528 



GLEANINGS IK BEK CULTURE. 



July 



kind of work that does not bring back an 

 equivalent in dollars and cents. And I fear 

 a good many of our beginners use more time 

 and more money in caring for their bees 

 than they need to. Your idea of returning 

 combs after sundown is an excellent one, 

 especially if there is no dauger of robbing. 

 I have seen a whole apiary crazy with ex- 

 citement, as it were, because of a few combs 

 carelessly cairied out when all the bees were 

 dying, said combs having jusl been extract- 

 ed, aiul being in no way protected by a cov- 

 ering of bees to defend their contents, as 

 combs ordinarily lifted from the hive are 

 covered. 



A VALUABLE REPORT FROM MA. L. 

 COGGSHALL. 



MANAGING AN APIARY OF 80 COLONIES, AT AN EX- 

 PENSE OF ONLY 65 DAYS' WOUK. 



N your foot-note on Geo. Grimm's article you 

 ask whether any one mauag-es 300 or 400 colonies 

 with ;300 daj s' work. I can say that I have, and 

 have done even more. I keep a diary, so I can 

 tell e.vactly how much work is done in each 

 yard. I have one yard of 80 colonies, 10 miles away, 

 and it requires two hours to go and two hours to 

 come. ] always have help enough to finish up the 

 Avhole yard in one day. Three men would do all 

 that is necessary in the yard in six or eight hours. 

 1 never move an extractor from one j'ard to anoth- 

 er. 1 always have store cans and barrels ready. A 

 building 12xlH feet can be put up for $35.00, and an- 

 swers every purpose. We make our own extract- 

 ors at a cost of about $10.00. They are stronger and 

 firmer than any we can buy. They are a two-frame 

 extractor. The frames hang in the same position 

 that they do in the hive. There is store room for 

 2.50 lb.«. under the reel. This is set high enough to 

 put a ijail iu under the faucet. The honey then is 

 emptied into a store-can and run right into a bar- 

 rel. One can empty eight or ten barrels, 3500 lbs., 

 In a day and put it in barrels. 



Those 80 colonies gave me .500 lbs. of comb honey 

 and 9.500 lbs. of extracted, and ^here were 65 days' 

 work done in that yard (aside from hauling the 

 honey away), and that included packing for winter. 

 The yard was increased to 125 colonies, and I win- 

 tered lis of them. The bees are located 3 miles 

 east of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. I now 

 have, in all, 420 colonies. W. L. Coogshall. 



West Groton, N. Y., June 7, 1888. 



Very good indeed, friend C. You have 

 given us exactly the kind of facts and sta- 

 tistics that we wanted. Now, if you will 

 tell us how much money the 500 lbs. of 

 comb honey and the 9500 lbs. of extracted 

 brought you, and what the (i5 days of labor 

 probably cost, or if you did it yourself, part 

 of it, what it was "worth, we could get a 

 pretty straight statement of liow much 

 money there is in bee culture. May be it is 

 a little out of order to say it right here ; but 

 the memory of your genial, pleasant face, 

 especially when you gave us a brief talk at 

 that Utica Convention, makes me feel glad 

 I was there, when I think of it— not that 

 you were the only one wliose acquaint- 

 ance gave me pleasure, but 1 tell you it was 

 a real treat to meet with such a nice lot of 

 York State boys as I did during that con- 



vention. Any such communication as the 

 one above has an additional charm, because 

 of the memory of those pleasant days ; and 

 that is one reason, brethren, why we ought 

 to go to conventions. Don't you see it? 



OPEN-SIDE SECTIONS. 



OBJECTIONS TO THEM CONSIDERED. 



0N i>age 408, May 15, I find the following editori- 

 al paragraph: 

 "We learn from the Rcrfeic that Mr. J. H. 

 Robertson has used 1000 open-side sections, 

 and is thoroughly disgusted with them. He 

 says the bees often connect their combs through 

 the side openings. How is this, friend Foster, in 

 your locality?" etc. 



I did not reply to this before, because I did not 

 see it until nearly 11 p. m. last night. I have to 

 slight my reading during the busy season. As soon 

 as I read the editorial in .the Review, to which ref- 

 erence is made, I wrote to Mr. Robertson, request- 

 ing him to send me a sample open-side section, 

 such as he used. I also asked several questions, 

 such as, "What super was used? What kind of 

 starters? What percentage of combs was extend- 

 ed through side openings? " etc., to w'hich he very 

 kindly responded. 



The sample is the same as those received from 

 Dr. Tinker; side openings are '/2 inch wide, practi- 

 cally the same as my own. 



The super used was the old Heddon super, with 

 partitions removed, and slats on bottom to hold 

 sections. A " follower " was used in one end, but 

 there was no side adjustmeiit. Mr. R. says: 



One of the 'principal objections to them we found in 

 handling them—so many corners that they were al- 

 ways catching, and one section could not be lifted 

 from a super, and returned, without usuallytaking 

 the super to pieces and commencing over once 

 more. This is the only instance where we could 

 ever discover the trouble in getting in the last sec- 

 tion; and with the open-side section there were 4 

 last sections. 



The italics are my own. This is indeed a serious 

 objection where the sections are crowded into a 

 case that is just wide enough for them; but with a 

 case that can be opene'd Vz inch wider, and closed 

 up when filled, the difficulty is hardly noticed. 



The starters were full sheets, fastened at top 

 and bottom. I have had such starters sag to one 

 side in the middle, but Mr. R. says he has no trou- 

 ble that way. He did not say what per cent of 

 combs was extended through the side openings, but 

 says, " In 35 supers filled with open-side sections we 

 never secured one perfect super of No. 1 comb 

 honey." 



I do not know that I have ever secured a " per- 

 fect" super of comb honey by any method, but I 

 have never seen anj^ combs extended through side 

 openings. I can not think that "locality" has 

 much to do with it, but I think a heavy honey-flow 

 and crowded supers might. I never allow my su- 

 pers to become crowded. There is not the necessi- 

 ty with open-side sections that there is without. I 

 have never used very many sections with the open- 

 ings more than ^g wide: and it may be that, where 

 separators are not used, they should not be wider 

 than that. With separators, I am positive that 

 there will be no comb extended through openings 

 Vi inch in width. 



We are very glad to get this report from Mr. 



