376 



November, 1913. 



American ~Bae Journal 



of beekeepers wintered here last year, 

 and we had many interesting conven- 

 tions. A greater number is expected 

 this winter. What a good time we will 

 have fishing, hunting, and taking other 

 pleasurs which beekeepers enjoy. 



There will also be the exchange of 

 ideas along business lines. Come as 

 many of you as can, and let's have a 

 good time together. It will be a treat 

 you justly owe yourself. 



52 CuLu.Mkt. OF Bees Being Moved py Auto 12 Miles. 

 Kronl car. Wesley s Foster's Reo; rear car. W- B Walcher's Reo truck. 



No. 1 to 



Fancy Sections 

 ithe Time 



all 



BY DR. A. F. BON.XEV. 



IN the summer of 1913, the writer 

 conceived the idea of making 

 ■small ];ix2 pound sections, and 

 larger for the use of hotels and 

 dining cars, having, I think, found 

 a way to produce them as rapidly as 

 the larger sizes, but did not get to 

 work in time to develop the work. I 

 thought there was a demand for this 

 kind of honey, but the editor of Glean- 

 ings in Bee Culture expresses the opin- 

 ion that there is no call for such size 

 sections, notwithstanding that there 

 was in their magazine something about 

 it some years ago. 



Considering the Medina people pretty 

 good authority on things pertaining to 

 honey, I feel inclined to drop the small 

 section idea, while in it I find some- 

 thing that may be of vastly more value 

 to beekeepers, and that is to have the 

 bees make N'o. i to fancy honey all the 

 time, and more of it than of the ordi- 

 nary mixed kinds. Old and old-time 

 beekeepers are requested not to laugh 

 too loudly at this, for if Mrs. Bonney 

 msy be believed, I sometimes show 

 aigns of almost human intelligence. 

 You will remember that Mr. Lang- 



stroth's hive was laughed at, the Por- 

 ter bee-escape was considered a crazy 

 notion, and possibly we still have some- 

 thing to learn about the bees and what 

 we can do with them. 



I suppose every one who has pro- 

 duced section honey has tried " feed- 

 ing back,'' which, I am assured, is a 

 waste of honey. The use of frames of 

 combs helps but little to get the bees 

 up into the sections, and any falling 

 off in the flow shows at once in un- 

 finished sections. The bees will pro- 

 duce more honey in extracting frames 

 than in sections, if beekeepers may be 

 believed, all of which was of influence 

 in the formation of this idea. 



As I said in a previous article, I 

 formerly wanted to patent every idea 

 I got, but while I think I have some- 

 thing of great future value, I am going 

 to give it to the beekeeping world to 

 be developed. 



Every one knows that if broken, 

 patched, and other irregular comb be 

 put into a hive of active bees they will 

 at once patch it up until a week later 

 no one can see the joints, so I shall 

 take an extracting frame without 

 wires, put in a full sheet of thin 

 or extra thin foundation and let 

 the bees fill it. When it is done 

 and sealed, I shall take a stiff steel 

 form and cut blocks of honey the ex- 



act size of the sections used, transfer 

 them to sections, put those in a holder, 

 put them into the hive, and nature will 

 do the rest. 



Like some other ideas which proved 

 to be great, there is not much to this, 

 if it proves to be what I think it is. 

 That the bees will fasten the sections 

 in place and produce more uniform re- 

 sults than in the old way I almost 

 know; that the honey can be trans- 

 ferred at a profit I am convinced, for 

 1-5 to 30 seconds should suffice for each 

 section. The transferring can be done 

 in the cool of the evening ; the frames 

 can be put back to be refilled 



I do not know just what loss there is 

 from unfinished sections, but I do 

 know that in my little business the per- 

 centage of unfinished pieces was ap- 

 palling, to the extent that I quit pro- 

 ducing section honey. Bees will work 

 in extracting frames when they will 

 not in sections, and the frames can be 

 spaced so that the finished pieces will 

 weigh a plump pound, and being all 

 finished before being transferred it is 

 probable that the bees will leave them 

 so, but the man can leave a "pop hole" 

 in one corner of the section if he 

 wishes. 



As to the method of work, I would 

 suggest that those who wish to experi- 

 ment in the spring, use unwired frames 

 of any size, and let the bees finish, or 

 nearly finish, some sheets of honey. 

 Take out one, lay it down, and with a 

 stiff metal form which will just slip 

 into a section, stamp out a chunk of 

 honey, and another until as many are 

 cut as possible, then lift the frame and 

 put it back in the super over, of course, 

 a drip can. Now slip the section over 

 the cut comb, and then slipping a knife 

 blade under one edge stand the section 

 on end and set it into the section- 

 holder and transfer this to the hive. 



Provision must, of course, be made 

 to catch the drip from the cut combs, 

 but anything, even four sections in a 

 super of extracting frames, will tell 

 you what can be done with the idea. 

 The fact must be patent to beekeepers, 

 that if the bees will produce 32 sections 

 of honey in extracting frames sooner 

 than they will in so many sections, and 

 that if they can be transferred to the 

 hive to be resealed.and without loss of 

 time the increased money one will get 

 from the improvement in grade will 

 amply repay him for the work and 

 bother. However, I do not wish to 

 argue. I give the idea to the beekeep- 

 ers, while positive that in the hands of 

 careful persons it will prove a money 

 maker. 



I shall be very glad to hear from in- 

 dividual readers of the American Bee 

 Journal about this, and in the coming 

 season, if I am alive, I want to hear 

 from every one who tries it. 

 ii^..Buck Grove, Iowa, Sept. 4. 



The Signals of White Clover 



BY JOHN H. LOVELL. 



A\"ERAGE-SIZED heads of white 

 clover contain from 57 to 85 

 tlowers. (The numbers in four 

 heads were respectively 57, 61, 

 68 and 85.) When a cluster be- 

 gins to bloom all the flowers point up- 

 ward as is shown in Fig. 1. .After the 



