264 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 1. 



Crane says, on page 126, Gleanings, Feb. 1-5, 

 of the middle section, which he purchased in 

 Washington, D. C, and which is poorly filled 

 on the sides, that probably the section is too 

 narrow to suit the bees. His section is 3^, 

 and the section we have is but ?>%, and plump 

 full all around. We did not pick out the best 

 comb, but the whole shipment of this lot was 

 well filled all the way through, and this ship- 

 per had about 1000 crates. 



Sample No. 4, one-piece, 5X3><Xl^. This 

 section is glassed, the glass glued to the sec- 

 tion — any thing but a neat job, and we there- 

 fore can not recommend it for a glassed sec- 

 tion. 



Sample No. 5, dovetailed, 4>^X4Xl^, with 

 bee-space. This section is glassed, tasteued 

 with tin tips — a good section for glassing, but 

 small-looking alongside of the No. 3. 



Sample No. 6, dovetailed, no bee-space, 

 •">X35f;Xl>2. This section is glassed, the pa- 

 per holding the glass. We do not favor this 

 style, as the glass lies outside of the section ; 

 besides, it is too heavy weight. 



Sample No. 7, one-piece, bee-space, 5^X4 

 Xl^s — a large-looking section, but too heavy 

 in weight. 



While we are very much pleased with sec- 

 tions Nos. 1 and 2, we think there is still room 

 for improvement ; that is to say, the way we 

 look at it, and we should like to offer this sug- 

 gestion : Cut the sections down and make 

 them still thinner. As they are now, they 

 will weigh about an even pound, if well filled. 

 The demand is for light weight sections weigh- 

 ing about 12 or 13 ounces. If Y% or even % 

 inch were taken off from their thickness they 

 would have just the right weight to suit the 

 majority of the trade, and would sell still bet- 

 ter. We have been told by prominent pro- 

 ducers that a thin section, for instance \% in., 

 can be produced to as good advantage as a 

 thicker section, and that the bees will work 

 on them and fill them just as nicely, if not 

 better. If this is true, there is no reason why 

 bee-keepers should not adopt a light-weight 

 section. We are referring principally to sam- 

 ples 1 and 2, for unglassed honey. The cry 

 would probably be raised that it would be dis- 

 honest to produce a section weighing but 12 or 

 13 ounces, and sell them for a pomid. Yes, if 

 it were sold for a pound it would be dishon- 

 est ; but how much honey is there sold yet by 

 the pound ? Go into any retail store where 

 they have comb honey, and ask, " How much 

 is honey a pound? " and nine times out of ten 

 you will get the answer, " So much a piece or 

 comb." Nearly all honey is sold by the comb, 

 consequently there is no dishonesty. 



Right here we desire to touch upon another 

 point of selling; viz., selling honey by the 

 crate instead of by the pound. We have this 

 season bought and sold a large share of our 

 receipts by the crate. As Mr. S. A. Niver, of 

 Auburn, N. Y., says in his letter to us, he has 

 been selling honey by the count for years, and 

 finds it very satisfactory. So have we. And 

 we also find that the trade prefers to buy by 

 the crate. Selling by the count saves labor 

 all around, producers included, as they would 

 not need to weigh the honev. We think this 



method has a good deal in its favor, and we 

 should like to see it adopted generally. We 

 may add that the honey should be graded 

 properly, whether sold by the pound oi crate. 

 Nothing would be gained by filling the center 

 of the crate with unfilled combs. It would 

 sell for so much less per crate. 



On the grading question we received a 

 communication from Mr. Harry S. Howe 

 and also one from Mr. Niver. Both favor 

 the idea of having pictures of the combs 

 of their respective grades in the market col- 

 umn, and these to be a standard for grading. 

 Of course, the color or the quality can not be 

 distinguished by the photos, and are not in- 

 tended to be ; but so far as unfilled cells are 

 concerned we should certainly favor the idea. 

 In this respect it would aid considerably in 

 getting uniform grading. We wonder, how- 

 ever, whether this question will ever be set- 

 tled satisfactorily all around. Of what use are 

 the best methods or plans when there are bee- 

 keepers who will not live up to them ? 



We said before, we had a good demand for 

 glassed sections, a good demand for unglassed, 

 and a fair demand for paper boxes. We do 

 not wish to be misunderstood, and we repeat : 

 P"or a glassed section, sample No. 3 is as desir- 

 able as any that could be had When glassed, 

 25 combs weigh 23 to 24 lbs., which is light 

 enough for glassed honey. 



But those bee keepers who market their 

 honey unglassed should adopt samples 1 and 

 2, and cut them down % to '4 inch in thick- 

 ness, and have a section which could not be 

 surpassed. So long as light-weight sections 

 have the call, why not give to the trade what 

 it demands, when it can be done just as profit- 

 ably as undesirable goods ? 



The tall, wide, new plain section has come 

 to stay, and the sooner our bee keepers make 

 themselves acquainted with this fact the bet- 

 ter for them. The demand for honey in paper 

 boxes has fallen off somewhat for the past two 

 seasons, and unglassed has been in better de- 

 mand than heretofore. Nearly all of our re- 

 ceipts of honey in paper boxes have been in 

 the folding box. We have experienced some 

 trouble this season with honey in this style. It 

 appeared to be in good condition when it ar- 

 rived, but in a few weeks the honey began to 

 ooze through the paper box, and we found 

 every box more or less saturated with honey, 

 and sticking to the crate. We never recom- 

 mended the folding box, as we do not consid- 

 er it strong enough. If a paper box be used, 

 it should be the heavy pasteboard box with 

 separate bottom. 



New York. 



Mr. Root : — Just after we mailed our letter 

 yesterday one of our out-of-town customers, 

 who buys comb honey in round lots, came in, 

 looking for plain sections, and felt quite dis- 

 appointed that we had no more in stock. 



"Some time ago we sold him a lot of the tall 

 sections, like sample No. 1, and he told us 

 yesterday that at that time he was not in need 

 of honey, but the combs looked so nice he was 

 tempted to buy. When he received that lot 

 he had quite a lot of the square sections in his 



