212 



GIvBANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



surplus honey with the old-style sections and 

 separators, should keep on in the ' ' even tenor 

 of their ways." First among these reasons is, 

 the cost required for such change. After mak- 

 ing a careful estimate, I am confident it would 

 cost me fully 8100 to make such a change 

 for my apiary, and I should have to think 

 some time, and also carefully try the plain 

 sections on from two to five colonies, betore I 

 would consent to harbor the idea of making 

 such a change. It is estimated that there are 

 400,000 bee-keepers in North America, and to 

 give a little idea of what the cost would be, 

 were all to make this change, I have figured 

 it this way: We will allow that three-fourths 

 of this 400,000 either use the plain sections, 

 or are not up with the times, and these latter 

 would not adopt any of the modern improve- 

 ments of any kind. This would give us 100,000 

 bee-keepers who s/ioiild adopt the plain sec- 

 tions, if it is advisable for any one to do so. 

 Now, to be under the cost, instead of over it, 

 we will allow that the average cost would be 

 only SIO to each of these 100,000, instead of 

 the !?100 I estimate it would cost me. At this 

 very conservative estimate, the cost would be 

 $1,000,000 to the bee-keepers of the land. 

 Does any one see where enough gain could be 

 made to compensate for such an expense? I 

 confess, 1 do not. If we. are to change to ev- 

 ery thing which has a boom, as the plain sec- 

 tions are having now, we shall be like a bee- 

 keeper I know of, about whose apiary are piles 

 of cast-off stuff, piled away in fence-corners 

 and out-of-the-way places. These things, 

 which cost him hundreds of dollars, are going 

 to decay, and are a dead loss; but he keeps on 

 changing and changing, while his family goes 

 poorly fed and clothed, that he may keep up 

 with every new (?) fad that comes along. 

 Then who is to be benefited by a change 

 from the old-style section to the plain section 

 and fences ? It is represented that it is to be 

 the bee-keeper. Will some one tell us how? 

 when ? where ? and in what ? Give us the 

 proof and we shall be satisfied. " Well, the 

 section will be filled fuller," says one. For 

 the time being, I will admit this to be so, al- 

 though I doubt it, where the right manage- 

 ment is adopted. But if they are filled fuller, 

 is this a benefit ? Which sells the most readi- 

 ly in market — the full, heavy sections, or the 

 lighter ones ? Perhaps it may ease Dr. Miller's 

 conscience a little to fix the retailers so they 

 will have no 14-ounce sections to sell by the 

 piece when they bought them by the pound; 

 but Dr. Miller, and every one else who has 

 had any experience along this line, knows 

 that the lighter sections sell for the higher 

 price. As proof I will say that, last fall, I as- 

 sorted my sections as to weight, making cer- 

 tain cases, of 20 sections each, weigh 19, 20, 

 and 21 pounds respectively. The result was, 

 when returns came in, that those cases weigh- 

 ing the 19 pounds sold so as to net me a trifle 

 over one cent a pound more than did those 

 weighing the 20 pounds, while those cases 

 weighing 21 pounds brought me a trifle less 

 than \% cents per pound than the 20-lb. case. 

 Hence the lighter sections brought me about 

 2>^ cents more per pound than did the fullest 



ones ; and yet I am told that it is to my ad- 

 vantage to adopt these plain sections because 

 the bees fill them fuller, leave no peep-holes, 

 etc. "But," says another, " the}' look bet- 

 ter." Again I ask, when? where? and to 

 whom? " To the producer," says one. Ad- 

 mitted, providing said producer is infatuated 

 with plain sections; but if not, he considers 

 that his old-style sections look the best. I 

 showed the "frontispiece" in the January 

 Review to Mrs. D., in which were pictured 

 four plain sections, and four of the old style 

 (she not being familiar with the discussion go- 

 ing on of late ) , and asked her which of the 

 eight she would choose, to set before the 

 choicest company she might chance to have, 

 and she immediately chose one of the old- 

 style sections which Mr. Hutchinson would 

 have us believe was not as nice as the new 

 style. When asked why she chose that one 

 instead of those having no peep-holes, and 

 which had the honey coming to the wood all 

 around the section, she said that, with the no 

 peep-hole in the sections, the honey would be 

 set to dripping in cutting out, which would 

 make the cake of nice comb honey less invit- 

 ing by the time the company got to the table ; 

 that it was much more work to properly cut 

 such a comb from the section, and, unless very 

 careful in disposing of the section, honey 

 would be daubed over things generally, from 

 the dripping that would be necessary where 

 honey was placed by the bees next the wood 

 all around the section. Besides, there would 

 be considerable time wasted in scraping all 

 the honey off the wood to the section, or else 

 quite a waste of honey, if not scraped off. To 

 all of which I could respond a hearty amen, 

 after having cut the honey out of many a sec- 

 tion. 



I claim, and have always claimed, that there 

 is no handsomer-looking section of honey than 

 the one whose comb is built out plump and 

 nice, with a border row of empty cells com- 

 pletely around it. And I also claim, under 

 the present wants of the public generally, such 

 a section of honey is more profitable to the 

 producer (from its selling price), and more 

 acceptable to the consumer for reasons given 

 above. 



" But does not friend Niver sell these plain 

 sections for a greater price than he does the 

 old style?" I presume he does; but let me 

 whisper that Niver is a salesman; and were it 

 the plain section which had always been in 

 use, and the old style that Niver had just be- 

 come infatuated with, he covild find more 

 points in the latter to urge in its favor to cus- 

 tomers than he now finds for his plain sec- 

 tions ; hence he would sell the old style for 

 the better money. Therefore, when told that 

 the plain sections sell better, I always ask, 

 "Who says so?" Does the price obtained in 

 open market, without any pushing of this style 

 above the old style, say so ? Until it does, the 

 claim falls to the grovmd. 



"But," another says, " the plain section is 

 an advanced step." Again I ask, wherein? 

 Do you see those cells all along the tops of 

 some of the sections whose capping has been 

 pressed down so it touches the honey, or have 



