1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1373 



Though, perhaps, the cause for this method of 

 marketing having become so universal in our 

 State seerrre too often a result of carelessness, to 

 the careful observer, another cause is visible which 

 producers in many parts of the South can not af- 

 ford to ignore. This is the difficulty often en- 

 countered here to a degree seldom found in more 

 favored localities, of getting the best work done 

 in section supers on account of peculiarities in 

 the flows 



During a season of our prolonged flows, the 

 bees, if rightly managed, will store as much hon- 

 ey as can be secured in the average locality; but 

 seldom is the flow sufficiently heavy for bees to 

 work in supers as they will in a good basswood 

 region. During such slow flows the bees are 

 greatly inclined to crowd honey into the brood- 

 chamber rather than in any sort of surplus ar- 

 rangement. As separators accentuate this incli- 

 nation, I have been for some time endeavoring to 

 eliminate these from our supers, and I have met 

 with a measure of success. Most bee-keepers 

 recognize the importance of having free com- 

 munication in supers; but to avoid the annoy- 

 ance and discomfort of having irregular and 

 bulged sections the majority prefer to use separa- 

 tors, even at the expense of a few pounds of 

 honey. 



In this connection Mr. Sherburne, p. 947, Aug. 

 1, presents an article at once interesting and in- 

 structive. Like him, we have learned that the 

 secret of getting cratable honey when no separa- 

 tors are used lies in having most of the sections 

 started upon simultaneously. Also, to accomplish 

 this result, too much space must not be left in 

 the brood-chamber when sections are put on. 



Bait-combs, when used in supers not having 

 separators, can not be placed haphazard, as they 

 will be widened considerably at the expense of 

 adjoining sections before those containing foun- 

 dation have been worked upon. The only satis- 

 factory way is to use a row or two of these along 

 each side of the super. 



Comb-honey supers as now constructed, while 

 being the source of frequent complaints, general- 

 ly allow greater convenience for the man than 

 for the bees. In localities similar to ours, many 

 who started in to raise section honey have gone 

 back to producing bulk comb honey for no oth- 

 er reason. I can not but realize the great disad- 

 vantage bees are compelled to labor under in or- 

 dinary supers; and another year, notwithstanding 

 preconceived ideas as to how section honey ought 

 to be produced, no separators will be used in our 

 apiary. 



That more honey can be secured if we dispense 

 with separators has been demonstrated over and 

 over. When bees do not enter the sections read- 

 ily, but crowd the brood-nest with honey, the 

 working condition of a colony is rapidly impair- 

 ed. Even with our divisible brood-chambers, I 

 have seen honey crowded into the brood-combs 

 until but two or three shallow frames remained 

 for the queen. For a colony to remain populous 

 is impossible under such circumstances. 



The past season some 2000 1^ Danzenbaker 

 sections, having beeways, were used in our apia- 

 ry, without separators, and never before did I see 

 so clearly demonstrated the necessity of having 

 supers so arranged as to meet the natural require- 

 ments of the bees. On two sides of these, bee- 



ways were cut their entire width, so that the wide 

 frames, in which they were used, might be made 

 with plain top and bottom bars, yet leaving no 

 part of the sections exposed. No separators are 

 required for so thin a section, and we find that, 

 when disposing of honey, a full section that can 

 be sold for a dime moves off more rapidly than 

 one weighing a full pound. 



Contrary to the opinion expressed by the edi- 

 itor on page 1079, though the sections above men- 

 tioned were open on but two sides, there were no 

 uneven combs or bulging. Undoubtedly there 

 would be an advantage in having them open all 

 around, but we have not found this to be abso- 

 lutely necessary. 



If compelled to use separators, Mr. Sherburne 

 says he would abandon comb honey and produce 

 only extracted — exactly what most bee-keepers 

 would advise for a locality like ours; but the en- 

 vironments of all are not such that this can be 

 made profitable, and such conditions here exist. 

 If necessary we can fall back to the bulk comb, 

 though as yet no occasion has arisen why a change 

 to either would be advisable. 



Ft. Smith, Ark. 



GRADING AND CASING COMB 

 HONEY. 



How the Work is Rapidly Done at the 

 Apiary of M. A. Gill ; Further Particu- 

 lars Concerning the Record Casing. 



BY G. C. MATTHEWS. 



The various articles appearing in Gleanings 

 for the past few years concerning the rapid casing 

 of honey have interested me somewhat, and have 

 likewise furnished me some amusement; for, 

 having been intimately associated with M. A. 

 Gill for the past three seasons, I have been in 

 position to understand what honey-handling real- 

 ly means, and to be able to refute those articles 

 which, by covert innuendo, cast discredit upon 

 the article of Mr. F. J. Farr, in Gleanings for 

 December 15, 1907. 



Now, that which Mr. Farr saw, which sur- 

 prised him as much as it does some of his read- 

 ers, is a thing of not uncommon occurrence in 

 Mr. Gill's casing-room. There are many days 

 every August when Mrs. Marian Fuller, of Be- 

 loit. Wis., cases just as rapidly as she did on 

 that warm day when Mr. Farr was her waiter, 

 though she does not frequently case so many 

 hours. 



In all this honey business the super that pre- 

 dominates is one of Mr. Gill's own invention, 

 although, like others, we have several other 

 kinds. This super is of standard eight-frame 

 dimensions except in depth, it being deeper so as 

 to accommodate H-'nch slats; but it has no sec- 

 tion-holder. The slats are nailed fast to the 

 end pieces in the super so that there are as few 

 loose pieces as possible — only the follower and 

 the separators. The pattern-slats are also a little 

 wider than section-holders, and the separators 

 rest on top of them and not between them. 



When casing, the supers are taken from the 

 pile by the waiter, and the tops of the sections 

 are scraped clean with a cabinet-scraper or a piece 

 of glass. Then the follower is taken out and 



