82 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



little bit. You may remember that the fence 

 we are making and putting out is not quite the 

 same thing as the fence that I sawwhen at the 

 home of our mutual frien I Mr. Morton. The 

 cross-cleats of our fence drop down a bee- 

 space from the top edge of the sections, and 

 the top slat runs nearly to the top of the sec- 

 tion. The cleats in Mr. Morton's fence are as 

 long as the sections, and the top slat drops 

 down a bee-space, or nearly that. You see, 

 the conditions are exactly reversed. Mr. Dan- 

 zenbaker and others who had been using the 

 fence decided that it was an advantage to have 

 the cross-cleats drop down a little bit, so that 

 the bees could pass from one section to anoth- 

 er without the necessity of having so many 

 peep-holes or corner holes in the sections ; 

 and when I made the statement you refer to I 

 had in mind a fence such as we were sending 

 out. 



T'T^ 



'*''*^*^ "*T«.|i 



SECTION OF COMB HONEY SHOWING CORNER 

 HOLES. 



You speak of peep-holes, and refer me to 

 the samples of sections that you sent here. 

 Not one of them has corner holes like those I 

 was describing ; but I will grant that they 

 have peep-holes — that is, wee little holes made 

 by one or two cells without any base between 

 them, and just barely large enough for a bee 

 or two to crawl through The general impres- 

 sion one would get in looking over Morton's 

 honey is that it had no corner holes, because 

 such holes as they do have are so small in 

 comparison with the holes found in the ordi- 

 nary 4!4 two-bee-way sections. Now, to give 

 you a better idea of what I mean I show you 

 herewith a picture of an ordinary 4 '4 section 

 of honey. At each of the four corners there 

 are big holes almost large enough to run one's 

 little finger through, and these holes are 

 rounded off. In the case of the ordinary one- 

 piece section the openings are of such a char- 

 acter as to favor the construction of such 

 holes. Mr. Danzenbaker showed me quite a 

 lot of his honey produced with his fence ; and 

 while I admit there were peep-holes, they 

 were not the great big holes which are shown 

 in the view above. 



But read the last paragraph of W. D. So- 

 per's article just following. The Aspinwall 

 separator permits the bees to pass freely from 

 one section to another in mvich the same way 

 as our fence does. I may have borne down 

 too strongly on the point, but I know there is 

 something in it. 



Regarding acetylene gas, let me caution you 

 to be a little careful. One of the factories in 

 Jersey Cit}-, where the calcium carbide was 

 made, and where, indeed, the proprietors 

 claimed there was no possible danger of ex- 

 plosion, had a most terrific blow-up on the 

 24th of December, demolishing the works, de- 

 stroying life, and damaging considerable prop- 

 erty in the vicinity. After the disaster the 

 company essayed to locate in New York city, 

 but the authorities refused to allow them in 

 the city. 



The calcium carbide looks like innocent 

 stuff ; but if water gets on to it in a room or 

 basement, there will be a terrible explosion the 

 moment a lighted lamp is lirought near it. 

 The very explosiveness* of the agent is just the 

 very thing to make it valuable to run gas- 

 engines where coal is expensive. 



I do not mean to say that acetylene gas can 

 never be used for domestic lighting ; but it is 

 at present one of those dangerous explosives 

 for which we need to have a certain degree of 

 respectful fear. 



Big pumpkins — well, I am sorry to say I do 

 not know any thing about them. 



Regarding T supers, that's right — give Dr. 



Miller fits. But the good doctor insists that 



he has tried other forms, and does not like 



any other nearly as well as the T super. Why, 



he says he can not afford to use any thing 



else, because it consumes too much time. — 



Ed.] 



— .^ ..••••••••.. ■ 



SOME KINKS IN SELLING HONEY. 



How to Get the Trade, and How to Hold it ; Aspin- 



wall's Comb Honey in Plain Sections; " No 



Holes in the Corners at all." 



BY W. D. SOPER. 



I see in GlEanings you wish honey-dealers 

 or jobbers to tell their experience in selling 

 and collecting without loss. Of course, my 

 experience is different from Niver's, as the 

 most I sell is in my home market, a city of 

 2o,()00 inhabitants. Selling comb honey is 

 different from extracted, in this way: It is a 

 staple. The storekeeper knows he can sell 

 comb honey ; but extracted he doesn't know 

 about. I go at it this way : I use mostly 

 quart pails. These I pay 38 cts. per doz. for. 

 I make pail and honey weigh just 3 lbs. This 

 I wholesale at 20 cts., and retail at 25. I go 

 around to the stores and put in four to six for 

 them to sell, telling them if they don't sell 

 I'll take them back. Well, I don't have to 

 take any back. I make my rounds once a 

 week ; by this time they have them sold. 

 They pay for the last left, and I leave some 



* We had an order for calcium carbide for foreign 

 .shipment, but the steamship on which the goods 

 { bee-hive .stuff) were to go refused to carry the carbide. 

 -En. 



