630 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 15, 1904. 



about it, and it lessens the weight of the hive rather than 

 adding- to it. Simplicity is what we need in apiculture. 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown (Ga.)— I use hand-holes. Cleats, 

 unless they are put on with screws, frequently get loose and 

 come off. 



L. Stachelhausbn (Tex.)— I use them on the ends 

 only ; have no use for hand-holes on the sides of the 10- 

 frame supers. 



Eugene Secor (Iowa) — I prefer hand-holes on the sides, 

 but if supers' sides are made of '2 -inch lumber, I would use 

 cleats or hand-holes in the ends. 



E. D. TowNSEND (Mich.) — We use a lOframe Lang- 

 stroth body for an upper story to hold our extracting-combs, 

 and with this size we have no use for hand-holes in the 

 sides. 



James A. Green (Colo.)— Yes. After having used a 

 great many supers having hand-holes only in the ends, and 

 others having them only in the sides, I feel that I never 

 want any more that do not have both. 



G. W. Dkmarek (Ky.)— I have some supers that have 

 hand supports both at the sides and ends, but I never use 

 the side holes. I prefer the hand supports at the ends of 

 all "tiering" cases and supers, no matter how deep or 

 shallow. 



[ Convention Proceedin$s| 



Report of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the 



Texas State Bee-Keepers' Association, 



Held at College Station, Tex., July 



5 to 8, 1904. 



REPORTED BY LOUIS H. SCHOLL. 



{Continued from page 615.) 

 "production and PROPER GRADING OF SECTION HONEY" 



was discussed by W. E. Crandall, the manager of the Texas 

 Honey-Producers' Association, and who said that some of 

 the bee-keepers had been trying to produce it exclusively, 

 and that he does not approve of this. If the season is not a 

 favorable one for the production of honey in sections— and 

 it takes a good flow of honey for that— it will be best to pro- 

 duce some other kind of honey, as extracted or bulk comb. 



During a good year it is all right to produce some sec- 

 tion honey, but for the bee-keeper who wants to produce it 

 exclusively it is not deemed best to do so. 



If it is produced it should be put on the market in a nice, 

 clean way, in new shipping-cases, and nothing but good 

 honey put in. 



H. A. Mitchell was asked how he produced the nice 

 honey he had on exhibition last year, when he carried oft' 

 the gold medal for the best section honey of the State. This 

 year he again took first prize. 



This honey is from basswood, and where Mr. Mitchell 

 lives and has his apiaries there is a great deal of it. When 

 he has a good flow it fairly flows into the hives, and that is 

 the reason he gets such a good quality of honey. He uses 

 7-to-the-foot, 4'..x4'2 square section, and all-wood separa- 

 tors in T-tin supers. This gives thinner combs, and there 

 is an advantage in it. The bees fill them better and finish 

 them nicer. They also fill more sections. 



F. J. R. Davenport said that there were three essential 

 points necessary in the production of fancy comb honey. 

 First, prolific queens ; second, rousing colonies ; and third. 



a heavy honey-flow. If you have not these you might just 

 as well set your supers on a stump, and you will not get a 

 bit less surplus honey than if you have them on colonies 

 with any of the above lacking. 



H. H. Hyde dwelt on the use of a shallow super on the 

 colony before a honey-flow, and raising it at the beginning 

 of the white flow and putting the section super between it 

 and the brood-chamber. Then, when the sections in this 

 one are two-thirds full, put another below it. The shallow 

 super above is used for extracted honey. 



TTdo Toepperwein read the following paper on 



THE IMPORTANCE OF UNIFORM, STANDARD CANS 

 FOR TEXAS. 



This is a matter that we have had up for two years, and 

 we adopted the 3-lb. friction-top cans, 20 in a case ; 60-lb. 

 friction-top pails, 10 in a case ; 121b. friction-top pails, 

 10 in a case ; the 60-lb. cans with 8-inch screw caps, and 

 60-lb. cans with 1 's-inch screw caps, 2 in a case. I think this 

 one of the best moves that we ever made, as there are now 

 only four different sizes of cans. This makes it very easy 

 for the dealer to keep a complete stock, and the result is 

 that the bee-keepers can get, in most cases, nearly any size 

 they want, or the next size to that. With the four standard- 

 size packages honey is sold very nearly as easily in one size 

 as in another. 



The 3 and u pound friction-top cans are taking the lead 

 now, and the demand for these sizes is increasing very 

 rapidly, as these are just the right size for family use. The 

 60-lb. cans are too large for family trade, and so are the 12- 

 Ib., to a great extent. The 12-lb. cans are too small for re- 

 tailers to dish out the honey to the customers, and for this 

 purpose the 60-lb. cans are the right size. 



The 3 and 6 pound cans weigh only 60 lbs to the case, 

 and are of a shape so as to be very easily handled. The 12- 

 lb. and 60-lb. cans, however, are very hard to handle, as the 

 packages are too clumsy. 



There is yet a great demand in Uvalde for the 6 and 12 

 pound cans with screw caps, which is quite a drawback to 

 the dealers. All screw-cap cans are very hard to open or to 

 close, and if a friction-top can is closed it never leaks, if 

 ripe honey is put in the cans, even if the cans are turned 

 upside down, while every screw-top can leaks more or less 

 if turned upside down or on the side. 



I think that we should encourage the 3 and the 6 pound 

 friction-top cans, which are nicely shaped, and are in light 

 packages. We can not discard the (lO-lb. cans altogether, 

 as there will always be a demand for them, but there is a 

 tendency for a lighter package all the time, and a 60-lb. 

 all around should be encouraged. 



I think another thing that should betaken up is whether 

 or not it would pay us to use the 60-lb. cans cased singly — 

 one in a case. If we would have all packages weigh 60-lbs. 

 there would be less young bee-keepers with worn-out backs 

 from handling too heavy cases of honey. The 60-lb. cans, 

 two in a case, weigh about 135 pounds with the case, which 

 is too heavy for one person to handle. Would it not pay us 

 to use only one can in a case, at only a very small additional 

 expense ? I am sure it would not cost much more per case. 



Udo Toepperwein. 



The bee-keepers endorsed the views of Mr. Toepperwein, 

 and a thorough discussion followed. 



It was decided that the 12-lb. cans be cut out as much 

 as possible. The merchants are wanting a 60-pound pack- 

 age, as the heavier ones are too hard to handle, therefore 

 the bee-keepers should act on this matter in conformity 

 with the wishes of the merchants who handle their product. 



J. F. Teel said that the merchants from his part of the 

 State wanted the 60-lb. cans cased singly, so as to make a 

 lighter package. 



