1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



129 



and back through, tail first. It's very comical, 

 stranger, very comical." 



SIZE OP SECTIONS. 



"JVERY COMICAL, STRANGER, VERY COMICAL." 



Miss 1 K. frowned^very heavily upon the fellow, 

 and assured me that it was only a small specimen 

 of the inflated talk that was going around the com- 

 munity about her poultry. After an interesting 

 study of fowls of various strains, I ended my very 

 pleasant call and went my way, thinking of the 

 solid facts to my profit, and laughing at the chaff. 



That the young women of our land have so many 

 avenues through which to show their enterprise and 

 success, rejoices the heart of the Rambler. 



Friend K,., I do think your blackboard 

 might be an excellent thing ; in fact, a 

 blackboard is now in use among our berry- 

 pickers. As fast as the children bring 

 in boxes of berries, the boss writes their 

 name on the blackboard, and gives them 

 credit. They watch him while he does it ; 

 and if they assent to his blackboard record, 

 no further discussion is allowed in regard 

 to it. In this way each one can see how he 

 is getting along, compared to his compan- 

 ions ; and when he has finished for the day 

 there can be no discussion, because the 

 whole story is not only in plain black and 

 white, but in big figures and letters at that. 

 It may not be necessary to inform our read- 

 ers that the Rambler is supposed to have 

 put his bees away for winter, on the plan 



recommended by friend " A. B. Ma ." 



With wonderful wisdom and forethought 

 he is just in the act of noting that all that 

 die are to be charged to the account of " A. 



B. Ma ."—I have often thought of this 



matter of the way pigeons feed their young 

 on digested food. I did not know, however, 

 of the wonderful rapidity of their growth. 

 Now, I want you to tell us just one thing 

 more : Of what age are the young pigeons 

 when they sell them for table use? In 

 many places they are considered a rarity, 

 and bring large prices. — Why, old friend, 

 you enjoyed yourself almost as much dur- 

 ing your rambles as I did in California. 

 Next time I take a trip I hereby give you 

 notice to come along with me. Both of us 

 together would probably find most things of 

 interest ; and you could hunt up the funny 

 items. — Are we to understand that it is 

 yourself with your hands on your knees in 

 the picture, or is it the neighbor who said 

 the new breed would not scratch, and that 

 they crawled through fences back end first? 



DR. MILLER DISCUSSES THE MATTER OF HAVING 



SECTIONS OF HONEY WEIGH EXACTLY 



ONE PODND. 



fHE foot-notes to friend Kelley's remarks on 

 page 57 leave but little to be said; but as the 

 matter is important, I may add a word. It 

 is unfortunate, if not wrong, to call a thing 

 more than it is, and I am in full accord with 

 the idea that we should give good weight, and ap- 

 prove the motive that impels friend Kelley; but 

 there are difficulties in the way that make it, I 

 think, not desirable that we should try to get up a 

 section that will sell uniformly as a pound. Most 

 bee-keepers sell their honey in no smaller quanti- 

 ties than by the case; and I never knew a case of 

 honey to be sold otherwise than by actual weight; 

 so when you sell your grocer a case or a ton of 

 honey, so far as you are concerned it doesn't mat- 

 ter a particle whether the sections average 15 or 17 

 ounces, nor whether the sections are uniform in 

 weight, or vary a quarter of a pound. If there are 

 24 sections in the case weighing 22 lbs., you get pay 

 for just the 22 lbs. you sold, and so far the transac- 

 tion is a righteous one. Let us follow it up. If the 

 grocer, as he should do, weighs every section he 

 sells, and sells it for just what it weighs, then every 

 thing is right to the end, no matter how light or 

 heavy the sections may be. 



Before going any further I will answer friend 

 Kelley's request, and give some weights of the so- 

 called 1-lb. sections; and in order to have a general 

 result I will refer to my book and give the average 

 weight in ounces of a section in a lot of sections in 

 each one of five years, together with the average 

 weight of a section in the lightest and heaviest 

 case in each one of the lots. 



Notice, the number of ounces in the lightest and 

 heaviest columns doesn't mean the lightest and heav- 

 iest section in the lot, but the average weight of a 

 section in the lightest and heaviest case in the lot. 

 Thus, the average weight of a section in the light- 

 est case in 1884 was 13.66 ounces; and as these sec- 

 tions varied, the probability is that the lightest sec- 

 tion in that case was not more than 13 oz. The heav- 

 iest case in the whole (in 1881) contained sections 

 averaging 18 oz. each; and I have no idea that the 

 heaviest section in that case weighed less than 18J4 

 oz. 



The first conclusion I reach from this table is one 

 that surprises me. It is, that, with me, the 1-lb. 

 section probably averages not less than 16 oz., tak- 

 ing it for a series of years. You will notice that 

 there were three years when the average was be- 

 low 16 oz., and only two years when the average 

 was above. But the two crops of those two years 

 were nearly as heavy as the three crops of the 

 three other years; and I suspect that, if all the 

 pound sections I ever raised were averaged, they 

 would come as near 16 oz. as any size of section that 

 could be made. Of course, I can't be sure of this, 

 and I don't think it matters. 



Let us now follow those two cases in which the 

 sections averaged respectively 18 and 13.66 oz. I 

 sold them by weight, so my conscience is all clear. 



