882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Conversations with Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



COMB FOUNDATION IN SECTIONS; THE MOD- 

 ERN sections; THE OLD TWO-POUND 

 SECTION. 



" I wish to get my sections all ready for 

 the season of 1914 this winter, and I wish 

 to know how much foundation to put in 

 each section." 



" I think the general custom at the pres- 

 ent time is to fill each section full, or as 

 nearly so as may be, in order that the combs 

 may be attached securely to the section all 

 around. This, with the incentive given the 

 bees to draw out from this sheet of founda- 

 tion a full comb all at once, and cap the 

 whole over at one time, not only gives a 

 larger yield of section honey, but a much 

 more marketable product as well." 



" Yes; but is it the best thing for the bee- 

 keeper to do? I was talking with an old 

 man the other day who had kept bees for 

 nearly half a century, and he told me that 

 those making a specialty in bees and comb 

 honey were very largely to blame for the 

 vast amount of work devolving on the comb- 

 honey producer, as well as for the low price 

 of comb honey as compared with the high 

 cost of living, through the advance in price 

 of what such honey-producer had to buy 

 with the cash obtained for his honey. He 

 said that some thirty-five years ago they had 

 a two-pound section box of a size which 

 exactly suited the consumer; that this box 

 was glassed so as to protect it in handling, 

 also lo keep out flies, ants, and dust. In 

 the top of each box was a starter of natural 

 comb, and honey stored in this manner 

 brought the producer from 25 to 40 cents 

 per pound, that price being profitable to the 

 producer, and a joy to the lovers of comb 

 honey. Now the average weight of sections 

 when filled is about 14 ounces, thus making 

 the producer handle two sections where he 

 handled only one before ; and by using plain 

 sections with no wider sides than ends, no 

 glass can be used to keep out vermin, flies, 

 or dust, and no protection in handling is 

 possible. He asked me this question : 'When 

 those familiar with the handling of these 

 Ijlain sections occasionally give them a 

 bruise or dig, what can be expected of the 

 novice or retailer? ' He then went on to tell 

 how he had seen, in market, eases of modern 

 honey being retailed from the counter, the 

 combs of which were bruised and leaking, 

 where fingers had multilated the nice cap- 

 pings in handling till all was a dauby and 

 sticky mess, to the disgust of the seller; 

 and winding up he asked, ' Who is respon- 

 sible for this state of affairs? ' As I could 



not answer, he said with great emphasis, 

 ' The beekeeping specialists.' " 



" This reminds me of what I used to hear 

 years ago. There may be a grain of truth 

 regarding beekeepers causing themselves 

 more work and trouble by bringing in the 

 one-pound sections, for, so far as I know, 

 consumers never called for any thing small- 

 er than the two-pound section until the 

 smaller ones were brought forward by the 

 beekeepers themselves. And I must admit 

 that, with the average person, the liability 

 to ' finger mark ' on the nice cappings to 

 the comb has some truth in it also, but 

 hardly enough to make good the disadvan- 

 tages of the older things used a third of a 

 century ago. But you have not touched on 

 the foundation matter which you wanted to 

 know about." 



" Yes ; I will come to that next. This same 

 man said that beekeeping specialists had 

 brought out comb foundation, and urged it, 

 till nearly every one thought he must pay 

 out a good lot of the selling price of comb 

 honey for the purchase of this foundation, 

 and do a whole lot of extra work in order 

 that the sections might be filled with it. And 

 not only this extra cost, but it makes the 

 honey tough to eat. ' This last,' he said, 'is 

 really a more important subject than many 

 of the beekeepers realize.' " 



'' But did he not tell you something about 

 the other side of the matter — how, with full 

 sheets of thin foundation, the bees do mucli 

 more work in tlie sections; how the cells are 

 regular and even ; how it is a pleasure to 

 look at the even cappings of the combs, and, 

 above all else, how honey built on founda- 

 tion will stand shipment to distant markets 

 two to one better than that built by the bees 

 from a starter of natural comb? I fear that 

 your old friend has been using foundation 

 made for the brood-chamber rather than 

 that for sections. That made for sections 

 at the present time often runs as thin as any 

 natural comb ever built by the bees — so thin 

 that there is 18 square feet in one pound. 

 This wax may not be quite as brittle as the 

 white flakes produced by the bees, but it is 

 so thin that no reasonable consumer will 

 say aught against it. With such thin foun- 

 dation as this its advantages are so great 

 that it is not likely it will be dispensed 

 with when raising comb honey; and if you 

 use the thinnest obtainable, and put full 

 sheets in your sections, I think you will not 

 injure the market for comb honey in the 

 least, and you will have much better success 

 in the inn suit of apiculture besides." 



