170 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



R. — Do you have any trouble from the so- 

 called ridging, with plain sections ? 



C. — No serious trouble. 



R. — Would the average purchaser or con- 

 sumer notice such ridging as you did have ? 



C— I think not. 



R. — Did you find that the faces of comb 

 honey in any of your plain sections went be- 

 yond the edge of the sections themselves ? 



C. — I do not remember any except with the 

 very few where the separator was too narrow. 

 They built out above. 



About how many tons of honey do you 

 think have been produced the past season with 

 fences or plain sections, Mr. Root? 



R. — Oh dear me ! you ask too hard a ques- 

 tion . 



C. — Well, give it as nearly as possible. 



R. — I do not know how much was produced 

 all last year. The season was poor; but I 

 should think that anywhere from 10 to 25 per 

 cent of all the comb honey produced last year 

 was put up in plain sections. 



C. — I am glad to know it. About how many 

 persons have used them ? 



R. — Most of our customers who bought our 

 latest goods bought plain sections and fences. 

 There must be several thousand who bought 

 them last season. 



C. — How many have gone back on them ? 



R. — I do not know of any who have classed 

 the plain section and the fence as a failure un- 

 less it is friend Thompson, in our issue for 

 Dec. 15th last, or R. F. Holtermann in the 

 Canadian Bee Journal. There are some oth- 

 ers who found they did not work to their en- 

 tire satisfaction; but when we began to inves- 

 tigate we found the trouble was due to the 

 faulty construction of the fences. There may 

 be others who have classed plain seetions and 

 fences as a failure; but if so, I am almost in- 

 clined to believe it is because they wanted to 

 believe so in the first place. 



C. — This is very important information. I 

 was not a\. are that so large a proportion of 

 the honey was produced in plain sections, or 

 that so many were using them, or that their 

 use was so satisfactory. Another question : 

 Can a 1-lb. package for extracted honey be 

 gotten up for a cent each ? 



R. — There may be possibilities along this 

 line; but, so far as I know, no package has 

 yet been devised of tin, glass, or wood, that 

 would come anywhere near as low a figure as 

 that. The nearest of any thing that I know 

 of is an ordinary tin fruit-can holding 2 lbs. 

 These can be bought in a wholesale way, I be- 

 lieve, from the manufacturers, for about 2 cts. 

 a can, or at the rate of about a cent a pound 

 for honey. These packages are not self-seal- 

 ing — that is to say, the cap or cover has to be 

 soldered on after the fruit or honey is placed 

 in the tin. 



C. — Could a package of tin be gotten up in 

 the flat for one cent, so the bee-keeper could 

 put them together? 



R. — Possibly; but the manufacturers would 

 have to have a very large order before they 

 would attempt to make a smaller package in 

 the flat. 



C. — It is the same with extracted as with 



comb honey. Consumers will sooner buy five 

 1-lb. packages than one 5-lb. package. 



R. — I believe you are right. A little corres- 

 pondence with manufacturers would show what 

 can be done, at least. Mr. Crane, how do you 

 winter your bees ? 



C. — Outdoors, packed. 



R. — What is your percentage of loss, one 

 year with another, in winter? 



C. — It varies with the different yards. 

 Where bees are sheltered from the wind the 

 loss is, perhaps, not more than one or two per 

 cent. One such yard two years ago came 

 through without the loss of a colony previous 

 to swarming time. There were nearly a hun- 

 dred hives in the yard. 



R. — That is a good record. 



C. — Last winter, in the same yard I lost four 

 or five; all, I believe, were hives that were 

 without packing, and had little or nothing 

 over the brood-chamber; half or more of the 

 brood-frames open or exposed. Not more than 

 one or two were properly packed. 



R. — I understand, then, that this loss was 

 due largely to the fact that the colonies were 

 not properly packed, do I ? 



C. — Almost wholly that. Practically these 

 and no others were lost. There may have 

 been one or two more. 



R. — What sort of windbreak do you have 

 around the yard in question ? 



C. — An arbor-vitse hedge, high picket-fence, 

 and buildings to some extent. In fact, they 

 are sheltered so that the wind is largely broken. 

 And there are some pine-trees in the yard, too, 

 that act as windbreaks. 



R. — All things considered, wouldn't yon 

 prefer a high board fence ? 



C. — No, I should not. 



R.— Why? 



C. — Because a tight board fence turns the 

 wind, and the wind is liable to go over the 

 fence and swoop down in the yard with even 

 more violence than w 7 here there is no fence nor 

 any thing else around to produce heavy drifts, 

 while a hedge of evergreens or a picket-fence, 

 practically open, breaks the force of the wind. 

 It simply slows it up. It is marvelous how a 

 hedge of evergreens or a picket-fence will 

 slow up the wind, allowing a very moderate 

 amount to pass through and thus break the 

 force of it. 



R. — That is a good point. I notice at our 

 home yard the evergreens accomplish such re- 

 sults as you have stated. The trees make a 

 great roaring when the wind blows through 

 them, but within the inclosure every thing is 

 comparatively quiet. Years ago, when we had 

 a tight board fence it had a fashion of blow- 

 ing down occasionally; and then very often it 

 would bend at an angle of 45 degrees, giving 

 the wind a good chance to swoop up and down, 

 as you say. 



C. — I now consider the question of wind one 

 of the most important in the location of an 

 apiary. 



R. — Mr. Crane, what size of entrance do 

 you prefer on your hives, all things consider- 

 ed, winter and summer? 



C— The summer entrance to most of my 



