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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



so, I ask for elbow room in which to explain. I be- 

 lieve that any one can dispense with separators, if 

 he will adopt the proper fixtures and methods of man- 

 agement; yet I should not advise a radical change, 

 simplu to he able to lay aside separators. To be able 

 to discard separators is only one of several advant- 

 ages received by the use of such fixture* and 

 methods as are employed by myself and others who 

 have laid aside separators. In other words, laying 

 aside separators does not allow one to adopt im- 

 proved fixtures and methods; but adopting im- 

 proved fixtures and methods enables one to lay 

 aside separators. If every one now using separa- 

 tors should simply lay them aside without also 

 changing fixtures and methods, It is very probable 

 that every one would soon have his separators back 

 in place. The first and most important step in dis- 

 pensing with separators is to use sections of such a 

 width that the bees can build their combs of natural 

 thickness; i. e., 1% inches from center to center. Of 

 course, this thickness can bo slightly varied; but 

 the nearer it is approached, the better ai'e the results 

 secured. There is also another important point: 

 The thinner the oombs, the sooner is the honey 

 ripened and sealed over; and the sooner it can be 

 removed, and the bees be at work upon new combs. 

 I am this year using sections 1 11-16 inches wide; 

 also a few thousands lYt inches wide; and, some- 

 times, as we take off case after case of sections filled 

 with smooth, white, straight, even co-mbs, I can not 

 refrain from saying to my brother, " I just wish Mr. 

 Root could be here, if it were only five minutes. I 

 think he would admit that separators could be dis- 

 pensed with." Yes, and I often wish that all the 

 brothers who use not only separators, but the com- 

 plicated wide-frame and side-storing system, could 

 visit us and see, with their own eyes, with how little 

 work, comparatively, we can raise comb honey, the 

 nice shape in which we secure it, and the amount 

 that we can obtain. I know this sounds like boast- 

 ing; but it is not written in that spirit, but, rather, 

 with a feeling of sorrow that so many hard-working 

 bee-keepers are lingering in the old ruts, when, if 

 they could only be induced to give these improved 

 fixtures and methods a fair trial, they would quickly 

 adopt them and thereby save themselves many 

 hours of back-aching labor, and secure more pounds 

 of honey. 



" But," says some one, " now see here, W. Z., that 

 all sounds very well, but I have tried sections only 

 1'4 inches wide, without separators, and I'll tell you 

 just how it worked. The bees first began work in 

 the sections in the center, perhaps three or four of 

 them; when these were partly finished they began 

 on the adjoining ones, but the middle combs were 

 finished first, and bulged into their neighbors, and 

 their combs into their neighbors, and so on until 

 the outside comb was reached, which had a little un- 

 sealed honey upon one side of it, while the other 

 side had nothing, the fdn. being curled up against 

 the side of the case, and stuck fast. With strong 

 colonies, and a good flow of honey, you may possibly 

 secure passable combs without separators; but with 

 ordinary colonies, and a slow flow of honey, 1 can't 

 get along without them." 



The above is no fancy sketch; I have been "talked 

 to" in exacUy this manner, and, so far as the speak- 

 er's personal experience was concerned, the truth 

 was spoken. The trouble was just this: The bees 

 were admitted to the surplus apartment too soon. 

 nothing gained in the amount of honey se- 



cured by admitting the bees to the surplus 

 apartment when only enough can be spared to work 

 in from 5 to 15 1-lb. sections, while the trouble above 

 mentioned is quite apt to be the result. Necessity, 

 the present season, compelled me to make some 

 quite extensive experiments upon this very point. 

 When the season opened we had perhaps 1000 sec- 

 tions all ready for the bees. When we thought it 

 necessai-y, or, rather, as fast as we thought it ad- 

 visable, these sections were given to the bees, and, 

 sometimes, a ease would be given to the bees when 

 they would not begin work at once in more than 

 one-half the sections. As explained before, the 

 season came on with a rush, while sickness and an 

 accident delayed us, and before we had sections on 

 all the hives, some of the bees were hangingout for 

 want of room, and I did worry a little at the amount 

 of honey that I supposed we were losing. Note the 

 result: When a case of 38 one-pound sections was 

 placed upon a hive from which the bees were hang- 

 ing out, it wa,s usually only about twenty miimtfs be- 

 fore the case would be literally filled with bees; in 

 2i hours the fdn. wovild be nearly drawn out, and 

 considerable honey stoi-ed in it, and in perhaps 

 three or four days the bees would begin capping 

 the honey, and be ready for another case, while 

 those colonies that were given sections first were 

 no further in advance, and in some instances 

 not so far. I think no one will fail to see that the 

 second point in dispensing with separators is to keep 

 the surplus apartment filled (not necessarily nor 

 advisedly crowded) with bees, and this can be ac- 

 complished, even with ordinai-y colonies, and at a 

 time when honey is coming in slowly. 



The third point is, to ^IJ the sections with fdn. I 

 have tried putting in a "starter," also putting in 

 pieces of fdn. of different shapes and sizes, but 

 nothing secures such true and even combs as filling 

 the sections /itJt of fdn., except an 'g-inch space at 

 each side, and a 'i-inch space at the bottom. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Mich., July 1.5, 1884. 



I guess your head is pretty level, friend 

 II., on your plan of dispensing with separa- 

 tors, and I Ivnow it is a pretty good thing to 

 know just when to give the bees access to a 

 case of sections. Your plan of waiting, 

 however, until they hang outside on the 

 hive, would, if I am right, be very apt to 

 start the swarming fever, and I think, also, 

 be the means of losing considerable honey, 

 where tlie honey-yield is of short duration. 

 I suppose, too, you recognize that a good 

 many of us are thinking, while reading your 

 instructions, that you are a comparatively 

 new hand on comb honey, while Doolittle 

 and others who work so differently have had 

 years of experience in this same line. No 

 matter, however, if you continue to get good 

 results. I confess that I was a little anx- 

 ious, while reading your article, to know 

 about how many colonies you liave now 

 working for conib honey, and about how 

 much comb honey you wi'll get.— Admitting 

 tliat separators can be dispensed with, will 

 all bee-keepers be likely to agree that it is 

 more profitable to dispense with them than 

 to keep tliem? Our Simplicity sections 

 made only U inches wide will hardly hold a 

 pound of "honey as they do now, so Ave shall 

 be reducing the weight of our one-pound 

 sections, if we do not reduce the size of 

 them. 



