1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE- 



90^ 



contained honey? If held up so that the 

 sun stiikes it ai the proper angle, each cell 

 is a sparkling little mirror, something like 

 tlie dew-droi)H on a blade of grass ; but 

 these mirrors are so nearly level with the 

 top of the cell that tlie whole surface looks 

 like a sheet of nectar, each separated by 

 the beautiful lacework formed by the cell- 

 walls. In this condition they can evapo- 

 rate out the moisture, or ripen honey very 

 rapidly. Now, wheu the honey gets thick 

 in these shallow cells, the cell-walls are 

 raised a little more, and some more nectar 

 put in ; and in this way the honey and the 

 cell-walls rise together ; and this lioney will 

 be ready to cap far in advance of the honey 

 that was stored in a deep cell, made the 

 season before. Friend Muih, of Cincinnati, 

 told us some time ago that bees would ripen 

 honey and seal up the sections a good deal 

 (piicker with narrow sections than they 

 would with sections two inches thick ; that 

 is, it is more profitable to produce honey in 

 thin sections than in thick ones. He gave, 

 as a reason, that it takes a good deal longer 

 to evaporate the honey to the proper con- 

 sistency in the deep "tells. This also ex- 

 plains another fact that was brought out by 

 quite a number of the bee-friends— that sec- 

 tions, produced by filling combs built the 

 previous season, were more apt to sweat. 

 The honey would be watery, and moisture 

 would be seen on the surface of the comb, 

 spoiling its beauty. Please notice, if you 

 give the bees a section full of empty comb, 

 the comb being perhaps two inches thick, 

 they are obliged to put their thin watery 

 nectar clear down to the bottom of these 

 deep cells. Now, how are they going to 

 evaporate this nectar in such a predicament 

 as that y 



President Miller, however, and several 

 others, still insisted that the bees would go 

 right up and commence on a section con- 

 taining clean white natural comb, quicker 

 than they would on a super containing only 

 sections filled with foundation. Several 

 questions soon decided that this was a fact ; 

 that is, different witnesses testified in re- 

 gard to the matter ; and then it transpired, 

 that, although the bees commence on these 

 unfinished sections first, they are not fin- 

 ished, as a rule, as soon as are some contain- 

 ing only foundation, even though the bees 

 commence work on the latter last. The con- 

 clusion seems to be this : Fill your supers 

 with sections containing full sheets of thin 

 foundation, but at the same time put one or 

 two sections in the middle, containing good- 

 sized starters of natural comb, or sections 

 that had been partly filled the season before. 

 Further than this, many large honey-raisers 

 testified to the fact that we had better burn 

 up our stock of sections than to use those 

 containing deep coml), carried over from 

 previous seasons. Friend Heddon said he 

 had for some time l)een cutting out the 

 comb, melting it up for wax, and using the 

 sections for kindlings. It is true, not all 

 present agreed to this, but the great majori- 

 ty did ; and among these, those who raised 

 honey largely. One friend said, so well had 

 he become satisfied of this fact, that he had 

 been cutting the cell-walls off so as to leave 



only the base and a little ipore ; and he 

 found that sections thus treated were filled 

 out and capped over exactly as well as those 

 containing thin foundation, or may be a lit- 

 tle better, because the bees found' the base 

 of the cells already finished. Friend Hed- 

 don admitted this, but reminded us that the 

 labor of doing it is more than the section is 

 worth, compared with the rapid means now 

 at our command for filling sections with 

 foundation. 



In the same way, different subjects were 

 discussed, and valuable truths brought out. 

 But I shall not have room in this paper to 

 give them all. They will be brought out as 

 the subjects come up, in our future pages. 

 It was in some respects a little hard for me to 

 sit still so many hours ; and I should doubt- 

 less have found it much more trying had it 

 not been for the thorough shaking-up we all 

 got every now and then by the good big 

 laughs we had at some of the comicalities 

 of the occasion. Books and journals can 

 never take the place of the face-to-face 

 meetings and acquaintanceship. But after 

 having read a man's writings for years, we 

 can enjoy ever so much more making a per- 

 sonal acquaintance. The friendships formed 

 during these few days will doubtless last 

 through life. Now, although I enjoyed the 

 sessions, I was always glad when the ad- 

 journment came, because an adjournment 

 gave me an opportunity — or, at least, I 

 thought it would, for ransacking the sub- 

 urbs of Chicago for greenhouses, cold- 

 frames, and the like. In one way I was 

 disappointed, and in another I was not. 

 Friend Green was to pilot me, you know ; 

 but he said the greenhouses were so far out 

 we could not much more than get to them 

 before the convention would be assembled. 

 I suggested street-cars. He replied, that 

 we could get along faster by taking the 

 cable cars. 



" What do you mean by cable cars, friend 

 Green V " 



" Why, friend Root, haven't you seen our 

 Chicago cable cars yet ? " 



1 was obliged to admit that I hadn't ; but 

 in a few minutes more I was all eyes and 

 ears, when a train of three cars came plung- 

 ing around a corner at such a rate that I 

 felt almost as liid the Irishman when he 

 first saw a locomotive. He and his com- 

 panion concluded that it must be " a stame- 

 boat spatherin" around to git to the wather." 

 Now, the wonderful thing to me about 

 these cable cars was, that there was not any 

 locomotive, nor horse either. They just tore 

 ahead, up street and down, through crowds 

 and amidst vehicles, and crashed along, as 

 it seemed to me, regardless of life or limb. 

 But, strangely, by some twist or turn, every- 

 body and every vehicle just succeeded in 

 clearing their skirts and hind wheels. Friend 

 Green told me I had better sit inside, in one 

 of the rear cars, as the wind was quite cold. 

 I replied, " No, sir, "ee. You don"t get me 

 inside when there is so much that is wonder- 

 ful and funny to be seen. I want to sit 

 down by this man who pulls the levers, and 

 look into this thing a little."' 



The cable cars are pulled, as their name 

 implies, by a large wire cable that runs at a 



