(Entered aa second-class matter at the Post-Offlce at Hamilton, 111.. uucIlt Act of .March :;. 1st;i 



Published Monthly at $1.00 a Year, by American Bee Journal, First National Bank Building 



C. p. DADANT. Editor. 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Associate Editor. 



HAMILTON, ILL., NOVEMBER, 1913 



Vol. LIII.— No. 1 1 



Editorial 



Comments 



The New Scheme ol" the Two 

 Doctors 



The article on another page by Dr. 

 Bonney cannot fail to attract attention. 

 It is quite a coincidence that two bee- 

 keepers, each a physician, and each in- 

 dependently of the other, should have 

 conceived the same idea. They are 

 alike, too, in the fact that neither one 

 has carried out this scheme so fully 

 as to be entirely sure of its success. 

 In Gleanings in Bee Culture for Oct. 1 

 is the article by Dr. G. A. Humpert, 

 which is so closely resembled in prin- 

 ciple by the article of Dr. Bonney that 

 it might be supposed Dr. Bonney had 

 been guilty of plagiarism. Such a 

 thing, however, is entirely precluded 

 by the fact that Dr. Bonney's article 

 was received before the publication of 

 Dr. Humpert's article, even supposing 

 Dr. Bonney capable of plagiarism. 



Dr. Humpert has devised a special 

 machine for cutting out the plugs of 

 honey, and then, just as Dr. Bonney, 

 he puts them in the sections to be fast- 

 ened in by the bees. He found them 

 fastened into the section-frame within 

 24 hours, but not so well as in 36. 



Only after a thing is fairly tried by 

 the bees can any one be sure of its suc- 

 cess or failure, and it might be well to 

 suspend opinion until after another 

 harvest gives opportunity for trial by 

 all who are interested. Yet one would 

 har<lly be a beekeeper without discuss- 

 ing in advance anything in which such 

 possibilities seem involved. 



Very prominently, in the minds of 

 many, will stand forth the thought of 



the much larger amount of honey pro- 

 duced in extracting frames as com- 

 pared with sections, and then if we 

 can have the e.xtracting combs turned 

 into sections by spending l.j to 30 sec- 

 onds upon each section and submitting 

 them to the bees for less than two 

 days' time, we have made a great gain, 

 unless, indeed, the revolution should 

 be so great as to bring down the price 

 of comb honey to the level of extract- 

 ed. Dr. Bonney says: "The bees will 

 produce more honey in extracting 

 frames than in sections." That's put- 

 ting it very modestly. It is generally 

 believed that SO percent more extracted 

 than comb can be produced. At any 

 rate, there is generally a difference of 

 at least 5 cents a pound between the 

 price of comb and extracted. Now if 

 by spending a quarter to half a minute, 

 or even a full minute, on each section, 

 we can gain that 5 cents; it's well 

 worth while. Five cents a minute, or 

 $3.00 an houi, is pretty good pay. 



But a special factor in the case is 

 likely to be overlooked. It is true that 

 60 percent more extracted than comb 

 can be produced, but that is because 

 with extracting combs the bees are 

 saved the time and labor of building 

 combs. Building entire combs and 

 filling them is altogether another af- 

 fair. Indeed, some might dispute 

 whether bees build and fill combs any 

 faster in frames than in sections. 

 Others would say there is a difference, 

 but the difference is very small. It is 

 pretty clear that the extracted-honey 

 argument must be thrown out of court. 



The thing that remains is that with 

 the new plan there will be no question 

 as to sections being entirely filled with 

 honey, and evenly filled; no half-filled 

 sections when a flow stops. Some one 

 will reply, "I get sections beautifully 

 filled with the old plan, fastened in 

 probably better than by any other plan, 

 and have no more unfinished sections 

 at the close of the season than I want 

 for baits the next year." Such a bee- 

 keeper may not care to try the new 

 plan. But all are not so fortunate. Dr. 

 Bonney says that with him "the per- 

 centage of unfinished pieces was ap- 

 palling, to the extent that I quit pro- 

 ducing section honey." To him and 

 others like him the next harvest will 

 give opportunity for a full test. 



Watch Your Secoud-Hand Cans 



We have just received a letter from 

 Mr. J. F. Diemer, of Liberty, Mo., in 

 which he states that he purchased some 

 honey from a commission house. The 

 honey was put up in (50-pound cans, 

 which were bright enough on the out- 

 side, but from the sample of tin sent 

 us, were about " the worst ever" on 

 the inside. Mr. Diemer stated that 

 besides the rusty cans, there were so 

 many bees, etc., in the honey that it 

 was easy to tell that the producer was 

 one who leaned towards black bees 

 rather than Italians. Of course, this 

 shows a careless beekeeper. 



There are, however, many up-to-date 

 beekeepers who put their honey in sec- 

 ond-hand cans. It is regrettable that 

 in some instances the proper precau- 

 tions are not taken to make sure that 

 the cans are bright inside. It is too 

 bad to spoil high grade honey by pack- 

 ing it in a rusty can. It is bound to 

 spoil the color and the flavor. 



Do not necessarily give up the use 

 of second-hand cans, but watch these 



