THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



187 



surplus honey should be procured in 

 about 2 lb. frames, for ready sale. 



Last fall my honey put up thus took the 

 first premium at our fair. To market, I 

 put these little frames in boxes holding 

 from 25 to 50 fts. with glass in one side 

 to show to advantage. 



I have tried these small frames and must 

 say they are perfectly satisfactory. I have 

 38 swarms — part in open frames and part 

 in tight frames ; the latter are every way 

 satisfactory. I wintered in the cellar. 

 They did well last season and wintered 

 well. E. V. Phillips. 



Whiteside Co., 111. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Crood Report from South Western 

 Missouri. 



For honey I think we can equal any 

 other place east of the Rocky mountains. 

 Bee keeping is in its infancy yet; only a 

 very few are making it a business, and 

 giving it the share of attention that it is 

 entitled to among other matters. To show 

 you and others, I will give you an account 

 of some of my colonies last fall. One 

 swarm caure oft" August 11, from which I 

 obtained 50 lbs. of box honey, and they 

 have wintered well and are now in a fine 

 condition. One swarmd September 7, 

 from which I obtained 15 lbs. of box 

 honey. One hive swarmed five times after 

 August 25, and 1 saved them all over, 

 and they are doing splendidly now. I 

 have now 36 colonies, all in good condition, 

 and I am going to beat some extractor 

 men, raising honey this year. I will do it 

 too, without comb foundations. Our bees 

 do best here in the fall season, unless we 

 get a honey dew in May or June. Our 

 Springs are generallj' wet and cold 

 through fruit blossoming time, and then 

 there is a cessation of flowers through 

 June and July, until about the time sumach 

 blooms and corn tassels, then we get hon- 

 ey in abundance until frost, unless we 

 have a very dry fall. My bees are mixed 

 with the Italian stock. Probably some 

 are pure. I like them better than the 

 black ones. I go for box honey altogeth- 

 er. Do not like the extracting business. 

 I can find a better way to give the queen 

 room, than to use the extractor. When you 

 extract the honey out of a comb, you do 

 not leave it in a condition for the queen to 

 deposit eggs in, but it has got to be re- 

 paired and cleaned. The loose honey has 

 got to be licked up, and will be deposited 

 immediately in the same cells, so the 

 queen is deprived of using it at all. 



[Your bees act difi"erently from ours. 



My plan is to take the outside frame or 

 frames, and cut out the honey, comb and 

 all, and open out the brood, and place the 

 empty frame or frames in the center, and 



if the honey season is good, the bees will 

 almost fill the frames with comb in one 

 night, which is new and dry, in which the 

 queen can deposit eggs, before the workers- 

 get it full of honey. This idea of con- 

 suming so much honey to make a little 

 comb is all bosh. Bees will eat just as 

 much when they are not building comb, 

 as when they are. The material of which 

 the comb is built is always plenty, when 

 the bees are well fed, and as the}^ build 

 the most of the comb in the night lime, 

 there can be but little time lost, and less 

 honey. These are my ideas, and if I 

 should learn better, I will own up, like a 

 little man. I am in favor of progression 

 in every branch of industry, and do not 

 want to hold to any old fogy ideas, if I 

 know it. Geo. H. Mobley. 



Nevada, Mo., Vernon Co., May 15, '76. 



[We think our most advanced bee keep- 

 ers would consider it going back to old 

 fogy ideas, to believe that building comb 

 is not done at quite an expense of honey 

 Some of them would give considerable 

 for the secret of raising with a given 

 number of bees, as many pounds of box 

 honey as extracted. We shall be glad of 

 any light to help in this direction. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Sectional Boxes. 



In the March No. D. D. Palmer asked 

 how to put on sectional boxes, or small 

 racks to hold glass. I will give my plan: 



I make my racks 6 inches square, the 

 side pieces 5^ long, 1^ wide, }^ inch 

 thick; top pieces 6 inches long, 1}^ wide, 

 34 thick ; bottom pieces % i"ch square, 

 53^ inches long, scant; now a rack or 

 honey board to hold them. Cut 4 pieces 

 3 inches wide, ^2 i^ch thick, 14% long, 

 and 2 pieces 20J^ inches long, 5 inches 

 wide, }£ inch thick, the two side pieces 

 nailed through the sides into the end 

 pieces, with No. 6 finishing nails, the 14% 

 pieces, one at each end, and the others 1}^ 

 of the space from each end. This frame 

 will hold about 40 lbs. of honey. For a 

 bottom usestuft' 1^^ inches wide, }^ thick, 

 203^ inches long ; these are the same width 

 as the rack; it will take 6 of them for one 

 frame. There must be three slots cut in 

 each side of them, 4 inches long, %' inch 

 deep, 1% inch from each end, one in the 

 middle of the piece; and 2 pieces 20^?^ 

 long, 2j?4 inches wide and }^ thick. They 

 need slots on one side, the same length 

 and depth of the others. To nail them on, 

 put one of the wide ones on firsi, slots on 

 the inside; nail with "3 penny fines" to 

 that slotted on both sides, and the last one 

 with slots on one side, slots inside. The 

 slots are to let the bees come up between 

 each rack, and there is a piece under each 

 rack to prevent them from building comb 



