1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



213 



had their capping broken till the honey is ooz- 

 ing out and running down over the nice face 

 of the comb ? Is it an advanced step which 

 causes us to use every precaution in handling 

 our sections after they are filled, if we would 

 avoid marring the faces of the pretty combs, 

 either by our fingers or hitting one section 

 against another, and that obliges us to put 

 separators into our shipping-cases lest the sec- 

 tions slip by each other just a little bit, thus 

 setting the honey to running ? It seems to me 

 that, the more such advanced (?) steps we 

 take, the worse we are off. I can not think 

 that the advocates of these plain sections have 

 fully looked into the matter in all its bearings, 

 or they would have seen some of these defects 

 and told us about them. 



In closing, let me advise those who are con- 

 templating going into plain sections, or, in 

 fact, any thing else they have never tried, to 

 go slow. Never go into any new thing {to 

 you), except on a small scale, trying it on a 

 hive or two at first ; then if it proves good in 

 your hands gradually work up to where you 

 can use it in the whole apiary. And should it 

 prove against your wants and desires in your 

 first trial, you will have expended but little, 

 and can ' ' throw it up " without cost, save 

 what will be overbalanced by the knowledge 

 gained by the experiment. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



[The article above should have appeared in 

 our issue for March 1; but in some way it was 

 misplaced after it reached here, and was not 

 discovered until the journal had gone to press. 

 After looking it over it seemed to me that Mr. 

 Doolittle had shot clear over the mark, and 

 therefore I wrote him, stating that I could not 

 see hoiv he figured that it would cost $1.00 

 per hive to change over to the fence and plain 

 section ; that we would agree to equip his 

 supers with fences to fit his wide frames at a 

 cost far below what he figured; namely, that 

 we would furnish fences for his wide frames 

 at $16.00 per 1000. We put the estimate high 

 because his wide frames are odd-sized. We 

 are furnishing fences for our section-holders, 

 made to take the old-style bee-ways, at $10.00 

 per 1000. I further stated that it was not 

 necessary for him to discard his wide frames. 

 In reply he writes as follows : 



I see you think I made a miscalculation as to the 

 cost of changing from my present surplus arrange- 

 ment to the " fence equipment." Perhaps so, yet I do 

 not see it. You figure the cost of the fences at SKi.OO 

 per lOtTO. I figure that I use 25 wide frames to the 

 liive, which, with tin separators, cost me 4 cts. each — 

 $1.00 a hive— SlOO for 1(X) hives. If I adopt the fence I 

 must throw away these, hence throw away coit to the 

 amount of S^lOO, as the separators can not be used, nor 

 can the wide frames (although you assume they can); 

 for did I use the wide frames they would be too wide, 

 so would give too heavy a section. Then, did I tear 

 the separators from them and cut down the width '% 

 inch, the work of doing .so would be worth more than 

 to buy new wide frames. Or do you claim that I 

 should not figure the past cost? If so, then it would 

 co.st an established bee-keeper no more than it would 

 a beginner, to start with the new equipment. If, as I 

 claim, the fence arrangement is no better than what I 

 am now using, should not the cost be counted as I 

 have figured it, rather than on new fences? 



About a less cost of shipping cases : We do not agree 

 here either. When you come to take into considera- 

 tion the warping of lumber and the carelessness of 



many in nailing, .safe shipping of honey with the 

 plain sections will necessitate separators for the ship- 

 ping-cases; and these and their adju.stment will more 

 than make up the .saving in lumber over the old 

 style. I may be wrong, but this is the only way I can 

 .see it so far. 



Friend Doolittle still fails to catch on to the 

 fact that it is not necessary to discard old ap- 

 pliances to take the new plain sections and 

 fences. The only thing that is cast aside is 

 the old-style separators ; and if they are of 

 wood, as they are in the majority of cases, 

 this last is nothing, comparatively speaking, 

 as many of them would have to be replaced 

 anyway. Mr. Doolittle figures 25 wide frames 

 to the hive. This is allowing for pretty nearly 

 100 lbs. of comb honey per colony. He cer- 

 tainly put the figure high, and I do not believe 

 the ordinary bee-keeper will secure more than 

 60 lbs. on the average, if he does that; and, 

 besides, if he secured more he could use some 

 of his wide frames over again. As he makes 

 his wide frames the basis for 100,000 bee-keep- 

 ers, I think it would be fair enough to cut 

 down the amount to 50 lbs. per colony, or 

 make 12 or 13 wide frames per hive. Well, 

 say that we use 12 fences per hive. These 

 would cost 20 cts. ; if we figure on 25 wide 

 frames the cost would be 40 cts. Now, let me 

 assure Mr. Doolittle that this will be the total 

 cost per hive, as I figure it, to equip his supers 

 for plain sections, for he would not have to 

 discard his old wide frames. Indeed, we will 

 enter into contract to so equip his hives (on 

 the basis of 25 wide frames) for 40 cts. per 

 hive. Perhaps I can best show ivhy the wide 

 frames need not be discarded by showing the 

 cut of how we equip our 

 old-style section - hold- 

 ers for old-style sec- 

 tions. It is true, the 

 plain section, as shown 

 by the cut, is a little 

 narrower than the sec- 

 tion - holder ; but this 

 difference in width is 

 taken up by the cleats 

 on the fence. A careful scrutiny of the en- 

 graving will show, I think, how this is done. 

 Perhaps I can explain it in another way by 

 saying that the cleats on the fence simply take 

 the place of the openings, or, rather, the extra 

 width of the old-style sections. I think friend 

 Doolittle will readily see that his wide frames 

 do not need to be discarded at all, much less 

 would he need to trim them down. But sup- 

 pose he had to discard them, we would con- 

 tract to furnish him enough for 100 hives, in- 

 cluding tin separators, at a price of 2)'2 cents 

 apiece, instead of 4 cts. as he figures it. The 

 new wide frames and the new separators, all 

 clean and nice, would be better than the old 

 separators and wide frames by just about the 

 difference in cost of nailing up. 



In regard to shipping-cases, we will agree to 

 furnish shipping- cases for plain sections, to 

 hold a given number of pounds of honey, for 

 less than we will furnish cases for the same 

 weight of honey for slotted sections. 



Speaking of prices reminds me that I talked 

 with Mr. Niver on this very point. He sold 

 both old-style section honey and Morton 



