126 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



receptacles, or else were unable, when cluster- 

 ed in very small bodies, to secrete wax and 

 build combs rapidly. We have learned by the 

 use of single combs of various thicknesses, 

 the thickness of comb that bees can build to 

 the best advantage, which seems to be some- 

 where from 1 to \y% inches. 



With the difficulty of using sections much 

 smaller than 4^x4^ there has been a desire 

 to change the form by making the section nar- 

 rower and taller. Such, it is claimed, are more 

 artistic in form, and appear to the buyer to 

 contain more honey than the square section. 

 If this were all it is doubtful if such a change 

 would pay; but there may be other and more 

 important reasons. 



While passing through the Seventh St. 

 market, in the city of Washington, some time 

 ago, I saw a lot of honey for sale, in plain sec- 

 tions 3^x5x1^. I noticed it more closely as 

 I did not remember to have seen honey put up 

 in this size of section before, and had thought 

 seriously of trying this size myself in place 

 of the 4Xx4X I now use. I was much disap- 

 pointed in the appearance of the honey, for, 



sections 4x4^ and 3%x5 that would average 

 decidedly better. Some of the 4^x4^ were 

 finished better. 



While in Washington I saw Mr. Danzen- 

 baker's honey, of which I had heard so much, 

 and with his permission I selected an average 

 section, or tried to do so. I also tried to get 

 an average ^%s.A% section as they appeared 

 in that market, and had them photographed 

 together. Which do you like better? While 

 in W. I also saw honey in the 4x5 section that 

 was produced by some one, I don't know who, 

 that looked quite as well as Danzenbaker's 

 honey — I thought a little better — but I did not 

 tell him so. Since my return home I have re- 

 ceived a photo of some produced here in New 

 England — I have now forgotten by whom — in 

 this same style of section (4x5), that looks 

 about as well as either. I believe all were pro- 

 duced in the Danzenbaker hive, as the sections 

 are of the same size. 



Does a slight difference in the form or shape 

 of the section influence bees in filling it with 

 comb and honey ? If so, what is the best shape 

 and size for a section that will weigh a pound 



THE COMPARATIVE FUSING OF THE THREE SIZES. 



although it seemed evident it had been made 

 in a section of country where there was a good 

 flow of honey, yet the combs were poorly 

 built out, even with the advantage of a fence. 



I went to look at it again the next morning, 

 and finally bought an average of the lot, to 

 have it photographed, and it is the middle one 

 in the plate I send with this. I saw another 

 lot of honey in the same market in the same 

 style of box, but no better. Had the founda- 

 tion been cut too narrow, or were the sections 

 too narrow to suit the bees ? or was it bad 

 management on the part of the bee-keeper. 

 It may have been any one of these ; but I was 

 inclined to believe that the width, 3f£, was too 

 narrow to suit the bees. 



A little later I was in the New York market; 

 and although I must have seen many tons of 

 honey in this size of section, and some even 

 of less width, stacked up with glass fronts, I 

 do not remember to have seen more than a 

 little that would average any better — even the 

 face combs of the cases ; but I saw some in 



to secure the best results? My own experi- 

 ence teaches that bees will finish sections 1% 

 thick much quicker and better than those l /% 

 inch thicker. Will % or JHs put on or taken 

 off the edge of a section make much differ- 

 ence ? From what I saw in the markets I am 

 inclined to think it does — i. e., when it is al- 

 ready as small as the bees will work in readily 

 or to advantage. 



A very intelligent bee-keeper told me recent- 

 ly that he had tried the ^%s.A% by the side of 

 the 4x5 sections on the same hives, and the 

 bees would enter and fill and finish the 4x5 

 sections first. This is " important if true," as 

 the newspapers sometimes say. We have all 

 observed, doubtless, how much faster bees will 

 build comb downward than sidewise. Near 

 the close of the A B C of Bee Culture is a 

 plate, No. 24, showing how bees build natural 

 combs. Instead of one long comb extending 

 from near one end to the other on the under 

 side of the top-bar, as we should naturally ex- 

 pect, we find several small combs, longer up 



