20 



January, 1916. 



Different Styles of bEPARATORs 



made to the advantage of the honey- 

 producer and his product. 



The one-piece 4 '4 beeway section is 

 the one most commonly used. When 

 it was first originated the beeway was 

 cut '4 inch deep, thus making the top 

 partly inches, the sides 2 inches; in 

 other words, maintaining a difference 

 of >^ inch in the respective widths. 

 The difference between top and sides, 

 when the section was made of four 

 pieces, was only 's inch, which was 

 sufficient, and also just accommodated 

 the glass used in glassing our sections 

 at this early time. It has always been 

 a puzzle to me why, when the one- 

 piece section was adopted, the depth 

 of the beeway {insci as it is called by 

 some manufacturers) was increased. 



Since 1885 I have had the beeways 

 cut 's inch deep in all my sections and 

 found this depth sufficient; seeing no 

 reason today, after 30 years of exten- 

 sive beekeeping, to make any change. 

 It is the best, because it protects the 

 honey produced the most; but when I 

 order sections to be thus made, I have 

 to pay usually a little extra for setting 

 machinery. A few years ago some 4,'4 

 sections were shipped me with bee- 

 ways fs inch deep, as shown in my 

 illustration No. 1. This was very bad, 

 and has been objected to by every one 

 who came to me for sections from that 

 lot. I have still a small stock of them 

 on hand. 



Number 2 in the illustration shows a 

 section with properly cut beeway or 

 inset la inch deep. 



Number 3 shows my no Deeway or 

 plain 4x5xlK sections. I am using 

 these in my wide frame supers of which 

 I have several hundred in use. These 

 wide frames are provided with fences 

 or cleated separators of different pat- 

 tern, some of which are shown in my 

 second illustration. In the first place 

 I wish to draw the attention of the 

 reader to the cleats and their different 

 widths. The cleats on the lower frame 

 are only '4 inch wide; the cleats on 

 the middle frame are % inch wide; 

 those on the topmost frame are ^4 inch. 

 Having used them side by side in the 

 same super, I believe I can judge now 

 which is the most satisfactory. When 

 the fence or cleated divider of any 

 kind was first talked of the width of 

 the cleat was under discussion in the 

 Bee Journals, and as I favored th? 



American ~Ree Journal 



wider cleat, I built the separators that 

 way. At the same time I built a few 

 with !4-inch cleats. Later I bought 

 many regular Danzenbaker fences as 

 shown in illustration, lower frame, and 

 still later I made up perforated cleated 

 separators with K-inch cleats. The re- 

 sult of my observations is this: The 

 '4 -inch cleat is not as satisfactory as 

 the wider cleats. The better the sec- 

 tions are filled the oftener we find the 

 sealing at the edges drawn clear to the 

 separator and attached to the cleat. 

 Removing the sections from the hold- 

 ers breaks the sealing along the edges 

 and a leak is the result. 



I would not say that this ruins the 

 honey for shipping, but it is at least a 

 drawback. The >^-inch cleat is as 

 wide as necessary to prevent all trou- 

 ble here spoken of, and is therefore to 

 be preferred. With the ^4 -inch cleat 

 we gain no more than we do with the 

 yi inch, and we take into the bargain 

 the undesirable more meager filling. 

 In other words, the face of every sec- 

 tion filled in supers with the wider 

 cleats shows a wider depression near 

 the sides. So I prefer for best result 

 the" J^-inch cleat whether used on 

 fences or solid separators. 



Grave doubt still lingers in my mind 

 as to whether the freer communication 

 the fence gives to the bees as compared 

 with the solid separator is of any ac- 

 count. The Betsinger wire screen 

 separator may be superior because of 

 the very free communication it affords, 

 but I have not discovered any advan- 

 tage in favor of the fence as against 

 the solid or perforated separator in 

 that respect. I believe almost every 

 honey-producer has found the fence to 

 be a short-lived affair, whereas the 

 solid separator lasts as long as it is 

 taken care of. My illustration shows 

 how bees will often enlarge the spaces 

 of the fence. Comb honey built be- 

 tween such damaged fences presents 

 an undesirable washboard appearance. 

 I have had to discard quite a few 

 fences on this account, particularly 

 such as were made from very soft tim- 

 ber. If fences were made from hard 

 wood or semi-hard wood, like soft ma- 

 ple, elm, etc., as I have suggested be- 

 fore, there would be no trouble, but 

 they would then cost more. 

 Naples, N. Y. 



Honey-Plants of Cuba 



BY D. W. MILLAR. 



THROUGH the courtesy of Dr. I. 

 Juan T. Roig, Chief of the Depart- 

 ment of Botany of the Experimen- 

 tal Station of Cuba at Santiago de Las 

 Vegas, I give the following information 

 about the flowers, pictures of which I 

 enclose: 



No. 1. Panel of Campanilla honey 

 with flowers around it. These flowers 

 are Campanilla Blanca (white bell- 

 flower) or Aguinaldo, the famous plant 

 from which our choice honey is pro- 

 duced, sometimes called Miel de Pas- 

 cua or Christmas honey on account of 

 its being harvested principally in De- 

 cember. These Campanilla vines spring 

 up wherever there is a clearing and 

 bloom yearly without re-seeding. 



No. 2. The Guayaba (Guava) is a bush 

 and is about the worst pest we have. 



It springs up in pastures as soon as 

 cleared, and is very hard to kill. The 

 picture shows the bloom and fruit, 

 both picked from the same bush at the 

 same time. I have seen reports of its 

 being a great honey-producer, but my 

 observations would not confirm this. 

 It is principally renowned for the jelly 

 made from the fruit. 



The red Coralillo (Atitigonoyi leplofus) 

 originating in Mexico, is cultivated 

 here. It blooms every day in the year, 

 and is the greatest honey vine I know! 

 It IS covered with bees at all times and 

 all day. I have planted hundreds of 

 the seeds and small vines, but have 

 never had enough to be of any value. 

 They have not died, but simplv have 

 not acquired the necessary growth to 

 give enough bloom to notice any re- 

 sults with the bees. It makes a most 

 beautiful arbor covering. 



Mab'astrttin coromandelianum is a 

 very common weed, but a good honey- 

 plant. The cattle eat it quite freely 

 when short of grass. On the right is a 

 white bell-flower, but not the Campa- 

 nilla Blanca, from which the honey is 

 gathered. 



Holguin Cuba. 



Campanilla in Cuba 



flow I Became a Beekeeper 



BY C. T. OHLINGER. 



WHEN about 25 years ago I was in- 

 stalled as pastor of a small par- 

 ish in the city of Newport, the 

 aristocratic summer resort of Rhode 

 Island, I had little thought of ever 

 becoming a beekeeper. In a city sur- 

 rounded by salt water, where most out- 

 door diversions have a nautical twist, 

 where yachting, bathing, fishing are the 

 Alpha and Omega of sports, the idea of 

 beekeeping hardly suggests itself. Be- 

 sides, the city pastor who conscien- 

 tiously looks after the welfare of his 

 congregational hive has little time for 

 hobbies or diversions be they ever so 

 beneficial to one who works with his 

 brains seven days in the week. 



After several years of toil, my health 

 failed and a change was imperative. 

 The perplexing question, what to do 

 next, was solved when I received a call 

 from a country parish in the highlands 

 of western New York. There was not 

 much preaching and still less visiting 

 to be done. I was to be the first resi- 

 dent pastor in the smallest town of the 

 Union, and all concerned advised me to 



