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American ^eeJournal 



June 13, 190V 



ing of the combs in pulling them out. 

 Of course, in a shipping-case they are 

 very close together, but you can begin 

 to take them out with a knife-blade. 

 They are put in without separators, 

 but I could put my knife-point in and 

 lift them out. 



Miss Wilson — I have often wondered 

 how they got them out. 



Dr. Miller — These differences refer to 

 the separator rather than the bee-way 

 sections. Those sections as first made, 

 and as I used them, were the same 

 width as those that had a bee-way or 

 notch at the sides; but the difference 

 was made by making the separator — 

 a wood separator — 3-16 of an inch. 



Pres. York — A slotted separator. 



Dr. Miller — No, a wood separator 3-16 

 of an inch thick, which left room for 

 the bee in at the bottom. 



Pres. York— Slatted then? 



Dr. Miller — Yes. The section was a 

 plain section, but in order for the bees 

 to get into it they must be spaced apart, 

 and the spacing was made in the separa- 

 tor. You could not use them without 

 the separators. As you use them now, 

 as I understand it, and I think I am 

 right, the spacing must be in the sepa- 

 rator. 



Pres. York — They do not use the 

 plain separator. They use the fence 

 separator. 



Dr. Miller — The question is raised as 

 to how to get those sections out of the 

 case when they were packed in solid. 

 One way is to turn the case upside down 

 carefully and dump the whole thing out. 

 There would be no breaking in that way. 

 That is a little awkard. Another way is, 

 suppose your case holds 12 sections, put 

 in II sections, leave one space vacant 

 with a little bit of separator there packea 

 in, and you can open that one. I am 

 not insisting that you shall use the 

 plain sections, but I am trying to tell 

 how those things may be done. After 

 using a number of thousands of them 

 I prefer the old-fashioned bee-way sec- 

 tion. But let us be fair with it. There 

 is an -advantage which the plain section 

 has. I remember a good many years 

 ago seeing Mr. Heddon stand up here 

 and talk about sections with separators. 

 At that time he had a super in which no 

 separators were used at all, and he said, 

 "You take the section that has been pro- 

 duced with the separator. It has a lean 

 look." And that is a fact. The plain 

 section is plumper looking than the 

 other. I am not sure that I think of 

 any other advantages now, but I do 

 think we ought to be entirely fair to 

 the plain section, and this is a one- 

 sided business ; ■ those who prefer the 

 plain sections ought to be allowed to tell 

 us why they prefer them. 



Mr. Taylor — Just let them tell. 



Mr. Lyman — Doctor, you mean the 

 plain section of honey looks plumper? 



Dr. Miller — Yes, it looks plumper. It 

 it filled out fuller at the end. 



Mr. Thompson — If paper is put 

 around any section in a case it can be 

 lifted readily, and that gives room for 

 each of the rest. 



Pres. York — I think we all understand 

 that the shipping-case as made today, has 

 a follower-board at the back and a wedge 

 or paper is put back of it so they can 

 be readily taken out. 



Miss Wilson — In the cases that were 

 sent to us there wasn't any space al- 

 lowed. They just fitted tight. 



Dr. Miller — I would like to hear the 

 views of those who prefer the plain sec- 

 tion. 



Pres. York — Nobody voted in favor 

 of the plain section. 



Mr. Kannenburg — I do not care much 

 for the plain section, but I like to see 

 the looks of it, and in one way they are 

 nicer to clean than the bee-way section. 

 I handle both of them, and I have no 

 trouble at all to get them out of a ship- 

 ping-case or out of a super, because 

 there is always space enough so that 

 you can bend, turn a little on the side 

 to take hold with the fingers. As far 

 as the cleaning of the plain section goes, 

 there is not so much propolis as there 

 is with the bee-way section. You do 

 not have to go into the corners so much 

 with a knife to clean the corners out. 

 The beeway sections are all filled with 

 propolis in the corners, every time, and 

 it takes twice as long to clean one 

 super with the bee-way section as it does 

 with the plain section. 



Miss Wilson — I do not agree with 

 you. 



Mr. Kannenburg — Another thing I 

 like, if you put the bee-way section and 

 the plain section on the table before 

 a customer, every time he will take the 

 plain section. 



Mr. Kimmey — I did not vote on this 

 question, because 1 did not know any- 

 thing about the bee-way section. My 

 little experience has been with the plain 

 section. As for taking them out of the 

 case in packing, I have never had any 

 trouble. Even before I produced any 

 honey myself, or had my bees produce 

 it, it always seemed to me that the 

 plain sections were preferable. I drop 

 into Siegel & Cooper's and I ask them 

 what they are selling honey for, and I 

 notice the looks, and it always seems 

 to me that as far as appearance goes the 

 plain sections are ahead. I know you 

 come to weigh them there isn't the turn 

 of your hand in favor of one or the 

 other, and yet, as has been said, it al- 

 ways looks to me as if the plain had a 

 better look than the bee-way. I do not 

 feel qualifiea to speak for anybody else 

 as to which is the better. I wish I had 

 some of the bee-way myself, after hear- 

 ing these gentlemen talk, and this lady. 

 I do not want you to think because I did 

 not vote that I did not have any opin- 

 ion. 



Mr. Taylor — I just want to say, with 

 reference to bee-ways, there are a good 

 many of these plain sections sold. I 

 have sold some honey that way. I have 

 one customer that I sold a ton to for 



4 years, certainly each year, or perhaps 



5 years, and he always says, "I can get 

 plenty of honey, but t like your sections 

 better." and he takes my honey on that 

 account. That is, that decides him final- 



Dr. Miller — I would like to know 

 whether that is anything like the gen- 

 eral experience, whether dealers do pre- 

 fer it ordinarily. Have we any testimony 

 with regard to that, one way or an- 

 other? 



Mr. France — Up in our State the deal- 

 ers almost invariably want bee-way sec- 



tions. The large complaint is that the 

 other one looks nice, but there is not 

 room for handling, and they press in 

 with the fingers, and they are hurt by 

 handling. 



Miss Wilson — The man to whom we 

 ship our honey said he did not want 

 any more plain sections. 



Mr. Abbott — I think they have not 

 emphasized the main trouble. It is not 

 the section as it stands by itself that 

 bothers me. The old bee-way section 

 is all right. It is the traps that must 

 go along with it in order to use it. They 

 are frail and are easily broken up. You 

 can't clean them, and they are a source 

 of constant expense. I think our people 

 probably make as good fences as anybody, 

 but I throw away — well, I wouldn't say 

 how many out of every lot they ship me, 

 because they get broken, and I seldom 

 ship out a crate of hives to anybody but 

 what there is some complaint about the 

 fence separators being broken. You 

 can not handle the no-bee-way section 

 without the slotted separator, or the old 

 Armstrong separator which had a slot 

 in the bottom and made the finest look- 

 ing section of anything I ever saw. But 

 there was too much lumber in that bee- 

 hive — it cost five or six dollars in the 

 flat, and you could not afford to pay 

 that much. It is the things that are 

 necessary in order to use them that 

 make me object to the plain sections. 



Dr. Miller — I must say that this is 

 really a great surprise to me. I try 

 to keep up with the procession and 

 know what is going on, and I read and 

 find that the plain section is away ahead, 

 that it is the thing to use, and then I 

 come here and find a lot of old fogies 

 who say that the bee-way section is the 

 thing. Their grandfathers started with 

 the bee-way sections and they are go- 

 ing on with them, and it seems to me 

 that somebody ought to do a little mis- 

 sionary work and wake them up and let 

 them know they are not up to the times; 

 that the plain section is what we ought 

 to have. 



Mv. Taylor — Why not do the work on 

 the manufacturers of the plain sections? 



Dr. Miller — ^Well, there is a point. 

 Seriously, it is a surprise to me to hear 

 the expressions here this morning, and 

 I would like to ask this question : Sup- 

 pose the plain section is very much bet- 

 ter than the other, there are two ways 

 for accounting for the apparent feel- 

 ing with regard to it here. One way is 

 to suppose, as I have already supposed, 

 that there are a lot of old fogies here 

 that don't know what they ought to 

 do. There may be two ways still. One 

 is that they are not old fogies, but they 

 never had testimony enough to make 

 them think it worth while to try the 

 plain section. 



Mr. Lyman — Some of us have been 

 through the mill. Doctor. 



Dr. Miller — I was going to say that 

 there is still another way, that they have 

 tried them, and, after trying them, they 

 believe that the bee-way sections are 

 better. I would like to ask how many 

 have tried both kinds. If you will al- 

 low me to see the hands — just keep them 

 up and let me count them — 12. Now 

 of those 12 I would like to ask two 

 questions. I know that I have an an- 

 swer to both of them, but I want to 



