GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



cession they may sting- severely. When they 

 are first rolled in a dishpan they are demor- 

 alised, and have no thought of rtinging. Jt 

 is an entirely new experience, and they are 

 taken by surprise. They then can be han- 

 dled like a bunch of kittens. But when the 

 operation is repeated one time after anoth- 

 er, they become less and less demoralized 

 until they regain their complete colony 

 spirit — the spirit of offensive and defensive. 

 Then look out or you may be the one to be 

 surprised. 



Operators at county and state fairs 

 make the mistake of handling the same bees 

 over and over until they resist and resent 

 all attempts to '"' make them good." 



There will be a number of live-bee dem- 

 onstrations, doubtless, this fall. As we have 

 done more of this work, perhaps, than any 

 one else, we wish to emphasize several 

 points : 



1. Use gentle bees to start with, and 

 those having a queen. While this is not 

 strictly essential, it is advisable. 



2. I)o not use the same bees more than 

 twice in succession. This is very important. 



6. Always use smoke. Do not handle the 

 bees roughly, much less pinch or crush 

 them. We never do. Handle them as care- 

 fully as you would your day-old baby 

 chicks. A bruised or maimed bee may stir 

 up the whole bunch. If only one bee stings, 

 the smell of the poison incites the i-est. 



4, All movements must be very deliberate. 

 Take a full minute to pick up a handful of 

 bees. Tt is impossible to grab a handful of 

 bees as you would a handful of beans. The 

 slamban'g methods of a vaudeville perform- 

 er Avill not work. 



Live-bee handling at fairs or other public 

 places means more than merely satisfying 

 idle curiosity. Besides its educational value 

 it is one of the most potent means of adver- 

 tising honey that there is known. It draws 

 crowds as nothing else will, and a skillful 

 manipulator will whet the appetites of his 

 audience for honey. One purchase of a 

 bottle or a section of honey will mean the 

 sale of more. It is important that the live- 

 bee demonstrator do his work right. 



The Federal Net-weight Law, and its 

 Practical Operation after a Year of 

 Trial ; How to Avoid Getting Stung 

 by Uncle Sam 



A YEAR ago we had a good deal to say 

 about the federal net-weight law — particu- 

 larly in regard to its application to comb 

 honey. There has been a good deal of 

 gTumbling, because many believe that its 

 practical operation is unfair to the iiroduc- 



er in that it compels him to eliminate the 

 weight of the section itself from the comb 

 lioney it contains, and because it gives to 

 the consumer as much as or more than the 

 weight calls for on the minimum net-weight 

 basis. But the principal complaint has been 

 that it makes a lot of work and woiTy, some 

 saying they have quit the production of 

 comb honey, as they will not put up witli 

 these seemingly impossible conditions. As 

 a matter of fact, many small comb-honey 

 producers are paying no attention to it. As 

 long as comb lioney does not cross a state 

 line the producer is safe, providing also the 

 state in which the lioney is produced has no 

 net-weight law. 



Most of the complaints relative to the law 

 are made through ignorance of its actual 

 provisions; and if the producer will only 

 take time to look into the matter and then 

 comply with the law he will find it entails 

 no gTeat hardship after all. When we get 

 ourselves once adjusted to it it will result in 

 better comb honey going to the public. Tlie 

 law practically compels every producer to 

 use separators or fences and to grade his 

 honey according to its weight. Before the 

 law went into effect, practically none of the 

 comb honey was properly graded. The 

 sections (the fat and the lean ones) were 

 mixed in an indiscriminate way in shipping- 

 cases. The federal law, as well as many of 

 the state laws that have been passed to 

 conform to it, have stopped this because it 

 is very unsafe to put out comb honey with- 

 out properly grading it. While the law 

 does not specify how comb honey shall be 

 graded, it does say that every box must 

 either be marked its exact net weight or tiie 

 minimum net weight. As it is practically 

 imiTossible to mark every section its exact 

 weight in ounces and fractions of ounces, 

 the only thing that is at all feasible is to 

 grade the sections in groups according to 

 their minimum net weights. 



A few sections during a good season run 

 around 13 ounces, exclusive of the section 

 itself; but the great bulk of comb honey 

 in an average season will run a minimum of 

 12 ounces. A laige number will run a 

 minimum of 11 ounces, and only a few 10 

 ounces. It is customary, therefore, to have 

 some small spring scales and gi'ade the 

 .sections into three groups by weight. Where 

 there Ls very much honey that runs 13 

 ounces or moi'e, one more grade will be 

 provided. Eacli group is then cased by it- 

 self. After the sections are all in the ship- 

 ping-cases, and before the covers are put 

 on, a rubber stamp showing, say, " 12 

 ounces net " is used to mark each section in 

 (hat group. With pad in hand, strike the 



