. Bl*ulylislied WeO'Uly, at Sl-OO per annum. 



Sample Copy sent on A.i>tylicatioii, 



36th. Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., NOVEMBER 12, 1896. 



No. 46. 



[Continued from pa^e 70S.] 



OF THE 



Twenty-Seventh Annual Convention 



OF THE 



North American Bee-Keepers' Association, 



HELD AT 



LINCOLN, NEBR., October 7 and 8, 1896. 



BY DR. A. B. MASON, SKCBETART. 



THURSDAT MORNING SESSION. 



The conveDtion was called to order by Pres. Root at 8:30 

 o'clock. 



Pres. Root — Since our speakers are not all here, we will 

 devote some time to the discussion of questions. The follow- 

 ing question has been handed in : 



Sections and Separators. 



"Are one-pound sections scalloped out enough to allow 

 bees to pass through with ease when we use separators ?" 



L. 0. Westcotl, Swautou, Nebr. — I am not a very old bee- 

 keeper, and I have only about 3(J colonies ; but recently I 

 have used separators, and I find that some of my sections have 

 been entirely filled up with comb by the bees, and there was 

 no honey in them ; the bees did not have enough room. The 

 section should be cut out 1^ 6 of an inch, so that when the 

 separator is put in the bees can pass up and down more readily. 



Mr. Stilson — What kind of separators do you use, straight 

 or scalloped ? 



Mr. Westcott — I use scalloped sections. 



Pres. Root— I should hardly think that there is any 

 trouble about these being made shallow enough. They have 

 been made deeper and shallower. Was the section capped 

 over and no honey in it? 



Mr. Westcott— No, it was not capped over. The space 

 between it and the separator was closed. I have also read in 

 the bee-papers articles complaining of this same thing. 



Mr. Whitcomb — The question arose last night about ex- 

 tracted and comb honey. My experience is that bees always 

 store honey in the sections in one way or the other. I produce 

 both comb and extracted honey, but the best colonies produce 

 comb honey. Yet I get twice as much extracted honey f'om 

 a colony as I do of comb honey. But it is always under pro- 

 test, especially in that part of the country where the honey is 

 not abundant, where we have not the linden aud white clover ; 

 it is where the honey-flows are moderate. 



Pres. Root — My opinion is that separators are always a 



hindrance, more or less. At one time I was strongly inclined 

 to discard separators entirely. 



Mr. Masters — I think these protests come on account of 

 the bees. Some bees work readily into sections, while others 

 refuse. 



Mr. Stewart — That brings in a little hobby of mine on the 

 size and shape of the entrance into the sections ; it' sprang 

 from a statement of Mr. Heddon, that he preferred 4-piece 

 sections because it gave a wider entrance into the sections. I 

 used mucilage with them, but it was too much work ; I did not 

 like them, so I had sections made to order. It does not'cost 

 more than 25 cents a thousand. It gives an entrance of the 

 same width clear across the section ; that is a great improve- 

 ment in the section. We can take a 24-pound case and shake 

 nearly every bee out of it, while with the ordinary section we 

 cannot shake them all out. They also fill up more space in 

 the corners. 



Mr. Whitcomb — I want to make a protest against Mr. 

 Masters' remark. He lives in the best part of the country ; he 



Dr. C. C. Miller — See Address to Students, page 725. 



has the linden and white clover. Here are his bees protesting 

 so strongly that they go outside of the hive in the Missouri 

 fashion. I thought we had got far beyond shaking bees out 

 of the hivp. 



Mr. Abbott — Will Mr. Whitcomb explain what he means 

 by "Missouri style?" I am here from Missouri. 3 



Mr. Whitcomb — I was down in Missouri a little way below 

 Mr. Abbott's, and there the bees put their honey outside of 

 the hive. 



