tm Bfiit-KEfip^RS' kEvimv. 



ted. This consideration also indicates the 

 extreme care that should be used to pre- 

 vent robbing in a locality where the dis- 

 ease is known to exist as well as the care 

 that must be given to secure from bees 

 the combs and honey taken from dis- 

 eased colonies. Their immediate and 

 complete destruction b}- fire would be 

 the safest course for many to pursue, but 

 the honey and wax are sometimes of con- 

 siderable value, and this extreme course 

 need not be pursued if one is careful and 

 has proper conveniences for disposing of 

 the honey and comb. "When there is but 

 little honey in the combs it is best to 

 boil the com1)s at once and .se- 

 cure the wax. If there is honey which it 

 is desired to save, first cut out all parts of 

 the comb containing brood and boil or 

 burn them, then extract the honey which 

 may be used for the table or Ijoiled with 

 one or two parts of water and used as 

 food for the bees. Boil at least fifteen 

 minutes. The comb must then be boil- 

 ed and the wax secured. Or if the hon- 

 ey is only desired to feed the bees the 

 combs, honey and all, may be boiled in 

 just the amount of water necessary and 

 the bee food and wax secured at the same 

 time and with less labor and trouble. It 

 is to be borne in mind ^that all honey 

 from these combs is dangerous for bees 

 iinless it is thoroughly boiled. 



Not a few I fear will exclaim at my 

 intimation a little ago that foul brood 

 could only come from foul brood germs, 

 and begin to assert that it can come ecpi- 

 ally well from brood that has been chilled 

 to death. In Mrgil's time .swarms of 

 bees were bred from the carcass of an ox ; 

 when good Izaak "Walton lived the fish 

 called the pike l)red from pike weed; 

 lately chess grew from wheat and now 

 foul brood grows from something else. 



^\'ell, bees, and fish, and chess, have 

 fioTV come to increase normally- and if 

 foul brood has not yet, it very soon will. 



No, it it still true that men do not gath- 

 er grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles. 



Lai'KKR Mich. Nov. 17, 1897. 



THE PLAIN SECTION. 



It Costs Less; Secures More Perfect Coiiib, and 

 May be Cleaned h\ Machinery. 



I,. A. A.SPINWAI.r.. 



■ " Th' invention all admir'd, and each how he 

 To be th' inventor mies'd; so eaBy it seem'd. " 



MILTON. 



¥HEN c o m b 

 honey con- 

 trolled the mar- 

 ket, as contra.sted 

 with the converse 

 con<lition of to- 

 day, the exter- 

 nal appearance 

 was scarcely tak- 

 en into consider- 

 ation ; boxes of 

 various styles and 

 shapes, with and withoixt glass, being 

 used. In keeping with the advancement 

 of the age, the use of glass sides in a 

 more uniform size of boxes, added much 

 to its attractiveness; Mr. Ouinby being one 

 of the pioneers in that line of progress. 

 In the trail of this advancement, boxes 

 were constructed by sawing them nearly 

 through so as to practically separate them 

 into .sections containing one or more 

 combs as required by the purchaser, the 

 grocer or dealer usually making the di- 

 vision with a knife. Thus originated 

 the section, it being a part of the whole — 

 hence its name. Furthermore, it was 

 practically a plain section. 



According to my best recollection I 

 .saw such boxes s6ld in the city of Albany, 

 N. Y., early in the 6o's. However, INIr. J. 

 C. Harbison of California, practically in- 

 troduced the first section honey box, 

 having conceived the idea in December 



1857. 



As the state of the art advanced, nails 

 were superseded by- mortise and tenon 

 ends, and finally by making them of one 

 piece. In order to give tlie i^ees access 

 to them, depressions were made in the 



