1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



335 



Before starting out I made a bargain with the 

 leading grocery firm located in the center of the 

 city, having a large show-window to stack my 

 honey in. They were to sell it at 125^ cents. If 

 they sold it I was to have my pay in goods ; if 

 not sold at the end of a month I would remove 

 it and pay rent for the window. 



After making a pyramid of my honey in the 

 window, I started out with my sample case un- 

 wrapped, feeling somewhat bashful. After be- 

 ing stopped several times, and complimented on 

 the beauty of my honey, I began to feel in good 

 spirits. I went to the postoffice and stood there 

 awhile, cutting one of the sections and giving 

 it to the crowd. Every one asked to buy a sec- 

 tion. I referred all to the firm where I had left 

 my honey. After doing the city, and giving the 

 eight sections away in small samples, I left for 

 home. This was Tuesday. The next Tuesday 

 I received a letter saying, " Send 500 sections at 

 once. We are all sold out." 



The following year I tried them on extracted 

 honey; but they said, " We can buy good strain- 

 ed honey for ,50 cents per gallon, and you ask a 

 dollar. We can't sell yours." I tried the same 

 game of leaving it on sale; but instead of put- 

 ting it up in old syrup-barrels I took 7i.ew one 

 and five gallon cans ; sent to A. I. Root, and 

 had labels printed large enough to cover one 

 side of a five-gallon and to wrap around the 

 one-gallon cans. These labels had a cut of the 

 Novice extractor, and told what extracted hon- 

 ey is and how taken, and my name and address. 

 That firm still handles my honey, and uses over 

 one ton a year. I let my extracted honey re- 

 main in the hives till all sealed, and sometimes 

 for two months. It is quality, not quantity, 

 that I am after. This is the kind of honey that 

 keeps for eight years as good as new, and never 

 candies. In this time other firms have bought 

 my honey, and I find no trouble with good 

 goods and a guarantee of purity on every pack- 

 age, to sell clean every year. 



Sarasota, Fla., March 26. 



STATIONARY OR LOOSE T TINS. 



A REPLY TO MR. HILTON AND OTHERS, 



By Miss Emma Wilson. 



On page 218 Mr. Hilton says, " I can see no 

 advantages in the loose tins that the stationary 

 tins do not possess. With me a super is more 

 easily filled or emptied with stationary tins than 

 with loose ones, especially when the thumb- 

 screw device is attached." I am perfectly will- 

 ing to let Mr. Hilton use stationary tins if he 

 likes them best, but I can not see how a super 

 can be either filled or emptied easier with sta- 

 tionary T tins. I am very sure I can fill them 

 very much quicker and easier with loose tins, 

 and I have filled a good many both ways. 



When I first began filling the supers I used to 

 put in eight sections, four on each side of the 



super, first thing, and that practically made the 

 tins stationary for the rest of the sections, and 

 it took me very much longer, and was a good 

 deal more troublesome to put in the remaining 

 sixteen sections than it takes me now to fill a 

 whole super. Yes, sometimes I fussed a good 

 deal longer in getting one section in its proper 

 place than it takes me now to fill a whole su- 

 per; for by the present way there is never any 

 trouble whatever. 



You are mistaken, Mr. Editor, when you say 

 on page 218 that I put in a T tin before putting 

 in the first row of sections. No T tin is put in 

 until one row of 6 sections is in place. Then in 

 less time than it takes to tell it, the T tin is 

 slipped under the whole row. As I have al- 

 ready described this method of filling (page 179, 

 1895), it is not worth while to repeat it. 



I should like to ask Mr. Hilton if he has ever 

 tried to fill supers in this way. If he has not 

 tried it he is hardly competent to judge which 

 way of filling is easier. I had a good many 

 years' experience in filling them the old way, 

 and thought I knew all the kinks. I can't say 

 I ever enjoyed filling them; but I should feel a 

 good deal worse about it now if obliged to go 

 back to any of the old ways. 



Now as to the thumb-screws: In place of 

 them we use a wedge, which I think answers 

 the same purpose. 



I can not understand how stationary T tins 

 make it any easier to empty a super. If the T 

 tins come out of the super with the sections I 

 can not see how they are any obstruction; and 

 if they are glued to the sections, and are sta- 

 tionary, they must make it harder to empty the 

 super; and I know ours often have to be loos- 

 ened. In any case, I don't see how being sta- 

 tionary can make them stick any less. 



We can remove the full sections from the su- 

 pers during the harvest just as well as if the 

 tins were stationary, and have often done so. 

 This, however, we never do during a good hon- 

 ey-flow, but only when honey comes in slowly. 



Now as to cleaning the T tins, of which the 

 editor speaks, quoting Mr. Harry Lathrop. I, 

 like Mr. Lathrop, have scraped a good many 

 with a knife, but that was before I knew any 

 better way of cleaning them. You don't catch 

 me scraping any more ; and I don't believe Mr. 

 Lathrop would either after trying cleaning 

 them with hot water and lye. The editor says, 

 with hot water; but hot water alone is no good. 

 Now, I admit that T tins can be scraped with a 

 knife; but it's a disagreeable job; and look at 

 the time it takes. I've spent days scraping the 

 same amount of T tins that I could clean in a 

 very few hours with hot water and lye. And 

 then, compare the tins when finished. The T 

 tins that were cleaned with hot water and lye 

 are just as clean as when new. They may not 

 be as bright, but they're just as clean. Those 

 that are scraped are not — at least, I never suc- 

 ceeded in removing every trace of propolis; and 

 while scraping helps very much, it does not en- 

 tirely clean them. 



Marengo, III., Mar. 27". 



[As to my statements concerning your ways 

 of working, I stand corrected.— Ed. J 



