.liiNi... 1918 



G T. F. A V r N G S T X B K E C V 1. 'J' V K K 



317 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



or in a place that seems equally good to 

 me. As I intend increasing my bees, the 

 truck seems to me to be a necessity; and I 

 feel that it is not taking too many chances, 

 as a good crop will pay for it two or thrt^^ 

 times, if the price stays near what it is 

 now. 



E\-en if the woi'st comes, tlie (l(Mnaiul 

 for trucks like mine is such that I need suf- 

 fer little if any loss on it. If I am plunging 

 a little, I have too many bees to risk a loss 

 of a crop in these days of high-priced honey. 



I am having a box made for the truck 

 chassis that will be 50 inches wide by ten 

 feet long inside. I estimate that I can move 

 30 to 45 ten-frame hives at a load. I can 

 haul home a ton of extracting supers easily, 

 as a ton load is a joke for the truck. 



Tliere are plenty of places where I can 

 put the bees, as I have ascertained, and at 

 little expense. I probably will run up 

 against difficulties that will make me change 

 plans somewhat, but I believe that the way 

 I have in mind is the way to get crops one 

 year after another in this locality. 



Those here who have the trucks tell me 

 that they can be run at about the same cost 

 as a regular Ford car. They require a little 

 more gas, but the tire expense is less, as the 

 rear wheels have solid tires and wear a long 

 time. They are used here for long trips, 

 a^^d seem to be as practical in every way as 

 the lighter car and almost as fast; fast 

 enough anyway. If we have a season that 

 is at all favorable this year, and I don 't 

 break a leg or something else that is just as 

 indispensable, I expect to have a honey crop 

 next fall. If I don 't, it will be because I 

 don 't know how to get it. 



Sabetha, Kan. Frank Hill. 



HOW HE CHUNKED HIS HONEY 



A Convenient, Neat and Cleanly Device for Cut- 

 ting up Honey in Comb 



In view of the probable shortage of sec- 

 tions and glass containers for honey this 

 season, I thought it might be of interest to 

 your readeis to learn of a method of using 

 up partly filled and sealed comb honey in 

 sections or shallow frames, and selling them 

 as chunk honey. Hitherto chunk honey has 

 not been much on sale in this country; but, 

 having on hand a quantity of partly sealed 

 comb honey at the end of last season, I de- 

 cided to cut it up and offer it as chunk hon- 

 ey in one-pound parchment packages. 



I have not observed in bee literature any 

 allusion to an appliance for cutting up comb 

 and inserting it into a container, so I will 

 give my method, in the hope that the idea 

 may be of some use. 



To make a cutter, a round tin canister 

 (can) about 214 inches in diameter was 



t;iken, and the edge at the open end was 

 serrated by snipping out small triangular 

 pieces with a pair of scissors, and a hole 

 % inch in diameter was punched in the bot- 

 tom. A small wooden piston was then made, 

 and the rod or handle passed thru the hole 

 in the bottom of 

 the canister, thus 

 making the cutter 

 complete. 



To use, lay a 

 comb flat on a ta- 

 ble. Press the ser- 

 rated end of the 

 cutter with a screw- 

 ing motion thru the 

 comb; lift out and 

 transfer to the con- 

 tainer; push the 

 piston down and 

 eject the disc of 

 honey and repeat 

 until the container 

 is full. Extracted 

 honey from the un- 

 sealed part of the 

 comb is used to till 

 up the pot to th'^ 

 desired weight, and 

 the lid pre ss e d 

 home. It will be no- 

 ticed that during 

 the operation the 

 hand never comes 

 in contact with the 

 honey. 



The demand for 

 those packages of 

 chunk honey ex- 

 ceeded the supply, 

 and the price received was the same as for 

 my first-grade sections. 



Arch 'd Fergusson. 

 Strachur, Scotland. 



Pr. Phillips calls attention in his book to 

 the fact that swamp lands are often particu- 

 larly valuable as bee pasturage, because, 

 with so much available moisture, their plant 

 growth is likely to be more regular and de- 

 pendable, less changeable from season to 

 season; and he likewise pays tribute to the 

 less important sources of nectar, those that 

 most of us are so likely to overlook or regard 

 as unimportant because they do not produce 

 surplus. If there were no nectar except 

 Avhat is secreted by the plants that give us 

 surplus, there might be no surplus. It takes 

 hundreds of pounds of honey each year for 

 the colony to support itself and carry it thru 

 its life processes and changes; and for this 

 purpose the bees visit a multitude of plants, 

 each of which yields its little toward the 

 great total required, 



