668 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



consider better English? [Yes, doctor, I think 

 you are mistaken as to the general use of "sec- 

 tion" for honey, especially when you speak 

 about cutting the " section out of the wood." 

 You say I use it that way on page 632. I have 

 read that page over twice, but I can not find 

 where I used it so.— Ed.] 



C. H. Clayton may be away off as to the 

 price of drawn combs, but he's level as to the 

 dealer's profit on honey. WtJy should he have 

 twice as much for handling honey as molasses 

 with only half the trouble ? Out of joint some- 

 how. [Commitsion men say that comb honey, 

 at least, is much meaner to handle than syrups. 

 There is the breaking down, the leakage, and 

 the tendency of the combs to deteriorate in ap- 

 pearance in time. As to extracted honey, it 

 candies, while syrups do not; but taking every 

 thing into consideration, there is too great a 

 difference. — Ed.] 



I don't wonder you didn't like the spacers 

 you mention on page 632, Mr. Editor, if you used 

 only 100 for 12 eight-frame hives. I use 384, 

 four to each frame. But I suspect there's some 

 mistake in your wording. Less than four spac- 

 ing-nails to a frame could only result in failure. 

 [Yes, indeed, there ivas a mistake, and there is 

 no use in trying to " explain" how it happened. 

 What I should have said was that 100 would be 

 enough for six hives, leaving two spacers to a 

 frame. I couldn't get along with four, " no- 

 how." I have tried them that way; and the 

 chief objection to them is their catching when 

 putting in and removing from the brood-nest. 

 Two are bad enough.— Ed.] 



" The grandeur of the Flowery Kingdom is 

 made more wonderful to the imagination of 

 man by the busy bee, who makes the wild rose 

 bow with beauty as it yields up its sweetness to 

 the ever vigilant master who refuses to be com- 

 forted until all its commercial worth has duly 

 and deftly been extracted by the untiring genius 

 of this marvelous insect." Thus opens up a 

 honey-dealer's advertisement. Eloquent, isn't 

 it? [The firm who puts out this flowery circu- 

 lar is C. R. Horrie & Co., of Chicago, to whom 

 we referred in our last issue editorially as the 

 commission house concerning whom numerous 

 complaints had come in from bee-keepers last 

 season. But the wise bee-keeper will not be 

 misled by such a mess of schoolboy oratory as is 

 found in the introduction to that circular. — 

 Ed.] 



A writer in British B. J. says care should be 

 taken to have excluder zinc right side up; that, 

 by rubbing your hand over it, you'll find one 

 side smooth and the other rough, and that the 

 bees should be allowed to go up through the 

 smooth side. But 1 can't find any great differ- 

 ence in the two sides. How is it, Mr. Editor? 

 [If the zinc is punched poorly, so that there is 

 left a burr edge on one side, it may be an ad- 

 vantage to put the smooth side down; because. 



according to the Englishman's theory, the bees 

 are supposed to go up through the zinc fat (full 

 of honey) and come back lean (without any). 

 It makes very little difference, however, with 

 most of the perforated zinc on the market in 

 this country. We aim to keep the dies and 

 punches of our machine sharp enough so that 

 there will be practically no burr edge on any 

 of our zinc. — Ed.] 



I WISH you hadn't said. p. 648, "As to prices 

 on comb honey, 12 cts. seems to be about a fair 

 average," for I'm sure you didn't mean to bear 

 the market. The average of all the prices giv- 

 en, p. 648, is 13.3; and that includes prices, not 

 only of those reporting, but of some of the little 

 producers who take just what they can get. 

 The average for fancy white, p. 629, is just 

 about 13. But what's the good of striking an 

 average, any way? Who's to be guided by it? 

 Certainly not those who can get 20, and hardly 

 those who can get only 10. [I gladly accept 

 your correction as to the average of comb 

 honey. When I made the answer I was hurry- 

 ing to take the train, and did not stop to figure 

 it out. The price is low enough without giving 

 the impression that it should be lower than it 

 really is, and I apologize to all bee-keepers who 

 have secured a little honey this year.— Ed.] 



" Large crop all over excepting California," 

 says one commission firm, p. 635. That story 

 seems to have got under headway, and I don't 

 believe it's true. Reports on p. 648 certainly 

 don't warrant it; and, taking California into 

 account, I have some doubt whether the season 

 has been better than 1895. The season has 

 been phenomenally early, and receipts of com- 

 mission men should on that account far surpass 

 last year with the same crop; yet of the ]2 who 

 give any comparison, p. 634, only 6 say receipts 

 have been greater, and 4 say lighter. [The sta- 

 tistical reports as published in our last issue did 

 not give an entirely correct view of the honey 

 season. When 1 said this season was better 

 than last I based my estimate on the larger 

 number of erders received, and especially on 

 the greater demand for honey-labels. Last 

 year we received very few orders for labels. 

 This year there has been a larger demand for 

 them than for several seasons past. — Ed.] 



If any one knows any good reason why end- 

 bars and bottom-bars should not be the same 

 widths as top-bars, will he please rise and give 

 it? [The only reason that I can assign why 

 the bottom-bars are usually narrower than the 

 top-bars is because, the smaller that bottom- 

 bar is, the more likely the bees are to build the 

 comb down to it. If I am correct, doctor, you 

 once advocated bars ^^ square, and I know I 

 did. Well, the bees built their comb down to 

 these bars all well enough; but the trouble was, 

 when there was a good honey-flow they extend- 

 ed them clear past the bars; and for that rea- 

 son our supply establishment decided on a com- 



