1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



995 



uct. Bee-keepers should correspond, or have 

 meetings and decide on a price, then maice this 

 known to the wholesale dealers, givinq- assurance 

 at the same time that no producer will sell di- 

 rect to the retailers, for such a practice ruins the 

 wholesale trade every time. TJnder these cir- 

 cumstances, when the bee-keeper sells to the 

 wholesale dealer he is sure of getting his money; 

 whereas, if he sells to a retailer he loses an ac- 

 count occasionally, which loss about makes up 

 the difference between the retail and wholesale 

 prices. As a rule, the retailer is not going to 

 pay a little honey account, as the surplus money 

 he has usually goes to some wholesale house to 

 which he is indebted. These wholesale houses 

 have men who call upon him every week and 

 collect from him. A bee-keeper, however, can 

 hardly afford to go to the retailer's town to sue 

 him; and this retailer, therefore, either defers the 

 payment a long time and then says the honey was 

 not as represented, and compromises for probably 

 half; or he sometimes refuses to accept it, and the 

 bee-keeper has to take the honey back, paying 

 freight both ways. 



Now, this happens right along, and the bee- 

 keeper who tries it once usually does not try it a 

 second time. This is bad business for the whole- 

 sale dealers, for they are willing to pay probably 

 the same price for the honey, and are in position 

 to sell it to these same retailers at a better price, 

 thus giving them a profit for handling it, and in 

 that way the price is held up. If the bee-keep- 

 ers would follow the example of the onion-grow- 

 ers, selling all their honey to one or a few buy- 

 ers at a set price, they would not glut the mar- 

 ket; and with a steady price, and the goods put 

 up properly, there would be no trouble whatever 

 in disposing of all the Texas crop at a good prof- 

 it. Udo Toepperwein. 



San Antonio, Texas. 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



CLOSING UP THE SECTION-HONEY SEASON. 



"As the close of the honey season for 1908 is 

 drawing near, I wish to know how I can secure 

 all the section honey possible, as I wish to make 

 as good a show as 1 can this year." 



'' The approach of the close of the comb-honey 

 season is always a time of importance to the api- 

 arist. As he wishes to secure as much as possible, 

 he puts on so many sections that very few of 

 them are ever completed. All know that this is 

 undesirable, but many have not learned enough 

 by the loss to be able to stop it. How it may be 

 prevented, or reduced as largely as possible, is a 

 question worth considering." 



" I know that is right; but how is it to be done.?" 



" By lessening the amount of surplus room, or 

 by giving the extra room in such a way that the 

 bees will not go into the sections unless they are 

 crowded." 



" But if I lessen the amount of room before 

 the end of the honey-flow, would this not mean 

 a serious curtailment of the season's crop?" 



"Yes. But to go ahead and put empty supers 

 under the full ones, the same as you did in the 



height of the flow, is almost sure to result in a 

 loss just as great. That is why the room should 

 be given in such a way that the bees would not 

 occupy it unless needed." 



" How is that done.'" 



"By putting all supers used at this time of the 

 year on top of those the bees are at work in, rath- 

 er than under." 



" I gave that a trial once, and I did not like it. 

 I thought it reduced my crop of completed sec- 

 tions, and gave me a whole lot of unfinished sec- 

 tions at the close. The bees were slow in going 

 into this upper super of empty sections, for they 

 stayed on the sealed honey for some days, and 

 then when they went into the upper super the sea- 

 son closed when but few of the sections were 

 more than two-thirds full, so I had a whole super 

 of unfinished sections to each hive." 



" You should have removed the completed su- 

 per when finished, or else put the empty one under 

 it as soon as the first one was completed. It is 

 more likely, however, that you did not put the 

 empty super on top soon enough. I have never 

 had an experience like that in putting the empty 

 supers on top." 



" You do not put on a second super till the one 

 already on the hive is completed, do you.''" 



" Surely. If you wait till the first super is fin- 

 ished, a loss is always sure to occur. As soon as 

 any cells are sealed, more room should be added. 

 In the beginning, or during the height of the 

 season, it does very well to put the empty super 

 under the first, although of late years I put all su- 

 pers, after the first, at the top. But when near- 

 ing the close of the season they should al-iuays be 

 put on top as soon as the bees begin sealing the 

 cells in some of the sections below." 



"That is something new to me. I supposed 

 that no more room was needed until the sections 

 already occupied were nearly or quite completed. " 



" It is well to gauge as carefully as possible the 

 storing strength of the colonies and the probable 

 duration of the flow, neither contracting unduly 

 nor giving room recklessly." 



" Is it ever best to remove the completed sec- 

 tions from any super until all the sections in the 

 super are finished.?" 



"This would depend quite a little upon how 

 much time you have at your command. If you 

 have plenty of time there is no doubt that it 

 would pay. Before I went into the queen-rear- 

 ing business I used to go over the apiary once a 

 week and remove all of the finished sections 

 from any super which had one-third or more of 

 the sections completed." 



" Did you put the empty sections in the place 

 of those taken out.?" 



" No. The partly finished sections which are 

 left should be massed together in the center of 

 the super, and new ones put on either side, so 

 that we may get as many completed as possible 

 should the season stop short at any time. This 

 precaution will very largely reduce the number 

 of sections which are nearly or quite filled, but 

 not completed, and these make the matter of un- 

 finished sections so aggravating." 



"I think I understand this matter better than I 

 did, so let us suppose the end of the season has 

 arrived and I have a lot of unfinished sections — 

 how shall I manage them.?" 



"The first thing to do is to get the sections off 



