1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



541 



readers will not take the pains with their 

 crops that I do, nevertheless if you will take 

 the honey you have, and make a business-like 

 effort something; like the one above, you will 

 find that you can dispose of it, even if that 

 supplied by more expertapiarists does surpass 

 yours in qualit)'. "With a first-class article you 

 will find yourself taking too small a load to 

 market oftener than too large. 



I do not label all my honey, but I think I 

 shall do more of it in the future. I have ob- 

 served that it gives the honey a finish, and 

 pleases the customer well enough so that I am 

 pretty safe in counting it to bring 25 cents per 

 case extra. 



The labels cost less than three cents, and a 

 boy will stick them for one cent per case. 

 The cost of this is offset b}- using second- 

 grade sections. I get m}' finest honey that I 

 expect to label in the cheapest sections. In 

 fact, the only advantage worth mentioning 

 that I know of, in using snow-white sections, 

 is in the clean appearance when the cover is 

 removed. The labels do the same ; and while 

 I have had scores of merchants take out the 

 sections and examine my labeled honey I nev- 

 er heard one remark that the sections were not 

 the whitest. They look at the honey and not 

 at the frame it is in. There is too much 

 straining after "snow-white," "extra polish- 

 ed," etc., according to my way of thinking. 



There are a good many ideas in the 

 above that may be helpful to those who sell 

 their crops by peddling from house to 

 house; but in such cases the point I would em- 

 phasize is to first quote the price per case or 

 so many sections for a dollar. If there is to 

 be any talk about your selling just a few sec- 

 tions let the other party start it, or you can 

 make the offer after your first proposition has 

 been refu.«ed. You will never sell a case to 

 one party by trying hard to sell 25 cents' 

 worth. Work for large sales, and expect to 

 make them. 



Riverside, Cal. 



THE NEW DRAWN FOUNDATION WITH NAT- 

 URAL BASES A SUCCESS. 



As much Comb as Extracted; an Interesting Ex- 

 periment. 



BY I.. STACHEIvHAUSEN. 



jl/r. E. R. Root: — I received samples of 

 your drawn foundation with natural base 

 three days ago, and experimented with them 

 at once. For the experiment I used two rows 

 of four sections in the middle of a T super 

 (plain section with fences). At both sides of 

 these two rows were sections containing some 

 honey, but not sealed as yet. Three of these 

 eight sections had the new drawn foundation. 

 One section had a comb drawn by the bees 

 from foundation, but without any honey, and 

 four sections had common foundation. The 

 sections with the drawn foundation were ar- 

 ranged alternating with those containing com- 

 mon foundation. The honey-flow is moder- 

 ate, and the colony is not very strong, but 

 worked in sections since the beginning of the 

 honev-flow. 



The so prepared supers were given to the 

 colony at 9 o'clock, June 25, and at half past 

 10 the bees were working busily on the drawn 

 foundation. They had gnawed down the 

 side walls — about half (on some places more); 

 at one spot of one section the} had gnawed 

 holes into the base of the cells. The midrib 

 still had the glas.slike appearance. At 3 

 o'clock the holes in the cell-bottoms were re- 

 paired, the drawn foundation fastened all 

 round to the section; the side walls were short- 

 ened everywhere, and strengthened by that 

 thick rim on the edge common to natural 

 combs. At some places the cell-bottoms do 

 not look so glas.sy now. The bees did not 

 work on the common foundation at all, but 

 had carried a little honey into the drawn 

 comb. 



At 6 o'clock in the morning, June 2(5, the 

 drawn foundation looked just like natural 

 combs. The bees did not work at all on the 

 cell-bottoms, but they do not look glassy any 

 more. No common foundation is worked by 

 the bees as yet. 



At 7 o'clock in the morning, June 27, the 

 common foundation is drawn by the bees, and 

 show the same thick rim. No honey is as 

 yet in one of these sections, except in the 

 drawn combs. The honey in the other sec- 

 tions is now about half sealed. The combs of 

 the two different foundations look now just 

 alike, and, in fact, at 3 o'clock I found the 

 first honey in both kinds. 



From these circumstances I can say that 

 the bees at once commenced to work on the 

 new drawn foundation in the same way they 

 would work on an even extracting comb. I 

 had the same experience with the drawn foun- 

 dation of last year. They work out these 

 foundations before they need new cells for 

 .storing honey. I am of the opinion the bees 

 will work on these foundations with or with- 

 out honey coming in. 



One difficulty in raising comb honey is to 

 start the bees to work in the sections. I am 

 convinced they will work in a section super 

 with drawn foundation just as they will in an 

 extracting-super with empty combs, so I see 

 no reason why, b}- the help of the drawn foun- 

 dation, just as much comb honey as extracted 

 could not be raised. Under certain condi- 

 tions common foundation is drawn out and 

 used for storing honey at the same time when 

 natural combs are used by the bees; but the 

 same thing is true with extracted honey; but 

 then bait combs are necessary, and the new 

 foundation works better than bait combs. 

 If the new article is not too high it will be a 

 very great help to the comb-honey producer. 



Now, I have a few words to say about a 

 matter somewhat relative to this foundation. 

 On page 124, Feb. 15, 1898, you say in a foot- 

 note that the bees thin out the midrib of the 

 foundation, while I am of the opinion they do 

 not In an article in the Southland Queen I 

 explained the wa}' in which the bees build 

 combs (the modus operandi); how the hexag- 

 onal fortn of the cells and the pyramidal form 

 of the cell-bottom is a mechanical necessity 

 caused by the way of manipulation, and that 

 we do not need to suppose a higher instinct of 



