iS89 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



611 



when handling- section honey, so that it may be 

 kept in its virgin purity if we would command the 

 best prices in market, and not injure the same for 

 some one else. 



The lack of care is one great cause of the ruinous 

 prices we are often obliged to take in the markets. 

 Mr. A. takes his honey to market after it has stood 

 on the hive till it is dingy with the soil of the bees 

 traveling over it, and it is often put up in boxes or 

 cases having a slovenly appearance, with a deter- 

 mination to sell it for what it will bring, which is 

 often not enough to cover the cost of production of 

 white honey. Mr. B. goes a few days after, with 

 his snow-white combs put up in handsome cases, 

 and finds he has to compete with A's in price, or not 

 sell at all, as the parties having A's honey know if 

 B's is put alongside of A's they can not sell a pound 

 of A's till all of B's is disposed of; and thus the 

 price paid for A's honey is used as a leverage to 

 bring all honey down to that figure. These things 

 ought not so to be, nor would they be if all would 

 read our bee-papers, and not only try to see how 

 nice they could put up their honey, but also try and 

 not injure the market for some one else, thereby 

 doing by others as they would have others do by 

 them. 



The first requisite in caring for our honey after it 

 is taken from the hive is a warm room in whiph to 

 store it; one that has a free circulation of air all 

 about it as well as to be warm. Years ago it used 

 to be the custom to store honey in the cellar to 

 keep it cool, but I believe that all of our practical 

 bee-keepers of to-day prefer a warm room to a cool 

 one, on account of the honey sweating, or taking 

 on dampness in a cool room, thus giving it a watery 

 appearance. If left for a great length of time in 

 such a place, the honey will often become so damp 

 and thin as to burst the sealing, leaking badly, and 

 souring so as to nearly ruin it. To secure a free 

 circulation of air, as honey will take on dampness 

 even in a warm room if the air is partially excluded 

 from it, build a platform of scantling a foot from 

 the floor, and six inches out from the wall, upon 

 which to pile the filled sections, keeping them in 

 the same position they occupied while standing on 

 the hive. On warm days raise the windows on ei- 

 ther side of the room, so as to admit all the fresh 

 air possible; and as it comes toward evening, close 

 them again. To prevent robbers coming in and al- 

 so to let the few bees that may come in on the hon- 

 ey get out, cover the window (tacking it to the out- 

 side casing) with wire cloth, letting it go above the 

 casing nearly two feet at the top, and keeping it 

 out from the building half an inch or so by means of 

 strips of that thickness tacked to the outside of the 

 building. Examine the honey occasionally to see 

 if the larvse of the wax-moth are troubling it; and if 

 so, fumigate it with burning sulphur. If you are 

 careful not to get any sections having pollen in 

 them in the main pile, it will be a rare thing that 

 the honey will need sulphuring. Kept in this way 

 our honey is always holding its own, or, if any thing, 

 growing better; and if properly crated and put up- 

 on the market at the right time it will command the 

 highest price, and you will feel a pleasure in the 

 matter, never enjoyed by any one who does things 

 in a slip-shod manner. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., July 3, 1889. 



Friend D., I am almost glad you have had 

 experience with one of these individuals 

 who will stick their fingers into nice sec- 



tions of comh honey, or punch another sec- 

 tion into it, or, in short, do every thing but 

 the right thing. Nobody knows the real 

 luxury of having a trained and experienced 

 hand about him until he has tried working 

 with the average run of people who are 

 round hunting for a job. Now, it is a little 

 funny that this individual didn't complain 

 because you didn't pay him as much money 

 as you did somebody else, or perhaps as you 

 could afford to pay an experienced hand. 1 

 am sometimes tempted to lose charity for 

 all humanity when 1 see people so tearfully 

 awkward, and then indifferent about it 

 afterward. Had this individual of whom 

 you speak said to you, "Neighbor D., you 

 are setting me at something 1 never did be- 

 fore, and something in which I have had no 

 experience ; I really fear that I have been 

 more trouble to you than I am worth ; and 

 if you will let me stop right where I am 

 there shall not be any charge for what I 

 have done. Nevertheless, if you wish me to 

 go on I will try to see if I can not do a lit- 

 tle better," all would have been well. 

 Where I find people ready to speak out and 

 show the spirit of something like what I 

 have just quoted, it makes me feel hopeful. 

 But where they do not say a word, and nev- 

 er offer to pay for the mischief they have 

 made, it gives me a very sorrowful feeling, 

 and I lie down at night weighed down by 

 the fear that thousands upon thousands will 

 still be without employment as long as the 

 world lasts. You see, you have uncon- 

 sciously touched upon the absorbing topic 

 of my life — w r HAT to do. Now, then, to 

 the great wide world of working people, I 

 want to say that friend IJoolittle has, in his 

 little sketch, told exactly why many of you 

 are without work, and why you do not get 

 better pay than you are getting now. It is 

 because you do not enter heart and soul in- 

 to the work that lies before you, and fall in 

 line with your employer's thoughts and 

 ideas, and try to save his property, and help 

 him to get a good price for his product in- 

 stead of helping to make it unsalable. 

 " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it 

 with thy might. 11 Yes, one word more: I 

 do not wonder that you got well, old friend. 

 My health improved once amazingly in a 

 very short space of time, when I found one 

 of the boys digging up a crop (just planted) 

 with a cultivator. And here comes in anoth- 

 er moral : I am sure we often imagine we 

 are sick, especially during hot weather, 

 when the truth is we simply want stirring up 

 and shaking up. 



VANDEUSEN REVERSIBLE FRAME, 

 AGAIN. 



1 :I 8-INCH SPACING PREFERRED TO IV2 INCH. 



T HAVE read Z. T. Hawk's article, page 513. In 

 |JF your foot-notes you say that l? 8 istoo close 

 'it spacing for frames; that in reversing, chang- 



"*• ing ends, or changing from hive to hive, they 

 will not match. Now, I do not count my hives 

 by the hundreds, but I have known what it was to 

 have the care of 300 hives per year, and not less 

 than 175 any one year for the past 11 years, and I 

 have handled those 1%-wide end-bar frames, and 



