GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



give up business. Mr. Selser then took a trip 

 to Florida for the old house of his uncles, vis- 

 iting many of the bee-keepers there. On his 

 return he stopped at Medina, staying over 

 night with The A. I. Root Co. It was a case 

 of "mutual admiration" as he says, and he 

 on his part was so impressed with the supply 

 business that he made arrangements then 

 and there to handle the Root goods in his 

 city. 



He became interested in insects while at- 

 tending school, and afterward gave special at- 

 tention to the study of zoology, and bees in 

 particular. In 1889 he started an apiary of 15 

 hives in his garden, for pastime. In 1SU2 he 

 bought out a large apiary in Chester, and now 

 has one house-apiary and three out-apiaries 

 that he manages himself, aggregating 4U0 col- 

 onies and nuclei, and has control of 17 apia- 

 ries in other States. He makes a specialty of 

 extracted honey, and expects to bottle this 

 year over 15 tons. 



In 1894, when the pure-food law passed the 

 Pennsylvania Legislature, INIr. S. took a spe- 

 cial course in chemistry under Prof. Wallace, 

 to detect the adulteration of honey sold in his 

 market. 



Mr. Selser married in 1889 ; moved to Jen- 

 kintown, a suburb of Philadelphia. The cut 

 shows his wife and little girl, Margaretta, four 

 years old. The latter helps him in his busi- 

 ness. She dons the veil, holds the frames for 

 her father while he works in the apiary, and 

 is no more afraid of bees than a veteran. Mr. 

 Selser has a sister three years his junior, who 

 has been a great help to him in his business. 



The best thing I can saj' about our friend is 

 that he is an earnest Christian, and so far our 

 business relations with him show that he does 

 as he would be done by. 



NOTICE. 

 To all new subscribers, and also to those 

 who renew before their subscriptions expire, 

 and inclose 5:^1.00, we will send the Busy Bee, 

 a monthly bee-paper, in addition, free. 



SECTIONS WITHOUT BEE -SPACES -A.ND CLEATED 

 SEP.^RATORS ; ONE-PIECE AND FOUR-PIECE 



SECTIONS FOR SCRAPING. 

 At several of the different yards I visited in 

 York State I noticed that the four-piece sec- 

 tions were still being used in preference to the 

 one-piece, notwithstanding the former cost 

 more and take more time to put together. I 

 never could understand exactly the reason un- 

 less it was that there was a time when the one- 

 piece sections that used to be sent out would, 

 when folded, incline toward a diamond form 

 rather than a true square ; and this ' ' naughty 

 corner" induced many to use the four-piece 

 section. In the last few years nearly all the 

 manufacturers, I believe, have discovered that 

 it is perfectly easy to make the one-piece as- 

 sume a true square as well as a diamond form; 

 and latterly I have been noticing that the one- 

 piece was creeping into the territory of the 

 four-piece. But, as I said, several are even 

 now using the four-piece, and this preference 

 seems to be due to the fact that these sections 

 offer facilities for scraping that the one-piece 



with the ordinary score cut out for openings 

 does not. It will be remembered that the 

 four-piece section has an opening clear across 

 the top and bottom of the sections, while the 

 one-piece has an opening that is scored out 

 and reaches to within >^ inch of the corner. 

 At one or two places I was shown that the 

 scraping-kniie could at one sweep go clear 

 across the top edge of the section, and at one 

 sweep go down the side edges of the section. 

 But in the case of the one-piece the knife had 

 to dip down and out again. 



MORTON'S NO-BEE-WAY SECTIONS AND MOR- 

 TON'S HONEY. 



At the apiary of Mr. Miles Morton, Groton, 

 N. Y., to whom I have already referred, I 

 found not only four-piece sections, but sec- 

 tions with practically no openings at all, the 

 bee-space to the sections being effected by 

 cleats on the separators. I said ' ' practically 

 no openings, " ' for the top-bars of the sections 

 were narrower by ]i inch than the side-bar. 

 In other words, there is an opening ]i inch 

 wide between the tops and bottoms of the sec- 

 tions when put close together. Of course, 

 this would not be room enough to let the bees 

 between the sections. Accordingly, separat- 

 ors are used cleated, the cleats being yi inch 

 thick, and so spaced on the separator that 



they come just opposite the upright edges of 

 the sections. The ',^-inch-thick cleat, and the 

 jig in the sections, make just exactly a bee- 

 space of yg inch. As these separators are 

 cleated on both sides, the cleats being held in 

 position by glue, the regulation bee-spaces are 

 preserved in the sections while in the supers. 

 But you may ask why Mr. Morton did not 

 have all the bee-space in the sections like 

 those all the rest of us use, instead of -3 of it in 

 the separator. I can answer this question by 

 sa3ang that, if yotx were to look over his lot of 

 comb honey, you would at once see the rea- 

 son. The comb surfaces come within ^s inch 

 of a straight edge resting across the sides of 

 the section, and i\; inch from the same straight 

 edge reaching across the tops and bottoms of 

 the section. The consequence is, the section 

 appears to be fuller, and looks, oh so much 

 nicer ! When I looked over this lot of honey 

 I said, " Why, yoti have selected this because 

 it is filled out well." 



" No, sir," said Mr. Niver, Morton's " broth- 

 er-in-law." " It has not been graded at all." 



Then I looked over some supers just as they 

 came out of the hive, and pulled out sections 

 here and there at random. They were all 

 alike. Mr. Morton's honey would grade, ac- 

 cording to my notion, extra fancy right along- 

 side of ordinary honey placed in sections hav- 

 ing a bee-space, that would grade only about 

 No. 1. 



CLE-^TED SEPARATORS EASILY AND INEXPEN- 

 SIVELY MADE ; GEUE INSTEAD OF NAILS. 

 Perhaps it may occur to some that a cleat- 



