1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



779 



emptied. The txtra time consumed in selling 

 the fifty pounds on this trip did not exceed one 

 hour, and my horse did not object to the short 

 rests on the way in the least. 



Many times I have taken along a few cans 

 when going on similar trips, and sold from two 

 to four or tive cans on the way, at times going 

 one road and returning by another, making 

 stops both ways. 



In peddling honey one must not be easily dis- 

 couraged, for sometimes a number of calls may 

 be made and no sales elTected; and then, again, 

 it is quite the reverse, and honey will be sold 

 at nearly every point at which a stop is made. 

 One must start out with full faith in his honey 

 as being of fine quality, and cheerful in spirit, 

 and a determination to sell to every family pos- 

 sible, even if only two or three pounds, leaving 

 a leaflet at each place, and his honey-label on 

 each can, with name and address, which should 

 mention the candying of honey in cool weather, 

 and how to liquefy. I can not agree with some 

 bee-keepers who advise the selling of the poor- 

 er grades of extracted honey at home or in the 

 home market. I believe a poor grade of this 

 honey should never be sold at home, but sent 

 oflf to be used in the packing of meats, or in 

 factories where cheaper sweets are used. If 

 this grade of honey be sent to a commission 

 house, the apiarist should advise the firm of 

 the shipment, grade of the honey, and the 

 company to whom the honey is shipped will 

 know at once where to place it in selling. The 

 selling of inferior extracted honey, or of a low 

 grade, has, when sold for family use, done a 

 great deal to injure the sale of honey, and is, 1 

 think, very unwise on the part of the apiarist 

 who wishes to build up a good trade in honey, 

 or hold one already obtained. One season the 

 quality of our honey was very much injured by 

 a mixture of so-called honey dew. I offered no 

 extracted honey for sale at home that season; 

 and when asked by old customers if I had honey 

 to sell I 'informed them that I had no honey 

 that I had extracted which was fit to eat, as it 

 was mixed with so-called honey-dew, and dark 

 and rank in flavor. Of our comb honey that 

 season, the better sections were picked out and 

 sold; the dark (almost black; ones were given 

 the bees the next spring. The extracted was 

 sent to a commission firm, and sold for the pur- 

 poses above suggested, at the low figure of .5cts. 

 per lb. 



Milledgeville, 111. 



DRAWN COMBS FOE SECTIONS. 



FEEDING TO PRODUCE WAX; HOW TO SECURE 



DRAWN COMB.S FOR SECTIONS BY FEEDING, 



IN ADVANCE OF THE HARVEST. 



By Samuel Simmins. 



mind that the reason why you and others con- 

 demned, or failed to appreciate, my non-swarm- 

 ing system, as applied to the production of comb 

 honey, was because you did not grasp the real 

 facts of the case. You probably considered, as 

 did other honey producers, that bees would not 

 work in sections while so much empty space 

 existed under the brood -combs. Yes, and how 

 diflBcult it has been to get bee-keepers general- 

 ly to know that their ind ustrious workers would 

 do it every time, without any necessity of fol- 

 lowing the old idea of crowaing the brood- 

 chamber "tight" for the purpose of securing 

 the best-filled sections. 



For more than ten years I have been pegging 

 away at this matter; and, by the pamphlet sent 

 you with this, you will see that the basis of my 

 system as applied to comb-honey production 

 was drawn combs. 



Perhaps you will now realize my position, and 

 will see how easily one may be misunderstood, 

 or the main feature of a plan of management 

 overlooked, when such practical men as your- 

 selves did not read me aright, as shown by your 

 complete oversight in respect to my existing 

 plan, and, you will admit, fully established 

 claim to priority as regards the adoption and 

 systematic preparation of new or drawn combs 

 ready for the comb-honey harvest. I believe a 

 copy of the said pamphlet was sent you when 

 published in 1886, while friend Newman, of the 

 Amei'ican Bee Journal, disposed of a consider- 

 able number of copies at the time. 



itr. Root: — At the present moment it may 

 perhaps be brought the more forcibly to your 



Fig. 23. 



Simmins" Divided Section Holder. 



shewing arrangement of foundation 



and halved sections. 



In the opening chapter of that work, after 

 describing how the vacant space should be pro- 

 vided under the brood-nest, you will notice I 

 proceed: " For all practical purposes the bees 

 can be at once crowded into the sections, the 

 latter being first yiHed with newly built combsy 



"The supers (sections) being 



all fitted with combs, the bees 



will fill those rather than go on comb-building 

 to any extent below, or in front of the brood- 

 nest." " When one has made 



up his mind to start with nothing but comb, he 



