240 



August, 1911. 



American Hee Journal 



would run out and make things " mussy 

 and dauby." 



I now asked him if he had this mussy, 

 dauby trouble when he took the honey 

 from the hive, and he admitted that he 

 did not notice it, but gave as a reason 

 for not doing so that he was in a hurry 

 at that time. 



I now took another section and 

 handled it "in a hurry," when this thin 

 honey flew out all over the floor. He 

 stopped me almost in anger, when I 

 told him that I was doing what I did, 

 as a lesson to prove to him that he had 

 taken oflf his honey in a hurry, as he 

 said, and that if the bees were the ones 

 to blame for its watery appearance, he 

 would have had honey strewn all about 

 on his honey-carrier and over the hives ; 

 and as he did not have this state of 

 affairs when taking from the hive, he 

 must admit that the honey was thinner 

 now than it was at that time; and sug- 

 gested what every observing bee-keeper 

 had found out sooner or later — that the 

 only proper place to store honey is 

 in a dry, warm, and airy room. 



I then told him how the sides and 

 roof of tlie building where I stored my 

 honey were painted a dark red, so as 

 to absorb the heat from the rays of the 

 sun, and the room was brought to a 

 high temperature by the time of the 

 setting of the sun each day, while the 

 pile of honey held this heat well into 

 the night, so that I had an average tem- 

 perature of nearly HO degrees. By stor- 

 ing honey in such a warm, dry room, 

 even watery-appearing honey, when 

 taken from the hive, would be much 

 improved by the time it should be pre- 

 pared for market, and that in the un- 

 sealed cells become so thick that it 

 would not run out, no matter how 

 roughly handled, unless so roughly 

 that the combs were broken. "Where 

 store honey .'" after it is off the hive, 

 is a very important question, and while 

 I have only touched on the matter here, 

 I think I have said enough so the 

 reader will know what to do in the 

 future, if he or she did not fully know 

 of the matter before. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Bees Working Out Comb Foun- 

 dation 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



The two articles concerning e.xperi- 

 ments upon the working out of comb 

 foundation by bees, which appeared in 

 the May and June numbers of Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, and which were the 

 result of very substantia! experiments 

 by Foloppe Brothers, of Champosoult, 

 France, are worthy of careful perusal. 



Several points are elucidated bythem. 

 The most important of these is the fact 

 that in "drawing out" comb founda- 

 tion, as we call it, the bees secure 

 strength to the cell-wall by turning and 

 stretching the malleable material in a 

 circular way, instead of simply out- 

 wards towards the edge of the cell. 

 This "potter's method" no doubt se- 

 cures greater resistance. It was a 

 revelation to me. It can not fail to in- 

 crease our admiration for this intelli- 

 gent little insect. 



Another very important fact that has 

 been proven is, that bees thin out and 



use the e.xtra wax contained in the 

 foundation much more efficiently if it 

 is given them before the crop is in full 

 force. There are two possible reasons 

 for this action. The first is that they 

 have ample time, when there is no crop, 

 and that they will naturally use every- 

 thing to the best of their ability. An 

 excess of wa.x in the comb is useless. 

 With plenty of leisure they can make 

 this excess useful. But if the crop is 

 on, in full, they find themselves crowded 

 for room, cells are needed at once, and 

 before much depth is secured some 

 bees will have deposited honey in them. 

 This puts an end to further improve- 

 ment or manipulation. Then, in a 

 heavy honey crop, the stomachs of the 

 bees being full most of the time, the 

 process of wax-secretion begins, invol- 

 untarily or otherwise. On this we are 

 not yet sufficiently informed. But does 

 it not seem probable that whenever the 

 bees are compelled to remain loaded 

 with honey for a long time, the trans- 

 formation of a portion of it into bees- 

 wax becomes a natural necessity with- 

 out any volition on their part ? 



This being true, it becomes impor- 

 tant to furnish the comb foundation to 

 our bees somewhat ahead of need. It 

 is not only a matter of saving, it is also 

 a question of doing away with any 

 "fishbone" toughness about which we 

 used to hear so much wlien a heavy- 

 base foundation was used for sections. 

 This toughness is becoming less and 

 less as the manufacturers learn the 

 necessities of the apiary. But if we 

 can let the bees have the material a 

 little in advance, they will certainly have 

 a better chance to put it in shape. 



I believe that some honey will be 

 saved, also. That is to say, less of it 

 will be changed into comb. For if our 

 bees have the foundation on hand, the 

 combs will be more elongated, and 

 that will give more room for honey, re- 

 quiring thus a less production of wax 

 in a given space of time. 



Another evidence drawn from this 

 study is that comb foundation measur- 

 ing 0/-3 feet to the pound will furnish 

 ample wax for the entire comb. As 

 these experiments are made with foun- 

 dation cast from a press, and as such 

 work is tougher and less malleable 

 than that from the rolls or cylinders 

 employed in this country, it is prob- 

 able that sheets measuring 6 feet to the 

 pound will furnish very nearly all the 

 material necessary, and that it is an 

 error to use anything heavier. Nat- 

 urally-built comb is undoubtedlylighter 

 than this weight, but we can not expect 

 the bees to reduce the thinness of 

 brood foundation down to that of a 

 natural comb. Super foundation is 

 now made as light, or nearly as light, 

 as the natural base, and it is only the 

 angles which the bees may be expected 

 to thin out in the case of this. 



The additional evidence drawn from 

 this study is that sheets made in a 

 mould, such as is mainly used on the 

 continent of Europe, are of poorer 

 quality and of less strength than those 

 made by the rolls, which are laminated 

 out in the process of manufacture. 

 Such a result might be expected. Al- 

 though there is perhaps a greater ten- 

 dency in laminated foundation to 

 stretch or get deformed, owing to its 

 malleability, yet its regularity causes a 



more remote possibility of breakdown 

 than in the same weight or even a 

 heavier weight of goods made in the 

 moulds used in Europe. 



These experiments show us how 

 much there is yet for all of us to learn 

 on the most unimportant subjects of 

 bee-culture. We, of America, are quite 

 practical in taking hold of new things 

 and putting them to the best possible 

 use. But in the matter of experimen- 

 tal tests, where every point is taken 

 into consideration and nothing left to 

 chance, our cousins across the ocean 

 are still in the lead. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Honey-Packages and Their Dis- 

 play 



BY G. C. GREINER. 



With another year's experience of 

 managing my own retailing of honey, 

 I am fully convinced that the honey- 

 producer is well paid for the effort it 

 requires to sell his products direct to 

 the consumers. By doing so, quicker 

 and better sales with higher prices are 

 secured, and the producer has the as- 

 surance that his goods arrive at their 

 destination in good condition. The 

 various expenses connected with ship- 

 ping to city markets, such as shipping- 

 cases, transportation, cartage, the 

 wholesalers' and retailers' profits, etc., 

 are saved to the producer, and help to 

 increase his net profits, to which he is 

 rightfully entitled. 



I am liot a natural salesman; to so- 

 licit sales among strangers is a task 

 which I do not enjoy; it is contrary to 

 my natural inclination, and to over- 

 come this trouble I find that an attrac- 

 tive and inviting display of the goods 

 we have to sell is more than half the 

 battle in building up a trade. 



In the case of extracted honey, the 

 package we use plays an important part 

 in pleasing the consumer. Not only 

 should it be tempting in appearance, 

 but it should not be too extravagant as 

 to its cost. From the accompanying 

 picture, which represents my weekly 

 display at our city market, it will be 

 seen that I use the standard glass top 

 Mason fruit-jar, pints and quarts. Al- 

 though I pay a good price for them — 

 much more than any of the many ad- 

 vertised tin containers would cost me — 

 they are the cheapest in the end. 

 When they are filled with water-white, 

 sparkling clover honey, as I produce it 

 in my locality, with a finishing touch 

 of a neat, tasty label, and exhibited as 

 shown in the picture, it is not strange 

 that my wagon brings forth many ex- 

 clamations of admiration, and, as a 

 consequence, many sales follow. 



Some time ago, in one of our popu- 

 lar bee-papers, Mr. SchoU called this 

 package "the distasteful Mason jar," 

 while he boomed the tin pails, friction- 

 tops, and other tinware, which he uses 

 for his chunk honey, in glowing terms 

 as the cheapest, most practical and ad- 

 visable package all around. I greatly 

 admire Mr. Scholl's literary ability of 

 turning every argument in his favor. 

 But that doesn't change facts ; it takes 

 something else besides smooth oratory 

 to change the people's mind; they gen- 

 erally know a good thing when they 



