conditions the 
queen is often cramped for room and the population of the 
colony is thereby reduced, while in extracted-honey con¬ 
ditions she has abundant room, unless otherwise restricted. 
The larger comb area in extracted-honey production fur¬ 
nishes the bees plenty of cells in which to store fresh nectar, 
giving increased evaporating surface and thus hastening 
the ripening process. The beekeeper can care for more 
colonies in producing extracted-honey than in producing 
comb-honey. Swarming is more easily controlled and is 
much less prevalent because of the abundance of empty 
comb provided. Furthermore, in comb-honey production 
most of the work in the apiary requires skill and experience, 
while in extracted-honey production one man can furnish 
the skill for many colonies and can employ unskilled labor 
to help during extracting. In selling extracted-honey to the 
consumer there is the marked advantage of blending honeys 
from different sources, thereby obtaining a mixture which 
can be duplicated year after year. 
Disadvantages of extracted-honey. 
While more extracted-honey than comb-honey can be 
obtained from a colony in a season, this is balanced by the 
fact that the wholesale market value of a pound of ex¬ 
tracted-honey is less than that of a section of comb-honey, 
the unit with which a pound of extracted-honey must be 
compared. However, year in and year out the advantage 
