1899 



GLEANINGS IN BKE CULTURE. 



679 



has come to pass that some of the large bak- 

 ing concerns are using cheap honey in ten- 

 carload lots. But real honey they must have 

 and will have. Mr. Muth told us if there is 

 the least amount of glucose in any of the 

 honey it " spoils the cake." The consequence 

 is, the manufacturers require an absolutely 

 pure article, and they have come to learn 

 where they can buy such goods ; and, what is 

 more, they can not very well be fooled either, 

 for they know adulterated honey as soon as 

 they taste it. 



With regard to keeping bees on housetops, 

 this is done in quite a number of cities. Provi- 

 sion needs to be made, however, for reasonable 

 shade, otherwise combs are liable to melt 

 down. The Muths have kept bees on the 

 roofs of their buildings for years ; in fact, if 

 I understand it rightly, it has been the only 

 place where they could keep bees, as land, 

 especially in the business portions, is so very 

 expensive. And then there is another point ; 

 narnel}', that, when bees are put up four or 

 five stories high, they will not interfere with 

 passers-by on the streets below. But during 

 times of robbing, if some commission house 

 or candy-store should leave sweets exposed, 

 there would be music in the air — music of 

 humming bees, of frightened customers, and 

 of irate dealers. Just how this problem is 

 managed, we leave for Mr. Muth to explain at 

 some future time. — Ed.] 



HONEY IN PLAIN SECTIONS. 



The Danzenbaker Hive; those 4X5X1* Sections v. 

 the Old Style 4iX 4}. 



BY PERCY UKTON. 



As a producer and seller of honey, and as a 

 reader of Gleanings, I should like to have 

 the following questions answered through that 

 journal : 



1. What size of section did W. H. Swoap 

 use to realize 2 cts. more per lb. for his honey, 

 page 541 ? 



2. How under the sun do you expect to get 

 worker combs built by bees from starters iu 

 those Draper barns? You know such deep 

 combs would stretch, and a very large amount 

 would be drone comb. Bee-keepers can not 

 afford to buy full sheets of foundation for such 

 large frames. 



3. You adopted Danzenbaker's cover and 

 bottom-board for your lock-corner hives ; why 

 not the body and frames? Bees build fine 

 worker combs from half-inch starters in his 

 frames. His supers I consider the best on the 

 market. Honey made in Danzy sections 4x5 

 Xl^s, in connection with the fence separators, 

 I am selling for 13 cts. each, buckwheat honey 

 at that. Last year I sold 4 I 4X4XXlif sec- 

 tions in the same market for 8 cts. each. W 7 e 

 have just as good a crop of buckwheat as in 

 1898. You can see the difference between a 

 back number and something up to date. I 

 think all 4^X4 '4. sections should be gathered 

 up this fall, taken to some swamp, and stamped 

 out of sight in the mud. The 4 % section 

 looks like a squatty old woman. Let us all 



adopt for 1900 the tall American lady, the 4x 

 5XlJMs-inch section. 



4. What hive does Vernon Burt prtfer? also, 

 what style of plain sections, page 544? He 

 seems to be a very successful comb-honey pro- 

 ducer. For my own benefit I should like his 

 views. I think it would help others. 



5. That man Brown, page 535, is mistaken 

 when he says the Danzy hive has too much 

 " kindling-wood" about it. None too much, 

 friend Brown, to produce the finest sections of 

 honey. "The more haste the less speed." 

 Try some more of those hives, and then apol- 

 ogize to Mr. Danzenbaker. 



In reporting my last winter's loss of bees, 

 which I have not done before, it makes me 

 think of an old elder in the Presbyterian 

 Chuich in our village, who went down on the 

 river flats to see his buckwheat after an early 

 frost in the fall, which had ruined it. On his 

 way back to the house he met his son Burr, 

 and said, " We had a noble frost last night, 

 Burr." I don't know that I felt as Bro. B. did 

 when I examined my bees last April, and 

 found I had had a " noble " winter loss — f>3 

 dead out of 65 colonies ; but I am happy to 

 say that I have at this date 58 which are 

 working on buckwheat. I am using 50 ten- 

 frame chaff hives and 15 Danzy. I am going 

 to buy 35 more this winter. 



Northampton, N. Y., Aug. 12, 1899. 



[1. W. H. Swoap probably referred to 4^x 

 \% plain sections, because we find that the 

 only plain sections he ever got of us were of 

 that size. 2. If the foundation is medium 

 brood it ought not to stretch — at least not 

 enough to cause drone-cells. At certain sea- 

 sons and under certain conditions bees will 

 make -worker comb instead of drone ; but dur- 

 ing the swarming season I should exptct a 

 good deal of drone, and it might be necessarv 

 then to cut the comb out and use it for chunk 

 honey, as does H. R. Boardman. As to how 

 to get the bees to build all worker comb, I 

 would refer you to Mr. Hutchinson's "Ad- 

 vanced Bee-keeping." 3. We are not doing 

 the adopting ; but if bee-keepers want the 

 Danzy hive we are prepared to let them have 

 it. A good many favorable reports have been 

 so far received regarding it— especially for the 

 production of comb honey. Mr. Vernon Burt, 

 our neighbor bee-keeper, is very partial to it, 

 and says he will discard the eight and ten 

 frame Langstroth hives for the Danzy, pure 

 and simple 4. This question is partly ans- 

 wered by 3. Mr. Burt prefers plain sections, 

 4X5 Danzv, to the 3^-5. In corroboration, 

 see article from T. K. Massie, iust following. — 

 Ed.] fe 



— »»» — 



THE DANZY HIVE. 



Also Something about the Danzy Super, 4X5 

 Plain Sections, and Fence Separators. 



BY T. K. MASSIE. 



Wishing to see exact justice meted out to 

 all, and being wholly disinterested, having no 

 personal interests at stake, I wish to say a few 

 words in behalf of the Danzenbaker hive, 4X5 



