you have done better than the best of them 

 would have done for you. No chance for 

 leakage, shrinkage, or eatage, and I suppose 

 I might with propriety add stealage. 



Sections and Separators. 



Question : Can we get as much honey by 

 using the prize box and tin separators, as by 

 other kinds of boxes ? 



L. H. Scudder. When I began using the 

 prize box, 1 thought I would not get as much 

 honey as by the common box. I tried 

 different kinds of boxes to test it and could 

 not discover that I got any less honey. Our 

 greatest trouble is to get men to handle 

 honey without breakage; it is not the motion 

 of the car that breaks the honey, but the 

 men that handle it. 



O. Clute. I prefer nailed sections to the 

 dovetailed ; also top and bottom of section 

 to be of the same width. I think separators 

 and comb foundation starters essential to 

 success. I use a ladder of comb foundation 

 in one box in each row of the sections. 



S. N. Black. If you have a lot of sections 

 well-filled with comb, give one of them to 

 each case of sections on the hive, and the 

 bees will go to work much faster. 



L. H. Scudder. I extract from all un- 

 finished combs and save for starters next 

 year. Crooked comb is no objection for a 

 home market, but you must confine it to the 

 home trade. If I had a large home trade I 

 would not use the separators, unless I had 

 to compete with others who use them. 



O. Clute. I am inclined to think that 

 large clusters of bees in sections in warm 

 weather is not of much advantage. 



A. Reynolds. The starters must not be 

 too wide. 



D. Kider. I do not think we ought to use 

 mere than a % inch piece of foundation in 

 each section. 



E. D. Godfrey. At Chicago few would 

 own that they were using it. 



L. H. Scudder. A bee-keeper who would 

 not use it, does not know his business. 



Who Should Keep Bees. 



Question : Should we prevail on people 

 to keep bees ? 



A. Reynolds. I am in favor of it. It 

 makes home more pleasant to see a few 

 bee hives around the yard. 



S. N. Black. Not many are qualified to 

 keep bees ; all ought not to try it. Adapta- 

 tion to the business and location ought to be 

 thought of. 



O. Clute. It seems to me scarcely wise to 

 urge people to keep bees who have no quali- 

 fications for it, whatever. There is no 

 doubt but what a large number of persons 

 would be benefitted by keeping one or two 

 colonies of bees. It would give them a little 

 out-door work, so needful for good health, 

 a little profit, and a great deal of pleasure. 



E. D. Godfrey. Did you ever hear a law- 

 yer, or any other business man say, shall 

 we urge people to take up our profession ? 

 I do not think it advisable at all. Supply 

 dealers make the profit on new bee-keeners, 

 not the bee-keepers. We should not advise 

 persons to keep bees any more than those of 

 any other profession should do it with their 



L. H. Scudder. The supply dealers do a 



great deal of damage, represent the large 

 yields too much ; novices are liable to buy 

 too much. We do not doubt the truth of 

 these reports ; but we do not hear the other 

 side. Papers commenting on the glorious 

 piofits or bee-keeping will cause a great 

 many "busted" bee-keepers in the next 

 five years. 



O. Clute. It is the same in all other 

 trades ; one is seen to do well ; others try 

 for the same ; those who can, will thrive ; 

 others will fail, as they would at anything. 



Buying Untested Queens. 



D. Rider. I have bought quite a number 

 of queens said to have come from Italy. I 

 paid $20 for one colony. I think the home- 

 bred queens much the best ; did more ser- 

 vice than the high priced ones. I never 

 bought a dollar queen. 



E. D. Godfrey. 1 am decidedly opposed 

 to cheap queens; I never buy other than tes- 

 ted queens. I know a breeder who sells 

 queens by the thousand; he took his poor 

 queens out, replaced them with imported 

 ones, and sold the poor ones through the 

 country as cheap queens. I think many a 

 report of poor seasons is caused by old, 

 cheap queens. 



O. Clute. Are not cheap queens reared in 

 as cheap a way as possible, and thus poor, 

 weak queens are sent out ? I think in gen- 

 eral, it has atendencyto introduce thatkind 

 of queens. Stock breeders pay a high price 

 for good stock, and I think bee-keepers 

 ought to get the best every time. 



H. Brown. I have lately bought 6 queens 

 for $5, those hives are now full of bees, and 

 there is more value in those 6 at $5 than one 

 imported queen at $10. 



O. Clute. There is no question but what 

 many cheap queen breeders send out good 

 stock, yet the general tendency is to deterior- 

 ate our bees. 



L. H. Scudder. Many claim that the lar- 

 ger price is for time taken in testing, and 

 that cheap queens are as good only not tes- 

 ted as to purity. 



Geo. Bischoff. In a lot of 20 queens, I do 

 not think more than 4 or 5 would be first- 

 class. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



Manner of Cleansing Beeswax. 



Question : How shall we cleanse our bees- 

 wax so that it is pure enough to manufac- 

 ture into comb foundation ? 



L. H. S'-udder. There are various ways 

 of doiny it. It is no trouble to get wax al- 

 most pure if clean combs are used. Cap- 

 pings are almost pure enough to use without 

 any other work except melting. I melt 

 combs in a large can, putting in 4 or 5 pails 

 of water ; when melted, I put a mosquito 

 bar on top, and dip through it into another 

 vessel that contains water ; let it cool, 

 scrape off the bottom of the cake, and go over 

 the same process till thoroughly cleansed. 

 If you want to bleach it, put it in the sun- 

 shine, or in a very light room. Never heat 

 wax without water under it. 



W. H. Smith. Wax may be made dark by 

 using a dirty kettle. 



D. Rider. 1 use a steam wax extractor, 

 and like it best. 



