1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



183 



A WORD FROM ONE OK THOSE DESPISED 

 FARMER BEK-KEEPKRS. 



Mr. Editor, and professional bee-men, please 

 don't throw a club at nie, but allow nie to in- 

 trude my visage into your mystic circle long 

 enough to ask a question or two. The reason 

 I am ready to dodge a club is because of the 

 fact that 1 am one of those farmer bee-keepers 

 I see so much written about that is not to their 

 credit, so I do not hke to speak in your pres- 

 ence. The same thing kept me from knock- 

 ing at the door of the U. S. Bee-keepers' Un- 

 ion for admittance last fall when I was at the 

 Buffalo convention. I had read S3 much in 

 opposition to the " farmer bee keeper " that I 

 was afraid to declare myself for fear of being 

 " blackballed." 



The reason I wish to enter now among the 

 writers of Gleanings is because I want to 

 ask a question or two. I use the Dovetailed 

 hive, wilh seclion-holders and scolloped sepa- 

 rators. I was bothered last year by the sec- 

 tion-holders sagging so much that they rested 

 in the middle on top of the frames. I think I 

 will lav a quart-^r-inch strip, this year, cross- 

 wise of the middle of the frames, unless 3-ou 

 will kindl}' tell me a better way. 



Another thing that bothered me was this : 

 Right where the scollops were in the separa- 

 tors, the honey would be bilged O' t under the 

 scolloped place, and be j ;ined to the next sec- 

 tion of honey, many limes, and nearly all 

 were bulged far enough to make them very 

 bad to set in the "no-drip" shipping-cases. 

 From the pictures 1 see in Gleanings, of sec- 

 tions of honey, I do not thii k others are both- 

 ered this way. How do you prevent it? 



Edwin Bennett. 



Malloy, la., Feb. S, 1X98. 



[It is not 1 who would throw a club at the 

 farmer bee-keeper; it certain !y is not E. T. 

 Abbott, of the Busy Bee; but it is the " other 

 fellow ; " but if you are not one of the naugh- 

 ty ones who put out poor comb honey and de- 

 moralize prices, here is my hand. 



Now in regard to your questions : Two or 

 three years ago, when we made our section- 

 holder bottoms thinner than now, we had 

 some reports where they sagged when loaded 

 with honey ; but I do not remember of notic- 

 ing any since we made them thicker. Possi- 

 bly you had the thinner bars. That other 

 condition, where you speak of the honey be- 

 ing bulged under the scollops of the separator, 

 seems to me is very unusual. I can not un- 

 derstand why it should happen unless you 

 permit the bees to become crowded for room. 

 The professional bee-keeper knows that it is 

 bad policy to let the bees become cramped 

 for storage room, and he accordingly gives the 

 bees another super before the one below is en- 

 tirely filled. If, however, it is toward the 

 close of the honey season, he lets the super 

 stand just as it is, without extra room above 

 or below. ^ — Ed. 



THE TALL and SQUARE SECTION ; POUND AND 



LIGHT WEIGHT ; AN INTERESTING COM- 



P.\RISON. 



I am a bee-keeper in a .small way, and sell 

 my honey at retail in our city market. A gro- 

 cer, whose store is close to my stand, this last 

 fall received honey from somebody in tall sec- 

 tions-, plain, which held from ten to twelve 

 ounces, and I think they were either 1 \ or \y^ 

 thick. He retailed them at 10 and 12 cents 

 each, thus realizing Ki cents a pound. My 

 honey ran 15 to 16 ounces, and I sold at 16 

 cents a pound also, which made 15 and 16 

 cents a section. The result was that his hon- 

 ey went off rapidly and mine dragged. If I 

 called attention to the difference in weight it 

 made no difference — they bought the other 

 man's honey anyhow. 



Now, I want to buy ten more hives this sea- 

 son, and want to use the plain section and 

 fence separator, and I should like to use a tall 

 section that will hold, when nicely full, 10 or 

 12 ounces. Will your tall section, 35sx5x 

 1 \ or l-^s, give this result, and will they fill 

 the super for the eight- frame hive all right? 

 and will the be* s make that thickness of comb 

 as well as in the 1 ,'2 -inch thick ? 



Williamsport, Pa. Thos. V. B. Nef:ce. 



\_\s I read this over I " smoled a smile," for 

 my thoughts turned toward Dr. Miller, who is 

 ready to fight whenever I broach this subject. 

 Say, doctor, hit Mr. N. this time. His would- 

 be customers evidently bought the tall ,=eclion 

 because it looked pretty, and because it cost 

 only 10 cents. 



I found this condition to exist in many lo- 

 calities that I vinted ; and it is true in other 

 places that you may tell the consumer as often 

 as you like that the ten-cent section of honey 

 does not hold a full pound, he will buy it just 

 the same. It is the price and not the avoirdu- 

 poise that has to do with the matter. On the 

 other hand, I am perfectly willing to acknowl- 

 edge that in some localities they will not buy 

 a box of hnney unless it holds approximately 

 a pound. For instance, a customer will come 

 in and say : 



" How much are those boxes of honey ? " 

 " PVom ten to twelve cents," is the reply. 

 " Do they hold a pound ? " 

 " No, only about twelve ounces." 

 If there is a pound box to be had he will buy 

 it in preference to the light weight. 



Now, it seems to me the whole point is not 

 a question of honesty, but simply one of selling 

 that which sells best. If consumers demand 

 pound weights, give it them. If they pay ten 

 and twelve cents more readily, give them 

 light-weight boxes. In short, let the market 

 decide the weight and shape of the section. — 

 Ed.] 



P. L. D., West Indies. — We know of no 

 way that you can protect wood from the ants 

 in your climate unless the parts that come in 

 contact with the ground are smeared with coal 

 tar, coal oil, or carbolic acid. The first nam- 

 ed is, however, much the best. We have rec- 

 ommended this often, and, so far as we know, 

 it accomplishes the result desired. 



