1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



767 



paraffine pa[»er, and slip them into cartons. 

 Why, it would save all scraping, all expense 

 of sections, and eliminate very largely the 

 annoyance of unfinished sections, to say 

 nothing of the hesitancy on the part of the 

 bees in entering the sections in the first 

 place, when the season is a little backward 

 or off. 



But let us look at the other side of the 

 proposition. In the first place, the public 

 would not take to cut combs, and drop hon- 

 ey in sections all at once. In the second 

 place, the average honey-producer has not 

 the appliances, neither has he the skill, to 

 cut up c mb honey and give it to the public. 

 To do this without making a dauby mess 

 of each package, and making it cost more 

 than honey built in sections, is no easy task. 



The temptation on the part of some, know- 

 ing the difficulty of proper inspection, would 

 be to put unfinished combs, and combs of 

 dark honey, into cartons. The commission 

 man and the grocer would hardly have time 

 to unwrap every individual package to de- 

 termine the nature of its contents. They 

 might buy one shipment of honey, and if it 

 was a mixed lot their customers would come 

 back with a kick, and the trade might be 

 ruined. On the present basis the contents 

 of any shipping-case of comb honey can eas- 

 ily be determined by lifting the cover, and 

 this fact is in itself a strong barrier against 

 mixing poor honey with the good. 



If this cut comb-honey or individual-ser- 

 vice trade is ever to be developed it must be 

 done by those who will put up a firstcla-s 

 article, and who will see to it that the flavor 

 is of the very best. It would never do to at- 

 tempt to palm off on the railroads or the 

 fancy hotel or restaurant trade a poor or 

 badly graded lot of combs, for they would 

 give up the whole business in disgust; and 

 right here is the reason why we have kept it 

 fiom the public, not because we thought 

 bee-keepers or commission men were dis- 

 honest, but because, lacking the proper fa- 

 cilities and the necessary skill and knowledge 

 of the business, they might spoil a fine busi- 

 ness that was just in its infancy. Now that 

 the trade is established, we have no fear that 

 it will not hold its own. 



The subjoined illustrations will give one 

 an idfa of the character of the individual 

 service. First a neat little package of comb 

 honey is laid upon a plate. It weighs ap- 

 proximately four ounces. The waiter un- 

 ties the string, then unwraps the comb, that 

 is clean and bright. It looks like a piece of 

 chunk honey from one of the hives on the 

 old farm, and it tastes like it. The wrap- 

 ping is taken away when the honey is de- 

 posited upon a little plate, making a "dish 

 fit for a king." 



In the absence of any plate, for a picnic 

 crowd the little unfolded carton makes a fine 

 pasteboard plate; and right here it is easy to 

 see how a confectioner could handle this in- 

 dividual service, because he could hand a 

 package right out to the customer, or he 

 could hand out a dozen of them. The time 

 wi'l come when grocers will buy these ser- 



vices in two dozen lots for the fancy trade, 

 for it is put up in pasteboard boxes as shown 

 in one of the larger illustrations. Some of 

 his trade would buy a whole box of it, others 

 would get a dozen or half a dozen. 



Where it is bought in single lots, as in Pull- 

 man cars, restaurants, or elsewhere, each 

 service will usually retail for 25 cts.; in larg- 

 er quantities there will be a corresponding 

 reduction. 



A UNIQUE ARRANGEMENT OF AN API- 

 ARY. 



A System of Locating Colonies Around a 

 Honey- house in Such a Way that there 

 i* a Straight Path from Every Hive to 

 the House. 



BY CAREY W. REES. 



My plan of locating hives is such that a 

 hand-cart may be wheeled straight from any 

 hive to the honey-house. The rows of hives 

 extend in every direction from the honey- 

 house, the plan being like a huge wheel with 

 the rows of hives for the spokes and the 

 honey-house for the hub. The diagram 

 shows the system that I follow for number- 

 ing the stands. Some object to the hives 



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being so far apart, for the reason that it 

 takes too much time to go from one to an- 

 other; but for convenience I like plenty of 

 room. Of all unpleasant places to work it is 

 an apiary where the hives are crowded to- 

 gether, or where they are under trees. If 

 hives must be set under trees, the limbs 

 should be trimmed high, so as to avoid 

 catching the veil. Since I have no trees or 

 bushes m my yard I use the ventilated cov- 

 ers and shade-boards over them. During 

 the hottest weather I draw the hives back 

 beyond the end of the bottom board so as to 

 give more air. 



One fault of my plan for arranging an api- 

 ary is that a team can not be driven to the 

 honey-house; but in my judgment this does 



