lANUAKY 1, 1915 



tious more equal in weiglit in each case." For in- 

 stance, we handled a car of comb honey this fall in 

 uiiich there was entirely too much difference in the 

 .narked weights of the sections and the actual 

 weights. We found sections marked 8 ounces when 

 they actually weighed on the scales from 13 to 15 

 ounces. This was the way with the majority of the 

 cases in the car. If these sections had been marked 

 12 or 13 ounces, the law would have been complied 

 with, and the honey sold for more money. About the 

 first question our customers ask us when we offer 

 lioney for sale is, "What do the sections weigh?" 

 We open a case, showing a section marked " 8 

 ounces," and the customer says, "Too light weight;" 

 consmiuently it is difficult to get all the honey i.s 

 actually worth if it had been properly marked. Eight 

 ounces complies with the law all right; but the seller 

 gets less for the honey than if it were marked 

 correctly. 



We think that this is really an unnecessary law, 

 and the benefits the beekeepers and the consumers 

 will gain will not be equal to the expense and labor, 

 and the consumer will pay just as much or more 

 for the honey ; but it is the law, and all concerned 

 must make the best of it. 



C. C. Clemons Produce Co. 



Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 4. 



Binding Magazines with Nails 



No doubt many of your readers feel an interest in 

 saving copies of Gleanings for reference, but do 

 not wish to go to the expense of buying binders or 

 having them bound. In the following method I find 

 a good and cheap way to keep them, and have them 

 always arranged for ready use. I find that twelve 

 numbers, or half of the year, make about the right 

 number for putting together. Select these and make 

 the backs and bottom edge even by holding the lot 

 edgewise on the table; also make sure that you have 

 them arranged properly. 



Now use eight nails of the size for nailing frames 

 together, also eight small pieces of oilcloth or thin 

 leather about Vz inch square. I find that oilcloth 

 doubled to make the size is best. 



Drive the nails about Vi inch from the back edge 

 of the bunch of numbers selected, four to each side, 

 making use of the oilcloth pieces to prevent the 

 heads of the nails from sinking into the paper and 

 tearing out later. 



Four of these nails will lack just a little of going 

 through, and the four driven from the other side 

 will make the binding complete, so that you will 

 have your numbers easily bound, and they will not 

 come apart. 



This will also apply to the other bee-journals ; but 

 I find that the twelve numbers, or full year, can 

 be put together. 



.-^ht'llinan, Ga. D. W. Howell. 



A Bid for National Association Advertising 



3[r. Editor .-^Juil^ing from quite a number of 

 letters we have had from beekeepers in various parts 

 of the country we imagine that, when the National 

 Association meets in February, there will be some 

 discussion about advertising, as there has been for 

 years, and especially as to the use of a page of 

 reading-matter relating to honey in the American 

 Grocer each fourth week during one year — 13 times 

 — to show grocers that they can sell more honey. 



The writer for a long time has been firm in the 

 belief that the consumption of honey in the United 

 States might be largely increased, and a good point 

 to start with is the grocery trade — not that the 

 American Orocer covers the whole fraternity, but it 

 is the oldest (and we believe it to be the most care- 

 fully read) paper of its class — one eminently worthy 

 of the support of the National Association. The cost 

 of this page per member of the Association will be 



37 



a mere bagatelle — so little, indeed, that an outlay 

 live times as large would not be burdensome, and 

 thus other publications might be used too. If the 

 .National Association frowns on the use of this 

 journal, we believe there are individual beekeepers 

 wlio will use the space — being willing to place the 

 wliole burden on their own shoulders — just as in 

 some churches some "pillars" seem willing to "pay 

 Iho freight" for the benefit of the whole body. I 

 should like to have the opinions of your readers 

 as to tlii-s project. The cost for the 13 pages will 

 lie $30 for each insertion. If we may be trusted to 

 do so we will get up the matter here, though we by 

 110 moans insist on doing the work. 



The American Grocer, 

 per F. J. Root, Adv. Manager. 

 Now York, Dec. 9. 



Bucher's Drawer Feeder 



I am sending a sketch of a feeder. I do not know 

 that it is new, but it is the most satisfactory of any 

 of the different feeders I have tried. The case Is 

 made the width of the hive, and three or four inches 

 longer, to provide an alighting-place. There is a 

 bee-space left all around the drawer inside the case 

 so that no bees can be killed in opening and closing 

 ihe drawer. The drawer is provided with thin strips 

 spaced about Vz inch apart to prevent bees from 

 drowning. Of course the depth of the drawer will 

 determine the amount of feud it will hold. If a strip 

 with a hole for pouring syrup is fastened against 



f]innnnn,oiinnnnnnnnpnng^ 



the drawer end, flush with the top of the sides, with 

 wire screen tacked over the hole on the under side 

 of the strip, no bees can get out while feed is given. 



As an experiment, on June 13, 1914, we took an 

 old bo.x hive that had cast a swarm about 17 days 

 previously, and drummed the bees out, making sure 

 of the queen, then dumped them in front of the 

 entrance of a new hive filled with full sheets of 

 foundation, except one frame of honey (our honey- 

 flow had ceased at that time). The old hive was 

 tlien set close to the rear of and connected to the 

 new hive with a tube and Porter bee-escape in such 

 a way that the remaining bees in the old hive on 

 coming out were compelled to pass through the 

 tube into the new hive. In three or four days prac- 

 tically all the bees were in the new hive. Then they 

 were set over the feeder, and their stores fed back 

 l:y simply filling the drawer with the old combs. 

 When the first batch was clean, the drawer was re- 

 lilled and so on. In a short time those bees were 

 in a new hive, with new straight combs, without the 

 disagreeable mess of trying to fit old crooked combs 

 in frames, and a poor job in the end. 



Littlestown, Pa., Sept. 15. C. F. Bucheb. 



The Net-weight Law a Nuisance 



The net-weiglit law has caused me no end of 

 trouble. I sent for three rubber stamps, and marked 

 all my sections that weighed 12 V^ oz. or more. How- 

 ever, K. A. Burnett, of Chicago, says that every 

 section weighing within an ounce should be cased 



