534 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



July 



of. Of course, it will be more interesting 

 to those who raise queens largely than to 

 those whose business is mostly honey-rais- 

 ing, and who, for the most part, let the 

 queens raise themselves. It seems to me, 

 however, that we can all of us smile a little 

 when we read the book, to think how often 

 its author talks about " nature " and na- 

 ture's methods. Why, the plan he gives is 

 the most unnatural, and there is more tin- 

 kering with nature, than in any thing that 

 has ever before been written, and yet his 

 methods arc m perfect harmony with the 

 natural instincts of the bees. 



UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 



SOME GOOD SUGGEST TONS FROM JOSHUA BULL. 



TN response to your repeated invitation for re- 

 ||f ports concerning- the use of unfinished sec- 

 ^Jr tious, I wish to say that, for several years past, 

 "*• I have used all I could get of them. Not two 

 or three only, just to entice the bees into the 

 supers, but when I have plenty of them I fill some 

 supers full of them; and the bees will fill with hon- 

 ey and cap them several days sooner than where 

 full sheets of foundation are used in the sections, 

 other thing's being equal, even though they may 

 commence just as readily upon the foundation as 

 in the other. Where foundation is used it requires 

 a large cluster of bees in the super all the time, to 

 carry on comb-building successfully and rapidly, 

 when, if the couibs are already built, the most of 

 those bees can go to the field to gather nectar dur- 

 ing the day, and evaporate it at night, as friend 

 Doolittle has so clearly shown, and so far as quality 

 or appearances are concerned, I should feel quite 

 safe in offering to give to any man, be he novice or 

 expert, all of such sections that he could detect, 

 judging the honey alone, when they were mixed up 

 with others which had only foundation in them 

 when put into supers. Rome of the wood might bo 

 a little more soiled, or stained with propolis, or 

 something of that sort, by which an expert might 

 possibly detect them; but not from the appearance 

 of the honey or comb. I never put a section con- 

 taining old honey, partially capped, into a super to 

 be finished up, without first removing all cappings; 

 and I never put in oue containing any dark honey 

 in time of white-honey harvest. And even empty 

 combs that were built in the fall, when the weather 

 was cool, are often thicker and heavier, and some- 

 times much darker-colored than combs built in 

 June or July. Any such dark or heavy combs 

 should not be used for the storage of white honey, 

 for reasons which are too obvious to need explana- 

 tion. 



FLAT-BOTTOMED FOUNDATION. 



Experiments last summer with different kinds of 

 foundation, considered in connection with my ex- 

 perience in eating comb honey during the past 

 year, has inclined me more than ever in favor of 

 the use of flat-bottomed foundation in sections, be- 

 cause, in the first place, it is made thinner than 

 other kinds; and then the bees, in shaping the sep- 

 tum, work it down yet more until the septum is not 

 much thicker than the side walls of the cells; and 

 when eating honey stored upon such foundation 

 there is not such an accumulation of wax in the 

 mouth as is usually the case when natural-base 

 foundation is used. And in spite of all that can be 



said to dispel the objections to this accumulation 

 of wax in the mouth when eating comb honey, the 

 fact still remains that most people like honey best 

 when the wax is least conspicuous— at least I do. 



OPEN-SIDED SECTIONS. 



Before closing I want to say a few words in favor 

 of open-sided sections. I tried a few hundred of 

 them last year, and was so well pleased with the 

 result that I have bought 2000 of them for this 

 year's use; and if my present impressions prove to 

 be well grounded, T think that T shall eventually 

 use them exclusively. I find that, if the openings 

 in the side of the sections are made ft of an inch 

 deep, these open-sided sections can then be used in 

 the common wide frames with ordinary separators 

 without perforations. There must be a bee-space 

 of about ft inch between the comb in the section 

 and the separator; and if there are no perforations 

 in the separator where the sections meet, it just 

 gives an even passageway from one end of the 

 frame to the other, and the bees will have no in- 

 clination to build comb over the edge of the sections 

 to unite it with the comb in adjoining sections. 1 

 prefer tin separators, because wooden ones are lia- 

 ble to warp or bulge, and close some of the open- 

 ings and deform the comb in some of the sections. 

 To prevent the propolizing of the section to the 

 end-pieces of the wide frames, I make the latter 

 with a little block tacked into each corner of the 

 frame, in such a manner as to hold the section % 

 inch from the end-piece, thus forming a bee-passage 

 between the section and end of wide frame. This 

 obviates all difficulty in that direction. T aim to 

 have the sections fit so closely that the bees can 

 not get any propolis between^ them, nor between 

 the sections and the top or bottom bars of frames; 

 and, furthermore, when sections are tightly pressed 

 together it keeps them all true and square; and 

 when they are filled with honey they brace one an- 

 other up, bridge like, which helps to keep them 

 from sagging- away from the top-bar. 



I have also devised a sort of clamp super, in 

 which to use open-sided sections without wide 

 frames; and from the little experience I had with 

 it last year, T feel quite sanguine that it is going to 

 prove to be a very satisfactory arrangement. 



Seymour, Wis , Mar. 28, 1889. Joshua Bum,. 



We are exceedingly obliged to you for 

 your very valuable reports on all three of 

 the above items. Even though our experi- 

 ence may not be like yours, we are glad to 

 have such facts furnished us from actual 

 experience. In regard to flat-bottom foun- 

 dation, although we advertise and sell both 

 kinds, we sell ten pounds of the regular- 

 base foundation to one of the flat bottom. 

 There is this to be noticed, however, that 

 there seems to be a slight increase in the 

 amount sold, of the flat bottom. Whether 

 this is due to the excellent season, or wheth- 

 er the flat-bottom foundation is growing 

 somewhat in favor, we can not say. In re- 

 gard to the open-side section, it seems to be 

 going somewhat out of public favor. We 

 constructed special machinery for making, 

 and we expected a heavy run, but were very 

 much surprised to find that there is very 

 little demand for them. This may be due 

 to general conservatism, or to the fact that 

 a few have been tried, and were found want- 

 ing. The few sold have been for the most 

 part to foreign countries. 



