1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



183 



and are trying syrup by the cold process, and 

 so far as we can see it is fully equal (if not su- 

 perior) to the ordinary syrup made V water 

 and % sugar where heat was used; and by the 

 cold process we have used the sugar and water 

 half and half, and it was then brought more 

 nearly to the consistency in which bees find the 

 raw nectar in the flowers. Such thin syrup, I 

 am sure, is ripened better whether heat is used 

 or not: and when sealed in the combs, for us at 

 least, it makes very much better stores. None 

 of such syrup has shown the least tendency to- 

 ward granulation, and the bees last winter 

 came out on it in perfect condition. I do not 

 believe heat has very much to do with it either 

 way. Mechanical mixtures can be effected 

 perfectly by vigorous stirring, either hot or cold, 

 providing the sugar is in proportion of half and 

 half, and this, in our experience, is quite thick 

 enough in order to insure ripening on the part 

 of the bees. They will then reduce it down 

 themselves to the right consistency, if you give 

 them a chance. 



BAD COMMISSION MEN; OR, SLIPSHOD BEE- 

 KEEPERS AND SLIPSHOD METHODS OF 

 PUTTING UP HONEY. 



I HAVE had a good deal to say lately in re- 

 gard to selling honey on commission; and I 

 have also referred to some of the tricks of the 

 trade that are practiced by some commission 

 houses not overly scrupulous. But I am com- 

 ing to believe more and more the trouble is as 

 much with the bee-keepers as with the com- 

 mission houses. Please read the article by Geo. 

 F. Robbins, in another column. I tell you it 

 is perfectly abominable, the way bee-keepers 

 put up their honey. The majority of them do 

 not stop to scrape their sections, do not think it 

 pays to grade, or, if they do think so, they do 

 not take the time to do it. Then, moreover, 

 they are penny wise and pound foolish in trying 

 to economize in putting up their comb honey 

 in cheap, poorly made (home-made), shipping- 

 cases; and a good many times these shippmg- 

 cases are too large to fill out the crates, and 

 sticks and boards are used to fill out the crate. 

 I saw some such cases when I called at one of 

 the commission stores in Chicago; and I do not 

 wonder that the honey-merchants can not. and 

 do not, realize on such honey full market 

 quotations. 



The great and absorbing question nowadays 

 with bee-keepers is, how to get the honey. 

 Well, having gotten it, what folly it is to knock 

 off from I4 to K of its value — yes, even more 

 than that — when a very little time and ingenu- 

 ity and taste on the part of the bee-keeper 

 would save it all I For instance, how much 

 time will it take to grade 2000 or 3000 lbs. of 

 comb honey? I venture to say a ton can be 

 graded by a smart boy or woman easily within 

 a day. And I am sure it would add, easily, a 

 cent a pound to the value of the honey. Or, 



in other words, that smart boy or woman 

 could earn 120 for the day's work. Pretty good 

 wages, you say. Well, perhaps that person can 

 make another cent by scraping. But some " pen- 

 ny-wise" bPfi-keepers imagine they are going 

 to save two or three cents on shipping-cases by 

 making them themselves. They figure the 

 lumber costs so much a foot, and that they can 

 get them made at the planing-mill. They get 

 them made, but what are they? The buzz-saws 

 they use at these mills generally have very 

 coarse teeth, and ihe work is rough; and then 

 they don't understand, as do the bee-hive manu- 

 facturers, the importance of absolute accuracy ; 

 and, furthermore, they do not know how to go 

 at the job in the first place. The bee-keeper 

 who saves two or three cents on a shipping- 

 case will probably lose twenty-five or even fifty 

 cents on every case of honey because the goods 

 look so " ornery " and awkward. The average 

 commission men receive honey put up in all 

 sorts of styles; but these "' ornery " lots have to 

 wait until all the best lots are cleaned out, and 

 then buyers will take it at a greatly reduced 

 price. 



Commission men have come in for their fair 

 share of blame; but bee-keepers must not for- 

 get that the trouble is nm solely with them. I 

 have referred to slipshod ness in putting up 

 honey before, and I shall keep on referring to it 

 until bee-keeper'*, at least our subscribers, will 

 get to the point where they will put up their 

 honey, and realize decent prices. Give the com- 

 mission men fits if you want to; but do not lay 

 all things at their doors. 



FASTENING SHEETS OF FOUNDATION INTO 

 BROOD-FRAMES. 



As this is about the season of the year when 

 bee-keepers will be doing this work, a few hints 

 may not come amiss. There are a score or 

 more of ways of doing it. Some of them are 

 good, but more are poor. Putting, as we do, 

 hundreds of sheets into brood-frames, we can 

 not afford to fuss with any but the very best. 

 But you say you have already tried those in 

 our catalog; but from the number of inquiries 

 that have come in, it seems that there is some- 

 thing that is not yet understood. The method 

 that we prefer is that shown on the next page. 



This is a modification of the Hambaugh rol- 

 ler used so successfully by the Dadants and 

 others. It consists of a handle slotted out at one 

 end to receive a wooden wheel, about an inch 

 in diameter and half an inch through, and nice- 

 ly rounded on the edge. All that is required is 

 to put the sheet, one edge of it, along the 

 molded comb-guide, and then, with the roller 

 previously dipped in water, roll the edge down 

 until it adheres to the comb-guide firmly. So 

 far so good. But it seems that some of our 

 friends and patrons have done all this and yet 

 have not succeeded in making a good job. 



