1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



235 



bring down the price? No, but it at- 

 tracted buyers, created competition. 

 Results: Good prices to the grower 

 at his door. In this world we are, in 

 a measure at lea.st, our brother's 

 keeper, and to defeat his interests is 

 but to defeat our own. 

 Wisconsin. 



SUPPLIES AGAIN 



By J. E. Crane 

 I have just received the American 

 Bee Journal for April and was much 

 interested in my friend Latham's ap- 

 peal to the "manufacturers of bee 

 supplies," and Kennith Hawkins' re- 

 ply, pages 134-135. Mr. Latham has 

 stated the matter fairly, as the av- 

 erage beekeeper will look at it, and I 

 believe Mr. Hawkins shows very con- 

 clusively why it is impossible for sup- 

 ply manufacturers to reduce their 

 prices and live. He, too, is right, as 

 some beekeepei's will look at it. 



I believe he is quite right when he 

 says there is no necessity for snowy 

 white sections or show-case shipping 

 cases. Indeed, I believe the average 

 eastern honey looks quite as well, or 

 even better in brownish sections than 

 in very white ones. Unless the honey 

 is very white the white section makes 

 it look a little off color. As for high 

 prices for sections, we have not felt 

 it much as yet, for we ordered a two 

 years' supply some two years ago, 

 getting a discount for putting in our 

 order early, and also, I believe, an- 

 other discount for the large number 

 ordered at one time. As for shipping 

 cases, we may save much. In a cata- 

 log before me I notice they are quoted 

 with glass, at $87.50 per hundred. 

 We use corrugated shipping cases with 

 coiTugated partitions, costing but one- 

 fifth as much. These are quite as 

 good, or even better, and are pre- 

 fen-ed by dealers here in New Eng- 

 land. Here is what one dealer says 

 of it: "We have no words but praise 

 in speaking of it. * * * As you 

 know, we ship this honey over all New 

 England, and wherever it has gone we 

 find the same words of praise for this 

 package, and that it accomplishes all 

 it claims." 



Here is what another says of it : 

 "I believe you have an excellent thing 

 in the corrugated shipping case, and 

 hope it will come into general use." 

 We have used this case for fifteen 

 years, with entire satisfaction. Not 

 only does it carry honey safely and is 

 less expensive, but it can be set up in 

 half the time required to nail up a 

 wooden case. This is not an adver- 

 tisement. While we have a patent on 

 this case, we are not selling patent 

 rights, and anyone can use them who 

 desires to do so. 



In the matter of sections, we can 

 get along \vithout them if we choose. 

 We can take our surplus in shallow 

 frames, cut it out, let it drain, and 

 then put it up in two-ounce cartons, 

 placing four dozen of these in a 

 larger corrugated case. Some bee- 

 keepers are already doing this, but I 

 believe it will not suit the average 

 beekeeper as well as another way I 

 will now speak of, and practiced by 

 a friend of mine. He takes all his 

 surplus in shallow frames and cuts 



it out, all that is nice, and puts it in 

 small fruit jars holding five pounds, 

 with edge of the combs on the bot- 

 tom of the pail. In selling, he 

 charges so much a pound for the 

 honey and enough more to cover the 

 cost of the pail. He does not pour 

 extracted honey into the pail to fill 

 the interstices, as is done in Texas 

 with chunk honey. He informs me he 

 has had no trouble in shipping it to 

 distant markets, without breakage. 

 He is no slouch of a beekeeper, for his 

 crops of honey will average nearly 

 10,000 pounds a year. He sells much 

 of it at the door, where he has a 

 large trade, and ships the rest away. 

 Now, by this method he pays nothing 

 for sections, and saves the work of 

 setting them up, cleaning them and 

 weighing each section separately. His 

 method requires no cartons, another 

 saving. If he ships his honey away, 6 

 of these small pails can be put in a 

 corrugated or fibre shipping case cost- 

 ing not more than 10 or 15 cents; so 

 the entire cost of his surplus honey, 

 aside from the labor, will be but ont!- 

 half cent a pound. As I have said 

 above , he charges the cost of the 

 pails over to the buyer. 



Mr. Latham is very modest in his es- 

 timates of beekeepers' supplies, as he 

 does not mention the cost of crates 

 or cai-riers in which to ship tne fine 

 honey cases, which would add one or 

 two cents more to the cost of each 

 section. And now, Mr. Hawkins, 

 let us see what would be the cost 

 of putting up 10,000 sections of 

 honey with beekeepers' supplies: 



10,000 sections $200.00 



Foundation 100.00 



Per cent of loss 200.00 



Cartons 300.00 



Expense of marketing 100.00 



Shipping cases 400.00 



Carriers $150.00 



Labor 600.00 



$2,050.00 

 Add to this freight and profits 

 of wholesale and retail dealer 850.00 



Total $2,900.00 



Or 29 cents a section. Where does 

 the beekeeper's profit come in? 

 Vermont. 



MATERIAL FOR GOVERNMENT 

 INVESTIGATION 



Duiing the summer the Bee Cul- 

 ture Laboratory of the Bureau of En- 

 tomology desires to obtain whatever 

 information is possible regarding the 

 presence of adult diseases of bees in 

 the United States. It is ah-eady 

 known that Nosema apis, a proto- 

 zoan parasite found in the alimen- 

 tary canal of adult bees, is rather 

 widely distributed, but the amount of 

 damage done by the organism is not 

 well known. It is not known whether 

 the mite found by Dr. .Jno. Rennie and 

 his associates in the so-called Isle-of- 

 Wight disease is present in the Unit- 

 ed States. The Bureau will greatly 

 appreciate the assistance of beekeep- 

 ers who note any abnormal condition 

 of adult bees, if they will mail sam- 

 ples in for examination. In most 

 cases it will probably not be possible 



to give directions for treatment, since 

 so little is known concerning dis- 

 eases of adult bees. A report will, 

 however, be made on each sample, 

 telling what has been found in it. 



Since there will usually not be time 

 to send to the Bureau for a mailing 

 box, it is suggested that live diseased 

 bees be mailed in a queen mailing 

 cage, or dead bees in a wooden or 

 stout cardboard box. Live bees are 

 desired when possible. Bees sent in 

 glass bottles or tin cans i-arely reach 

 the laboratory in fit condition for ex- 

 amination. A letter stating the con- 

 ditions observed and the amount of 

 disease will be helpful. Address 

 Dr. E. P. Phillips, Bureau of Ento- 

 mology, Washington, D. C. 



Dr. S. B. Fracker, 



The Entomologist of Wisconsin 



Dr. S. B. Fracker, State Entomolo- 

 gist of Wisconsin, whose picture is 

 shown herewith, is responsible for 

 the enforcement of the foulbrood 

 laws of his State. Dr. Fracker has 

 under way a vei-y energetic campaign 

 to rid Wisconsin of bee diseases. His 

 plan of operation is spoken of as the 

 area clean-up plan. When work is 

 undertaken in any region it is the 

 purpose to be very thorough and to 

 make sure that every diseased colony 

 receives attention. Di-. Fracker con- 

 tends that since it is possible to rid 

 a small area of disease in this man- 

 ner, that it is therefore possible to do 

 the same thing in a larger territory 

 and he hopes to demonstrate that it 

 can be done for an entire State. We 

 certainly wish him success and are 

 pleased to note that the beekeepers of 

 the Badger State seems to be co-oper- 

 ating freely. Ready co-operation on 

 the part of the beekeeper is the first 

 essential to success of any movement 

 in this direction. 



