570 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



R. — Perhaps you are right ; but somehow I 

 have a sort of lurking feeling that I should 

 like to have a place for those fancy fellows 

 that are filled clear out to the wood all around. 



N. — All right. That one case that you can 

 get out of your whole crop, take it home and 

 eat it yourself — don't try to sell it. 



R.— Why not? 



N. — You need it in your business at home. 



R. — How so? 



N. — Why, if you select a little lot that way 

 it makes one more element to confuse the 

 grading-rule and result in a dollar profit per 

 100 colonies. Simplicity is what we want 

 more than any thing else. Our rules have 

 been so complex that nobody has been able to 

 follow them. I see that J. E. Crane, on page 

 126, Feb. 15, has three sections. There is one 

 fancy. You cau not call it extra fancy, but 

 just plain fancy. 



R. — Now, I would call it extra fancy — that 

 is, if you have that grade. 



N. — Well, perhaps it would go for the poor- 

 est of the extra fancy ; but in the middle one 

 is where the money lies. 



by the way you put your proposition. Now, 

 then, if you were producing honey for your 

 uncles and aunts, which honey would you 

 produce for them ? 



N. — If I were producing honey for my 

 uncles and aunts, for the table, I should pre- 

 fer some like that square section in the picture, 

 and you will have a clean nice piece on the 

 plate, while the fancy will be smeared on all 

 sides on account of cutting full cells next to 

 the wood. 



R. — Why, Niver, you would not go back to 

 the 4 V sections, would you ? 



N. — Oh, no! I called your attention to this 

 picture as an illustration. No. I want the 

 long box for many reasons. 



R. — You mean that you would prefer the 

 long box filled like the \% in this- picture, 

 with the cells unsealed next to the wood. Is 

 that your idea ? 



N. — Yes, for my eating I would ; and I be- 

 lieve I cm get three boxes filled like the mid- 

 dle one, where I can get one like that shown 

 at the right, averaging it through the apiary. 

 Three boxes like the middle one in the pic- 



" The retailer finds it much easier to sell the middle box at 10 than the right-hand one at 15." — S. A. Niver* 



R.— Why so ? 



N. — If I were producing honey strictly for 

 my own pocket-book, to fatten my purse, so 

 to speak, I would try to produce honey, every 

 card of which is like that, and never one like 

 the extra fancy. 



R. — Explain yourself a little further. I do 

 not quite get it through my head. 



N. — Simple enough. To get that extra 

 fancy you must crowd the bees for room until 

 they store every corner full. They will not 

 produce more than half as many boxes, and 

 finish them like that extra fancy, as they will 

 of the other, and I can get more money for 

 the poorer style and the greater number of 

 boxes. 



R. — Do you mean more per colony? 



N. — Yes, per colony. 



R. — You said, a moment ago, if you were 

 running your bees to fatten your pocketbook 

 you would try to produce sections like the one 

 shown in the middle ; then you imply that 

 the consumer has some rights in the matter, 



ture will sell for 30 cents while that one at the 

 right will sell for 15. Figure up your money. 

 It will cost a little more to make the three 

 boxes ; but we have quite a margin, you see, 

 to come and go on. 



R. — Do you really mean to say that you can 

 produce three like the middle one where you 

 can produce one like the right-hand box? 



N. — Well, let us see about that now. Per- 

 haps that is a little too strong a statement ; 

 but with comb in sections not exceeding \% 

 inches in thickness, we can very nearly do it 

 through the whole apiary ; perhaps not quite, 

 but close to it. You can get boxes like 

 this by tieiing up rapidly during the fore part 

 of the honey- flow ; and under favorable con- 

 ditions they will cap and finish sections like 

 this sooner than you can make them finish 

 the fancy. And right here let me call your 

 attention to the buckwheaters' advantage over 

 you ' ' tingle taxers ' ' ( meaning allcuhite-honey 



*Cut re-inserted for the convenience of our readers. 



