THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



f 



bottom and sides ? That speaks for the 

 bees which built them, and not for the 

 ''fence " or plain sections. Then, do you 

 see the general flatness of the capping to 

 the cells of those in the lower tier, togeth- 

 er with the " lattice work " of raised wax, 

 or ridges on them ? That speaks for the 

 kind of bees that fill sectionsy'w// dear to 

 ///^ a'forf, every time, fence or no fence, 

 plain sections or bee-way sections, provid- 

 ing that the secretion of nectar holds out 

 till they can complete the work laid out. 

 If this secretion does not hold out, then 

 we have sections which are unsealed 

 throughout, instead of sections having 

 cells filled and sealed at the top and down 

 through the middle, while at the sides 

 and bottom the combs are " dubbed '" off 

 and empty of honey, as is the case with 

 bees that fini.sh sections like those in the 

 upper tier. Don't give the credit belong- 

 ing to the bees to plain sections and the 

 " fence. " 



In conclusion, allow me to .sav, let those 

 who wish to try the different things that 

 come up from time to time, of a different 

 nature from what they have been using, 

 //(■('(/ 7iv// the advice given by editor 

 Hutchinson, in his last two paragraphs 

 on this matter, found on page 21 of the 

 January Review, rather than heed those 

 wlioare pu.shing the matter of plain sec- 

 tions and other new!?) things, without 

 having sto])ped to fully analyze what will 

 be the ultimate outcome to the masses, b\- 

 such a course. 



Borodino, X. V. Feb. 11, 189S. 



[The man who furnishes the American 

 Hee Journal with pithy, pointed, para- 

 graphs, under the heading of " Beedom 

 Boiled down," .says, in referring to that 

 picture of the two styles of .sections, as it 

 appeared in the frontispiece of the Janu- 

 ary Review, " It would have been much 

 more to the point if the editor could have 

 .said ■ These sections were produced by 

 the same bees at the same time in the 

 same super. ' " 



There may be a point here. I don't 

 deny it; nor wish to deny it. 1 have no 

 ax to grind in this matter. Italian bees 



built the combs in the plain sections. I 

 wish that it were true that they always 

 built such combs. I can not say positive- 

 ly in regard to the strain of bees that 

 built the combs in the old style of sec- 

 tions. The apiary in which they were 

 built contained no black bees, but there 

 were some hybrids. Most of the bees in 

 the apiary were pure Italians, but there is 

 no way of knowing whether they bnilt 

 these combs. It is quite likely that the 

 coming season will decide some of these 

 disputed points. 



I agree perfectly with Mr. Doolittle 

 in that, for my own use, I should prefer 

 the sections in the upper row for the rea- 

 sons he gives, but, to s/iip and se//, those 

 in the lower row are away ahead. When 

 discussing the square versus the oblong 

 section, Dr. Miller once said he thought 

 that the square section looked better on 

 the plate on the table than was the case 

 with the oblong section. This may be 

 true, although I am not yet ready to ad- 

 mit it, but the time when we, as produ- 

 cers and sellers of honey, wish a section 

 to look the most attractive, is when it 

 sits on the counter and there is a man 

 with 15 cents in his pocket standing in 

 front of it and trying to decide whether it 

 is 1)est to have the money and the honey 

 change places. 



Then there is another point that is very 

 importatit, and that is the matter of safe- 

 ty in .shipping. Of course, it is easier for 

 the housewife to remove the comb from 

 the section if the former is not fa.stened 

 in very securely; but we don't wish it to 

 be so insecurely fastened that it will be 

 knocked out before it reaches her, or even 

 the grocer who is to sell it to her. If we 

 were going to buy honey for our own 

 use, and have it shipped to us over 

 several different lines of railroad, we 

 would, in that case, probably choose the 

 well filled sections. There are some de- 

 licious varieties of fruits and vegetables 

 that a man mav raise for his own use, that 

 are complete failures for shipping pur- 

 poses. It is the same way with sections 

 of honey. However, I very much doubt 



