1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



879 



ker in a hurry, and proceed to light it in the 

 usual way, I find the thing has "gone out" 

 just when I need it the most. — Ed.] 



VISIT AMONG THE BEE-KEEPERS. 

 At Hutchinson's and Taylor's. 



BY H. R. BOARDMAN. 



Continued fi'Otii page iSj^. 



At Judds Corners I wheeled up to a country 

 store to take a few minutes' rest. Some nice 

 honey on the counter attracted my attention 

 at once. 



" Can you tell me," I asked, " who brought 

 this honey ? ' ' 



"Oh, yes! Dr. Smith. He's a scientific 

 bee-keeper. He lives just up at the second 

 house." 



A few minutes later I was talking with Dr. 

 Smith as familiarly as if we had been acquaint- 

 ed for years. Not a moment was wasted in 

 compliments or apologies. Dr. Smith is an 

 intelligent, progressive bee-keeper who takes 

 pride in doing every thing just right. He 

 keeps about 25 colonies of bees, as he said, 

 partly for the diversion but not wholly for the 

 fun of the thing, as he was trying to make it 

 pay. He had a small shop with some kind of 

 power where he made his own supplies. Dr. 

 S. insisted on showing me his honey, which 

 was already filled into neat cases. "And 

 now," he said, " I want you to show me how 

 to grade my honey properly. I want to do 

 every thing right.'''' 



Then he commenced prying off the covers 

 to the cases, and taking out the honey. 



"Well, Dr. Smith, I can show you how to 

 grade your honey according to the Washing- 

 ton rules, but I do not grade my own that 

 way. I see you do not use separators," I 

 said, as I commenced grading the sections 

 back into the empty cases. "Do you think 

 you can make it pay to dispense with sepa- 

 rators ? ' ' 



" Yes, I think so. I think the bees will go 

 into the sections more readily, and more sur- 

 plus be secured, without separatqrs than with. 

 The sections will be fuller and heavier, but 7 

 to the foot should be used instead of 6." 



"Well, doctor, I am a little surprised at 

 this. I had supposed this method was obso- 

 lete. I Ihink you will change your mind after 

 awhile;" and while busy talking he pulled 

 up a section with a fat side, and stripped off 

 the delicate cappings against the next section. 

 "There, doctor, you have yourself furnish- 

 ed me with one of my best reasons for using 

 separators. If you and I, with our skill and 

 care in handling this honey, make such mis- 

 takes as you have just made, how about the 

 busy retailer who pulls up the sections in a 

 hurried, careless way to show to his customers ? 

 Of course, he will be sure to do the same thing 

 that you have just done. The honey will leak 

 and become untidy; the dealer will be dis- 

 gusted with it, and, may be, lose his patience, 

 and declare in forcible language, perhaps, 



that he doesn't want to be bothered with any 

 more of the leaky stuff, and a good customer 

 is lost. Then I see you have some sections so 

 irregular in shape that they will not go in at 

 all." 



"A very few," he replied. "I set those 

 aside and sell them at home, and there is 

 really not much loss on them. But you said 

 you did not grade your own honey by the 

 Washington rules." 



" No. I have an established method of 

 grading my honey, which I have followed for 

 years. My principal customers are familiar 

 with my methods, and I did not consider it 

 the part of wisdom to make any change in my 

 tnethods of grading; besides, I think I really 

 like my way belter. I make but two grades — 

 1st and 2d — putting the fancy and No. 1, if of 

 pretty good grade, into my 1st grade." 



" Would you put the nicest sections on the 

 outside? " asked the doctor, again. 



"I face my cases with the very choicest 

 sections in the grade I am making; but the 

 rest must give entire satisfaction to my cus- 

 tomers for whom I am grading it." 



Notwithstanding the doctor did not use 

 separators he secured a fair crop of very choice 

 honey. I was greatly surprised to note how 

 swiftly the time had glided away during this 

 interview which I had intended should be but 

 very brief; and without an apology, and al- 

 most abruptly, I broke away and wheeled on 

 toward Flushing, where I brought up for a 

 lunch at a restaurant, after a ver}' warm ride. 



The first thing that attracted my attention 

 was a showcase filled with dark inferior honey. 

 "The farmers bring it in," was the reply to 

 my inquiry. " We pay 8 cts. and sell it for 12." 

 At several of the groceries that I visited 

 hurriedly I found about the same thing. 

 Those near me at the lunch-table stared in 

 amazement as I ordered and drank only hot 

 water that hot day while everybody else was 

 drinking iced tea, iced lemonade, and iced 

 water to keep them cool. 



After a brief call on another bee-keeper in 

 the suburbs of Flushing I again set my face 

 as a flint Flintward, and wheeled along the 

 pleasant banks of the Flint River, and in due 

 time reached that town without further in- 

 cident. 



I found W. Z. Hutchinson in his sanctum, 

 "reviewing." After reducing my tempera- 

 ture a little with ablutions of cold water, I 

 commenced helping him to " review." After 

 supper he took me out into the yard and seat- 

 ed me in a hammock where the bright moon- 

 shine trickted down through among the leaves 

 and branches of some overspreading trees, 

 and we continued to review every thing in 

 beedom that we could think of until pretty 

 late bedtime. 



The next morning Mr. H. showed me some 

 honey of fine quality produced by Mr. Koep- 

 pen, a progressive and successful bee-keeper 

 of Flint, and also called my attention to some 

 7-to-foot sections of honey produced without 

 separators, that were quite attractive. While 

 considering a visit to Mr. Koeppen, Mr. R. 

 D. Taylor's name was mentioned, and imme- 

 diately placed on the program for the day. 



