1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



35 



Dr. Miller — I have. 



Mr. Stoue — Don't they work better that way ? 



Dr. Miller — There is not much difference. 



Mr. Mead — It would be an eighth of an inch wide. I 

 believe that every section should weigh as nearly a 

 pound as possible, and I have been experimenting considera- 

 ble on that question. While I fully agree with everybody that 

 says you can get a more even comb witji a section \li than 

 you can with a 2 inch section, I have been figuring it over, 

 and I find that a section -i '4 by 6 inches long, by 1 M inches 

 wide, fills the exact requirements. It doesn't vary enough to 

 say so, to being an even pound. I have made up a few hun- 

 dred, and put them crosswise of the eight-frame bivo super, 

 and lengthwise of the 10-frame hive. They require very little 

 wedging, and they will not interfere with the supers now in 

 use. Mr. Grabbe says that when the gentleman asked " How 

 much is that a pound ?" ho was told 18 cents a section. He 

 didn't lie about that being a pound, but still the inference that 

 man would have would be that there was a pound of honey in 

 the section. I think for our own interest we should place sec- 

 tions on the market that weigh a pound, or else cut enough 

 below that so there would be no possibility of their being taken 

 for a pound. At the same time, the cost of handling and the 

 cost of the sections will be just that much more. lJ-3-inch 

 sections should have separators at both sides of it to weigh 

 just exactly a pound. 



GETTING BEES TO WORK IN SECTIONS. 



QUES. 19 — What is the best way to get bees to work in 

 sections ? 



Mr. Mead — I find nothing equal to a wide frame, full of 

 sections, put in the lower story of the hive just as soon as 

 honey begins to come in at all, and as soon as they get partly 

 filled, and the honey comes in, I put in more frames. Then I 

 alternate th^partly-filled sections with sections of full-sheet 

 starters in the super. 



Dr. Miller — Do you get your sections started in the brood- 

 chamber ? 



Mr. Mead — In the brood-chamber in wide frames holding 

 eight sections each. I find if you have separators very wide 

 and not perforated, that they don't start readily in the wide 

 frames. I have been boring ?^inch holes through the separa- 

 tors, leaving ^i-inch spaces at the top and bottom, and plac- 

 ing those on the outside of the hive with a frame of sealed 

 brood, and in that way they get started very quickly. 



Dr. Miller — Is there any objection to having the sections 

 put in the brood-chamber to get started ? or is there a better 

 way ? 



Mr. Grabbe — I always had the best success in keeping the 

 colonies boiling over with bees. 



Dr. Miller- -One objection to Mr. Mead's way would be the 

 amount of work in it, and the thing must be watched, or there 

 is a possibility of your getting brood in the sections of honey. 



Mr. Mead — I keep brood and good honey next to the sec- 

 tions, and 1 find no trouble about keeping the queen out of it, 

 especially as I use two-story hives, either eight or ten frames. 



Mr. Baldridge — I want to call the attention of all of you 

 to a plan of compelling bees to go into the sections at will, 

 when you want comb honey. 



Dr. Miller — Their will or yours ? 



Mr. Baldridge — Mine. I can get them into the sections if 

 the colony is of the proper strength, and have them in very 

 my sections all at once and without very much trouble. 

 When the combs are sealed at the top in the brood-chamber, 

 if you will mash these cells at the top of the brood-frames, 

 scarify them with a table fork, shut up the hive, put the sec- 

 tions on, and then rap on the hive, you can fill these sections 

 full of bees ; do this just before dusk, and if you don't find the 

 bees nicely at work there the next morning, you will find some- 

 thing different from what I ever found. Of course, it must be 

 during the honey-flow. It is a practice that 1 have never seen 

 anybody practice but myself and one or two others, but there 

 Is no trouble to persuade any colony of bees of proper strength 

 to work in the section, but do it by rapping on the hive and 

 driving them up. They fill themselves with honey and go up 

 there and work. You have scarified perhaps enough cells so 

 that they have no cells except these to put the honey in. The 

 honey will have to be taken out by the bees, and it is a forcing 

 process, as you might say, but it secures the result. 



Dr. Miller — What Is the objection to putting a bait section 

 In the super? That would be a great deal less trouble. 



Mr. Baldridge — I should do it any way ; even if I had a 

 set of sections all drawn out, I should in that case scarify. 

 You can have almost every drop of honey taken out of the 

 brood-chamber at will. 



Dr. Miller — And then will the bees refrain from puttiog 

 any more honey back In there ? 



Mr. Baldridge — I have had sections with the combs full 

 drawn out, filled with honey almost in 24 hours. Anybody 

 can secure the same result. 



Dr. Miller — I think there is no doubt about it, but I very 

 much doubt if you would have any more honey in the supers 

 In the long run, because you make them empty out the 

 honey they would otherwise leave there, and when they do that 

 job of filling up they will fill up the brood-combs again. 



Mr. Baldridge — This honey they carry up is ripened 

 honey, and if they have plenty of room they won't leave much 

 in the brood-chamber. I am not in the business of producing 

 comb honey, but that is iho plan I pursued for years and 

 years. Ten years ago we were practicing that. 



Mr. Grabbe — You wouldn't do it unless the honey in the 

 combs was white. 



Mr. York — I notice in foreign papers that they recom- 

 mend smearing the brood-combs or foundation with honey in 

 order to get the bees to work on them quickly. Perhaps that 

 would do to use in the sections — smear the starters with honey 

 before putting them in. 



APIAEIAN REPRESENTATIVES FOR FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



Mr. Stone — There is one thing I want to bring up, and I 

 am afraid the time will pass before I get to it. The State 

 Farmers" Institute has appointed a director for each Congres- 

 sional District of the State, and it is suggested that we have a 

 representative in connection with them. Now, we have here 

 the names of all of these directors, one of each district. It 

 begins with the 8th and goes clear through the 22 districts 

 of the State. We propose to have a bee-keeper appointed in 

 every district in the State to work aloug with these directors 

 in the interest of the beekeepers in the Farmers' Institutes, 

 and I will suggest that this meeting appoint, as far as they 

 know andean recommend, a bee-keeper that they wish to rep- 

 resent them to work in connection with these directors of the 

 congressional districts. If Dr. Miller will call the name of the 

 director and the district, they can be named at this meeting. 



Dr. Miller — If there is no objection to this, I will name 

 the counties in each district so you will know in what district 

 you are, and then give you the name of the director, or would 

 you like to have the man named here for the purpose ? 



Mr. Stone — We would like to have the man named that 

 they wish to assist that director. 



The following were chosen : 8th district, Dr. Miller ; 9th 

 S. H. Herrick; 10th, C. H. Dibbern ; 11th, J. A.Green ; l2th, 

 C. Schrier; 14th, Mrs. L. Harrison; 15th, C. P. Dadant;16th, 

 W. J. Finch, Jr.; 17th, Jas. A. Stone; 21st, E. T. Flanagan. 



Mr. Stone — If it is the desire of the convention Mr. York 

 and I can supply the names for those omitted. 



Dr. Miller — If there is no objection, Messrs. Stone and 

 York will be authorized to suggest names for those not named 

 now. 



DRAWN OR PARTLY DRAWN COMBS. 



QuES. 20— What about the importance of drawn, or partly 

 drawn combs, in the sections ? 



Dr. Miller — Is there an advantage in having combs partly 

 drawn, or having deeper fouudation made? There was some 

 talk at the Lincoln convention, that there might be a founda- 

 tion made with deeper side-walls. This question bears in that 

 direction, as to the advantage of having anything of the kind. 

 Is there any advantage in it over the ordinary foundation ? 



Mr. Green — The difBculty of that high-wall foundation 

 would be that there will be too ranch wax in it to suit the 

 average customer. 



Dr. Miller — That won't meet the full question. The ques- 

 tion here is, whether there is any advantage in drawn or part- 

 ly-drawn combs ? 



Mr. Green — If yo\i would say freshly-drawn combs, I 

 would say yes, there is a great advantage ; but if you mean 

 sections left over from the last year, I think the fewer we use 

 the better. 



Mr. York — This question was brought up at the Lincoln 

 convention, and it was said there that certain manufacturers 

 were about able to make the drawn combs the same weight, or 

 even lighter, than the natural comb; so I think Mr. (Jreen's 

 objection would hardly hold. I have read in the Bee Journal 

 that some bee-keepers had been using drawn combs for years. 

 There is a representative of the Fox river bee-keepers here — 

 Mr. Baldridge — who perhaps can enlighten us I 



Mr. Baldridge — I don't think you need auy description of 

 the machine. It has wings. The idea I intended to convey 

 was this, it has been a practice there to a certain extent. They 

 used light-brood foundation, that is, for surplus honey, and 

 had the foundation drawn out in full sheets. 



Dr. Miller — In the brood-chamber, or above? 



Mr. Baldridge — Sometimes above and sometimes below — 



