192 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



Mab. 15. 



combs. The average consumer says comb 

 honey tastes better than extracted; and if there 

 is any difference it is due to the storage in the 

 shallow cells lo start with.— Ed.] 



LOP-SIDED SECTIONS. 



TWO OR ONE starter; a reply to dr. jhller. 

 By Q. C. Greiner. 



In his strawy comments (I mean the com- 

 ments in his Straws) I am pleased to notice that 

 for once Dr. Miller agrees wirh the rest of us, 

 at least in so far that he does not lay the at- 

 tending trouble to oblong sections. But in ex- 

 plaining the cause by " weak colonies and poor 

 harvests," I believe the doctor is joking. Yes, 

 Dr. M., this is not the Eldorado of beekeeping; 

 we have occasionally weak colonies and poor 

 harvests, too, but no more lop-sided sections 

 when these conditions are prevailing than we 

 have when matters are more favorable. If col- 

 onies are too weak to work properly, what is 

 the object of letting them spoil what little they 

 do do? Why not unite, make one strong one of 

 two or three weak ones, and produce a desira- 

 ble, perfect article? 



The bottom-starter theory may work with 

 Dr. M. to his entire satisfaction, but I hardly 

 think the extra work and expense of putting in 

 two starters instead of one would be a paying 

 investment with the majority of bee-keepers. 

 Years ago I experimented in that line to some 

 extent, but I could never see any great advan- 

 tage over the single-top starter. 



In writing the sentence which Dr. Miller 

 quotes in Straws, I have probably been a little 

 too hasty, covering too much ground without a 

 sufBcient amount of backing. I have never ex- 

 amined unfinished sections for the sole purpose 

 of ascertaining the relative amount of drawn 

 cells and honey contained in the two sides. I 

 simply wrote from the impression which any 

 one receives from the glancing look with which 

 sections are handled when sorting and putting 

 them up for shipping. 



Since Dr. Miller mentioned the lop-sidedness 

 of his sections, I have given a lot of unfinished 

 sections a thorough examination, and found 

 that my assertion made in the quoted sentence 

 in Straws is practically correct. This lot of 

 sections, six or seven 24-lb. shipping-crates, is 

 all I have left in the same shape it was when 

 taken from the hives, and is such honey as we 

 sort out for family use, home market, to give 

 away, etc. These sections range anywhere 

 from not quite finished to one-half to two-thirds 

 capped, and are just the right kind to have this 

 lop-sided work, if bees are inclined to do busi- 

 ness in that way. To be sure, if we count the 

 cells and measure the depth of honey they con- 

 tain, we can notice a slight variation on all of 

 them; but thevariation is almost always at the 

 very tip bottom end, so that the center of grav- 



itation would not vary from the center of the 

 section more than a mere trifle, even if the 

 combs were not attached to the sides and could 

 swing back and forth, as when hung at the top 

 by hinges. 

 Naples, N. Y. 



ANOTHER BEE-KEEPERS' UNION. 



the duty of the hour. 



By J. F. Mclntyre. 



As I read the paragraph at the bottom of p. 

 129 in Gleanings for Feb. 15, 1 thought of the 

 article and footnote under this heading on p. 

 610, Gleanings for 1892. Please read them, 

 Mr. Editor, and tell us if you do not think that 

 much valuable time has been wasted, and a 

 great deal of foolishness indulged in, by bee- 

 keepers since these lines were written. Paul 

 said, "This one thing I do," and he made a 

 success of doing that one thing. Newman says, 

 " This one thing I do— defend persecuted bee- 

 keepers," and he makes a success of it. He 

 could not see his way clear to fight the glucose- 

 mixers, and make a success of it, and I do not 

 blame him for refusing to undertake the task. 

 I have a few dollars which I should like to 

 spend in prosecuting those men who are label- 

 ing glucose "Pure Honey," and spoiling my 

 market for the genuine article, and I know a 

 few other bee-keepers who have a dollar to 

 spend in this direction, and I propose that we 

 put our dollars together and authorize some 

 one who is interested in saving the bee-business 

 from destruction to spend them. I can see no 

 harm in forming a union for any purpose that 

 may be desirable to unite for, and not waste 

 time and energy in trying to get a union organ- 

 ized for another purpose, to change its purpose 

 and spend its money for something else. If I 

 put up a dollar to fight glucose I feel like say- 

 ing, " If you can't fight glucose with it, give it 

 back to me." I do not want it diverted from 

 its purpose, and used to fight Wheadon & Co., 

 or carry on a lawsuit between two neighbors. 

 The more things a union can use its money for, 

 the less confidence people will have in it, be- 

 cause the manager may spend the money for 

 something that we have no interest in what- 

 ever. 



Fillmore, Cal. 



[I still honestly feel that one union could and 

 should do the work of the two; but now that 

 amalgamation is defeated we may be forced for 

 the present to have two unions— one for defsnse 

 and the other for fighting dishonest commission 

 houses and the adulteration evil. Of course, 

 there are many things I might say; but now 

 that the "war is over " 1 deem it both unwise 

 and unnecessary to say any thing further re- 

 lating to Mr. Newman's policies. The duty 

 of the hour is to beat our swords into plow- 

 shares, and begin work in harmony and 

 brotherly love. As you will notice in an- 

 other column, the new Union is laying its 



