694 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 29, 



pound. Could not this honey have been disposed of at 20 

 cents per pound to consumers, located at mines, lumber 

 camps, pleasure resorts, or small towns within a day's drive 

 from where it was produced ? If the producer has not the 

 time to sell his honey, there are plenty of idle people who 

 would be glad of the work. 



If the families of bee-keepers were honey consumers like 

 Dr. Gallup's, there would be much less upon the market. 

 Many producers think that honey is to sell, not to eat. Others 

 will not bother to sell a pound to a neighbor. I very much 

 doubt whether the producer of that beautiful honey, lately 

 shipped in here, would have been willing to have taken at his 

 apiary the price that he will receive from this distant market. 



Within a few days a grocer said to me: "Honey is 

 going to be very cheap this year; the commission-houses 

 are full of it." One season I heard of a woman who was sell- 

 ing honey very cheap, and I inquired where she lived, as I 

 would like to visit her apiary. I was referred to a commis- 

 sion-house. This woman visited boarding-houses, hotels, 

 grocers, etc., offering honey very low — wanted to get it out of 

 their way as soon as possible. 



A honey-route within a day's drive of an apiary would be 

 valuable. When the route had been gone over a few times, 

 the driver would know where to stop. It is well to sell only a 

 few cases at a store, and keep supplying it regularly; buying 

 your supplies only of those who patronize you. On the rounds, 

 if a case of honey is found with a few unsightly sections in it, 

 buy it back at the price you sold it at, and leave another in 

 good shape. Some dealers, as long as they have a case with 

 a few sections in it, will refuse to purchase more. 



Try to have the case of honey kept in view of customers 

 at the store. I was once shown a dozen tin pails of honey 

 that the dealer told me he had had for one year, and had sold 

 about one-quarter of a pound. He was located in a thickly 

 populated part of the city, but he kept these pails of honey 

 on a high shelf, and no one surmised that he had honey to sell. 



The honey-man would soon be known along his route, and 

 people living along it would watch and inquire for him, and 

 request him to stop and sell them some honey. He would only 

 require a few cases for holding the honey, as he could collect 

 the empty ones, clean and refill. When his crop was sold, be 

 would have double the cash than if he shipped, with less worry 

 and expense. 



I love the honey-bees, and like to work with them ; yet I 

 like some remuneration for my labor. Just as long as honey- 

 producers persist in shipping all their honey to large cities — 

 where in many instances it is reshipped to small towns, to find 

 a consumer — so long will we be obliged to accept a low price 

 for our product. I bought extracted honey in Florida at 10 

 per pound, that came all the way from Chicago. 



Peoria, 111. 

 >V 



Wide Frames and Sections as I Use Them. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLB. 



Before me lies the following request : " Will you be kind 

 enough to give the readers of the American Bee Journal a 

 description of the wide frames you use, and also of your sec- 

 tions. I tried a few wide frames the past season on one col- 

 ony, that giving me 65 pounds of surplus, while 28 pounds 

 was the result where common supers were used. So I am sure 

 a description of your surplus arrangement will be of interest 

 to the most of the comb-honey producers who read the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal." 



I am perfectly willing to comply with the request made, 

 but I feel it my duty to say, before doing so, that without 

 doubt a close inspection of the colony on which the wide frames 

 were used, during the time it was at work in the sections, 

 would have revealed that the difference in the product, as 

 above given, was more in the fact that this colony was in 

 better condition to store surplus honey, than were the others. 

 After using nearly all kinds of surplus arrangements, and try- 

 ing this thing and that thing said to give the best results in 

 honey. I have come to the conclusion that it is the he.es which 

 store the honey, and that Elisha Gallup was right when he 

 said that " Bees would store just as much honey in a nail-keg, 

 all other conditions being equal, as they would in the best hive 

 ever invented." All that any hive can claim over a nail-keg, 

 or any rough box, is that the owner can manipulate the hive 

 in ways he cannot the bos or keg, and that the honey stored, 

 more than the bees need for winter, can be obtained in an- 

 easy-to-get-at and marketable shape. So I say, that a good 

 yield of honey is to be credited to the individuality of the 

 man, put into the business— an individuality which will put 

 every colony each year in the shape the best was the year be- I 



fore — rather than to any hives or surplus arrangement in ex- 

 istence. 



But as there is some difference in surplus arrangements, 

 as to securing honey in the best shape for market, ease of 

 manipulation, and enticing attractiveness to the bees, this 

 latter securing an early entrance for work in the sections, I 

 will briefly describe what I use, for the benefit of those who 

 are not satisfied with what they are already using. 



My wide frames are 15 inches long, by 5 13/16 deep, 

 by 1% wide, holding four sections, 5-^s' long or deep, by 3X 

 inches wide, by 1^ thick ; dimensions given, being outside 

 measure. 



On one side of the wide frame is nailed a tin separator, 

 the same being drawn taut by the top and bottom being 

 sprung outward while it is being nailed on, the top and bottom 

 when coming to their natural position again, stretching the 

 tin tight. This separator is J^ inch narrower than the inside 

 of the section, and is so put on the wide frame that it makes a 

 a inch bee-space between the bottom and top of the same, 

 and the inside of the bottom and top of the section. Separa- 

 tors thus used, I consider of no disadvantage in securing a 

 large crop of honey, while by their use the crop is secured in 

 the most marketable shape. 



The ends of the wide frames are H inch thick, while the 

 bottoms and top are only 3/16 thick. The top-bars are % 

 of an inch longer than the bottoms, so that they have a % 

 projection at each end to hang on rabbets where they are 

 used in a super, and for convenience in handling when used 

 without a super, as I use many of them by simply clamping 

 the desired number together and setting them on the hiyes. 



The bottom-bar is slotted or cut off "^i inch on each side, 

 except at the end where it is nailed to the end pieces, so that 

 when two of the wide frames come together this forms an en- 

 trance for the bees to pass into the sections. Where it is 

 desired to tier up, the tops are slotted the same as the bottoms, 

 and by thus doing we have a continuous passage-way, no mat- 

 ter how high the wide frames are tiered. 



Where supers are used in connection with the wide 

 frames, a given number must go on a hive at one time, and 

 with my hives that number is 11, containing 4-4 sections ; so 

 I must use 44, or S8, or 132, etc.; but where they are 

 clamped together I can use anywhere from 3 to 50, holding 

 from 12 to 200 sections, beginning with the 12 and adding 4 

 sections, or any multiple of 4 as is needed by the colony. By 

 this latter plan, and the use of sections filled with comb, or 

 the new high-cell foundation, which we hope will soon come 

 into general use, at a cost which will not exclude any one 

 from using it, the bees can be gotten into the sections as soon 

 as there is any honey coraiug in from the fields, and the room 

 expanded as the bees increase, thus securing the largest yield 

 of honey, and controlling the desire to swarm, which usually 

 overtakes all colonies of bees worked for comb honey, in a 

 good season. 



The sections mentioned above will average one pound in 

 weight, when filled and glassed on both sides, as the New 

 York market calls for ; or they will average about 13 ounces 

 when filled with honey and sold without glass. Most people 

 like an oblong comb of honey to set before guests, better than 

 one which is square, and this was one of the reasons I adopted 

 the size of section I am using. 



Now don't let any one think they are obliged to use just 

 the size of wide frame or section which I use, for it is not at 

 all necessary. Just study up a size that will suit your hives 

 and your market. Use a little common sense, and learn that it 

 is the /, the ego, the man, my own self, I am to depend upon, 

 and not Doollttle or any other person, and nine to ten you will 

 succeed. Borodino, N. Y. 



Swarming with Large Hives — A Question. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



I have received the following letter, which I will answer 

 in the Bee Journal : 



Dear Mr. Dadant :— I have just finished reading your 

 article in reply to W. B., on page 609. Now I recognize you 

 as a level-headed authority on bee-subjects, but I wish to sub- 

 mit this little conundrum : 



I have a big hive (I made myself) holding 20 (!) usual size 

 Langstroth frames. Last spring there was a large colony of 

 Germans in it. They wintered well, had lots of honey last 

 fall (York, Abbott or myself couldn't lift the hive). During 

 the past summer the colony cast yiue sicrn-ms ; one got away, 

 and I managed to hive four of them, consequently I now have 

 five colonies, and but little honey. 



The above fact seems a littlej contrary, to your opinion. 



