712 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Oct. 12, 1905 



the sections are needed on the hives, and when the weather is 

 so warm that artificial heat is not needed. Dr. Miller uses a 

 Daisy fastener, and puts in the starters in cold weather. If I 

 had prepared a whole lot last winter, as he does, I should have 

 to carry most of them over till next season— a thing which I 

 would prefer not to do. The additional work required to put 

 in the bottom starters is not great, and bears no comparison 

 to the advantages which accrue from their use. 



I will remark here that I have a Lewis foundation fast- 

 ener, but have never used it as the Parker does very well for 

 me. 



When these bottom starters are used the bees, like Nature, 

 seem to abhor a vacuum, and they go right to work and close 

 up that little vacancy of a quarter inch or so between the two 

 starters. They will extend the comb and begin storing here 

 and a little above before they will do it next to the top-bar of 

 the section, i 



Here I hope I may be pardoned for remarking a little on 

 the wastefulness of the practice of using only a narrow starter 

 at the top, especially in localities where the flow comes mainly 

 from white clover, and is therefore of limited duration. When 

 these narrow starters are used hundreds of bees in each and 

 every section must form themselves into the shape of a big V, 

 and stay there for days preparing storage room for that 

 which, during this delay, is being wasted in the fields. When 

 full sheets of foundation are used a hundred bees can find 

 room for work where but one can find it with the narrow 

 strip. I have marveled at the shortness of the time before 

 honey could be seen glistening in the tiny cells when the full 

 sheets of foundation are given. I have also marveled at the 

 rapidity with which supers with the full sheets are filled when 

 the honey-flow is good. 



Some bee-keepers seem to have a preference for the nar- 

 row starter because of what they call the superior delicacy of 

 the product. Where do they find a markef for this delicacy 

 that will take it at a price commensurate with its additiotal 

 cost to produce ? The additional quantity of honey secured 

 by the use of full sheets of foundation will, I am sure, bring 

 more money than will be received from the added price of the 

 delicate product. If delicacy is what is wanted, why not get 

 it in the shape of the finest grades of extracted honev ? The 

 one who eats this kind does not have to eat any indig'estibility 

 in the shape of honey-comb. But when extracted honey is 

 mentioned, the specter of adulteration arises. 



It is not creditable to the fighting qualities of extracted- 

 honey producers that this prejudice against their product goes 

 unrebuked and unremoved, especially in States that have a 

 pure food law. It is not creditable to the general public 

 that it will buy so much butter at 20 cents a pound and up- 

 wards, and so little good extracted honey at 8 or 10 cents. 

 The question of palatableness has of course to be left to the 



eater, but the question of nutritive value must be left to the 

 chemist. 



The difference in the nutritive value of a pound of butter 

 costing 20 cents, and of 2 pounds of honey costing 20 cents, is, 

 I believe, largely in favor of the honey. 



It is hard for me to believe that there is not some way to 

 inspire in the mind of the public so large a degree of confi- 

 dence in the purity of extracted honey as to lead to its larger 

 use. I will reiterate what I have said before, that the small 

 towns and country districts should get more of it than they do 

 through the efforts of the local bee-keeper. 



I will now turn myself into a peace plenipotentiary with 

 a view to the bringing about of a reconciliation between Dr. 

 Miller and Mr. Hasty. Dr. Miller puts bottom starters in his 

 sections and wants the lock corners down. Mr. Hasty wants 

 to know why, and the Doctor says that it is because — because 

 they look nicer so. How much difference there is between 

 "better" and " nicer " I will leave the Doctor to explain. I 

 will venture a guess that the lock corners sometimes have 

 some stains in the joints that do not get removed. 



When Mr Hasty says that sections with lock corners up 

 are much more liable to be pulled apart in handling, he seems 

 not to remember that Dr. Miller not only uses bottom starters 

 but T tins also. The liability to pull apart is, I think, much 

 greater where section-holders are used than where T tins are 

 used. I use section-holders, and put the lock corners down. 

 It requires some care to avoid pulling apart, but I prefer to 

 use this care because — because the tops of the sections are 

 more easily cleaned when perfectly smooth, and look a little 

 better (or, shall I say, nicer?) when cased for shipment. 



Just here f have concluded to give up the job of peace- 

 maker. The differences between the ideas and practices of 

 the two men are irreconcilable. Mr. Hasty's short-comings 

 are appalling. Here is a list of them : 



1st. He wants the section, whether in pile or case, to stand 

 the other side up from what it was when being built. I sup- 

 pose that is to enable the honey all to run out in case of any 

 bruising or abrasion of the cappings. 



2d. He doesn't say that he makes finger-prints in the 

 honey sometimes, but leaves the impression that he does. 



3d. He leaves the supers on the hives till the bees have 

 removed the honey from the unsealed cells. How much 

 travel-stain does the surfaces of the sections acquire while 

 waiting, and how many bees are monkeying around there that 

 might be more profitably employed somewhere else ? 



Lazy? No use for the interrogation point. Mr. Hasty 

 owns to the soft impeachment. So I will simply say, " Lazy." 



Summing things all up, Mr. Hasty, you're a bad 'un. Re- 

 pent and reform, or have some fellow bigger'n you, with a 

 shingle in his right hand, take you across his knee. 



Decatur Co., Iowa. 



ConDcntton 

 Proceebiuigs 



Report of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, held at Chicago, ill., 

 Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 1904 



(Continued from page 6'i8.J 

 BEES AS PROPERTY, AND ASSESSABLE. 



Mr. Swift — Our bees as property are not assessable under 

 the laws of the State of Illinois. If they are not assessable 

 and produce no revenue why should the State pay revenue 

 back? Take cattle or any animal that is diseased, every one 

 is assessed upon that animal and pays revenue into the State. 



Dr. Miller — They may not be assessable but they are 

 assessed; I pay taxes on my bees. 



Mr. Swift— You don't have to. They are not assessable. 



Mr. Moore— You are a little in error, Mr. Swift, in the 

 schedule is a clause which says, "Other property." Nov\? to a 

 really conscientious man, if he calls bees property, he ought 

 to list them ; and I know of two or three who list them and 

 are assessed. Now if we are assessed, that will give us cer- 

 tain rights before the Legislature. 



Mr. Swift — The only thing is this, bees come under that 



class of fercB natum — they are wild by nature ; and conse- 

 quently anything of that character is like a flock of prairie 

 chickens — the farmer does not have to pay taxes on them. 

 Bees are not assessable under the revenue laws of the State 

 of Illinois unless a man chooses to list them as "other prop- 

 erty." Consequentlv this is my opinion. The Supreme Court 

 may differ from me — I am not certain it has ever been ad- 

 judicated upon by the Supreme Court — but I think they are 

 not assessable from the very fact that without any provoca- 

 tion a colony of bees does sometimes take wing and go away 

 in the spring. It is the very fluctuating character of the thing. 

 A man in the fall might have 100 colonies, and in the spring 

 he might not have more than 15, and according to Dr. Miller, 

 then, he has to go before the Board of Supervisors and the 

 Committee on Payments and present his claim for the loss 

 of his property, unless he chooses to pay on something he has not 

 got. Under those circumstances, the bees not being assessable, by 

 the very nature of the property, as property that is fixed 

 and tangible is, that can be gotten hold of or levied upon — 

 because I don't believe there is a sheriff in the State would 

 levy on a hive of bees — by that very fact you could not go 

 before the Legislature and ask any law that would give force 

 that a bee-keeper should be recompensed if his bees were 

 injured by being treated for foul brood or any disease. But if 

 you can get the Legislature to recognize that this is a source 

 of revenue for the State, and of wealth to the individual, and 

 his wealth in that way can be assessed and taxed as his money 

 and household goods and the things he can buy as the result 

 of his product, then they will legislate and will do what they 

 have done in the past — give you any appropriation for the 

 protection of that industry. But when you come to ask for 

 recompense for injury done by making the injured better, 



