782 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



already had foundation to get the bees to 

 build their comb true inside of the sections ; 

 but, of course, a honey-box must give the 

 bees access. I at first decided to move my 

 wide frames, each one holding eight of these 

 sections, a little way apart so the bees could 

 get in all around; and, in fact, our firs', sec- 

 tion was a brood-comb full of sealed honey 

 composed of eight little frames so they could 

 be taken apart and sold. In a little while we 

 had sections touching each other, or closed, 

 at the sid-s, but open at the top and bottom. 

 Doolittle and Capt. Hetherington first used 

 this style, if I am correct. Some of them had 

 simply a narrow bottom-bar, and were closed 

 all the rest of the way round. Finally the 

 bee-keepers of the world settled down on a 

 section closed at the sides but open top and 

 bottom ; and for nearly twenty- years these 

 have filled our markets, or something similar. 

 It is true that some inventive geniuses (Danz- 

 enbaker among them) made sections not 

 touching each other the whole length of their 

 perpendicular sides ; and in this manner they 

 secured sections of hone}^ without little holes 

 being left in the corners. 



Separators were lon^; ago decided to be a 

 necessity. Then somebody said they were not 

 a necessity. Then we came back to separators. 

 We had them of tin, wooden veneer, wire 

 cloth, perforated metal, and perforated wood; 

 and the shapes and forms were so great and 

 curious that a volume might be written in 

 regard to separators. I do not know but w'e 

 had the separator figured below. 



A WOODEN SEPARATOR MADE OF SL.VTS. 



This separator is made of thin strips of bass- 

 wood, polished and sandpapered. It has 

 panels in each side like a portable fence. In 

 fact, I believe the boys have decided to call it 

 the " fence " because it is a shorter word than 

 separator. The openings in this separator are 

 in width about the same as in the perforated 

 zinc. The up-and-down slats on each side of 

 the separator are also of about the thickness 

 of these perforations, or J of an incii. This 

 fence is made very accurate by means of in- 

 genious and perfect machinery. When the 

 smooth planed sections are put into the cases, 

 this separator brings every thing to a small 

 fraction of an inch just where it ought to be. 

 There is very little scraping or cleaning to be 

 done. The box is smooth all round. In fact, 

 you can sandpaper its edges after it is filled 

 with honey, without much danger of injury. 

 When the sections are packed up for shipment, 

 the honey in one section never binnps that in 

 the next one, for they are exactly alike ; and 

 yet they pack up so close and solid when 

 crated for shipment that each cake of honey 

 almost touches the honey surface of its neigh- 

 bor. There is no waste of room. 



Let us now go back to mj- starting-point. 



After twenty years of studying and experi- 

 menting, trying devices not only sufficient to 

 fill the Patent Office buildings, but after hav- 

 ing made experiments so varied that great 

 volumes would be needed to record them, we 

 come back to the place where we started. 

 Th se experiments in this research were not 

 made by only a few persons, but t/ioiisa7ids 

 have stutlied over the problem for years, and 

 racked their brains far into the small hours of 

 the night ; and yet it would seem just now as 

 if it had amounted to almost nothing — at 

 least, my impression is, after having seen the 

 honey in these simple sections, and after hav- 

 ing looked over the apparatus for producing 

 it, that it nnist very soon take the place of all 

 other styles of sections. 



Now, I know full well, dear friends, that 

 this style of section is not new. In fact, I 

 said so at the outset ; and, so far as the sepa- 

 rator is concerned, a good many bee-keepers — 

 our good friend Oliver Foster prominently 

 among them — have used and advised a sepa- 

 rator almost like this one. 



As I grow older, and look back, I am re- 

 minded'that this queer experience in bee cul- 

 ture is not an isolated case. Electricity fur- 

 nishes many such examples. Forty j-ears ago 

 we were very near electric locomotion. When 

 your humble servant, more than forty years 

 ago, traveled from town to town exhibiting 

 an electric motor, he predicted to the good 

 people who came out to hear him talk, that, 

 in a very short time, electricity would super- 

 sede steam as a means of travel. His predic- 

 tion looks >W7V as if it might come true. But 

 he had to wait over tzvoscore years before in- 

 ventive genius got round to it. Shall we be 

 disheartened? God forbid. Let us, rather, 

 roll up our sleeves and do the best we can. 

 Blundering keeps us busy ; and if we do it 

 with the love of God in our hearts it makes lis 

 happy; and in due time we shall reap if — we 

 faint not. A. I. R. 



THE SENECA COUNTY BEE-KEEPERS' PICNIC 

 AND BEE CONVENTION. 



Among the counties where bee-keeping 

 flourishes, and where honey is produced by 

 the ton and by the carload, is Seneca Co., 1}^- 

 ing between the beautiful lakes of Seneca and 

 Cavuga — two lakes whose length is about forty 

 miles, with width ranging from three to five. 

 It is in this section of country, especially along 

 the shores of these lakes,' where inmiense 

 quantities of beautiful fruit are produced, and 

 bees and bee-keepers — they are almost as 

 thick as the fruit-men. 



Along in August I received an invitation 

 from the secretary of the Seneca Co. Bee-keep- 

 ers' Association, Mr. C. B. Howard, to be with 

 them at their next meeting at Elm Beach 

 Park. If I would promise to come the}' would 

 arrange the date to suit my convenience. As 

 I was going through that part of the State I 

 very gladly availed myself of the pleasure of 

 meeting so many York State Bee-keepers all 

 together. Accordingy, on the 31st da}- of Au- 

 gust I met them, as per appointment, at Elm 

 Beach Park, on the shores of Seneca Lake. 



Owing to some bungling on the part of the 



