March 1, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



135 



is overestimated. When they are not very abundant they 

 eat about the borders of a field, and make quite a show of 

 damage. There is no better method of destroying them 

 than to use the hopper-dozers or pans, or the plow, or culti- 

 vate in spring ; altho a bran-mash of one pound of arsenic 

 to six pounds of bran, with water, around the borders of a 

 field, is good. 



H. Rauchfuss— That is just where we don't want them 

 to eat. That is where the alfalfa and sweet clover is not 

 cut by the mower ; there, and along the ditches. But last 

 year we had hardly any grasshoppers, and still the flow was 

 not good until the latter part of the season. 



Prof. Gillette — I think they injure the sweet clover as 

 much as the alfalfa. 



Ch. Adams— That bran-mash is pretty strong. Around 

 Greeley I used a small handful of arsenic to half a bushel 

 of bran, with a very little water ; otherwise they would not 

 eat it. 



Prof. Gillette— The proportion I mentioned always 

 seemed to me very strong. It was used originally with 

 white arsenic, which is tasteless. 



J. B. Adams — I used one to two pounds of bran, with 

 black molasses. It did the business. They ate it all up. 



USE OF SEPARATORS. 



Mr. Tracy — I use one or two separators in a super, and 

 believe in using as few as we can. We want our sections 

 to weigh as nearly a pound as possible. You will not find 

 many combs built crosswise wliere there is a separator to 

 every three rows. > 



H. Rauchfuss — Iwant a separator between each two rows. 

 Bees don't seem to enter a super as readily when separators 

 are used, but they work just as readily aifter they are 

 started. Separators make the number of unfinisht sections 

 less ; and when full sheets of foundation are used, and one 

 drops, only one section in a row is spoiled, when separators 

 are between each two rows. Then no combs project, and 

 much time and annoyance is saved in getting the honey 

 into the shipping-case. If the colonies are strong enough 

 to enter a super all at once, they will build straight combs 

 without separators, but if they enter on only one side, they 

 will not. 



Mr. Tracy — I don't care if my honey is not all capt. I 

 am surprised at such a bee-keeper as Mr. Rauchfuss taking 

 the stand he does. 



H. Rauchfuss — I wouldn't care to do any extracting 

 from unfinisht sections; and old combs don't make first- 

 class comb honey the next year. Last spring I didn't use 

 more than 50 old sections. 



Mr. Allen — I have used separators, and found many 

 combs fastened to the separators. I have concluded not to 

 use them. I found, too, that the combs were thinner, and 

 scant in weight. Then separators take up more work and 

 time to put them in. 



F. Rauchfuss — Have you ever observed at what stage of 

 comb-building the attachments were made to the separators? 



Mr. Allen — No. 



F. Rauchfuss — In the majority of cases those connec- 

 tions are made after the comb is finisht and sealed, show- 

 ing that if the honey had been removed when it should 

 have been, there would have been no such trouble. In one 

 instance last season a bee-keeper had such connections 

 made to his separatored honey, but the braces were attacht 

 to the capt comb, showing they were built after the honey 

 was sealed. The same man had another lot of supers with- 

 out separators, but the honey in them was unsalable. He 

 used only one super on a hive at one time. That explains it. 



H. Rauchfuss — More depends upon the management 

 than upon the bees, in this respect. If only a small starter is 

 used, many sections will be spoiled when no separators are 

 used. Out of 350 cases of comb honey that I produced last 

 season with separators and full sheets of foundation, not 

 one section was " tied " to the separator. In one lot of 25 

 supers only two sections were spoiled, and that was because 

 the foundation had dropt. 



Mr. Lyon — I would not use one separator. I can pro- 

 duce better honey without. 



F. Rauchfuss— Why ? 



Mr. Lyon — Because with separators honey can not b'^ 

 produced heavy enough to suit the Eastern market. 



F. Rauchfuss — Here is a quotation from a letter from 

 Peycke Bros., who last year handled over 20 cars of honey : 

 " We notice that you demand average weight on No. 1 

 comb honey should be 22 pounds net. Our experience has 

 been that where separators are used (and we advise that the 

 use of these be made one of the most stringent rules of the 

 association) it is not an easy matter to reach the 22-pound 



average weight ; but with our extensive trade, which 

 reaches all thru the Eastern States, we have never found 

 any objection to light weight. We had several cars out of 

 Utah last year which averaged from 20'4 pounds to 21 

 pounds per case, but the honey was so perfect and so pretty 

 that it took the preference over everything else that we 

 had. We consider it of much more importance that each 

 section is perfectly filled than that the comb should be 

 thick. By this, of course, we do not mean to say that we 

 favor a reduction in the size of the present section." 



Mr. Lyon — I have had as large a correspondence with 

 the East as any one except the secretary, and can say that 

 my experience is different. 



Ch. Adams — I got a letter from Kansas City which gives 

 the same advice as given by Peycke Bros. — " Be sure to 

 produce honey with separators." Bees will gather as much 

 honey with separators as without. 



F. Rauchfuss — Another dealer corresponding with ref- 

 erence to one or two cars requested only separatored honey. 

 Another firm, in Pennsylvania, also preferred separatored 

 honey, and was rather partial to the lighter weight. 



Mr. Lyon — As a rule, the average bee-keeper produces 

 better honey with separators. 



Mr. Whipple — I have had the best satisfaction with 

 separators, tho this year I had more combs than usual fast- 

 ened to them. The standard sections will be light, it is 

 true. I ordered some 1 15/16 sections, and found that 

 every time a case would average 24 pounds net. But the 

 honest weight doesn't cut any figure. I use separators all 

 the time, and have adopted the standard IJ's section, and 

 get the same price. I'm no worse than anybody else. 



Mr. Tracy — The first 24 cases of mine weighed only 

 three pounds less than enough to make an average of 24 

 pounds each. 



Mr. Whipple — I weighed 15 cases of mine this year, and 

 they overran 22 pounds net. The buyer said that's good 

 enough. 



I am pleased with the Golden method. From three col- 

 onies I took five supers of 28 sections each. 



Pres. Aikin — When I first came to Colorado the flow 

 was the best, and I averaged ISO pounds. I used two sep- 

 arators to every 10-frame super. For that rapid, heavy 

 flow, two separators were enough. But in general, not half 

 the bee-keepers can pull out sections where no separators 

 have been used without damaging them ; and if this is so, 

 only a small percentage of dealers can. I handled this year 

 a carload of comb honey besides my own. The buyer said, 

 " Produce with separators all the time." He went out to 

 see one man's honey produced without separators, and tho 

 he wanted all the honey he could get, he told him to sort 

 out only the best, and he would give him $2.15 a case for it. 

 It is not a question of weight. The reason we use separa- 

 tors is to have the honey within the wood Another reason 

 is, the retailer must handle something which preserves the 

 average weight in each section. True, a little more room 

 is needed, but that cuts no figure when you get 25 or SO 

 cents a case. In a good honey-flow the honey is uniform, 

 and theji almost every fool can produce a good article. In a 

 slow, light flow the case is different. The buyer told me 

 I could have all I could make over 5 cents in handling one 

 lot produced by weak colonies without separators. Some- 

 body said some colonies produce burr-combs and others do 

 not ; but when any colony is crowded in the flow, that non- 

 burr-comb strain is going to build burr-combs. If an honest 

 section is wanted, make a larger section. When the sep- 

 arator does not come within ^s of an inch of the bottom or 

 top of the section, and the colony is crowded, or the flow 

 slow, the bees will extend that part of the comb above and 

 below the separator. Separators are all right when one 

 knows how to use them, and they make the proportion of 

 finisht sections larger. 



J. B. Adams — Do you prefer wood or metal separators ? 

 Pres. Aikin — There is not much difference. 

 Mr. Whipple — I sell my honey more readily by using 

 separators than I can without. The parties that buy to re- 

 tail prefer the straight combs. 



Mr. Porter — In the sales this year the buyer did get all 

 the non-separatored honey, but that was because of the 

 scarcity of honey. 



Mr. Whipple — I got $2.40 a case for an average net 

 weight of 22 pounds, in the early part of September. 

 [Continuecl ne.vt week.] 



The Premiums offered 90 page }43 are well worth work- 

 injr for. Look at thenj. 



