1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



129 



separator, and this was always hard to remove, 

 because it was so near the honey in a position 

 hard to get at without injuring the honey with 

 any scraping-tool we might use; and we gen- 

 erally found it nect ssary to use the fingers in 

 removing it. But, presto ! when the fence 

 ■was loosened from the row of plain sections 

 we found but little propoli-s adhering to the 

 section, or separator either, and one motion 

 with a knife would clean a whole side of the 

 section clean ; and, indeed, it would pass as 

 clean sections in many places with an)' clean- 

 ing at all; and we noticed this — that the ag- 

 gregate of propolis used in the entire crate 

 was fully 50 per cent less than that in the old- 

 style section case with plain separators. 



Now, if the time of our little friends at the 

 season of gathering honey is worth any thing 

 at all, it seems to me that here is a saving in 

 that the labor employed in gathering the pro- 

 polis could be used in collecting more of the 

 coveted sweets. 



Well, we had two 24 section crates of the 

 tall sections, 3^x5x1^ plain, which we took 

 to the grocer, thinking we had something a 

 little nicer than had ever been taken into our 

 town. We took a 12-lb. case in and asked 

 what they could pay for nice white honey. 

 "Well," he said, "it is worth 9 cts.; but we 

 are not in need of any just now." I told him 

 I should like to show him what I had, and be- 

 gan setting them out ; and he and the few cus- 

 tomers in the store began gathering around 

 and uttering exclamat'ons of surprise at the 

 beauty and perfectly finished appearance of 

 the new sections. 



" How much have you like this ? " said he. 



" Four cases," I said. 



" Well," said he, " I guess I will take what 

 you have at 9 cts. per lb." 



I said I should have to have 10 cts. for such 

 nice honey as that this year. 



"Well," he said, "bring it in ; and if it is 

 all like this I will pay you 10 cts." 



When we went out to get the other three 

 cases another grocer had got his eye on the 

 honey through the glass cases, and wanted to 

 know if it was sold. I said it was. 



" What do you get for it ? " I told him. 



" Have you any more like it? " he asked. 



I explained that this was simply a trial of 

 this style of honey-package, and that it was 

 all I had this season. He tried to get me to 

 let him have that honey at 10 cts., or a part of 

 it ; but, of course, I had to refuse, for I knew 

 the other man would take it all, which he did. 



Well, later we sold a quantity of honey to 

 The A. I. Root Co., and by their direction 

 shipped it to the Columbus Commission and 

 Storage Co., Columbus, Ohio. When packing 

 this honey we put in one case of the new plain 

 sections, 4 ' 4 x4 % , and marked them so on pur- 

 pose to call the attention of the dealer to it, 

 and with the result as given in Sept. 15th 

 Gleanings. 



As to the relative value of the two cases 

 (old and new) for the greatest yield of weight 

 of comb honey, we shall require another sea- 

 son's trial to decide definitely; but we are of 

 the opinion that the easy access from one sec- 

 tion to another will increase the production. 



On the whole we are thinking quite strongly 

 of putting the new fixtures in all our cases the 

 coming season, with the possible exception of 

 one or two for comparison. 



Elsie, Mich., Jan. 7. 



THE FENCE-SEPARATOR SYSTEM. 



Fence Supers Entered Sooner. 



BY M. A. GILL. 



Perhaps a few words giving my experience 

 with the plain section and fence separator 

 would be appre dated by a few of the readers 

 of Gleanings. 



First, I will say I was much interested in 

 the fence-separator system when it first came 

 up for discussion, and was amused at some of 

 the arguments that came out setting forth 

 that the system would not work; and when 

 we ordered 20,000 no-beeway sections and 700 

 supers with fence separators, several of the 

 wise ones said the same as others had said in 

 the journals, that it was impossible for loaded 

 bees to pass through the spaces. 



I had spent too much time during the previ- 

 ous twenty years in studying, not to know that 

 the spaces were ample, and that the system 

 was practicable, else I should not have ordered 

 so many to start with. I soon saw that, to 

 raise honey by this system, it was necessary 

 to have hives level. This has been my hobby, 

 as I never use separators, and would not now 

 if I could not have the fence 



One of the system's faults is that, if any 

 mishap happens to one section, there are gen- 

 erally three sections spoiled ; for if a starter 

 breaks down, the bees will build through the 

 fence on each side and spoil two more. So I 

 said there are tw y o good features, for any thirg 

 that will make careless people set their hives 

 level, and securel) fasten all starters, is a good 

 thing. 



I will say that, while casing 400 cast s about 

 equally divided b-tween the no-beeway and 

 the old style we didn't have enough crooked 

 or broken honey for table use for two families. 



The past season in Western Colorado was a 

 poor one to fairly show up any system for 

 comb honey. But I could readily see that the 

 bees would occupy the supers much sooner 

 than with the old style, especially if separat- 

 ors were used, and that the outside sections 

 were, many times, finished first, which would 

 reduce the unfinished-section business to the 

 minimum. 



With regard to the shipping-cases needing 

 separators, my experience was that they would 

 stand shipping better than the old style, as 

 the honey was always attached to the bottom 

 of the section. 



While speaking of shipping-cases I think 

 we should have a 24-lb. case for the no-beeway 

 sections; for when you sell a man a regular 24- 

 lb. case, and tell him there is 32 lbs. in it, he 

 will say that can not be, for it's full with only 

 24 lbs. in it. It at least makes an explanation 

 necessary, and you know the average grocer 

 who has sold a few cases of honey can tell you 

 more about honey than you ever dreamed of ; 



