1894. 



THE . I Ml'. UK '. I X BEE- KEEPER. 



93 



But here conies in the question — 

 How can we add to the beautiful ap- 

 pearance of a section of honey as pro- 

 duced by the bees? We must, of 

 course, furnish bright, new section-. 

 holding not over one pound each, 

 filled with foundation. Of sections 

 we have full control, and if we fail 

 to use the best, the bee-keepers, and 

 not the bees, are to blame. Of the 

 honey Blied in by the bees, we have 

 not so much control, and often when 

 we have planned as best we know 

 how, we find our snow-white sections 

 filled with honey-dew, Mack as ink. 

 These disappointments have come to 

 us in the past,but it is to be hoped 

 i hey will not soon occni' again. 



To get my idea of section honey, 

 separators must be used, and they 

 should be as wide as the sections, 

 and no part of the outside must be 

 exposed to the travel of the bees. 

 Foundation, of course, is almost in- 

 dispensible in full sheets, to get the 

 bees to attach to the comb to the sec- 

 tion bottom. 



Now when all is well done, and we 

 have the beautifully white capped 

 honey in new white sections, we may 

 ask: Can we not do something more. 

 to make our product even more at- 

 tractive? But as the true lover of na- 

 ture looks at these sections of snow- 

 white, beautiful comb honey, the 

 hopelessness of making them more 

 attractive must be apparent. Can 

 we make the rose more beautiful by 

 daubing paint on its petals? Section 

 honey, when in nearly perfect shape. 

 is simply beyond improvement, and 

 all efforts in that direction musl end 

 in dismal failure. 



Nevertheless, I have seen honey 

 On the market insertions that were 

 painted a bright red. others that were 

 stained ; i cherry red, or mahogany 

 color. l>id this add any to the ap- 

 pearance of the honey? NO. it rath- 

 er indicated that something was cov- 

 ered up. and the honey had a queer 

 look, and if the sections were new 

 and clean, the paint and stain were 

 only a detriment, Hut can nothing 

 be done to render section honey more 

 attractive— is nothing admissible? 

 Well, almost nothing. A small rub- 

 ber stamp with bright red ink can he 

 used, and I am not sure hut that it 

 is a real improvement; but beyond 

 this, nothing. The stamp, too. will 

 advertise the producer, and he a 

 guarantee to the buyer. 



SHIPPING-CASES FOR HONEY. 



A.S to the shipping cases to hold 

 these sections, it is not so important 

 about paint and stain. I have seen 

 cases painted a black walnut color, 

 that rerlly looked quite neat, and the 

 white edges of sections, and delicate 

 comb honey, looked very attractive 

 through the glass. 1 should prefer 

 to ship my honey in cases [tainted 

 black, rather than have them go 

 stained or dirty. 



But even when applied to shipping- 

 cases, it is very doubtful if anything 

 can be gained by paint — nothing 

 seems so neat and bright as new. 

 planed boards. The whiter the wood 

 the better it pleases me for section-, 

 even though the comb is capped yel- 

 low, or even dark. Somehow it lends 

 a charm of neatness, that can be se- 

 cured in no other way. 



A.S to the cases, it is perhaps just 

 as well, if not so white. Pine is 

 plenty good enough, and if quite yel- 

 low, showing the grain of the wood. 

 all the better. But whatever the 

 cases may be. let the inside be 80 

 neat, new and clean, as to be a sur- 

 prise and delight to the receiver. — ■ 

 Dibbern, in A. B. -J. (Ilk.) 



