146 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 11, 



brood-frames. Similar cleats close up like spaces at the top of 

 the section-holder ends. 



The bottom-board has a full one-inch space on one side, 

 and % on the other. In hivinR new swarms it is advised to 

 put the hive on the deep space. For cellar wintering the deep 

 space is also used. In the fall, when the bees are not flyiiiK 

 very heavily, or when robbing is the order of the day, the bot- 

 tom-board is reversed, leaving only the shallow space under 

 the frames. 



Mr. Danzenbaker was the first one to introduce the dove- 

 tailed or lock-corner ; and, from the very beginning, this cor- 

 ner has been a conspicuous feature on all his hives. 



There are a good many admirers of closed-end frames, and 

 there are also some others who very much prefer reversible 

 frames. Mr. Danzenbaker has combined the two ideas in one. 



Besides the features already named is paraffine paper, 

 which is regarded by Mr. Danzenbaker as very important. It 



Mk 



C — Closed-End Brood-Frame. 



D — Section an iScctiou-Holder.^. 



not only conserves the heat, but it is claimed that it does away 

 almost entirely with propolis-daubing on the sections. Last 

 year Mr. Danzenbaker produced a crop of honey in Michigan, 

 not a great way from Geo. E. Hilton. The very fact that the 

 latter bad to scrape all of his sections, while Mr. Danzenbaker 

 scraped none of his, and yet won the first prize on comb honey 

 at the Michigan State Fair last fall, was of sufficient impor- 

 tance to warrant Mr. Hilton In believing that the principle 

 was a good thing ; and we understand ho expects to use it on 

 all his hives the coming season. 



The illustrations herewith will doubtless be sufficiently 

 clear, we think, without further explanation. 



Bee-Keepers' Exchange — Califortiia Conditions 



BY UR. E. GALLUr, 



On page 81, Mr. Doolittlc pitches into us California chaps 

 about the Bee-Keepers' Exchange. He rather infers that we 

 have organized for the express purpose of raising the price of 

 honey, like any other monopoly. I, for one, do not so under- 

 stand it. If I have a correct understanding of the purpose, it 

 is a sort of co-operative plan, for the bee-keepers' benefit, 

 without working against the interest of any one, unless it 

 should be the dishonest commission merchant. 



We have poor people in our ranks, and when they see 

 abundance of rain and expect a good season, they gather up a 

 stock of bees (and they have no means, so have to get credit 

 for everything, even the support of their families), and agree 

 to pay as soon as they gather a crop of honey, and so they sell 

 below the cost of production, and that price governs the price 

 for the season to a certain extent. Now, we can take care of 

 that honey at a fair price, and thus help the poor man out, to 

 a certain extent. , 



Understand, the consutner never gets the benefit of this 



low-priced honey — the speculator gets all the benefit, for as 

 soon as he gets control of this cheap honey, up goes the price. 



Enough said on that point ; any one can enlarge to suit 

 himself. 



Now, we all want more or less bee-keepers' supplies, and 

 any supply dealer will be ready to give us the lowest rates at 

 wholesale, or in carload lots, and we get the freight with a 

 great reduction from small orders. Does this work against 

 any one's interest ? Certainly not. I wanted some of Dadant's 

 comb foundation, for the purpose of testing, so I forwarded 

 S5 and ordered it by express. The express charges were only 

 S3. 60. Now I want an extractor. I can get a single one 

 here at about Sll, but by ordering through the Exchange I 

 can got it for less than SS. The dealer gets his price, the 

 railroad gets their freight, and I fail to see who is damaged. 

 And so with honey-cans, etc. Our hive manufacturers will 

 furnish hives manufactured here at a reasonable rate, and I 

 always am in for patronizing home industry when I can do so, 

 even if I have to pay a trifle more. 



Now, we have bee-keepers that can hold their honey until 

 they get a reasonable price — Mr. Mclntyre, of Ventura county, 

 for one ; Mr. Miller, of Orange county, for another ; and there 

 are others. Almost every bee-keeper, so far as I know, is 

 perfectly willing to sell good extracted honey at 5 cents by 

 the quantity. Mr. Miller has askt this season only SJ^ cents 

 by the 00-pound can, and that in a season when no honey of 

 any account was gathered. He is abundantly able to hold, 

 whether the Exchange says so or not. He began a few years 

 ago, a poor man, and all broken down in health. He now en- 

 joys excellent health. He keeps here 300 colonies of bees — 

 oftener a few colonies less than more — and still I have known 

 him to get -4.5 tons in one season's crop. I also have known 

 him to hold his honey until he had 93 tons to ship out on one 

 train. 



The Orange Growers' Exchange is organized for a similar 

 purpose to the Bee-Keepers' Exchange. Before the Exchange 

 was organized, an individual might ship out at his own risk 

 several carloads of fruit to a certain city. The man that 

 purchases on commission is watching him, and ships a num- 

 ber of carloads at the same time to the same city. Both lots 

 arrive at about the same time, and Mr. A. (we will call him 

 that for short) receives a dispatch something like this : 



" Dear Sir :— Your oranges received, but there is a glut 

 in the market, and the bottom has dropt out of the price." 



If Mr. A. succeeds in getting enough to pay freight, and 

 throw in the time of raising, picking, packing, etc., he does 

 remarkably well. The man that shipt on commission has got 

 his commission, and accomplisht his purpose of ruining the 

 market for Mr. A. There are any quantity of cases where the 

 honey-producer shipt his honey to market, and after awhile 

 received a notice to forward more or less money to pay freight, 

 as the honey did not sell for enough to pay freight and com- 

 mission. 



It is partly against just such transactions as the above 

 that the Exchange was organized. 



EXTRACTED VS. COMB HONEy IN CALIFORNIA. 



I think many Eastern bee-keepers do not understand the 

 situation or conditions here in California, for I am askt why 

 we produce extracted so much more than comb honey. Our 

 climate is always dry at the honey harvest, especially in the 

 mountains away from the coast. The honey gathered is ready 

 to seal almost as soon as gathered, and many times it is per- 

 fect as soon as gathered ; therefore, we can go through an 

 apiary of two hundred or more colonies, and then extract 

 right over again, throughout the entire season. 



Your honey is often gathered so thin that it takes quite a 

 time before it is evaporated sufficiently to seal. When I had 

 100 colonies to extract from in Ventura county, I always 

 found nearly every cell sealed every time I went through the 

 hives ; therefore, we think we get a larger quantity of ex- 

 tracted, more than we could of comb honey. I am not sure 

 about that, as I never tried the experiment, but perhaps some 

 one has ; if so, let him trot it out. I am ready for conviction. 



There is always a good home market for a limited supply 

 of good comb honey, but then we ship at times large quantities 

 of honey to Europe, and there has always been a difficulty in 

 shipping comb honey long distances without damage and 

 loss, and it is quite a nice, careful job to haul comb honey 

 over our rough mountain roads, SO to 4.0 miles, to shipping 

 port or railroad station, without breakage ; even our 60- 

 pound tin cans go to smash if they are not packt in cases. 

 Two (iO-pound cans properly cased in a double case, or one 

 case, will go around the world without damage. At least, I 

 think they would, though I never tried the experiment, so I 

 am not positive. 



We have had fine rains, and plenty, so far. There was a 



