THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



little know how much <^ood a kind or en- 

 coura^ng vvonl may do some fellow mor- 

 tal. I was led to this train of thou<(lit 

 by the following paragraph that I found 

 in a letter recently received from Ernest 

 Root:— 



The Review was never quite equal to 

 \vhat it is now. A"s soon as it came I 

 grabbed it up eagerly, and, although I 

 way busy, I read it clear through before 

 dropping it. I was too interested to let it 

 go. leather picked it off my de.sk and 

 read it clear through, same as I, and his 

 opinion is the same as mine. 



I know that .some of us bee-keeping 

 editors have been accused of belonging to 

 a nmtual admiration society; which, be- 

 ing translated, means, I suppose, that we 

 admire one another because it is to our 

 adva)itagc to do so. I do not believe it. 

 I doubt if any bee-keeping editor ever 

 praised a brother editor upon the princi- 

 ple of "you tickle me and I'll tickle you." 



When a man dies we forget his faults, 

 and remember his virtues, and cover his 

 coffin with flowers; let us not withold 

 our flowers and appreciative words until 

 eyes and ears have passed bevond re- 

 joicing. 



WRIJ. FIIXED SECTIONS THE RESULT OF 



FREE COMMUNICATION R.\THER 



TH.-VN OF PI^AIN SECTIO.NS. 



Last month I expressed my inabilit}' to 

 miderstand why more perfect combs 

 should be built in plain sections, but I 

 was satisfied that some factor brought in- 

 to use by their adoption did result in the 

 more perfect filling of the sections. 

 Since the January Review has been mail- 

 ed I have received several letters and 

 articles bearing upon this point. I have 

 an article from a bee-keeper now in 

 Florida, a man who has produced ioo,o(K) 

 pounds of honey in his life time, al- 

 though all of it has not been comb honey, 

 and he attributes the difference to the 

 freer connnunication established wh'en 

 jilain sections are u.sed — but I must not 

 steal his thunder, as I expect to print his 

 article next month. I al.so have an arti- 

 cle from Mr. Doolittle taking still differ- 



ent grounds, and actually defending the 

 upper row of sections in the Januarj- 

 frontispiece — but I won't "give him 

 away" as I have the Florida man; but, in- 

 stead, give his article next month.- Then 

 I have a letter from a Mr. C. G. Ferris, of 

 New York, that I would like to print, but 

 he expressl}' said I must not — I have 

 hopes, however, of inducing him to 

 change his mind. But I think I can 

 make room for a portion of a letter just 

 received from Mr. J. E. Crane. It reads 

 as follows: — 



The December Review was so fine that 

 I was afraid jou would scarcely be able 

 to keep it up to that standard through 

 the year of 189S, but I believe the Janu- 

 ary number is even better than the Dec- 

 ember. Perhaps, after all, it is because I 

 am so much interested in the principal 

 subject treated. I have been very much 

 interested in the plain section; and more 

 especially in open separators. I have ma- 

 terial on hand for 2,000 plain sections, 

 and 500 open separators; so I caji give 

 the subject a careful study and test the 

 coming season. I feel satisfied in my 

 mind that the gain comes principally in 

 the separators being so open that the 

 bees feel as though all the sections in a 

 row are a single comb; or, at any rate, a 

 more desirable place to store their sur- 

 plus than in the small culjby-holes usu- 

 all}' given them. 



At our State convention I asked an old 

 bee-keeper, who is a very candid man, 

 and who once used shallow frames, vdth- 

 out separators, over the brood-chamber, 

 what he thought the difference in amount 

 of surplus honey would be, or had been 

 with him, between the open surplus 

 clamp and the small sections with separa- 

 tors. He thought the bees stored almost 

 twice as much in the open frames as now 

 in small .sections. I guess he over-esti- 

 mated; but there is evidently a point here 

 of considerable importance. I therefore 

 propose to test the matter quite fully; and 

 shall make a part of my separators in 

 such a way as to give the bees still greater 

 freedom than will the fence with cleats. 

 I .shall drive little pins through the slats, 

 in the middle, so as tt) project enough for 

 a bee-space, and thus keep the sections in 

 place and give the bees a passage-way 

 around the edges of each section ; so that 

 four sections will be as a frame extend- 

 ing clear across the clamp. .\fter all, 

 (lifTerent hives of bees, and different sea- 

 sons will produce different results. The 



