1888 



GLEANII^JGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



very different thing- from the apple-barrel business. 

 One is bulk, and a barrel of a given size will always 

 hold the same bulk, while the other is weight, and 

 you can't make a tumbler of a given size to hold 

 always the same weight. 



SECTIONS HOLDING JUST A POUND. 



Neither, friend Bugbee, can you get a section 

 that will hold just a pound. You ask if llg-inch 

 sections " will average 1 lb. when used with separa- 

 tors." No, they will not. Even if they did average 

 just one pound this year, they might average more 

 or less another year, for the years vary. But will it 

 do to sell each section for a pound, even it they do 

 average that? Is it right to sell one man 1.5 ounces 

 for a pound, when another gets 17 ? I very much 

 doubt if there is any fair way, only to weigh each 

 section and sell it for just what it weighs. And 

 this, as it seems to me, is the g-reatest obstacle in 

 the way of ever having a dime package of comb 

 honey. 



BE^T FOR USE OF GROUND FOR OUT-APIARY. 



I was much interested in the opinions given on 

 page 946, and very much surprised at their varying 

 so widely. They vary from little or nothing up to a 

 rent of *.599 or more per acre! I don't know how 

 many times I have read over the reply of Dadant 

 «& Son, trying to make out some typographical 

 error, or some way by which I could make it mean 

 something different. They are solid, reliable men, 

 not given to reckless statements, so I attach much 

 weight to their replies. But let us look at it. An 

 out-apiary will, I think, as a general rule, be plant- 

 ed, not in a village, but on a farm where land is not 

 worth more than $'0 to $100 per acre. One-eighth 

 of an acre will bo ample accommodation for an 

 apiary of, say, 100 colonies. At f 100 per acre that 

 eightli of an acre can be bought for $13. ro, and $5.00 

 would be a very high rent for it. Those respond- 

 ents who gave a higher figure than this must have 

 counted on something more— in fact, considerable 

 more, in somi.- cases, tlian the mere rent of the 

 land. The Dudants pay one-flfth of the honey. If 

 the average yield per colony is 7.") pounds, then the 

 rent is 1.') lbs. per colony, or I.'jOO lbs. of honey for 

 an apiary of lOJ colonies. At 6-, cts. per lb. this is 

 worth $100, making the land rent at about .1800 per 

 acre. There must be a mistake somewhere. I 

 think some of the friends might well reconsider the 

 matter of paying such high rents. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



Now, look here, old friend, you need not 

 talk about shaking anybody. "I myself said 

 that some honey is thinner than others, and 

 I am inclined to think, still further, that 

 some honey has a heavier specific gravity, 

 even when the density is the same ; and 

 this accounts for the different reports in 

 regard to our tumblers. The 804 is the one, 

 if 1 am correct, that holds 17 ounces of very 

 thick honey ; and 1 presume this is the one 

 you would recommend us to adopt. — Your 

 objection to the ten-cent cake of honey I 

 think might be got over, because the 

 amount in question is but a fraction of a 

 cent any way. The retailer should insist on 

 each customer taking the first one he comes 

 to, without pulling them all over, and in 

 that case each man would stand the same 

 chance, and none of us would be suffering 

 very much loss. — In regard to the matter of 

 rent, friend Dadant has himself, in the ar- 

 ticle following, covered the ground so 



thoroughly there is no need that either of 

 us should say any thing more about it — at 

 least, not much more. 



am I ^ 



OUT-APIAHIES. 



FRIEND C. P 

 POINTS 



DADANT GIVES US SOME VALUABLE 

 FROM PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE. 



fRIEND ROOT:— I wish to add a few words to 

 the answers to the questions on page 946, 

 concerning out-apiaries. It appears that we 

 are the ones who pay the highest price for 

 hiving swarms. It was after a long experi- 

 ence that we settled on this price, and we find that 

 it is no more than sufficient. Perhaps it is owing to 

 the fact that we are like Mr. E. France, and do not 

 expect to have many swarms. We have found that 

 it is very difflcultto get a boy, a child, whose time is 

 worth but little, to hive swarms; and if we found 

 one, we would hesitate very much in entrusting 

 him with the job. He must see that the hive is well 

 prepared, that the frames hang- true, that tlie bees 

 are safely housed, and, when the hwarm is in, the 

 hive has to be carried to the location which it is to 

 occupy. All this must be done by a man. by some 

 one who has a certain feeling of responsibility, or 

 it will be badly done. Moreover, as the question 

 correctly states, the bees are usually located near a 

 farmer's house; and did my readers ever see a 

 farmer who had very much time to throw away in 

 May and June, or in swarming time, whenever that 

 may be? He must either sit there watching- for 

 swarms, and then he is a hce-hcepcr who had better 

 be hired by the day, or else he must be called from 

 the field to hive o\ir swarm. If he gets only 10 

 cents, or 3.5, or 50 cents, he may at times hesitate 

 very much before leaving- his work, and your swarm 

 will be in danger of being- allowed to leave. Your 

 farmer may have to climb a tree, or cut a limb 

 from one of his apple-trees. All that is trouble, 

 annoyance. True, if he can harvest a number of 

 swarms in a day he will make quite a profit; but 

 since he caii not leave his business during the 

 whole season to watch for your swarms, he must 

 either hire some one to see to it, or do as I said at 

 first— come from the field whenever a swarm is out. 

 If the bees are not too far from the house, the 

 house-folks generally notice the swarm readily, 

 and there is no great need of constant supervision. 

 If help has to be hired to catch the swarms, it had 

 better be special help, hired by the apiarist. 



But some of our friends will say that ihc ladies 

 can often hive the swarms. That is so; but in 

 many instances they can not; as when the swarm is 

 high up in a tree, or if they are getting dinner, 

 and the farmer and his hands are expecting to eat 

 at their regular hours. If we say that we will 

 make allowance for the swarms that are more dif- 

 ficult to hive, it becomes a source of trouble to 

 decide when a swarm is harder to hive. On the 

 other hand, if we are liberal with our man, we can 

 require more care from him than we would other- 

 wise. We can insist on his ascertaining that noth- 

 ing is lacking in the hive, and on his transporting it 

 at once to the place which it is to occupy, and set- 

 ting it level, so that the combs will not hang out of 

 their frames, etc. We can also ask him to ascer- 

 tain which hive the swarm came from- This can be 

 done when the bees first come out, and may save a 

 great deal of bunting to the apiarist when he 

 comes. 



