March 12, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



165 



crate." In other words, when they sell a crate of calibage 

 they want to substitute three pounds of wood in pl.ice of 

 cabbage, and the market recognizes that 20 pounds is the 

 weight of the crate, and they force the manufacturer to 

 make them that way or he can go out of' business, and we 

 haven't been able to make them heavy enough, so they 

 bought heavy Southern gum, and heavy yellow pine, and 

 when the small merchant buys his crates of cabbage they 

 put in the crate at 20 pounds; it is customary. I don't 

 know which would be the best way to get a plan whereby 

 the wholesaler and the retailer can steal a little honey from 

 their customers. I don't know whether we ought to allow 

 them to do it. I know some consciences say, " We don't 

 put it up that way ;" and some do, and sell it quick, and get 

 just as much per pound for it, if not a little more. 



Mr. Kluck — I remember well when we had the two- 

 pound sections, and when the 4'+x4'4x2 section wasn't 

 wanted. Now we have what we call the Ideal. That is 

 3>8x5, and they hold 12 ounces of honey. I have found that 

 I can sell all my Ideal sections before I can sell any pound 

 sections. Ask them so much a piece, well filled, and all 

 practically alike, and I sell them all first. So much a sec- 

 tion is a little lower than a pound, and they will take them 

 all first, and they will all be sold first, and I think the time 

 has arrived that we can sell the Ideal a long ways before 

 selling the others. It is almost impossible to sell a two- 

 pound section on the market. They all want the Ideal sec- 

 tion, and, to my notion, it is going to be the leading sec- 

 tion of the day. It will exactly fit an 8-frame hive. There 

 is no fixing around to these. 



Mr. Root — I would like to ask if we sold none but the 

 Ideal if they would sell quicker than a given number of the 

 4'4 square ? Isn't it because he has two sizes, and one is a 

 little cheaper than the other that he sells the other first ? 



Mr. Kluck — The other is cheaper in regard to section, 

 but dearer in amount of honey, and they would sooner pay 

 more for less honey than for the other. 



Pres. York — For .the Chicago market there is no pref- 

 erence in sections. You can not get any more for a tall 

 section than for a square one. I would also say that the 

 grocery trade in Chicago almost unanimously demands 

 light weight. We can scarcely sell sections that weigh a 

 full pound. The grocers want sections that weigh 21 to 22 

 pounds to the 24 sections. I am speaking from experience, 

 not heresay. I know nearly all the grocers refuse to buy 

 heavy weights. They want them light weights. 

 Dr. Miller — Do they buy by section or weight ? 

 Pres. York — They buy weight and sell by the piece. 

 They seem to have gotten onto that trick. 



Mr. Kluck — How does the Ideal section sell ? 

 Pres. York — They are. all "ideal " in one way, but we 

 have practically no 3'ss5 sections here. I don't believe I 

 ever saw more than one small shipment of that kind. 



Mr. Baldridge — Is it not a fact that the dealers who 

 have light-weight sections are trying to sell their cases by 

 the case, instead of by weight? 



Pres. York — Yes, I think that is true to a certain ex- 

 tent. They are trying to force them to buy by the case in- 

 stead of by the pound. I received a market quotation from 

 Kansas City, where the firm had changed the quotation 

 from the pound to the case. It was the first notice I ever 

 received from that commission firm. I could make a con- 

 fession here about buying honey by the case wherein I was 

 badly beaten, so I think I won't say anything further about 

 it. I know I never want to buy any more that way. 



Mr. Baldridge — I was in a wholesale house today, and 

 they won't sell only by the case. They want us to pay for 

 21 pounds as much as we would pay for 23 or more. 



Dr. Miller — There is one thing that was touched on in 

 relation to this, and that is how to change from the supers 

 we now use with a 4'4 to something that would take a tall 

 section, and in what way would that change be made with 

 the least expense. I think that a'.l of the 4 '4 supers can be 

 changed to 4x5, but I don't think you meant that as a case. 

 Mr. Leahy — If you will take them, any one of you who 

 have the 4'4x4'4 supers, and add a little rim at very slight 

 expense, then you are ready for the 4x5 section. I don't 

 believe there is any other waj' that you can change from the 

 square to the tall section. 



Mr. Niver — I would like to ask Mr. Leahy what width 

 he would make his section ? 



Mr. Leahy — In speaking on that subject, I said ray ideal 

 section was 4x5x1 ;s. 



Mr. Baldridge — With or without separators ? 

 Mr. Leahy — If I were going to use them myself I would 

 use separators, but I know very prominent bee-keepers who 

 use them without separators, and produce very nice honey 



by using starters. I would use them with separators, but 

 hot a 12-ounce section, but one about IS ounces. 



Dr. Miller — I think 4'4'x5,''2 would bring you about the 

 same as 4 '4 x4 '4 . 



Mr. Wilcox — I would like to ask Dr. Miller, or any other 

 man, would there be a gain or a loss in using a thin section 

 as against a thicker one, that is, in the storage, in the cost 

 of it ? 



Dr. Miller — I don't know; that's easier asked than 

 answered. I try to think, too, to a considerable extent. I 

 think there is a loss. I think it will cost you more to store 

 the same weight of honey in the tall sections than it will in 

 the square. I am pretty sure I can say that far. It will 

 cost more in the first place, you will have to use more foun- 

 dation ; and when you make a thinner section it costs you 

 more unless you go beyond a reasonable thickness. 



Mr. Niver — On that point I have had a good deal of ex- 

 perience. In our locality we find that the thin section not 

 to exceed 1 '4 . they will cap and finish far better than they 

 will a thick section. Our 1 '4 we threw out because they 

 must draw it out and carry the honey. They will carry it 

 much quicker and cap it quicker, that's the reason we 

 changed to a tall section. The "bulk of our honey comes in 

 August, and in order to get them finished and fit to sell, 

 and capped over, we found it was to our advantage to have 

 a thinner section, because the bees would cap them so much 

 quicker in a little cool weather ; but it might not be so in 

 other localities. 



RESULT OF THE ELECTION. 



The election of officers resulted as follows : President, 

 George W. York ; Vice-President. Mrs. N. L. Stow ; and 

 Secretary-Treasurer, Herman F. Moore. 

 (Continued next week.) 



I Contributed Articles. 



Natural Swarming— Formation of Nuclei. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



AGAIN, as my custom is during the long winter even- 

 ings, I have been going over the summer numbers of 

 the bee-papers, to see if there was anything of impor- 

 tance missed in the hurried reading necessary during the 

 summer months, when there is so much to do. In this 

 reading I came across something from the pen of one of 

 our most practical men, which seems more like the mistake 

 of a novice than otherwise ; but as it appeared in the 

 American Bee Journal, and, so far as I have seen, has not 

 been noticed, I think I will call attention to it, as it may 

 help some beginner to form correct opinions, and know 

 more of how natural swarming is conducted. What I 

 allude to reads as follows : 



"Thus [when a prime swarm issues], the able-bodied 

 members of the hive, accompanied by the queen, leave for a 

 new abode, allowing the young bees to remain and rear a 

 queen. Usually the preparations for emigration are begun 

 several days ahead by the rearing of queen-cells, and, when 

 the bees leave, the young queen is about to hatch." 



In nothing pertaining to bee-keeping have I spent more 

 time and study than I have on natural swarming, and if the 

 above is right all of my study has been in vain. I find it 

 this way : 



When the colony becomes inclined to swarm, the bees 

 form embryo queen-cells in which the old or mother queen 

 deposits an egg, one in each, that are to produce queens. 

 In due time these eggs hatch into larva?, which are fed 

 royal jelly till the cells are sealed over. With the sealing 

 of the first queen-cell (or cells) the swarm issues. This is 

 the rule, and the exceptions are that the swarm sometimes 

 issues on the day the eggs are laid in the queen-cells, or at 

 about the time the first of the queen-larv:K hatch. 



Only under conditions of unfavorable weather have I 

 known this rule and the exceptions to be violated. With the 

 sealing of the queen-cells we have seven days intervening 

 before the young queen emerges, so that it could not pos- 

 sibly be said that "the young queen is about to hatch." 

 The only time when it could be said, would be when the 

 swarm was kept back by foul or unfavorable weather. 

 Where any of the first queen-cells are sealed between one 



