680 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



plain sections, etc. I have 40 of the " Dauzy" 

 hives in use this season, and unhesitatingly 

 pronounce them the best that have so far been 

 offered to the bee-keeping fraternity, combin- 

 ing more points of excellence or superiority 

 than any other hive. The 4x5 plain sections 

 and fence separators are a decided success. 

 The combs are built solid to the wood all 

 around, and their shape enables us to pack 

 them solid in the shipping-cases, looking, 

 when packed, like a solid block of wood. I 

 have just hauled, on a common road wagon, 

 over 35 miles of the roughest kind of road, 200 

 of these sections, and did not have a single one 

 broken. They come off the hive nice and clean, 

 saving the time and labor of scraping them. 



Our honey-flow was very scant, and came in 

 very slowly (I shall not average 10 lbs. to the 

 colony), which caused quite a number of cells 

 around the edges to be left empty. But for 

 this defect my sections would be perfect. The 

 200 I brought here to our grocery I exposed 

 for sale by the side of 80 of the \%Y^\% sec- 

 tions. People are daily examining this honey, 

 and the general exclamation is, " Well, that is 

 the finest honey I ever saw. What is the price 

 of it ? " I answer, " Your choice of this grade 

 (the 4c l 4 sections) for 12>^ cents per section, 

 or your choice of this grade (the 4X5 section) 

 for 15 cents per section." The answer almost 

 invariably is, " Well, I will take " — two, four, 

 or more, as the case maybe, of the larger box- 

 es, meaning the 4X5 sections. I had some 

 nice white combs that I cut and fitted into the 

 A% sections when putting on sections this sea- 

 son. I selected five of these, which were 

 filled out with honey solid to the wood, mak- 

 ing a very plump section, weighing from l / 2 to 

 2y 2 ounces more than the 4x5 sections which 

 have the empty cells next to the wood. I 

 priced these at 15 cents. My customers are 

 daily examining and "hefting" them, but 

 take the 4x5 section of less weight at the 

 same price. Only yesterday I showed a cus- 

 tomer that the-:e " square boxes " weighed the 

 more ; but after seeing them weighed he said, 

 " I believe I prefer these larger boxes, for 

 they look the best to me." After this no one 

 can give me the A% section. 



On page 510 you say that, in your revision 

 of the A B C of Bee Culture, you are giving, 

 among others, a description of the Danzenba- 

 ker hive. I hope you will give it first place. 

 Its merits deserve this. On page 544 A. I. R. 

 says that Vernon Burt had the handsomest 

 sections he ever saw — never dreamed of any 

 thing so nice. Were not these sections pro- 

 duced in the Danzy hive, Danzy super, sec- 

 tions, and fences ? I don't mean to criticise 

 friend A. I. R., for his age places him where 

 we can not expect too much of him, but I am 

 sure he will be only too glad to place credit 

 where it properly belongs. 



On page 535, E. W. Brown, the man whose 

 brain has become so delirious with fever that, 

 to arouse him to a state of consciousness, even 

 his wife has to shout " Bees ! " at him (I won- 

 der if she has to accompany the shout with 

 the gentle reminder of a sting) says he got 

 12>^ cents for his sections, which "lie down 

 like a brick on its edge," and only 10 cts. for 



the Danzy section. I have tried sections laid 

 down on their edges, and find this shape or 

 position, if you please, so much out of harmo- 

 ny with the laws governing the economy and 

 workings of the bees in the hive, which fact 

 every bee-keeper knows, that I can not accept 

 the unsupported statement of Mr. B. as a fact. 

 I do not mean to say he would knowingly 

 misrepresent facts, but we notice he calls them 

 "my special fences," "my sections," etc., 

 thus mixing the elements of self-interest with 

 that delirious state of mind peculiar to all fe- 

 ver patients to such an extent that he is sim- 

 ply rendered incapable of acting as an impar- 

 tial judge. Mr. Aiken, not being self-interest- 

 ed, and not having such a bad case of fever, is 

 in a position to give an impartial decision. 



I used a few starters of the deep-cell founda- 

 tion this season, and find that the bees com- 

 menced work on and finished them, building 

 the comb solid to the wood all around, s joner 

 than they did the sections containing full 

 sheets of the ordinary foundation. From this 

 small experience I should think the deep cell 

 far superior to the ordinary foundation, and 

 would suggest to Mr. Brown that, as he uses 

 only starters, he use this foundation in future. 

 I think it will help him out. 



On pages 537 and 546 you illustrate and de- 

 scribe the Draper hive, the "barn" that Dr. 

 Miller seems to be trying to press to the front. 

 It may seem preposterous for a small man like 

 myself to attempt to criticise so large a man as 

 Dr. M. ; but as he is the one who "don't 

 know," I will merely say that, when I do 

 know a thing, I know it just as positively as 

 any one else can know it ; and I do know that 

 a Langstroth frame 2\s inches deeper than 

 the regular size will require to be wired. I do 

 know that a wired frame is an expensive nui- 

 sance. I have over a thousand brood-frames 

 so straight and smooth that they will inter- 

 change from one hive to another with perfect 

 ease, and not one of them is wired. I do 

 know that a large hive, if constructed on the 

 right principles (the correct principles must 

 be brought out in the size and style of the 

 frame), is decidedly the best the whole year 

 round ; but the coming large hive is not the 

 "barn." I would be willing to let the doctor 

 "select any location and any number of 

 barns " he may wish, and give me the same 

 location, and an equal number of Danzy hives 

 to run on my plan of tiering up, and guaran- 

 tee better results than he can obtain with his 

 barns. I will guarantee that, at the end of the 

 trial, he will "know" to a certainty at least 

 one thing. 



My object in writing this is to speak a word 

 in behalf of justice to the parties personally 

 interested, and to benefit, if I can, the bee- 

 keeping public. Practical experience of bee- 

 keepers will sweep all opposition to the Dan- 

 zy hive, super, fence separators, and plain 

 4X5 sections into oblivion. I will use the 

 Danzy hive, super, 4x5 plain sections, etc., 

 until something better is invented. 



Bramwell, W. Va., Aug. 10. 



[The sections referred to by A. I. R., or a 

 part of them at least, came from the Danzen- 

 baker hive, and were 4x5. The other part 



