1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



939 



Is better to give it all at once. It should not be a 

 very difBcult matter to make a wooden feeder 

 holding 25 lbs. that can be set right on the frames 

 of any hive. 



I got ten of your 12 lb. shipping-crates last spring, 

 and like them very much. I think I have sold .500 

 lbs. of honey in those ten crates. I fasten the cov- 

 ers on with a little leather hinge to keep them in 

 place, and it makes a nice covered box for the hon- 

 ey while it is bi:ing used in the family, or sold from 

 the store. Put a paper in the bottom, and change 

 it every time you fill the crate, and sandpaper off 

 the outside whenever it is soiled. 



My report for the past season is as follows: I 

 had 38 colonies in the spring, and have 40 at the 

 present time; 900 lbs. of comb honey, and 300 of 

 extracted. I am but a novice in the business, as I 

 began three years ago with one colony, and have 

 never bought or sold a colony since. 



Those "sermons out of church" are doing a 

 world of good, and that kind of mixing things can 

 never do anj' harm. 



Brother bee-keepers, let us give good weight and 

 measure, pressed down, running over; and don't 

 try to sell glass or wood for honey. In other words, 

 let us do unto others as we would that they should 



do unto us. A. C. BUGBEE. 



Lochiel, Ind., Nov. 38, 1887. 



Friend B., I want to set hold of your 

 hand and thank you for the frank manner 

 in which you come right out and tell us of 

 our faults. Nothing could convince me so 

 thorouglily of your sincere friendship as 

 this straightforward manner. You say, in 

 closing, that you know we did not make 

 the tumblers ; aud you might also add, that 

 we did not sell them, when hlled with hon- 

 ey, for a pound of lioney. For all that, it 

 is bad business. Please have charity 

 enough, however, to believe me when I say 

 that we had no intention or thought of 

 deceiving when we used these tumblers. 

 There is certainly a very great deal of dif- 

 ference in ihe specific gravity of lioney. 

 John has just brought me a tumbler of each 

 size, half-pound and pound, tilled with 

 clover honey. The half-pound holds a lit- 

 tle too mucii ; in fact, we have had some 

 pretty seveie scoldings because of this 

 fault. One friend says that his customers 

 grumble unless the tumblers are full ; but 

 if he fills them full they hold nine ounces. 

 If he puts in exactly half a pound, each 

 tumbler has to be weighed, which is an an- 

 noyance and bother. We have had pound 

 tumblers from two different glass-factories, 

 and it is true that the one we are now using 

 holds only 1.5 ounces. There has never 

 been a tumbler made especially for honey. 

 Well, in hunting up a package for a pound 

 of honey. I found these jelly-tumblers. I 

 believe they are called, among glassware- 

 men, half-pint tumblers; but they hold so 

 much over half a pint, that, with very thick 

 honey filling them clear to the brim, I 

 succeeded in getting in a whole pound, 

 and decided that it is better to use these 

 than to go to the enormous expense of 

 changing dies and machinery to make some- 

 thing a tririe larger. A good many of our 

 customers sell them, filled with honey, at so 

 much a tumblerful. When asked if there 

 is a pound of tlie honey, they always say. 



•'I believe there is not." I do not know 

 how the jelly-tumbler folks came to strike 

 on any thing so near just what we want. 

 Here it is, however, in almost every market 

 of the world, and it will be very expensive 

 business to get new molds and new ma- 

 chines for making them. And even if we 

 do, the two sizes are so nearly alike they 

 will be constantly getting mixed up. Had 

 we not better take the tumblers that are 

 already in every-day use the world over, 

 almost, and sell the honey at so much a 

 tumblerful ? The question will come up, 

 however, " How much do they hold V " or, 

 " How much does it lack of being a pound? " 

 and then comes this long string of explana- 

 tions. 



Your concluding words, friend B., are 

 right, and have the light ring ; and if there 

 is no other way out of it, we will go to the 

 expense of having dies and tools made to 

 make a tumbler holding a full pouml of 

 honey-— no more, no less. I think very like- 

 ly, as you say, I liad better have a little 

 more charity for the barrel-makers. I iiave 

 been told, however, that apple-dealers and 

 producers have had a scant barrel gotten 

 up expressly to humbug their customers. 



CHAFF HIVES. 



REASONS FOR PREFERRING A ONE-STORY HIVE. 



fRlEND ROOT:— I am one of those bee-keep- 

 ers who believe in outdoor wintering. 1 

 also prefer to use the chaflf hive all the year. 

 It is a protection from the fiery rays of old 

 Sol, as well as from the frigid breath of 

 Boreas. I do not wish grapevines In my apiary, 

 and I have tried the shade-board and 15-pound 

 stone, and can not tolerate them. Friend Hcddon 

 considers that a love of handling these stones is 

 one of the qualifications of a bee keeper. Friend 

 H. will please pardon me, for I think that that is 

 along the same line as the reasoning of the tradi- 

 tional farmer who went to mill on horseback and 

 put a stone in one end of the bag to balance the 

 grist which was in the other end. 



If a chaft hive is of the right construction, it 

 answers all purposes with me. I believe, friend 

 Root, you are willing to be criticised, aud will lis- 

 ten attentively to any criticisms upon the articles, 

 which you recommend and sell. Now, as I use 

 chaff hives winter and summer, I want one that 

 is convenient and practical. My objections to 

 your chaff hive are. 1. The brood-nest can not 

 be got at when the upper story is full of frames, 

 without removing the 10 or 14 frames as the case 

 may be, and placing them in an empty hive, or 

 standing them Hgainstthe hive. With my system 

 of management this is a serious fault. 3. When 

 the upper story is emptied you have to fish the 

 brood-frames out from the bottom of a deep hive. 

 3. The packing around the upper story is not need- 

 ed—at least, so it seems to me. 4. I dislike the low, 

 loose cover which has to be lifted off' and on. 



I have overcome these objections by changing 

 the construction of the hive. I use half-inch 

 lumber, which is ship-lapped. The upper story 

 Is not packed. The inside decking comes even 

 with the top of the brood-frames. The outer shell 

 is the only part of the hive-body which projects 



