1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



ity of the participants being from the immedi- 

 ate neighborhood where the meeting lis held. 

 It has, no doubt, been very pleasant to those 

 who were able to attend, but I fail to see where 

 it has been particularly useful to beekeepersjln 

 general. On the other hand, the proposed U. 

 S. B. K. Union, as it will be if this constitution 

 is adopted and amalgamation is effected, will 

 be an organization, it seems to me, in which 

 every producer of honey, and especially of the 

 extracted article, will be directly and greatly 

 interested. I believe that adulteration is the 

 one great obstacle in the way of our industry. 

 It is something we can do but little, individual- 

 ly, to combat. Cooperation is necessary. A 

 well-organized union on the plan set forth in 

 this constitution, in charge of a strong board of 

 directors, and with an energetic, level-headed 

 manager, would be in position to wield a pow- 

 erful influence for good along the lines set forth 

 in Art. II. of that constitution. 



This constitution may not be perfect; but F 

 do not see any special weakness in it. Nothing 

 can be gained by another year's delay, as pro- 

 posed by Mr. Newman, and certainly much 

 valuable time will be lost by such delay. 



I have not had time to consult many of our 

 bee-keepers here on this subject, yet I feel safe 

 in saying that nearly all would join such an or- 

 ganization, and contribute very cheerfully to its 

 maintenance; and I certainly hope that this 

 movement for amalgamation will be successful. 



I read with interest Mr. Hatch's article, page 

 777. Had he-been better acouainted with that 

 other association of which he speaks he would 

 have known that many of the obstacles which 

 he brings forward have been overcome by us. If 

 I considered this subject one of general interest 

 I might exDlain somewhat in detail the work- 

 ings of our association. I do not consider'a na- 

 tional association on lines suggested by 'our 

 California friend« as feasible ;cbut on the lines 

 of the proposed U. S. B. K. U. it will be a grand 

 thing. 



Tempe, Ariz. 



DRAWN COMBS FOR SECTIONS NOT A NEW 

 IDEA. 



THEIR EAKLY USE, AND BY WHOM. 



By M. M. Baldridge. 



My attention Is called to an article on " Drawn 

 Combs for Sections," in Gleanings, page 779, 

 written by Samuel Simmins. The editor, in his 

 footnotes, says: "I am inclined to give Mr. 

 Simmins credit for^ first conceiving the great 

 possibilities and advantages of drawn combs in 

 the production of comb honey. Now, if any 

 one in this or any other country is prior in this 

 idea, let him hold up his hand." Mr. Simmins 

 says that he called the attention of the public to 

 the importance of " drawn combs for sections" 

 as long ago as 188fi, in a small pamphlet that 



was sent to Messrs. Root and Newman in that 

 year. That may all be true; but unless Mr. 

 Simmins can show that he conceived the im- 

 portance of such combs several years prior to 

 that date, he is certainly behind the times. 



In June, 1884, Mr. E. T. Flanagan, of Belle- 

 ville, 111., sent to me a carload of bees from New 

 Orleans, to be managed for him that season on 

 shares. The beesawere unloaded in this city, 

 and they remained here and near here until the 

 latter part of August of that year, at which 

 time they were reloaded on a car and taken to 

 East St. Louis by the writer. There were 150 

 colonies of bees, all in two-story Simplicity 

 hives; ana while here they were devoted chief- 

 ly to extracted honey. In the mean time the 

 writer prepared for Mr. Flanagan 50 Langstroth 

 hives, with 8 frames only, Heddon style. Each 

 of these hives was provided with two supers 

 holding 38 sections each, and these were taken 

 to East St. Louis at the same time the bees 

 were, and in the same car with the bees. By 

 referring to my diary for 1884 I find that about 

 40 sets of those sections were supplied by me 

 with "drawn combs'" produced by those bees 

 while in this city. My purpose was to have 

 those sections, with empty "drawn combs," 

 filled with honey after reaching my destination 

 near East St. Louis. But on my arrival there 

 I found the season too far advanced to use the 

 sections of "drawn combs"to advantage, and 

 therefore confined the bees to extracted honey. 

 When the season closed, the bees needed all the 

 honey they had stored there for winter use, as 

 Mr. Flanagan will now remember. I came 

 back to this city after the honey season closed 

 near East St. Louis, and the supers filled with 

 "drawn combs in sections " were left in or near 

 the apiary. What became of them I do not 

 know; but my recollection is that they were, 

 later on, taken away and sent " down south " to 

 some other apiary by Mr. Flanagan, or by his 

 order. 



Again, in 1886 I had charge of three apiaries 

 in Columbia County, Wis., and again on shares. 

 These bees were the property of one Rufus Mor- 

 gan when the contract was made by me to man- 

 age them on shares; but later on they became 

 the property of the Roy Brothers. During that 

 season our total crop of surplus honey was near- 

 ly 30,000 lbs. — about half of which was in sec- 

 tions. One Eugene Otis, who then lived and 

 still lives in Batavia, 111., was my partner in 

 the management of those bees. During that 

 season Mr. Otis and I paid special attention to 

 "drawn combs for sections," and we secured 

 not less than half of the crop of section honey 

 in such combs. Thesecombs weresimply drawn 

 out on foundation in full sized sheets, and then 

 cut to proper size and transferred to the sec- 

 tions. The sheets were of the same size as 

 those used for brood- frames. And this, in my 

 opinion, is the only practical way to secure 



