June 2, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



391 



but it surely is an important point to have our dish riglit 

 side up when Nature is ready to fill it with honey. 



As we are to consider those things an improvement 

 which return us the most money for our time spent with the 

 bees, we will now look at the question of sections. 



This is another place where we should use the most im- 

 proved method, or the one that pays the best. When I sold 

 my honey last fall I received SN cents more per pound for 

 the honey in one kind of section than I did for another. It 

 was all produced in the same yard, and at the same time, 

 and all sold to the same man, so you see the style of section 

 makes a difference. 



Of the different styles of sections we have to choose 

 from, we have the 4-piece to nail, the 4-piece dovetail, and 

 the 1-piece, and these are made either with bee-ways or 

 the plain no-bee-way kind. My preference is for the 4-piece 

 bee-way kind, for the following reasons : 



First, they weigh 40 pounds more per 1000, and at the 

 low price of a shilling per pound the difference in weight 

 will pay for the sections. 



Second, if we use the 4-piece dovetail, and glue the cor- 

 ners, we have something that will stay square, thereby 

 avoiding the annoyance of, having the section spring cor- 

 nerwise, or, as we say, become diamond-shaped, as is so 

 often the case with the one-piece, causing the edge of the 

 foundation to touch the side of the section before the foun- 

 dation has cooled, leaving the foundation insecurely fast- 

 ened, and many times causing it to fall, the result of which 

 is wasted super-room, or a box of ill-shaped honey. 



Third, a great many of the 1-piece sections will break 

 in folding, which loss must be added to the original cost, 

 and, what is still worse, many break after they are full of 

 honey. 



As between the plain and bee-way sections, my prefer- 

 ence is for the bee-way kind, for these reasons : 



First, because my experience has failed to show me that 

 any more honey can be secured by using plain sections than 

 those with bee-ways, while the supers' to hold plain ones 

 cost three or four times as much, and have more loose 

 pieces to handle. 



Second, we want to protect our honey from the accumu- 

 lating dust in a store, from punctures by careless handling, 

 and from sudden changes of temperature. Glassing pro- 

 tects the honey and still leaves it exposed, to tempt pro- 

 spective purchasers. Plain sections we can't glass. 



Third, glassed honey brings from 1 to 2 cents more per 

 pound than the same honey unglassed. Besides that, we 

 get good pay for our time glassing it. 



The principal thing in favor of the 1-piece sections is 

 that they can be put together in less time than the 4-piece. 

 But with a good machine from 1500 to 2000 4-piece sections 

 may be glued and put together in a day. 



As to the super, it should be as cheap as possible and 

 still retain all the good points of a good super. It should 

 have as few loose parts as possible. It should be made so 

 the honey can be easily gotten out without danger of being 

 injured. It should be arranged so the sections will come as 

 close to the brood-frames as possible. It should be as light 

 as possible, so as to save weight in hauling to and from out- 

 apiaries. If our hives, supers, etc., are uniform, and the 

 wagon-box is made to fit them, I have found it no more 

 work to load and tie on the stuff for 1000 colonies than it 

 was to do the same for 400 colonies where the supers, etc., 

 were of several sizes, and none of them fitted the wagon- 

 box. 



Our hives should be so the frames can be examined as 

 quickly as possible, I remember a visit I made to an out- 

 yard once to clip the queens. The bees were about half in 

 twostory chaff, hives, many of the frames of which wore 

 stuck to the bottom-board so that after prying a frame 

 loose from the adjoining frames, and trying to lift it out, I 

 many times lifted the whole two-story hive and all its con- 

 tents. I can remember now just what I said I should like 

 to do with those hives. 



Whatever hive we use, the frames should be so they can 

 be taken out nearly as easily after the bees have occupied 

 it five years as when new. 



If we visit an out-apiary of 100 colonies, and it takes 1 '2 

 minutes longer to go through each hive than it would if the 

 hives were constructed differently, it would take ISO min- 

 utes, or 2'; hours, longer than it should. So the most im- 

 proved hive is the one that has the most other good points, 

 and can be handled the quickest. 



One thing that should be aimed at in the construe ioTi 

 of any hive, is to keep a warm and uniform temperatur in 

 the super. While I don't think that hives will gati . r 

 honey, I think some hives will furnish conditions that w U 



induce the bees to store more honey in the supers. In my 

 observations in a dozen or more yards, I have found that 

 the two-story chaff hive spoken of would have more honey 

 every time than any other hive in the same yard. And in 

 seasons that were called failures these hives would have a 

 fair crop. Others have told me this has been their experi- 

 ence with this hive. 



So our improved method is in a hive that can be handled 

 rapidly, and that will maintain a warm and uniform tem- 

 perature in the super. 



When the swarming season arrives, if it is inconvenient 

 to be with the bees at all times, we must use some of the 

 plans to prevent swarming. My preference is the removal 

 of the queen. This plan keeps nearly all the bees working 

 in one hive during the best honey-flow, and secures as 

 much honey as any other plan, according to my experience. 

 An improved method of producing comb honey should not 

 only aim to cost the bee-keeper as little as possible, but to 

 place it on the table of the consumer in the most tempting 

 form. My experience in retailing honey has been that the 

 majority of consumers of honey know nothing about honey 

 except that they like it if it is good. How often I have 

 been greeted on a second visit with the cry, "That honey 

 you sold me all went to sugar!" Or, " What makes your 

 honey all turn to sugar?" Sometimes they bring out a 

 plate containing a piece of comb honey for inspection. 

 They act in a kind of, " It don't seem possible, but there it 

 is, anyway," and will tell you they are " fond of honey, but 

 don't like that stuff." 



Another reason why I mention this matter is, I so often 

 see honey stored in ice-chests in stores, and have seen deal- 

 ers in honey hire it stored in a cold-storage plant, because 

 they thought that the best place for it. Stores almost 

 always place honey in the meat market unless some bee- 

 keeper has taught them better. I saw some fine honey 

 being retailed in a meat market this winter for 25 cents for 

 one-pound boxes. Now, if a customer buys one of those 

 boxes, and finds when he gets home that it is almost solid, 

 and doesn't know what to do with it, he will feel as if he 

 had lost that quarter ; while if it pleased him he would 

 probably buy a dozen more before spring. 



Bee-keepers should remember that the fall is the time 

 that honey is most likely to granulate. If it has been kept 

 warm until Jan. 1, it will stand more cold after that than it 

 will soon after coming from the hives. 



I think it would be a good plan to lay a paper large 

 enough to cover the sections in each shipping-case, and 

 print on it, with red ink and with type large enough to be 

 read without glasses, " Please Keep this Honey Dry and 

 Warm. Don't Store in a Cellar, Meat Market, Ice- 

 Chest, OR Cold Storage." 



As this is an age of improved methods, and we have met 

 to-day to exchange knowledge gleaned in our work in our 

 chosen pursuit, I will take up no more of your time, but 

 will leave it to some one better able than myself to discuss 

 it. Irving Kenyon. 



R. F. Holtermann— What style of section brought the 

 better price? 



Mr. Kenyon— The 4x4)4 bee-way section, glassed. 



Mr. Betsinger— For how long have you practiced caging 

 the queen to prevent swarming? , „ i. 



Mr. Kenyon— I got the idea from P. H. Elwood. He has 

 practiced it for 15 years. When the queen is returned and 

 begins laying, the honey that has been stored in the brood- 

 chamber is moved up into the sections, and the sections are 

 better finished. ... 1 



Mr. Betsinger— This new idea is very good, but my 

 advice is, go slow. I tried this plan of removing the queen 

 in 1874. After holding the queen for two weeks and re- 

 turning her they would swarm in 24 hours. I ioa't know 

 how Mr. Elwood can manage. The queen was taken out 

 and put into a nucleus. When the queen was returned they 

 would swarm without any cells. 



Mr. Kenyon said that was the plan he followed, but 

 without the after-swarming. The different results must 

 come from some other causes which had not been men- 

 tioned. He knew that if the queen were caged in the sec- 

 tions they would swarm- 

 Mr. Betsinger— And in that case they would get pollen 

 in the sections. 



FUMIGATING HONEY WITH CARBON BI-SULPHIDE. 



W. J. Morgan told his experience in treating comb 

 honey with carbon bi-sulphidc to avoid wax-worms appear- 

 ing in the sections after they had been placed on the mar- 

 ket. He used an ounce of carbon to 13 cubic feet for 24 



