April 26, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



259 



out, a cheap grade of sugar can be used ; and if you have 

 any inferior honey it can be profitably disposed of in tliis 

 way. 



Now allow a word of suggestion : If you have nuvir 

 workt for extracted honey, would it not be well to devoU- 

 one-half or less of your apiary for that purpose, working 

 the rest for comb honey as formerly ? If you have made a 

 success in producing comb honey, it does not certainly prove 

 that you will be equally successful with extracted honey, 

 altho the prospects may point that way. And should ycm 

 be successful there is a possibility that you may not like 

 this part of bee-keeping as well as the other, therefore it 

 might be the part of discretion to go a little slow until sure 

 that the new enterprise will be just the thing desired. 

 Many a man has rusht into some new thing, devoting his 

 whole time to it, when, at the end of a year or two he has 

 left it at much loss, because he did not stick to his old 

 business, and enter the new gradually until he became 

 satisfied that the new was more to his profit and liking 

 than the old. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



Winter Temperature of a Bee-Cave in Manitoba 

 — Making Straw Skeps or Hives. 



BY J. GATLEY. 



I OFTEN wonder why bee-writers maintain that it is 

 necessary to keep a bee-cellar at 40 to 45 degrees. Mine 

 never gets above 30 degrees from the middle of Novem- 

 ber to the middle of March or later. This winter is the 

 warmest for about 10 years, and the temperature has been 

 from 20 to 28 degrees, one day up to 30, and the bees all 

 doing well. Last winter it was from 14 to 28 degrees, and 

 every colony (28 of them) came thru all right, with no dys- 

 entery. 



Last year some one askt how to make a straw skep or 

 hive, so I enclose .instructions with illustration. 



Manitoba, Canada, Feb. 26. 



[The straw skep or hive matter referred to by Mr. 

 Gatley is as follows, having been taken from some book on 

 bee-keepin g. — Editor . ] 



THE IMPROVED STRAW HIVE. 



This is the best form of straw hive that can be used ; it 

 is made flat on the top, with hole in center, to receive a 

 super. A rim of wood is workt on to the bottom of the 

 stock-hive to preserve the straw, which so very soon rots if 

 allowed to come in direct contact with the floor-board. 



Straw hives require some cover, and perhaps the com- 

 mon straw-thatch cover is as good as any, as shown in 



illustration ; it should be so made as to fit the hive with or 

 without the super. The great objection to straw hives is 

 their extremely perishable nature, and their disposition to 

 harbor vermin, and also the great difficulty in getting them 

 made sufficiently large in size or correct in shape. 



There is little difficulty in making a straw hive, as may 

 be seen by the illustration. Provide yourself with some 

 clean straw, and for this purpose the less it has been bruised 

 the better ; also a funnel, something in the shape of a cow's 

 horn, for the purpose of drawing and guaging the straw ; 



lastly, 10 or IS yards of split cane or split briar, to bind the 

 straw and work one rim to the other, as shown in the illus- 

 tration. The cane or briar strips are pointed at one end, to 

 enable it to be pusht thru the .several bands. A little ex- 

 perience and practice is all that is necessary. 



NO. 6.— COMB HONEY PRODUCTION. 



About Supers, Separators and Comb Foundation. 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



I SHALL not advocate any particular kind of super, for 

 there are many kinds in use, and liked by their owners ; 

 but there are a few things about the super that I will in- 

 sist upon. Provide every super with full separators. Do 

 not tell me i'0« can produce nice enough honey without sep- 

 arators. For your own use, and also for your neighbors 

 who come and buy 5, 10 or 20 sections at a time for their 

 use, separators are not of much value ; but if you produce for 

 the retail store, separators ai-e necessary. 



It is common custom for people to buy things by littles, 

 a pound each of coffee, butter, and honey, or at most two or 

 three pounds. To meet this custom you must have even- 

 weight sections, approximately. Not only must they be 

 even weight, but they must not be bulged or crooked, pro- 

 truding beyond the wood. Just as sure as the honey is out 

 beyond the wood, just so surely will some of them be broken 

 and leaking,for even experts in handling honey will damage 

 many when not within the wood. I know that you can 

 have sections so that most of them can be cased by putting 

 in the case as they were in the super, but, after they leave 

 your hands, about the next fellow that handles them does 

 not so place them, then there is a disgusted retailer or con- 

 sumer, or both, and you lose trade. 



I will tell you when you can get fairly straight sections 

 and when not. You can when you have a colony that does 

 not swarm (or for other reason maintains much strength), 

 and a good honey-flow comes, together with the use of full 

 sheets of foundation. Yes, the strong colony and a good 

 flow will often do it with starters only. It may also be 

 accomplisht by a careful giving of a very few sections at a 

 time, just so the colony is crowded. The prime factor in 

 this is a very free flow, and continuous. Slow, intermittent 

 and light flows are almost sure to give bulged sections, and 

 if the colon}' be weak, or the weather cool, or the work 

 should by anj' cause be interrupted and start again, you 

 will have irregular combs. Control all these things, and 

 you will have fair success ; but you can not control all. 



Comb honey to be retailed by the piece, or two or three 

 pieces at a time, must be produced between separators. Use 

 separators wide enough to come within '4 inch of the top 

 and bottom of the sections, ^civr narrower than this. Pro- 

 duce sections holding an honest pound, too, but never think 

 you can produce a section that will sell for a certain price — 

 prices are always changing, and you can not produce to sell 

 iorjust so much money — it is a waste of time to try it. A 

 ponxiA, fit! I pound, is a small enough piece of honey for any- 

 body to buy, and the talk of a scant weight is all foolish- 

 ness. 



Suppose I have a horse that jumps my pasture fence, 

 shall I break him by building t:vo fences, 01' even three or 

 more ? The additional fences are but a practice-ground in 

 which he cultivates his jumping capacity. When we get 

 this light-weight section business simmered down to where 

 it realh' and truly belongs, it is that the producer, whole- 

 saler or the retailer may get an advantage somewhere. 

 That is the essence of the matter, even if many good and 

 honest men have honestly supported the idea. When we 

 produced full pounds some got to putting out " shorts," 

 thereby getting an advantage over the other fellows. 



It is the plainest kind of reason that I can sell '4 of a 

 pound at a greater profit than you can sell your full pound 

 when we get the same price per case, and if we look into the 

 matter we will find that this is at the bottom of the whole 

 light-weight fad — selfishness pure and simple. I defy any 

 one to come into print and attempt to prove me wrong in 

 this. Where will we stop ? Some fellow will drop again to 

 a lower point, and to lower still when the masses have fol- 

 lowed, until — until — well, it is all plain. Why cultivate our 

 depravity by seeking methods to take advantage ? A square, 

 honest forging thru the mire of corruption is the true prin- 

 ciple, not dodging behind some questionable shift. 



The use of foundation is somewhat of an evil — a thing' 

 to be avoided if we could do so ; but like many other things. 



